Hairdresser and stylist required

Open Barbers

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Introduction
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Ethos
Open Barbers C.I.C is a hairdressing service for people of all genders
and sexualities. At the heart of our work is a commitment to listening
to clients, creating space for self-identification, and ensuring our
services remain affordable. We particularly focus on welcoming people
who feel underserved in hair industries on account of their gender and
sexual orientation, and who are seeking a place to get a haircut that is
supportive, positive and congruent with how they identify.

Social Enterprise
Open Barbers operates as a Social Enterprise, legally registered as a
Community Interest Company (number 9335422). This means that our
business is driven by people not profit. The decisions we make are
centred on meeting the needs of various LGBTQQI (Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex) communities and
we are primarily concerned with the social benefits our business
provides. We are able to pay our team a salary, and make a financial
surplus, but this surplus must be reinvested back into the communities
we have declared we are here to support. We are legally restricted
from dividing the surplus out as bonuses or profit.

Staff team
Open Barbers was founded in 2011 by Greygory Vass and Klara Vanova
(now Barberette) and started life as a series of pop up events. Open
Barbers were joined by former client Felix Lane in 2011, initially as an
apprentice and subsequently Felix and Greygory trained together at
City and Islington College in 2013. In 2014, Open Barbers signed a
contract to rent a dedicated space at the back of the salon Chaps and
Dames, Finsbury Park.

All services are delivered by the two Directors of Open Barbers, Felix
and Greygory, and the salon is open 7 days per week, predominantly at
evenings and weekends. Felix and Greygory both identify as
transgender and male presenting, and the project emerged out of
years of personal difficulties in finding a hairdresser or barber who was
willing to provide short, masculine haircuts for someone being read as
female.

We are excited at the opportunity to expand and broaden our staff

team and welcome new ideas and input into the direction of Open
Barbers, particularly as the staff team is currently made up of white,
male identified people which is an aspect we are keen to change. We
meet weekly to discuss plans and ideas, and we strive to grow with an
open and non hierarchical structure that emphasises parity, staff wellbeing and respect while maintaining clarity on roles and
responsibilities. All staff are paid the same rate.

Client base
Our clients are very precious to Open Barbers and we treat every
individual with care and attention to their needs. As such we have built
a deeply loyal client base who have demonstrated enormous
commitment to supporting our project. Many of our clients identify
with queer and / or trans identities, some of our clients are disabled,
some struggle through mental health challenges and many are survivors
of damaging and painful experiences. As a staff team, we see our role
to be gentle, kind and present with all clients whatever their life
experiences might be. We aim to make our salon as safe a space as we
can by listening, reviewing and adapting how we work.

We offer various appointments based on duration needed for a haircut.

This ranges from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours. Some clients need more time
for a big change in style, but others may need more time in order to
feel settled and less anxious. All appointments are charged at a sliding
scale of 10 40 and clients are invited to pay what they feel they can
afford. We offer a select number of affordable appointments per week
at 2 10 to ensure that anyone who is in a more precarious financial
position can still access our services.

Some of our existing clients have Afro-textured hair and are happy with
the services they receive with Felix and Greygory, however it is a
priority for us that Open Barbers is increasingly accessible to People of
Colour in the services we provide and the ethos we follow. We are
aware that there is more demand for Afro-textured hair services than
we are currently providing and this is an area we are keen to develop.
This may result in changes to the appointment structure to ensure that
our system is suitable for all hair type services and we aim to develop
this in consultation with the team, our clients and our supporters.

Public events
Open Barbers is primarily a salon in Finsbury Park. Occasionally we
deliver pop up events at venues around the UK as a way of meeting

new people and taking our services out of our usual location. In the
past we have delivered pop up events at museums, arts centres,
Universities, festivals, shelters and youth clubs. We agree to pop up
events on the basis of how well they meet the aims of our social
enterprise, whether they provide good outreach potential or exposure,
and whether they are financially viable.

