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 Edward Dutton interviews English hairdresser Kevin Carter, who found work in Oulu fairly fast.
Kevin Carter’s reasons for coming to Oulu are difficult to argue with. Working in a fashionable hairdressers in London and Brighton (where he’d even cut the hair of the odd pop star), Kevin had been cutting a Finnish women’s hair for a while when he asked her out. After dating for a few years, ‘she found herself pregnant and wanted to have her child back home because she thought it was a safer place!’
Looking back on it, Kevin thinks she was probably right. ‘London has a lot going on’ he smiles, ‘but here there are no muggings, there’s no drug problem. It’s a good environment for a child.’ Always Interested in Fashion Dressed all in black, including a black tie, Kevin tells me that ‘I’ve always been interested in fashion’ and ‘changing appearance’ and this is one of the reasons why he got into hairdressing when he was seventeen . . . that and going to the hairdressers with his mum when he was a kid and being given ‘lollipops.’ Kevin had worked in salons in central London and Brighton – such as Toni and Guy – before coming to Finland in 2001.
He found work quite quickly. ‘I just asked around different hairdressers,’ he remembers. ‘It didn’t take long. I was very lucky. Kevin would simply walk into hairdressers with his CV and certificates and ask if there was any work. Quite quickly, one of the salons offered him work.
This kind of confidence, Kevin thinks, is normal if you want to be a hairdresser and is maybe why language hasn’t been that big of an issue. ‘If you can create good styles and you know what you’re doing and you can keep them happy then language shouldn’t be an issue,’ Kevin points out.
Like Auditioning for a Film
‘It’s a bit like auditioning for a film,’ he says. ‘You do tests. You’ve gotta have good social skills, without being big-headed of course. It’s a part of hairdressing. You’ve gotta talk to people all through the day and adapt to situations even if they’ve got a different point of view from you.’ Kevin now works at Salon Sara and hasn’t found his less than fluent Finnish to be a problem . . . and nor has his boss or clients.
‘In the first place I worked at, they’d mainly book the English-speaking customers for me and for the Finnish speakers my colleague could speak English quite well and she’d translate what the customer said into English if needed.’ Kevin insists, though, that despite going on various courses, the Finnish language has been very difficult to learn.
‘I know enough to tell them about their hair,’ he smiles. ‘But I normally start off by saying I’m from England and I understand a lot but can’t speak much. Sixty percent of them say, “Oh yeah! Then we can speak English!” I’m thankful for that! It makes my life easier!’ The younger customers in particular are happy to speak English but Kevin also gets middle-aged businessmen and housewives who also like to practice their English skills. He charges between 32 and 40 euros to cut a woman’s hair and 26 euros for a man.
Finns Appreciate the Fine Details
His advice to foreigners looking for work is to have their qualifications, CV and every part of their work history – no matter how small – sorted out and presented.
‘The exact details of your education . . . It’s best to have it all prepared and there together. Finns appreciate the fine details.’ He also advises ‘confidence’ which he thinks that some foreigners especially are good at coming across as to Finns . . . but without being ‘brash.’
Though Kevin has separated from her mother, he has stayed in Oulu to be close to his now seven year-old girl and he fumbles around in his leather jacket trying to find a receipt for a toy he bought which she already has so he can exchange it when we finish the interview. But there are things about home that he misses. ‘Friends and family of course . . . and being able to walk to the supermarket and get pretty much anything I fancy! You need to shop around here and sometimes I can’t get fresh ingredients!’ Kevin is also a budding amateur chef.
Finnish Extremes
Apart from the ‘cold’ weather, there are many things about Finland that Kevin has had to get used to.
‘The culture’s a little bit closed . . . sort of reserved . . . but if you get to know people then they can be quite friendly, you know . . . kind of beneath the ice!’ The ‘extreme’ difference between the ‘reserve’ of Finns and their extraordinary ‘friendliness ‘after a few drinks’ has also amazed Kevin.
‘Finns are really proud of their country,’ he observes. ‘Like at Juhannus, you know, you get these festivals where everyone goes to the forest and the sauna . . . it’s kind of vaguely Pagan . . . but they're in the sauna they see the English guy so they make it as hot as possible, you know . . . this Suomen Sisu . . . they can endure extremes!’
‘A Walking Advert for Me’
But Kevin is very happy working for Salon Sara. ‘It’s a relaxed place and there’s a good bunch of stylists capable of producing a cool new look for any customer,’ he tells me.
And the ‘look’ is particularly important to Kevin. ‘I wouldn’t be prepared to do a style that didn’t look good even if the customer asked for it,’ laughed Kevin. ‘People whose hair I cut are a walking advert for me. I’m not gonna just take the cash and make someone look stupid! Then none of their friends’ll want me to cut their hair!’
‘But if any English speaking expats or anyone who likes to speak English wants a cool haircut then come and see me!’ Kevin says as we make our way to the toy shop to exchange his little girl’s present.
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