Hairdressers in Newcastle and the North East could find themselves in deep water if an unusual charity event takes off!
Darlington hairdresser Nigel Dowson took the term “wet cut” to the extreme when he raised £2,000 by creating an underwater salon.
He managed to cut Helen Croslegh’s hair into a trendy bob despite the fact that he was wearing scuba gear at the bottom of the diving pool in Darlington’s Dolphin Centre.
The event raised £1,000 for St Teresa’s Hospice and the amount raised was doubled by Barclays, taking the total up to £2,000.
The stunt was a repeat of another underwater cut that Nigel completed more than ten years ago.
“It went very well. It actually went quicker than I expected.
“I would really like to thank everybody for sponsoring me. The amount we have got is absolutely great.
“We will have to come up with something to top this next year. I’d like to carry on the theme of extreme hairdressing and maybe do it upside down at the bottom of a bungee rope next time!”
His model, Helen Croslegh said: “I’m a regular diver, so that wasn’t a problem, and Nigel has been cutting my hair for 28 years, so he could do it blindfolded.
“I really enjoyed it, there was a great atmosphere down there.”
“We’ve already started on site and all the groundworks are in place. We just needed to wait for all the funding to finally come together from various partners before we start back on site in the next month.”
“If all goes well we’ll be looking to build more digesters in the future,” he said. “There’s plenty of food waste in the region so this is definitely a viable business model.
“The scheme will create supporting jobs as opposed to direct employment through the farming industry and the collection of waste.”
They were advised about financing the project by Newcastle accountants UNW and lawyers from Newcastle-based firm Ward Hadaway.