In the run up to National Apprenticeship Week (10-16 February 2025) KH Hair has underscored the power of apprenticeships. It has revealed that every single one of its 27 franchisees/salon owners began their careers as an apprentice with the group.
KH Hair is synonymous with the provision of exceptional, forward-thinking training. Its apprenticeship programme takes raw talent from across the East Midlands and helps train and also develop young people for a successful career in hairdressing. The Group has been delivering apprenticeships/training opportunities to young people for 78 years and, during this time, has graduated around 2,300 apprentices/trainees.
The Group has 20 salons across the East Midlands and 2025 marks 40 years since the adoption of the franchise model following the retirement of company founder, Mr Keith Hall MBE in 1985.
Amanda Fall, salon director of the Group’s Leicester and Oadby salons, joined the apprenticeship scheme in 1989 aged just 16. She first bought into the Leicester franchise in 1999 and, when the Oadby salon opened in 2014, she jumped at the chance to own it. Throughout her career she has won a number of industry awards and has travelled the country carrying out master classes and representing the Group. “A big challenge in the beginning was having to line manage the people who had trained me!” says Amanda. “I was very young, but I had fantastic support from the Academy and from head office.”
In Leicester, Amanda has now built one of the most successful salons in KH Hair’s 20-strong portfolio. “College simply does not give you the opportunities an apprenticeship has to offer,” she says. “Completing an apprenticeship means you can walk into any hairdressing job, as you will have already gained interpersonal skills as well as the client-facing experiences that are so invaluable.
KH Hair Group’s managing director, Darren Messias, recently celebrated 35 years with the company, having joined the apprenticeship scheme in 1988. “We are so incredibly proud that all our franchisees have been with KH Hair from leaving school at 16 years of age,” he says “It is testament to the fact that we have always offered distinct career paths for anyone who wants the opportunities. Of course, we also recognise that being a salon owner is not for everyone, so we make sure we are able to offer alternative career paths should any of our team choose to follow them.”
An apprenticeship is for those with the motivation to join the world of work
KH Hair’s Loughborough salon celebrated its 40th anniversary last year and is run by joint franchisees, Cate Rowland and Sheralynne Shepherd. Cate joined KH Hair as a young apprentice in 1982, working her way up through the hairdressing ranks to become joint director of the salon in 1996 alongside Michael McMenamin. After Michael’s retirement in 2006, the salon’s former apprentice and noticeable rising star, Sheralynne, went into partnership with Cate. At just 23, she was the Group’s youngest ever franchisee. “We’d recommend an apprenticeship to anyone with motivation and who is ready for the world of work,” adds Sheralynne. “Hairdressing is such a lovely career, and our training programme is still one of the best out there.”
KH Hair’s Long Eaton Academy achieves incredibly high successes year-on-year and has been awarded top marks of 100 per cent by funding partners, Central Training Group – the only Academy to achieve this. Its state-of-the-art facilities include a working salon where trainees can run their own column and train in all skills up to Level 3 Diploma for Hair Professionals. In their third year, apprentices are able to take part in a micro business course. There, they learn all about the whole journey of salon business life. This Young Enterprise Group teaches graduate stylists about how a salon is operated and managed, as well as the financial considerations of running a business.