Celebrity stylist inspires Crawley College students

Hair students at Crawley College enjoyed a masterclass from one of the best in the business recently.

Andrew Barton – known as hairdressing royalty – visited the college, spending the morning inspiring students before turning his attention to the teaching team in the afternoon.

Andrew, who has appeared on TV shows including ’10 Years Younger’ and is the go-to stylist to many celebrities, gave a demonstration showcasing a traditional cut – a long-graduated bob – before revealing how it can be made more creative.

Throughout the session, he talked about his experiences and took questions from the students.

He said: “It was a delight and a pleasure to come into Crawley College. The students were very engaged, I could sense that through their levels of concentration and their questions as well so I hope I’ve left them with something that’s tangible and relevant to their learning.”

Andrew is a passionate advocate of providing high quality training opportunities for hairdressing students, and set up ABLE – an award-winning training partnership. He also regularly visits colleges, working with staff and students. He explained: “It’s important for me to come into colleges, like Crawley, for lots of different reasons.

“It’s partly me giving back to FE – I trained in a college myself – but I’m also really keen on supporting the future of British hairdressing.

“One of the best ways I can do that is to deliver training and share some of the practices that I’ve learnt throughout my career to help those people aspire to a really successful, rewarding career as a hairdresser.”

Barry Hutton, Head of Learning for Service Industries at Crawley College, said: “Masterclasses like this are vital to support our students learning.

“It builds on the knowledge they are gaining from our expert lecturers and gives them insight into the industry they are planning to join.

“Andrew brought his passion for hairdressing to life, and I know he has really inspired the students he met as well as the staff.”