Hairdressers and barbers across Nottingham talk us through the latest hair trends of 2022 and how lockdown haircuts have effected their businesses.
Over the last year social media has been full of viral hair trends from the classic curtain bangs to bombshell blowouts and the faux hawk – even including a small return of iconic styles like the mullet or the buzzcut.
Lockdown and the return to normality has set up an unpresented scenery where everybody has been able to live their almost normal lives after about three years of different rules we had to follow.
As we go into 2022’s second month, barbers and hairdressers have started to notice the trends that we could expect in Nottingham for the following months.
Matt Conway, art director and franchise partner at Toni & Guy Nottingham at Cheapside, talks about the different hair trends he believes are upcoming for men and women.
He said: “I think there’s been a bit of a strange transition because it’s normally a progression as things go on and I do think with women’s hair trends it goes faster and with mean it’s a slower turnaround.
“I think with guys we’ve started to see longer hair styles because they’ve let their hair grow a bit, there’s still a prevalence for short barber haircuts but some styles have gotten longer.
“A lot of the girls are wearing certain partings and sweeping bands.
“I feel like a lot of the up and coming trends is actually taking that front fringe shorter and that’s where strong fringes are gonna be more currently on trend.
When speaking about the effect the pandemic has had on the Nottingham shop, Matt says that lockdowns had a big effect on the business – which has been in Nottingham for 28 years – and that it is to early to judge the effect it will have on the finances yet.
He said: “We have lost some clients but I feel like we’ve gained more and I wouldn’t say people are coming in less but are booking more in advance for fear of missing out.
He added: “Last year was our busiest Christmas since 2008 because people were scared of another lockdown.”
The fact that Nottingham is the home of two universities – Nottingham Trent University and University of Nottingham – and the diverse community the city has because of that also plays a part in deciding which are the trends we will see in the future.
He said: “Having students in the city is a huge help, to a degree there influence on upcoming trends is crucial, you’ve got a wide range of people from all over.
“We do focus on repeat customers, we’ve got customers that have been coming from day one.”
Both universities bring many young students to the city and – whilst increasing the diversity in styles in the city – it also brings many people which are maybe searching for a quicker and more economical alternative when searching for a haircut.
Mark Thorbe, barber at GOAT Barbers, at Upper Parliament Street, discusses what long lasting trend he feels will continue over the year as we see life return to what it once was.
He said: “I would say the skin fade has been the longest hairstyle to stay in trend that I can remember.
“Obviously, trends and styles change but the skin fade has been around now for the last six to seven years and I would say it’s probably more common now than ever.”
Over the pandemic – and especially when all barber shops were forced to close down in the UK – many styles like the mullet and the buzz head featured a small return to what is trendy, but mostly they have not been able to survive the post-pandemic world.
He said: “The mullet is one of those styles that has always been around as a cult fashion.
“It appears every now and again, it seems a lot because it’s such an uncommon hairstyle but in percentage terms there’s still very few people who have it.
“It just flags up every couple of years for a short amount of time and then disappears again.”
Another consequence of lockdown and barbers closing was that many people were trying to be their own barbers with the trending sensation of ‘lockdown haircuts’ and Mark discusses how this has affected the business.
He said: “I’d say the biggest change to people’s habits at the moment is people were getting their haircuts very frequently before lockdown.
“I would say the average was probably every two weeks people were getting a trim, but at the moment they’ve fallen back off that a little bit.
“They are letting their hair grow a little bit more before they get it cut.
“I think they’re just used to having longer hair through lockdown, so it’s become a habit.”
Whatever the style you choose for your next hair-do, keep in mind these trends when deciding if you want to go ahead of the curve and get one of the trendiest styles for this year – or even if you want to go the opposite way and go for a more unique cut.
