Josh Rees-Hole, 3rd Great British Hairdresser
E4 April 2011
In 2007, aged 18, Josh Rees Hole started his learning journey which took him from leaving his college course in Public Services to working in exclusive London salon, Urban Retreat in Harrods.
After deciding that his HND in Public Services was just not for him, Josh set about finding himself a job with a creative aspect. He found a job in the Hair Business, Cowbridge, a salon that ISA Training had been working with for many years. Following a probationary period, Josh started his NVQ Level 2 with ISA Training in June 2007. During 2009 his training consultant David Pearce encouraged him to enter Salon Cymru and since being crowned the overall winner, he hasnít looked back. Representatives from the British Hairdressing Team were at Salon Cymru and were so impressed with his work that they immediately invited him to train with Junior British Team and, along with another of ISA's learner's Laura Kelland, who was also spotted at Salon Cymru. Josh and Laura went onto compete for Britain at the Paris Internationals 2009. ISA Training continued to support him during this time; Shirley Davis-Fox, ISA's Managing Director and Clare Jeffries, Operations Manager accompanied Josh and Laura to Paris to support them during this exciting and challenging time as well as part funding the trip in conjunction with WAG.
Winning Salon Cymru 2009 had a very positive effect on the salon where Josh worked, he was featured in local newspapers which directly brought custom into the salon. One of these new customers was BBC Wales newsreader Lucy Owen. Lucy hosted ISA Training's Salon Cymru and watched all the competitions taking place. She booked an appointment with Josh after Salon Cymru and along with her family have since become regular clients.
ISA Training entered Josh for the Welsh Assembly Government's Learner of the Year in 2009, he won this prestigious award and went onto start his AMA which he completed in June 2010. Since then, he has made it to the final of E4's Great British Hairdresser, coming third overall, which gave him and the salon TV coverage for 10 weeks. Following this Josh now works in Urban Retreat in Harrods, London but his ultimate goal is to return to Wales and open his own salon where he will become actively involved, along with ISA Training, in training his team.
Josh returned to Wales in April 2011 to give a Masterclass to learners who had entered Salon Cymru 2011. One of those learners who attended - Nikita Tandy - went on to become the Overall Winner 2011.
