Harmony & Divine Hair Academy sets up certification for Afro-Caribbean stylists
A shortage of trained staff prompted Sabina Harris-Hercules to take the bull by the horns and start a new Afro-Caribbean stylists apprenticeship programme at Harmony & Divine Hair Academy, a new training venture she’s launching with hair and beauty trainer Savannah Sneed.
“We want to see the community flourish with employment and new shops opening up,” says Sabina, “for everyone to get qualifications locally instead of people going to London, so we’re going to open up here and in Peterborough and everywhere else.”
Sabina has been the proprietor of the Harmony Hair Afro-Caribbean hair salon in Norfolk Street for 20 years and has traditionally found it hard to get trainees.
“We’ll be having some 20-year celebrations later this year,” she says in the Norfolk Street salon. “It’s a milestone! It has been challenging at times due to the lack of qualified stylists and people to push the salon on further, so progress has been limited.
“I actually got someone in from Ghana to get trained up at one point because no one would take the role on. Over the longevity of the business, we have recruited one qualified hair stylist from Cambridge Regional College. We had to train her in Afro hair/mixed race/textured and similar curly hair. We have noticed there’s a gap and shortage in the market for qualified stylists and barbers in this field.
“People go to London because of a lack of opportunity in Cambridge, and the Academy is in a good position to serve other communities. Why not bring it back here? We’re in a good position to provide that.”
The Academy, which opens in June, will train and offer work experience, and aims to offer a link to City & Guilds qualifications.
“I’m working on that with the beauty side of things to help people get qualified,” says Savannah, who adds she is “super-excited” about the Academy.
“On the barber side it’s health and safety, cleaning, also working with chemicals and the proper use of growth treatments. There’s individual certifications for each and a certification for getting them all, which will include wig-wearing and braiding.”
Sabina adds: “We’re hoping to have therapeutic workshops for people with mental health issues as well.”
In the run-up to the launch Sabrina and Savannah are hosting a music event.
“This is a community project in which members of the community are helping to raise funds for the Academy,” Sabina says. “On May 7, we’ll be holding a fundraising evening of entertainment at the Arbury Community Centre on Campkin Road. We have various artists including Fekky, General Saint, Hercules, Rabadaba, Dogoaw, Yvonne Hercules, poetry and more, who will be contributing their talents.”
Fekky, who is based in London, is “very much a community person and wants to see us flourish”.
Full details of this concert will be published in the Cambridge Independent when they become available. Meanwhile Sabrina and Savannah are looking forward to the launch of their unique hair academy for Afro-Caribbean stylists.
Sabina concludes: “Harmony & Divine Hair Academy hopes to bridge the gap in the market, to train and offer work experience. We hope that the end result will be qualifications that will be of benefit to local businesses in the hair industry operating in Cambridgeshire.”
