TIGI Inspirational Youth – taking young hairdressers to the top

TIGI Inspirational Youth – taking young hairdressers to the top.

Jess Lyon from Yazz Number One Hair Studio, LA Fitness, Yeadon has just returned from an amazing experience in London, participating in the TIGI Inspirational Youth at Salon International, Excel, in front of an audience of 1,000 hairdressers from around the Globe.

TIGI Inspirational Youth selects a group of young stylists from across the country and challenges them to an intense training programme that covers not only hairdressing, but also presentation skills, team building, fashion knowledge, photographic session styling and model casting and ends with the presentation of a hair and fashion show.

This is the 9th year that TIGI has run the programme. The team members are selected for their fashion and hair skills as well as their personality and enthusiasm for the craft of hairdressing. Mentored by the TIGI top Creative Team members, the young hairdressers are set assignments to constantly make them research, present and practice with the vision to widen their knowledge and open their eyes to the many artistic possibilities their chosen career can bring.

Importantly, the team members are encouraged to share their new-found knowledge and experiences with their own salon team, many of whom attend the Show to shout our support and applaud.

Several former members of TIGI Inspirational Youth have gone on to open their own salons, win hairdressing awards and be regularly seen backstage at London Fashion Week. TIGI Creative and Education Director, Philip Downing, one of the key mentors this year, is himself a former team member. There has never been a team member who hasn’t described the experience as ‘life-changing’.

Next year TIGI Inspirational Youth goes global. The search begins shortly to build teams in the USA and Germany as well as the UK, with plans to widen the scope in 2016.