Afro

Hair & Beauty

Live

Fresh, Fierce and Fabulous!

Bank Holiday weekend – Sunday 30^th and Monday 31^st May.

Business Design Centre, Islington, London

Afro Hair & Beauty Live – the spectacular hair and beauty event that launched the careers of the UK’s top Afro Stylists – is coming to cosmopolitan Islington with a fresh look and fabulous line up!

Taking place at the Business Design Centre, London, on May 30^th and 31^st, the stylish show will be bringing the best hair and beauty trends from around the world, all under one roof. 

Now in its 28^th year, the show has been refreshed to bring a modern take on black beauty. With more things to do, more things to try and now even easier to get to, the show is set to draw a new wave of visitors looking for the latest products and trends.

And with the new venue comes a new, vibrant attitude and packed line-up guaranteed to make your bank holiday the most fierce yet! The show will be split into 3 fabulous zones:

Shop – sample brands from around the world, some of which are available exclusively at the show, and speak to experts who will help you uncover your perfect product. From natural shea butter to lace front wigs, every taste and pocket will be catered for.

Spoil – be polished and preened with massage, threading, makeovers and more in the Indulgence Zone.

Show – watch the amazing stage shows with fashion, dance and demonstrations across the whole weekend.

This year, the winner takes all in the amazing Sensationnel Icon. The show-stopping spectacle will bring together the most creative hair designers from around the country, with each one creating a collection of elaborate masterpieces. Colour, shape and astounding workmanship are a must!  There are three trophies Weave Genius, Braid Impact and Avant Garde

Also check out the Annual Wahl Battle of the Barbers. Speed, accuracy and showmanship are the name of the game with this (almost!) cut-throat competition. 8 barbers, 8 sets of clippers and 2 judges will go head to head with the stop-clocked contest that sorts the men from the boys!

Organiser Grace Kelly commented: “Afro Hair & Beauty Live has been a ‘must do’ with many visitors for many years. But we wanted more, and the visitors wanted more. So we have moved to new and more central location, and added elements into the show that consumers will love. Don’t think you’ve seen it all before – this year’s show will blow you away.”  

As well as all this, watch out for special guest PA’s, model competitions and a whole heap of special surprises that are being lined up for the weekend spectacular.

If you think you know Afro Hair & Beauty Live, think again!

Tickets are just £10 in advance and £12 on the door. Visit www.afrohairshow.com for outlets.

Afro Hair & Beauty Live was launched in 1982 and has grown to the largest paid for Black event in Europe

For images, interviews with industry experts or

real-life case studies, please contact:

Sam Brown or Emma Macorison at Love Communications

Email emma@wearelove.co.uk

Cy Grant -
War hero
More than being a mere strummer of chords

Cy Grant, who has died aged 90 years old, was the first West Indian, and, indeed, the first black person, that most English people of their generation ever saw. For three years from 1957 he opened the popular BBC television programme with a calypso commenting on the events of he day. Grant, who was born in Guyana (then British Guiana), was so successful in that role that he became type-cast and his careers – sorry, his careers – suffered accordingly. There was so much more to Cy than being a mere strummer of chords.

It was known that he was also an actor, even if most people suspected, wrongly, that the acting opportunities came as a result of, rather than preceding, his calypso spot. It was hardly mentioned, if at all, that he was a qualified barrister. At that time there was very little work in Britain for black barristers however qualified they may have been. At least in acting Grant had a second string to his bow. Even that was not the extent of the abilities of an extraordinary man who was also a writer, civil rights campaigner and ...... a war hero.

The 1950s, when Cy was whistling tunes penned for him by critic Bernard Levin, were high-point for films about the Second World War, especially those, such as Dambusters, about the air-raids over a Germany. That was followed by the Great Escape in the following decade. Yet here was an actor eminently qualified for these roles who was quite over-looked. Grant had been an RAF officer – a navigator on those very raids. And he was shot down and taken prisoner, even spending some time at the same prisoner-of-war camp where the real Great Escape took place. For him captivity had double jeopardy – he was an enemy combatant and a black person who had fallen into the hands of a regime which practised extreme ethnic cleansing.

His experiences of racial discrimination in Britain changed Cy Grant, a man who was born into comparative privilege, from being television’s cheery “innocuous” token black man to a campaigning activist. Towards the end of his long life, and particularly in his final years, he was active through his writing, speaking and research in ensuring that the black servicemen of the Second World War, especially those of the R.A.F., should not be forgotten. It would be appropriate if Cy Grant could return again to our screens (but large and small) as the subject of a film of his life.

The last time that I saw Mr Grant personally was back a couple of years at the same meeting at the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s/women’s Association in Clapham, South London as at which I also last saw Connie Mark, another campaigner for the recognition of Second World War service personnel, just a few days before she died.

Clayton Goodwin
16^th February 2010