What does it take to become Afro Hairdresser of the Year? This prestigious award was bagged by Melissa Timperley, a salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, in the 2023 British Hairdressing Awards.
Owner, Melissa, opened the salon at just 24 years old, and has since won Best UK Salon and Best Client Service awards (among others). She prides the salon on being inclusive to all clientele, and this is exemplified in their emphasis on training in Afro hair cutting and styling.
Here, Melissa takes us through her thoughts on her win, and the skills needed to cut Afro hair.
First of all, congrats on your Afro Hairdresser of the Year win! How does it feel to win against some of the UK’s most talented Afro hairdressers?
It was a complete honour to even be considered in the final alongside so many people I look up to, so to win is just unbelievable!
Tell us more about your background in hairdressing! Where did it all start?
Nobody ever expected me to choose a career in hairdressing. At school, I was bright, ambitious and hard-working… all traits which make a great hairdresser, but which teachers thought could be put to better use doing something more academic.
I was Head Girl, and got 10 A*S in my GCSES, so everyone urged me to continue on with school and become a lawyer or a surgeon – but I had my mind set on hair. When I went on Guide camps, everyone would come back with elaborate styles I’d created, and photos show me cutting my dolls’ hair (aged four) before moving on to my sisters!
I left school at 16 to train at Sassoon – because my parents said, ‘if you’re going to do this, it’s got to be with the best’. I loved my training, and received Distinctions in both my Classic and Creative tests. I then put myself through the Wella Master Colour Expert programme, achieving top marks in all of my exams. I spent 8 years at Sassoon and independently gained a TAQA qualification in assessing and teaching, before opening my first salon, Melissa Timperley, aged 24.
On today’s salon scene, there’s still a disparity for Afro haired clientele, caused by a lack of training in textured hair. Why did you feel it was important to train in Afro hair?
We do a lot of curly hair in my salon but as an industry we believe we can be doing a lot more for curly/coiled hair. We have worked a lot over the last few years on inclusivity and educating our team on Afro hair. Just recently we had the wonderful @thhairsanctuary in to continue to relearn, re-educate and re inspire us. When you don’t have textured hair yourself, you have to work a bit harder to really make sure you understand the best products, the best techniques and the best care.
What’s your initial plan of action when cutting and styling textured hair?
Curly/coily hair needs the most moisture, so ensuring that your shampoo process cleanses the scalp whilst retaining moisture is essential. In most cases, we cut the hair wet first to see it in its natural curl pattern, then we would diffuse the hair and then recut it dry to make sure that every curl is looking its best.
What are the most important skills needed to work with Afro hair?
At Melissa Timperley Salons we believe in the 4 Cs: Consultation, Cut, Colour and Condition. They all go hand in hand because you need to do a great consultation to get a great cut/colour, but without good condition of the hair, the colour and cut are not going to look their best.
Tell us about your entry that you submitted for the awards! What did you think caught the judges’ eyes?
We just wanted to create a collection that celebrated the beauty of Afro hair. We love working with Michael Young who really brought our vision to life.
How do you hope the recognition will help elevate you and your salon?
It was important for us to enter this category to show that two girls who don’t have Afro hair themselves should still learn and educate themselves on all there is to know, to be able to offer inclusive services in the salon. It’s wonderful to have this acknowledgment and I hope it enables us to reach more hairdressers who want to increase their skillset and enhance their creativity. We have recently launched a Precision Cutting app called MT Masterclass, which is a great starting point for anyone looking to perfect some of those most-requested cuts and we also offer in-person training days in Manchester, aimed at increasing confidence in cutting all hair types.
You’re a self-dubbed inclusive salon – can you give us some examples of what that means?
My salon has been open for seven years now and we pride ourselves that we are an inclusive salon. Inclusive to us means we are a gender-neutral salon, we are wheelchair accessible, we offer our top floor for privacy for hijabs, silent appointments for anyone struggling with mental health and it also means we cater for and LOVE all textures of hair.
What’s your advice to salon owners who want to become more inclusive, but don’t know where to start?
I want to inspire other salon owners and hairdressers to educate yourselves on Afro hair, expand your skills and your knowledge. Hair is hair, after all.
Image credits: Hair – Melissa Timperley and Sara Williams; Photography – Michael Young; Makeup – Bianca Murray and Kirsten B.
