BLOG: Neil Barton talks summer hair trends and keeping staff motivated
Neil Barton, owner of Neil Barton Hairdressing, is also three-times Scottish Hairdresser of the Year finalist, Goldwell ambassador, and Color Zoom creative master. He leads his artistic and education team from his salon in Edinburgh.
I was discovered in 2010 when I won Global Creative Colorist at Color Zoom. Since then my career has grown from strength to strength; from award winning stylist to becoming a Color Zoom master, meaning I am a great mentor for the winners as I know what they are going through and what to expect. I run my own salon in Edinburgh but I have been very busy this year travelling and shooting with Goldwell’s Color Zoom creative team for our new 2016 campaign. I worked on the campaign for 2015 – Traditional Rebels – which is the inspiration for this year’s Color Zoom competition. The 2016 campaign is top secret right now but will be revealed at Global Zoom in Las Vegas this October.
I am also heading up a two-day workshop for Goldwell with 20 students from the Nordic region where I will be presenting Color Zoom for a day, making them aware of this year’s Traditional Rebels theme and giving the studentsinspiration for their shoots. The second day will consist of a workshop and team building.
This season, one of the biggest trends is blonde with a hint of pastel colour so I’ve been promoting this in salon. I’m a huge fan of this trend as it allows hairdressers to be really creative with colour. Goldwell have a fantastic range of toners available called Goldwell Colorance Express Toning that enable you to create this on-trend look with ease in the salon. The most popular shades this Spring/Summer are blue, violet and apricot and they are so easy to achieve. The colours are subtle, yet they can look incredibly bold and edgy. This pastel blonde look can make any hair cut look instantly on-trend and it’s a great way of encouraging clients to experiment with colour. A look, which is requested often in the salon, is the dipped ends or the ombre effect where the colours are placed through the mid lengths and ends. This can be achieved easily over natural blonde or already lightened hair. Goldwell provides a range of permanent luminous colours called Elumen that are oxidant-free and give the hair amazing shine and condition, perfect for the summer months. These colours can be mixed to create varying shades of pink or other equally exciting colours.
It is important for me to keep my staff up-to-date with the latest trends and is always a great way to motivate them. It is important to recognise individual achievements, but we like to celebrate together and we have a real team spirit in the salon. Making sure our salon is a place we can all be proud of motivates us all. 2014 was a great year not only for myself but also for my salon team as it was so busy and this is continuing into 2015! I am doing a lot more travelling this year for seminars abroad with the Color Zoom creative team and also training in the UK at the Goldwell Academy. It’s all go at the salon, too, as we continue to build the team and on the look out for the next big thing!
– Neil
Twitter: @NeilBartonHair
