A well-known Ballina barber has added to his collection with another prestigious award.
Following on from winning Barber of the Year at the Irish Hair and Beauty Awards in September, Ricky Pownall picked up the Barber Cut Senior Award at the Crossan BeFab Hair and Beauty Awards, which were held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo on Sunday, November 19.
These achievements have been decades in the making as Ricky has been cutting hair since the age of 13.
“I was in a salon in town, with John McGoldrick at the time, and I just went around to a few different places and built up a clientele,” Ricky told the Western People.
He decided to go out on his own seven years ago and open Ricky’s Barbers on Market Lane in Ballina and it has gone from strength to strength since.
He was also a winner two years in a row, in 2018 and 2019, at the Mayo Style Awards.
“I won the Overall Excellence Award in 2019, but then covid happened, so the competitions stopped and it’s only coming back around now,” said the 32-year-old.
Since winning the award, Ricky has noticed more avenues opening in front of him.
“I’ve noticed a lot of people reaching out looking to book in with me.
“It brought me a new job opportunity, I got an offer to work up in Westport College [Mayo College of Further Education and Training] to teach training courses,” said Ricky. “It brings a few different opportunities your way.
“I’ve one lad and he’s here for the next 10 weeks and he’s going travelling again, so I’ll be back on my own, but hopefully now with teaching this course I get someone in if I can see they have something in them.”
Ricky spent all of last week revamping his barbershop, which he hopes to have finished this week, and his new award will sit proudly on the shelf.
