We spoke with Pasquale, who completed our Level 2 Barbering course and won our Hair, Barbering and Beauty Student of the Year Award and Adult Student of the Year Award at Celebration of Success, to find out how the course has impacted his career.

Why did you decide to come back to college?

There are several reasons why I decided to come back to College, with the main reason and focus being my Father, who was a Barber all his life. Being a proud Italian, I grew up knowing most of Bristol's Italian Barbers and, to this day, their sons who are Barbers. My father was suffering and, later last year, passed away with Dementia and was in a home.

Xmas 2024, I took some friends of his who are Barbers to visit him in the home. When they saw my dad’s hair and beard, they instantly wanted to cut his hair and make him look more like himself. The nurses were dubious due to H/S. My father looked at the Ward Manager and said, "I'm a Barber." He pointed at his friend and said, "He's a Barber," then missed me and pointed at his other friend and said, "He's a barber," which hurt me as we had a dream growing up of Pasquale’s (father and sons).

My health over the last few years has been getting worse, as I have been battling Osteoarthritis of both hips and currently waiting for a hip replacement. For the last 25 years, I have been in field sales and account management. On average, I was travelling 35 to 40k miles a year and it’s taken a toll on my body, as well as the stresses of targets. I decided it was time to change and complete what I should have done when I left school.

Had you studied barbering/had any experience before?

My first memories is of an 8-year-old going to work with my father and sweeping hair for £5 per day, and later did 16 months of an NVQL2 Hairdressing at Brunel College, as well as working in two Barber Shops in Bristol - Peters and Directors - but dropped out in 1996 due to nearly losing a finger in a freakish accident. After operations and physio, I missed my year group and fell into sales. I had to use my love of talking somewhere.

How did you find balancing the course with work/life?

As mentioned, my father was in a care home. I had legal power of attorney over him and was the only family member in this country, so my work-life balance was all over the place. The motivation to pass and to be able to say, “Dad, I am a qualified barber,” is what kept me going, as well as keeping busy. My tutor, Holly, was fantastic and I owe her so much. I have never been academic; growing up with dyslexia in the 80s/90s, I chose to be the class clown, and that’s how I made it through school. Holly noticed my teaching needs and inspired me to complete the course and business diploma. I’m pretty sure if it hadn’t been for Holly, I would have struggled and probably not completed the course.

What inspired you to offer free haircuts to the elderly and less fortunate?

Needing to gain experience and confidence in cutting and dealing with people, I decided to offer free haircuts, as well as being able to keep a consistent posting on social media and build my portfolio. After losing my father, I felt it was right to give back to the elderly.

Do you have a rough estimate on how many free haircuts you have offered?

Hard to tell, over 100. I have been at Tollington Lodge for 1 year, and on average, I do 7 to 8 haircuts there a month free of charge, as well as for people from Facebook who contact me.

What challenges did you face when setting up your business, and how did you overcome them?

Finding clientele willing to let me loose on their hair is where the old people and free haircuts come in, as well as word of mouth and advertising on Facebook. It also didn’t help that in January I came off my bike and broke my collarbone and fractured a rib. I had to take 7 weeks off cutting, missing one nursing home visit, which I take seriously.

What do you hope to achieve with your business in the next few years?

Although I converted space at home into a barber shop, I am finding the general public are wary of coming to my home, so my mobile side of things has taken off better. I have also recently agreed to become Nataro Care Home barber, which has 13 sites around the Southwest. So, for the next 12 to 24 months, I will be working with a minimum of 3 or 4 homes per week, improving my skills and confidence, with a view of opening up a high street barber shop in Weston at the end of 2027/28.

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