Scots barber Sovereign Grooming launches Edinburgh training academy to brush up skills

A Scottish barber firm is launching a new training academy in the capital to enable participants to become fully qualified in 15 weeks.

Sovereign Grooming will debut the offering this month at its New Waverley salon in the city centre, after it invested £500,000 last year to launch its first barbering school and salon in Glasgow.

The firm is looking to train up more than 50 students a year across the two sites to help address a skills gap in the industry prompted by the pandemic, and the Edinburgh premises, which spans 1,200 square feet across two floors, is set to be overhauled to feature both the original salon and new academy.

The firm’s founder Kyle Ross says he has a decade of experience and will be giving one-to-one training to students alongside fellow expert barbers Liam Allen and Nathan Robb. Mr Ross opened Sovereign Grooming in his hometown of Aberdeen in 2016, and he has since picked up a host of awards.

He said: “Our Glasgow academy aims to qualify 36 students each year and the new Edinburgh facility will add an abundance of exciting graduates to the industry’s talent pool, with the ambition of training 600 barbers over the next decade,” he added.

Sovereign Grooming says its academy teaches the day-to-day workings of a men's grooming brand while providing students with extra skills in photo shoots, session styling, stage presenting and fashion styling. The Edinburgh academy will also offer advancement courses to established hairdressers and barbers.

The business has been backed over the years by the likes of MB Martin & Partners, which specialises in helping high-potential, early-stage companies.