A YOUNG student from Reading has won a barbering competition, besting students from around the borough and beyond.
Seventeen-year-old Tyron Oyebade took the top spot in the student category while he studies for a Barbering Level 2 Diploma at Reading College.
Alongside this, Tyron also works full-time as a barber at Faded Urban Grooming Lounge in Reading.
Barbering students from Abingdon & Witney College, Basingstoke College of Technology and Reading College and University Centre competed against each other in a Barber Battle competition held at Kings Road Campus.
Participants were given 45 minutes to create a hairstyle for both junior and student categories, with professional barbers Sid Da Barber, from Clean Cuts Barbershop in Guildford, Hamoodi, from Homegrown Barbershop in Harrow, and Chyna, from Fades Studio in Illford, judging each entry.
Anthony Francis, from A’s place in Harefield, presented the competition as well as helping to judge.
Local barbers Sam and Jesse from Faded Urban Grooming Lounge also gave demo cuts throughout the event alongside the professional judges.
Tyron was presented with a trophy and given a hamper including a clipper, trimmer and lots of aftercare products.
He was also given a year’s subscription to Pivot Point LAB, which provides hundreds of hours of interactive content, videos and downloadable resources to empower students.
Tyron said: “It feels good to have won–for my first competition I wasn’t expecting to win.
“I did a mid-first fade with a freestyle faded design on the left side, I just thought of it on the spot.
“Winning has boosted my confidence and has shown me that all the shifts I have put in at work have paid off.”
Mr Francis said: “It was a great honour to be presenting the event, because you are representing the work behind the scenes, so you have to make sure that you do it to the best of your ability–I absolutely loved it.
“There was a very good level of students taking part. They demonstrated everything that they have learnt in class throughout the year and represented themselves very well.
“Thank you very much Simone, for giving me the privilege of presenting.”
Simone Thomas-Lovelock, Barbering Tutor at Activate Learning, said: “For the first event, I think that it went very well.
“We’ve had some amazing talent today, the students and the juniors all did so well.
“I’m very proud of Tyron. I’ve seen the improvements he has made this year. It shows that working in a barber shop while studying pays off.”
