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Australia’s Way Cool Barber School

BY REX A.C. SILVER

Gareth Philpott’s vision for what their students experience, learn and achieve at their institution, is a meticulously well thought out program that culminates from the benefits of his years of experience in the Registered Training Organisation trade, across many varied industries, his 6 years in Barbering, and decades of experience in the Hair and Hair Education industry alongside Dee Thomas, his co-owner and mum!

Couple this with his enthusiasm for the Barbering and Men’s Grooming Industry and Gareth’s’ tendency to think outside the box in terms of how he gathers the all the information and skill sets both practical and theoretical he feels their students need to complete their courses at The Barber Academy.

And we see not only a crack team of highly skilled in-house educators but also many specialists from all facets of the industry involved in order to achieve his goal of giving their students the best start they can. The results are speaking for themselves with the numbers of Barber Academy Alumni successfully being placed in employment upon graduating. Currently only located in Brisbane and on The Gold Coast…but not for long.

Let’s start at the beginning, tell us about yourself and your background, and the journey that lead to you opening The Barber Academy.

I am the Co-owner of The Barber Academy Australia with my Mam Dee Thomas. Dee has 40+ years’ experience in the hair industry, and 20+ years in Education. Dee was headhunted by a Hair & Beauty college in Australia in 2006 which was when we moved to Australia from Wales in the UK.

My pathway into Education started through the fitness industry then led to Business and Management as well as teaching the TAE. We both have compliance and teaching backgrounds which led us into opening up our own RTO in 2015. We first started off with Childcare, Business, Hairdressing and Beauty courses due to Dee’s background in the industry.

In 2016 Dee was diagnosed with double pneumonia which was a huge hit to not only me but to the company. I had no previous experience in the hair industry apart from being brought up in salons with my mum. When Mum was in hospital I decided to give barbering a whirl. This was outside of my normal 9-5 job, something which would take my mind off my mum’s illness as well as speaking to my mates about my mum but in a way I felt safe while butchering their hair as I had watched one you tube video on barbering ha-ha.

As we could only visit my mum at certain times I had managed to put some photos and videos of the haircuts I was doing to show my mum in the hospital. I was really enjoying cutting hair, but I had no idea what I was doing.

My mum broke down crying when I showed her the photos of the hair I was doing (Not too sure if this was because they were awful haircuts or the fact that I was following after her profession) Sadly my hair career was cut short due to not being able to study on the Gold Coast, unless I was in an apprenticeship which at the time was not an option for me.

I had texted my Mum while she was in her hospital bed saying the dream was over and I was going back to compliance.

One week later, I had gone to visit my Mum in hospital again. Amazingly while she was fighting an illness which could have potentially killed her, she had come up with the business name The Barber Academy as well as drawn our logo and put Barbering on our scope.

Thankfully with my Mum making a full recovery since her illness, we have gone from strength to strength, we hired Stacy Fernandes (AMBA Best Men’s Collection “Classic” 2022) who transformed our Barbering to the next level. To have someone who has been there and done that in the Barber Industry was a massive boost to the company...

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Ready to Start Your Journey?

If you’ve ever dreamed of a career where you can blend creativity, skill, and connection, now’s the time.

📞 Contact us at 1800 431 327
🏢 Visit us at thebarberacademy.com.au
📧 Email: [email protected]

Barbering is more than a job—it’s a lifestyle. And with The Barber Academy, you’ll be fully prepared to embrace it.