ACT HAIR EVENT 2018
This year’s ACT HAIR EVENT was in support of mynewhair, the charity founded by Trevor Sorbie MBE. Held in the Hellenic centre in London, Trevor Sorbie MBE featured on stage alongside Zgat, Gianni Scumaci and SLATE to celebrate the world premiere of his life documentary, which reflects his truly amazing career that has inspired generations.
As an annual non-profit hair event, ACT helps to raise awareness of a different charity every year. ACT HAIR EVENT was created by the SLATE team, Gregory Charalambides and Michael Pitsillides with the concept to share knowledge and inspiration in order to help others.
Co-Founder Michael Pitsillides says,
We invite hair icons and dynamic educators to come together and to share a vision of how the industry can improve. By showcasing innovative hair and telling inspiring stories, we hope to make us all build a better future.
This year’s event was a truly magical night with inspiring hair and a star cast; however it was not just a show but an expression of feelings on how we all have a responsibility to help others. Every person has been helped along the way in life and we believe in a culture of passing that on. The message was simple - in a world where you can be anything, be kind.
During the event Trevor Sorbie MBE held an exclusive Q&A with the 200 attendees reflecting on his career and his passion for helping those affected by medical hair loss through the charity.
Commenting on the event, Trevor Sorbie MBE said:
I’d like to thank ACT HAIR EVENT for choosing to hold this year’s event to raise awareness of mynewhair. The wonderful celebration of talent and innovation within the hair industry has helped to raise awareness of the charity and the real difference hair professionals can make to the lives of those affected by medical hair loss.
Everyone who attended the event, and those reading this, will know of someone who has been affected by medical hair loss whether it’s someone living with alopecia or undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Losing your hair due to ill health is an emotional subject. During the charity’s nurse-led training programme, the most important thing we teach hair professionals is sensitive communication skills, as cutting a wig isn’t the hardest part, it is how you support the client. While this might not be for everyone, if you feel in your body that you’d like to use your skills to help support someone in that situation then I’d encourage you to join the charity’s training programme. When I started the charity over 11 years ago, we had no idea that we would grow to an over 800-strong network of salons. It’s an exciting time for mynewhair, as we recently launched the service overseas in Dubai and in 2019 we are hoping to launch in Canada.
The audience also saw Zgat, Gianni Scumaci and SLATE present on stage telling their personal stories and showcasing different hair looks for a truly unique hair show.
With an inspiring collection on display the Zgat team demonstrated the technical genius’ they are known for while reciting the story of their best friends’ journey with cancer, from diagnosis to hair loss and finding a wig, to a full recovery.
Gianni Scumaci told a story of his journey with his mother who was diagnosed with cancer, he touched on the intelligence of a hairdresser and our journey we can take to enlightenment, all while creating a unique wig for his model with individual pieces of wefts to create a whole new set of hair for his model.
The journey of SLATE followed by the creation of the ACT HAIR EVENT was a journey of transformation through education. As hairdressers they were both aware of how they transformed people’s hair, but they wanted to explore the deeper meaning of how this changes the way you feel, but much more it can change your life, such as the work the mynewhair charity does every day for those who suffer from cancer.