We are developing a new strand of work in training at hairdressing

colleges to disseminate some of our ideas and techniques in gender
respectful hairdressing which has been piloted at Working Mens
College in Camden.

We occasionally agree to contribute to interviews, research,

documentaries, projects and public events to share our experience
around trans-led community organising.

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Job description

Skills and Knowledge

1. Ability to undertake thorough and respectful consultations with
all clients.
2. Ability to cut hair of any length and type, including Afro-textured
hair, in accordance with clients wishes.
3. Ability to wash and style hair of any length and type, including
Afro-textured hair, in accordance with clients wishes.
4. Reasonable knowledge of products and hair care, including
products suitable for Afro-textured hair.
5. Ability to offer advice to all clients, including clients with Afrotextured hair.

Customer care
6. To have a positive attitude to all clients, with an ability to ask
open and flexible questions presenting a variety of options to
clients.
7. To promote equalities and actively engage people of all ethnic/
racial backgrounds, genders and sexualities using a nonjudgemental approach
8. To recognise that clients use a variety of pronouns and to be
confident in checking and using appropriate pronouns.
9. To be sensitive to the different anxieties people may feel when
entering a hairdressing space.
10.To respect consent by checking in regularly with clients regarding
their needs and wishes.
11.To be able to use open and accessible language about
hairdressing services, and the different identities clients may
present.

Additional tasks
12. To keep a high standard of hygiene and cleanliness for
hairdressing kit and salon space.
13. To clean up hair, tea cups and detritus between clients and at
the end of each day.
14. To attend team meetings as and when required.
15. To participate in staff training sessions when scheduled.
16. To participate in offsite events where required.

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Person specification

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Essential criteria
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1. At least 2 years experience in hairdressing and / or barbering

2. A broad set of skills in cutting and styling hair
3. Confidence in cutting services for Afro-textured hair
4. Confidence in cutting and finishing any length of hair
5. Some experience of working with styling products and hair care
regimes, including for Afro-textured hair
6. Present with a friendly and welcoming manner
7. Sociable and sensitive to individual client comfort levels
8. A clear and unassuming communication style
9. Positive awareness of all genders and sexualities including those
outside of binary identities
10. Commitment to making the salon a welcoming place for People
of Colour
11. A strong desire to work as part of a team
12. Commitment to the affordability and accessibility ethos of the
project
13. Reliable and punctual timekeeping skills

Desirable criteria
14. Experience with Afro-textured hair styling skills, such as
braiding, weaving and extensions.
15. Qualification to at least NVQ level 2 or equivalent.
16. Own insurance as a freelance hairdresser.

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We particularly welcome applications from People of Colour and / or

people who identify as queer, transgender and /or intersex.

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Conditions of work

1. Freelance contract, reviewed after 6 months.

2. 10 20 hours a week, Monday Thursday afternoon / evenings.
3. 10 per hour, with a responsibility to submit Self-Assessment tax
returns.
4. 2 weeks notice period in writing on either side.

Training may be identified and provided upon renewal of a 6 month

contract.

After a period of 6 months, the contract and conditions of work are

subject to review with the possibility of converting to a PAYE system
with additional employment benefits.

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Application procedure
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Please submit:
- A statement of 1 - 2 pages, or a 2 3 minute video selfie,
outlining any experience you have that is relevant to the job
description and how you meet the person specification for the
role.
- Up to 6 images of haircuts from your portfolio.
- A CV including your personal contact details.

Deadline for applications is: 10am Friday 19th June 2015

Email openbarbers@gmail.com
For further enquiries on the role or application procedure please email
openbarbers@gmail.com or call Felix on 07920832320

This application pack can be posted out in large print on request.

Interview process

Applicants will be shortlisted on the basis of how well they meet the
job description and person specification.

Shortlisted applicants will:

- Carry out a trade test on 3 typical Open Barbers clients,
including at least 1 client with Afro-textured hair.
- Attend an informal lunch with Open Barbers Directors and one of
our clients.