Have Talent, Will Travel: Barbering Around The World

Published 18th Jan 2014 by Charlotte Grant-West

Barbering has to be one of the best ways to earn a living and your portable skills can take you anywhere.

Miguel Gutierrez's journey started in Liverpool but these days he's travelling under a pseudonym. The Nomad Barber (@thenomadbarber) took his tools on the road in early 2013, he's been blogging his experiences ever since at the nomadbarber.com. Miguel says "I wasn't too gifted academically and barbering looked like a good social trade. I started travelling at 18 and ended up walking into a trade test for Patrick's in Sydney, Australia. I've added a lot of experience since then and after I won the American Crew Face OFF I decided to begin a project that involves three things I love, barbering, travel and filming." Miguel's barbering pilgrimage has taken him through Europe, the Middle East and Far East and will take in the USA before coming home to meet his UK barbering brothers and sisters at BarberConnect in May. "The world is a wonderful place and I'm so proud to call myself a barber after having barbers from all walks of life embrace me as a friend," shares Miguel.

Luke Strickland (@thebarberluke) found his barbering destination at We Need A Hero Men's Grooming in Singapore. So how did Luke get there? "I went to University and had different jobs that never made me happy, so I followed my original dream of becoming a barber. I LOVE this craft and I could never imagine doing anything else. I plan to take the highest level of this awesome art form round the world with me but for now I'm in Singapore. Every day is warm, I'm travelling Indonesia in my spare time and a higher calibre barber was badly needed here. A third of the community is expat and all of them have haircut horror stories. I was fully booked by the end of month one," explains Luke.

Mike Taylor and Sheriff Mehmet of the British Barbers Association (BBA @BritishBarbers) spent a flying visit to the 5* Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong in Autumn 2013, they spent a hectic 4 days training the barbering team in cut throat shaves and advanced cutting the BBA way! The BBA is proud to say that they have been invited to return later in 2014. Mike says "What a great experience and one that really helped us showcase British barbering to a group of very varied professionals. Combining teaching with travelling is brilliant."

Charlotte Grant-West

Charlotte Grant-West

Published 18th Jan 2014

Charlotte oversees the print magazine, website and social media channels at HJ. With over a decade of experience as a journalist, Charlotte was formerly Editor of Modern Barber and HJ Men, Social Editor at Netmums and Features Writer at Boots Health & Beauty magazine. She loves any products that make her hair bigger and more voluminous, and loves a behind-the-scenes peek at anything hair-related – whether it's a factory tour, BTS on a shoot or backstage at fashion week.

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