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[title]We're closing off 2021 re-sharing some of our favourite pieces of the year. In July, we hit the barbershop with Sheldon Edwards, hairdresser to some of the biggest football stars in the UK.
Barber Sheldon Edwards knows how important a good haircut is. When England’s top footballers are preparing for a big game, he’s the one they call.
The Jamaica-born Battersea resident has become the go-to hairdresser for some of the biggest stars of the England squad in the past few years. He’s responsible for the crispy fades on Raheem Sterling, Jude Bellingham, Reece James and Jadon Sancho. He’s also the man behind Phil Foden’s now-notorious bleach job, which propelled Edwards’s Lavender Hill barbershop into the spotlight.
A third-generation barber, Edwards spent years perfecting his craft before opening HD Cutz four years ago. It’s on the street he got his first job cutting hair as a teenager. ‘I just walked into a barbershop one day and asked if I could get a job,’ he says. ‘They were looking at me funny because I was only 16, but they gave me a chance. That day I worked from ten in the morning to 12 at night, and I haven’t stopped working since.’
Edwards’s first footballer client was former Fulham player Moussa Dembélé. ‘He said he was looking for a new barber,’ Edwards says. ‘So I gave him a nice cut and he said I gave him so much confidence.’ He met more footballers when he accompanied the French striker to the 2016 Euros, including Belgium international Radja Nainggolan, who started flying him out to Italy when he and his Roma teammates needed a trim.
Edwards can now claim to be the Premier League’s favourite hairstylist, with Paul Pogba, Michail Antonio, Riyad Mahrez and Antonio Rüdiger all calling on his services. His secret is not just his skill with clippers. ‘People go to the barbershop to de-stress,’ he says. ‘They often speak about what’s going on in their life, and a good barber is there to listen.’
Find HD Cutz at 103a Lavender Hill, SW11 5QL. www.hdcutz.co.uk