Fellowship hosts Xperience Hair Live

The Fellowship for British Hairdressing returned to Manchester with its much-anticipated Xperience Hair Live showcase as part of HAIRCON’s third edition, delivering two days of creativity, education and inspiration at the iconic O2 Victoria Warehouse.

Throughout the weekend, the Fellowship hosted Xperience Hair Live on the dedicated Fellowship Stage, providing project teams, brand partners and members with the opportunity to showcase their work and champion the organisation’s core values of creativity, opportunity, diversity and inclusivity.

The stage programme featured a series of standout presentations, including Project Extend’s Grit and Grace, where raw edge met refined precision through innovative extension work, and Project X’s It’s All Gone Pete Tong, which fused hair artistry with a digital-world narrative.

Project Colour celebrated vibrant creativity and technical excellence in colour, while the F.A.M.E. Team’s Counterculture drew inspiration from the underground rave movement of the early 1990s, exploring individuality, self-expression and the communities that shaped a generation.

“The Fellowship is the crème de la crème of British hairdressing. We will continue to do everything we do to the highest level and accomplish what we set out to do. We’ll come out bigger, better and stronger – growing our membership and providing new opportunities for our sponsors and members.” Simon Shaw

As part of the Fellowship’s 80th anniversary celebrations, eight members were also awarded exclusive 10-minute stage slots, giving them the chance to showcase their creativity to the HAIRCON audience.

Away from the stage, project teams and brand partners were invited to take part in the Fellowship’s Live Photographic Area, where award-winning photographer Chris Bulezuik captured their work. Renowned for his contribution to beauty and hair photography over the past decade, Chris provided participants with valuable experience of a professional photographic set-up ahead of creating their project collections later this year.

Following their photoshoots, teams headed to the Fellowship’s Live Lounge for post-show interviews and discussions hosted by Debbie Gee, Andrew Barton and Sally Brooks. Returning after its successful debut last year, the Live Lounge gave attendees the opportunity to hear conversations on a range of industry topics while gaining further insight into the creative processes behind the stage presentations.

The energy continued into Sunday evening when the Fellowship took to the Main Stage for the President’s Show, where Simon Shaw was announced as the organisation’s 40th President.

A long-standing Fellowship member, Simon joined early in his career and has worked closely with past Presidents and board members to strengthen the organisation’s visibility and reputation. As Head of Education, he played a key role in growing membership and was instrumental in introducing the successful Project Men & Media to the Fellowship’s educational project portfolio.

The Fellowship’s presence at HAIRCON once again proved a major success, with the stage offering emerging talent the opportunity to learn from leading mentors while showcasing the breadth of creativity within British hairdressing. As the organisation celebrates its 80th anniversary, the Fellowship continues to experience a period of exciting growth, making it an inspiring time to be part of its community.

Imagery by @danieljohnsongray