By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
BERWICK’S Chisholm Institute has recognised a hole in their hairdressing department and has decided to bring in a local professional barber to fill the gap.
Head of hairdressing, beauty and wellness at the Berwick campus Ruth Browne said the skill of barbering had disappeared from modern day hairdressing.
“It may be ‘hipster’ but the art of barbering is back and Chisholm has responded to the market with a new intense eight-day barbering course,” Ms Browne said.
As trendy barber shops pop up around Melbourne, Ms Browne said the market was calling out for a barber specific course.
“We will be teaching traditional barbering techniques like hot razor shaves, towel treatments and scissor fades which are skills not taught in the national training packages.
“A few years ago ladies and men’s hairdressing was joined and taught together and of course there was collateral damage – Chisholm is bridging that gap now,” Ms Browne said.
Chisholm Institute currently run a combination course of men’s and women’s hair, but Ms Browne said the program didn’t meet the needs of students who purely wanted to learn barbering.
“We need a specific barbering course because we don’t have one within our training programs yet – but we want to build on this short course and make Chisholm Berwick the hub for hairdressing,” she said.
Twenty students have already signed up for the eight-week course which starts on Monday 31 August and will be taught by local barber and hairdresser Mario Fallace.
“It’s been about 20 years since students have been training in barbering and Mario is one of the last traditionally trained barbers and I’m sure this course is going to be very popular,” she said.
