Fancy working abroad as a hairdresser? find out how!

Love hair, the hairdressing industry and all the exciting opportunities it has to offer, but not entirely convinced you’ll be suited to working in a salon each day? Working abroad as a hairdresser could be for you. Play your cards right and you could be jetting round the world, showcasing products, teaching at shows or forecasting the next big trends. David 'Fletch' Fletcher shares his life as an international globetrotter. "I was just 12 (yes, 12!) when I started work in my uncle Paul’s salon in Oldham, so I developed a really strong work ethic from a young age. I still remember polishing the base of a chair for one hour because he told me he used to spend all day just making one shine! "When I left school I moved onto TONI & GUY Deansgate, Manchester to do an apprenticeship. I was ready to work and I think I would have found it really hard to learn anything in a classroom environment. "From there I moved around a bit, spent some time working as a hairdresser on cruise ships and even went back to Headhunters, my uncle’s salon, where I worked for four years as a style director, but the big moment of my career came when I started working at Urban Retreat Harrods. "While I was there Andrew Dale, the CEO and founder of Unite came in to teach a class. I was blown away by what an amazing hairstylist he was and that the product company’s CEO had actually turned up at our salon to teach a class. "I was super inspired, so I started doing some product knowledge courses for the brand and my role developed from there. "These days, I travel globally sharing my knowledge and skills and educating and inspiring as many stylists as I can. I’m forever working with talented hair stylists from all over the world, but I don’t feel like a teacher. It’s more like a few of us get together, catch up and do some cool hair. "The downside is that I am never in the same place for long enough to catch my breath, but I love the variety. A day could be anything from teaching in-salon classes to a runway show at fashion week or planning and being on stage at global shows for the brand. "Solid technical ability is really important for anyone who wants to make a career travelling the world as a hairdresser like me, but the single most important attribute you will need is fantastic communication skills. "How we communicate, excite people, educate them and share the message is vital in everything you do in this industry and for this type of role, you’ll need a big personality that engages people. "When I moved to Urban Retreat, I realised that to be successful you have to love what you do, be passionate and everything else will fall into place. So if you want to follow my career path my advice to you would be to be passionate, always be happy, never say no and take every opportunity that comes your way.”