Ashley Thomson has always wanted to be a hairdresser
Unfortunately no one was able to teach him how to do this because he was born with one hand and the received wisdom is that you need two hands to cut and style hair.
Undeterred he set about learning how to style hair in his own unique way. He was lucky because he had the support of both his friends and family. For example his Nan bought him a Vidal Sassoon hairdressing book from a car boot sale, and his friends allowed him to experiment on their hair.
Because he was one-handed he was unable to train as a hairdresser and complete all the units required for an NVQ, but his persistence paid off when he was accepted at the TLT Hairdressing Academy in London.
When he started out as a professional hairdresser Ashley had problems gaining clients because people had preconceptions about what he could and couldn’t do but he now has a small and regular customer base.
To read more about Ashley go to www.kentishtowner.co.uk/2013/07/01/so-whats-it-like-being-a-one-handed-hairdresser/