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‘No photoshopping, no AI, it’s pure hair creativity’: the festival where haircutting is a spectator sport

The Guardian UK Thursday 02 July 2026, 08:14 UTC By Isabella Lee, photography by Jessica Hromas 1 min read
Key Points

At Sydney’s Hair festival, professionals from the hair industry put their locks on show – and jostle for a view of the live cutting competitionIsabella Lee, photos by Jessica HromasAt the entrance of the Hair festival in Sydney’s ICC exhibition centre in late June, mannequin heads with luscious locks silently cast me as a fraud. I’m no hairdresser and this is an industry-only event for hairdressers, barbers and stylists. Rainbow cheetah-print buzz cuts, sea-green rat-tails and blunt mullets...

At Sydney’s Hair festival, professionals from the hair industry put their locks on show – and jostle for a view of the live cutting competition
Isabella Lee, photos by Jessica Hromas

At the entrance of the Hair festival in Sydney’s ICC exhibition centre in late June, mannequin heads with luscious locks silently cast me as a fraud. I’m no hairdresser and this is an industry-only event for hairdressers, barbers and stylists. Rainbow cheetah-print buzz cuts, sea-green rat-tails and blunt mullets – on human heads – pass me by as I make my way into the centre of it all.

Bass-heavy music echoes around the hall and the crowd heaves with excitement as a large timer counts down to the final 10 seconds. Pushing through the crowd, I’m trying to get a view of the most popular event of the day, the live hair cutting competition.

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AI (ORG) Sydney (LOCATION) Lee (PERSON) Jessica HromasAt (PERSON)
Originally published by The Guardian UK Read original →

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