The fake hairdresser remembers
Reading B2
The fake hairdresser remembers
Some years ago, a British TV company came up with an idea for a reality TV show. People with no experience would be trained in a profession in a very short period of time, then would try and pass themselves off as the real thing with the general public. The show was called Faking It, and the format has since been imitated the world over. One of the first contestants was Gavin Freeborn, a twenty-three-year-old farmer’s son, who trained with celebrity hairdresser Trevor Sorbie in London. Gavin remembers the experience.
‘I was at university, studying for a degree in agriculture, when some friends mentioned that a TV company had advertised for people to take part in Faking It. They were looking for someone who’d never picked up a pair of scissors or thought of hairdressing as a career, which I certainly hadn’t. I reckoned it would be a laugh. Having spent my school holidays shearing sheep on my parents’ farm, I was used to the idea of haircutting, but obviously it’s harder doing it on people – because they have an opinion about it!’
‘I’d never been to London before and it was so busy that I felt a bit overwhelmed at first. Meeting Trevor for the first time, he seemed really strict, but once he realised I was taking the challenge seriously we got on like a house on fire and they often had to stop filming because we couldn’t stop giggling. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do any of the washing or sweeping floors other people new to the business have to do. I went straight into blow-drying and cutting instead.’
‘At first I practised on a dummy’s head, which was a welcome safety net, but I did make a really bad mistake halfway through filming when I was cutting one real man’s hair. I’d been shown how to use clippers to get a cropped effect but hadn’t been warned to angle the comb. I ended up shaving off a huge patch of hair! He couldn’t see what I’d done, but the camera crew couldn’t stop laughing, so it was obvious I’d made a mistake. Luckily, I managed to rectify the situation and told the client, who was alright about it, so I forgave them.’
‘By the day of my final test, I knew I was capable but I felt sick with nerves. I didn’t want to let Trevor down. But even though I failed to convince the client that I was a real hairdresser, she approved of the haircut and the judges were impressed by it, too. It didn’t worry me at the time but, looking back now, I think it was a bit unfair that I was penalised for taking too long – and hour-and-a-half – when I’d been taught the most important thing was to ensure your client walks out of the salon feeling like a million dollars.’
‘After the programme, I went home for a week but I decided to come back to London because I’d fallen in love with the buzz of the city. People in town kept stopping and staring at me as if I was famous. I found this unnerving at first, but with time I got used to it. There were a few comments about me being too full of myself, but I took no notice.’
‘When I agreed to do Faking It, I had no idea how much I was signing my life away, but I couldn’t say I have any regrets. The thing is that I’ve discovered growing up on a farm doesn’t mean I can’t work in a creative field. What’s more, I’ve now got choices I didn’t realise I had, which is brilliant. Although I still keep in contact with everyone from Trevor’s salon, and we all go out when I’m in London, I’m hardly a celebrity anymore.’