Matty Maxwell, store manager at Head Quarters Barbers in Middlesbrough, won the prestigious award of “Beard and Moustache Champion 2021” this week at Salon International in Excel in London.
Matty joined Head Quarters Barbers in April 2021 and his passion for barbering has taken him to the main Barber Clash Stage to pitch his talents against four other finalists at the event. This accolade was sponsored by Modern Barber magazine and supported with Mike Taylor and Captain Fawcett as experienced barbers in their own fields of barbering academies as trainers.
Head Quarters was born out of frustration in lockdown; Mike Racz, CEO, was tired of poor service and needing to wait for appointments with mainstream barbers. Mike took it upon himself to start Head Quarters Barbers, a unique experience where the salons had a self-serve bar at reception, comfy leather sofas to relax on, well trained uniformed staff to make the whole experience a luxury. The price point was to be competitive, offer a free drink on arrival and no wait times, with the next barber availability showing on the real-time window displays.
“Matty has been with us from the start of this vision, we’re all really over the moon with this achievement and proud to have him on board, he runs the Middlesbrough store with precision, and has great community contacts which have helped us gain new customers since starting in April this year.” said Mike
Before Matty found his passion for barbering, he spent 10 years working away from home in the gas and oil industry. After the arrival of his two children he wanted to stay close to home, so looked to YouTube for tutorials on barbering. Using family and friends to practise on, Matty gained a brief knowledge on the industry, and this is where it all started.
“I am blown away by this, my son was super proud and wants to be a barber just like me, it’s an amazing award to bring back to the team in the North East, I can’t quite believe it, just a dream, and thanks to Mike Hind MBE for modelling for me, we had a blast at the exhibition and made some lifelong connections!” said Matty