Jason Hall X R+Co

Jason Hall of Jason Hall Hairdressing, Edinburgh is the first UK stylist to be named an R+Co Global Artist. We caught up with Jason to ask him about this exciting new role and to find out what the future holds.

Tell us about R+Co, what is it about the brand that made you want to put your name to it?

R+Co is a brand filled with creative energy, built upon the foundation of good hairdressing, the very ideals from the co-founders, Howard McLaren, Garren and Thom Priano, known as The Collective. R+Co itself is an artist driven brand delivering functional top quality products. For me working with a brand that has a strong education culture, with different facets such as Howards technical expertise, Garren’s vast catalogue of session work that gave him his trademark name of being the hairdresser with the most Vogue covers, ever, and Thom, who created the hair for legendary men’s campaigns for Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch - just to name a couple. R+Co is true to its form, it’s conversational, interesting, its rogue.

How does it feel to be the first UK hairdresser to become part of the infamous R+Co team?

It’s fantastic to be named an R+Co Global Artist. The journey started with a trip to the R+Co New York studio, to meet all three of the collective and enjoy a full education week with them all including artists from other countries. The experience itself was exceptional, to be mentored by these three legendary stylists, who have such different backgrounds but yet all connected through a strong belief in technical knowledge. From this I assisted Howard for the launch of R+Co at Sadler’s Wells, London, in August 2016.

2017 saw the launch of R+Co’s UK education courses, which you helped develop in New York. Tell us about the first creative course you presented, PARK AVE Styling, and how these courses came about?

R+Co is all about education, and it was essential to the success of the brand in the UK that we could offer a varied selection of courses that where on trend and relevant. Each country has different demands and I felt it was important that we kept the R+Co ethos, but tailor made the courses for a UK audience and the collective fully supported and helped with this. The PARK AVE Styling course is all about getting to know the range and learning new client friendly techniques that will excite the hairdresser and their clientele.

What’s it like working with the iconic R+Co team, Howard McLaren, Garren and Thom Priano?

Fellow scot Howard has always been a hero of mine and getting the chance to work closely with him has been a massive inspiration for me. I’ve watched Garren and Thom’s work for a long time and to get the chance to learn from them is amazing. They had all checked out my work and helped me work on the areas that I needed to expand my knowledge of.

As a very busy man, and one that seems to be getting busier by the day, how do you balance salon life with your education and session styling commitments?

I’ve spent many years building a strong team round me and without each and every one of them my schedule would be impossible to maintain. Most of my session and education work is planned and booked months in advance but I also have a really loyal, understanding clientele and that gives me the freedom to take opportunities that arise last minute. For me my salon, education and session work all have an equal importance.

What are your ‘can’t live without’ R+Co products?

R+Co PARK AVE Blow Out Balm has changed the speed I can prepare hair for my session work.

What does the rest of this year hold for Jason Hall? 

Every year the plan is quite simply to work hard, keep learning, build stronger creative opportunities and to pass on my knowledge to anyone that will listen. I’m joining my colleagues in travelling to LA for R+Co Global Artist Training in July, and well there’s a ton more planned, do watch this space, or follow Facebook.com/RandCoUK / Instagram.com/randcouk