Leah Hayden Cassidy
A London Irish Story as told to Matthew Dunne-Miles
“It was so difficult after giving up football, but when I found barbering, I just started to get that spark and that passion again.”
“I'm originally from Dublin. Blanchardstown, to be more specific, but my Mam now lives in Portmarnock – right by the sea.
I haven't lived in Dublin for five years and the sea is the thing I really miss, as well as the people. When you move away, you realise how proud you are to be Irish. What I dislike is the rent and cost of living. Dublin is an amazing place, but I think for young creative people it's just impossible to be there. I think that's why you find a lot of Irish in London.
I always played football and that's what I wanted to do. I got a scholarship in America and went to university there. Three years into my scholarship, there was a slide tackle and I broke my leg. My tibia and fibula completely snapped, and I couldn't play again. I had four operations over there and had no family or anybody around - just my teammates looking after me.
It was heart-breaking, actually. All I ever knew was playing football. I never really put as much as I should into school, because in the back of my mind I knew that football is what I wanted to do. I got home and for two years in Dublin I didn’t know what the next stage was.
I wasn't someone who has always loved hair. My grandma would say that she was a hairdresser, but after the dodgy cuts I got off her...she definitely wasn't.
“I got a scholarship in America and went to university there.
Three years into my scholarship, there was a slide tackle and I broke my leg.”
I started barbering one of my friends. It was fun and we just had a laugh. I had never set foot in a barber shop, but I was looking for what I wanted to do. I picked up a home clipper set and started cutting friends’ hair in my Mam's kitchen. Through that I found myself getting a lot more interested in the industry.
It was so difficult after giving up football, but when I found barbering, I just started to get that spark and that passion again. I got a job as a junior barber in Dublin in a trendy barber shop. They took me under their wing. From there, I fell in love with the industry and with cutting hair. It was about six months before I was getting my own clients and starting to become fully booked. I got offered a job in Berlin as a barber. I packed my bags and ended up living there for two years. It was amazing.
My girlfriend and I decided to move to London for our careers. I knew the city a little bit, but not nearly as much as I thought! I refused to get on the tube for the first six months of living in London because I just can't handle it.
We moved to West Kensington. Everyone is always like ‘Why West Kensington!?’. All of our friends live in Hackney or East London. I wanted to feel the real London experience that you see in the films. I wanted to be near Notting Hill! After living in Berlin, which is similar to East London, I think we just wanted to kind of go somewhere completely different. We've been here three years and there's some of the best pubs ever around here, and some great Irish pubs too.
I'm an educator, so I teach a lot. My teaching used to take me away every weekend around the world. In 2019, I would go to Brazil, then I would come back to London for a day, swap bags, and then go to Vancouver, then Romania, then Germany.
“My teaching used to take me away every weekend around the world.
In 2019, I would go to Brazil, then I would come back to London for a day, swap bags, and then go to Vancouver, then Romania, then Germany.”
When COVID happened, all my tours got cancelled. I freaked out. I was renting a chair in two barber shops in Covent Garden and I could no longer make money off cutting clients either. Now, looking back, it's been probably one of the biggest years of my career so far, because it gave me that first initial four months to just focus. I was living weekend to weekend. It was so fast paced that I didn't really know what I wanted to do.
Through the first lockdown, I set up my website and I launched products. I did everything I was still able to do including online videos and teaching. I now have my own studio in Hackney. I commute over. I've faced my fear of getting on the tube!
It was a scary time, but I got to experience London and fell in love with London. We are so central, and the streets were empty. It was probably the only time you'll ever get to see things like that.
“It was a scary time, but I got to experience London and fell in love with London. We are so central, and the streets were empty.
It was probably the only time you'll ever get to see things like that.”
Me and my girlfriend always try to pick a new area that we've never been to in London and go visit and go explore on a Sunday. They’re my favourite days because you just never know what you're going to find.
I’ve been back cutting hair for a few weeks now, back talking to clients and doing what I normally would. You take it for granted when you do that every day. That’s the biggest thing everybody will learn over this year is just to cherish all the small moments, all the little things, each client that comes into your chair.”
To find out more about Leah’s barbering, you can visit www.haydencassidy.com
