THE INTERVIEW

IN THIS ISSUE’S THE INTERVIEW, SIAN JONES SPEAKS TO ANDY DAWSON ABOUT BEING NAMED ALL ROUND BARBER 2024

HOW DID IT FEEL TO WIN ALL ROUND BARBER AT THIS YEAR’S MODERN BARBER AWARDS?

Too good to be true - it was unexpected, but I was really hoping for it. I’ve won awards up here in Scotland, but to do it on such a big scale is a dream come true. I got the email about two weeks before entries closed. I always thought it was something that I’d enter down the line, but I got that email and just thought ‘let’s have a wee crack at it’ and one thing led to another. I don’t want people to think I didn’t take it seriously enough. That’s how I do most things.

TAKING IT BACK TO THE START, TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR JOURNEY INTO BARBERING…

I’ve been in the industry since I was 16. I worked hard in school, I was playing football at a professional youth academy and pursuing a football career whilst trying to get good grades so I could keep my options open. I got straight A’s at National 5 (which is like GCSEs in Scotland) and A level so I could literally do anything that I wanted to do. I hate saying it but I went to a private school so the push was to go to university. I had lots of offers but then I thought “is this really what I want to do?”. While all this was going on I was cutting hair at the barbershop next door to my Mum’s wee sweet shop. I used to wait for her to finish after school and I would go to the barbershop next door and watch the guys cut hair. That’s where my interest was sparked. I decided to take the time to explore barbering before going down the university route.

WHAT WAS IT ABOUT SITTING IN THAT BARBERSHOP THAT PIQUED YOUR INTEREST?

Being around the barbering environment and being able to be creative. It’s such an amazing job to call work because you’re surrounded by your friends all day, every day cutting hair and expressing yourself. You’re also creating that community environment which was something totally new to me and I absolutely loved it.

YOU STARTED YOUR CAREER WITH MENSPIRE – WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THAT TIME?

I saw Menspire at Barber Connect back in 2017. They represented a style of barbering I liked so I went over to the guys after they came off stage and asked how I could get involved.

I took a course with them the next day and the relationship grew from there. We changed the salon I was working in up in Aberdeen into a Menspire shop and I partnered with them for five years. I went on to open a shop in Glasgow about a year and a half ago and ended up creating my own brand Sigma.

HOW WAS IT GOING OUT ON YOUR OWN TO START THE SIGMA BRAND?

Coming up with the name Sigma and the branding was quite cool. When the decision was made to go out on my own it was very last minute, so my mind set was to think of the staff in the shop who need to have some sort of identity. I was racking my brain for things that I could bring to the table and Sigma was one of those things. It’s a maths function and it means the sum of. To me it sounded cool and represented the sum of everything that’s within it; the staff and all the hard work that everybody puts in. That little logo is what makes our brand now.

2024 HAS BEEN A BUSY YEAR FOR YOU. WHAT HAS THAT BEEN LIKE?

Very difficult. The work life balance thing – I’ve not got that figured out. I don’t know if anybody has but it’s totally different when you run your own business. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I absolutely love doing it, it takes up my whole life, but this is my life, and I love it.