CRAIG'S STORY:

I have been a stylist for 20 years and owned a salon for 16 years. Looking back, becoming a hair stylist happened by chance. During my childhood, I had the most beautiful granny. Whenever we visited her, no matter what time of day it was, she always had three rollers in the front section of her hair. She was beautiful, immaculate, and always well put together. This started my love of hair. I remember in the early 80s, I cut the hair of all my sisters’ dolls. Personally, I thought I was being creative. However, to everyone else, my actions were viewed as destructive. I’ve always been very creative, but I also have ADHD. From a young age, I knew I was different. Being brought up in a catholic family, I was always on the outside and never fitted in. I was into fashion, looking good and feeling good. As a teenager, I used to help my sister with her hair, while rocking a perm myself! I was always first on hand with fashion advice for my mother and sister! Maybe brutally honest advice sometimes... I knew from my teenage years that I wanted to get into hair and fashion. Being Catholic in the late 80s/90s and from an old mining village, I assumed it would never be an option. In the early 2000s, I had recently divorced from my wife with two young children. I came out as being gay. It still wasn’t enough for me, I knew something was missing. A few months later, I got offered redundancy at work. Without a second thought, I took it with immediate effect and went straight up to the college to apply for hairdressing! And here my journey began. I’ve had the best 20 years in the industry. It’s not been an easy journey, I have navigated broken business partnerships and loss of staff. But on the flip side, I’ve trained some amazing hairdressers. I’ve always put my team first, missing out on some opportunities to focus on nurturing them. I think it’s the 'dad' and 'grandad' in me. But now it’s my time. It’s my time to take on new challenges, to push myself to be better, to get out the rut of being comfortable, and to show the world I’ve arrived!