Top award makes Hard Grind worth it

FROM his first haircut using orange handled kitchen scissors, Colin Petrie now heads up the official best barber shop in Scotland.

Colin, director at Hard Grind, and his team picked up the gong at the Scottish Hair and Beauty Awards at the beginning of the month, naming them Scotland’s best barber shop.

Hard Grind was opened on Exchange Street in November 2014 with just Colin on the shop floor.

He had started his hair career when he toured as a professional musician and quickly became the unofficial stylist for his band mates.

“I was always the one doing every ones hair on the road,” Colin said.

“I am completely self taught and my first ever cut was with a pair of orange handled kitchen scissors, but I grew my clientele from there.

“I worked as an operations manager at Arkive where I opened a barber shop before I opened Hard Grind.

“After a while there I decided it was time for me to branch out on my own.

“I wanted my own front door and to work for myself, so I took on the barber shop part of Hard Grind with the tagline Cuts, Clothing, Coffee which is still the same to this day.

“When I opened there was just me and it was kind of like tumbleweeds rolling through the shop as it was such a big space but I knew from the start I wanted room to grow and now we have the space beside the original shop, too, which is Daily Grind.”

In June 2015 Colin opened a second shop in Aberdeen after realising there wasn’t much like Hard Grind in the Granite City.

He said: “When I opened in Dundee there was nothing like Hard Grind, we have been sponsored by Rockstar, Sailor Jerry’s and Brewdog from the start and I introduced a coffee bar, playstations etc so it was a whole experience as well as really good hair cuts. We had loads of people making their way from Aberdeen to get their hair done so after looking in to it I decided to open the second shop as I knew there was nothing like it there either.”

And for anyone out there hoping to follow in Colin’s business footsteps, he urges folk to keep believing.

“I have had wins and had fails but I am always learning and always believing that if you work hard enough it will pay off.”