LIONA MOORE MY HOUSE, MY RULES. JOSH O.P. SHOOT FOR THE F*CKING MOON BARBERS IN INDIA BARBER MUSEUM THE PERFECT QUIFF
BARBERSOCIETY MAGAZINE
DEXTER ‘DAPPER’ JOHNSON GUYS LIKE ME CAN DO HAIRDRESSING.
FALL 2026 | #29 | € 20
BUILD WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING?
R ECA P J O S H O. P. S H OW AT B S L 2026
Shoot for the f*cking moon “If you’re not dreaming, there’s no fucking point.” From the very first seconds of his show at BarberSociety Live, Josh made one thing clear: this was not going to be just another how-to demonstration. “Shoot for the moon. Why? Because even if you only end up in space, even if you fail, you’ve got further than most people.” For Josh, barbering has never been only about formulas or technique. Yes, the technical side matters. Yes, the DFS Formula has built a worldwide reputation for simplifying haircutting education. But the real message behind his presentation went much deeper than sectioning patterns or precision cutting. It was about ambition, vision, and the difference between simply being talented and actually building a career.
6
@barber.josh.o.p, @dfsformula
Text: Yehor Mirnov More than the haircut “There has to be more to aim for. There has to be a reason to do it other than just getting good at cutting hair.” Josh openly challenged the mindset many barbers fall into: constantly chasing technical perfection without thinking about what comes next. “I see so many talented barbers. In this room, online, all across the world. So much talent. But most people are only ever chasing that haircut.”
For Josh, the haircut itself is only the foundation. What do you build on top of it? “How do you leverage it? How do you turn it into a career?” And perhaps most importantly: “You can never, ever, ever be better than everybody else or better than everybody. But you can do more than everybody else.” That idea of “doing more” kept returning throughout the entire show. Not necessarily working harder for the sake of it, but being more intentional. Are you building relationships you need to? Do you create opportunities instead of waiting for them? 7
INTERV IEW
Boys like me can become barbers 10
Dexter ‘Dapper’ Johnson: A career built his way Text: Ben Copeland
There is a moment, early in Dexter ‘Dapper’ Johnson’s story, that says almost everything about the career he would eventually build. He is sitting in a pub with friends when someone suggests that he should become a hairdresser. The room erupts in laughter. “Guys like him don’t do hairdressing,” he remembers them saying. He laughed too. But the comment stayed with him. “I remember being in the pub, and I remember laughing it off. But I was thinking, why can’t I be a hairdresser?” That question would eventually become the beginning of a career that has taken Johnson from a shoppingcentre salon to London’s fashion weeks, international education, major brands and some of the biggest stages in hairdressing. Today, at 37, he is manager of TONI&GUY’s flagship international academy just off Oxford Street, head of men’s education and head of internal training for graduate stylists. 11
DEXTER DAPPER JOHNSON
16
Collection: AURA Hair: Dexter Dapper Johnson (UK) Photography: David Mannah Makeup: Adnana Styling: Borna Prikaski @dexterdapper
UNITED KINGDOM
17
Collection: AURA Hair: Dexter Dapper Johnson (UK) Photography: David Mannah Makeup: Adnana Styling: Borna Prikaski @dexterdapper
46
My house, my rules
Photography: © Dan Lord
@liona_moore, @ atelier_barbiere, @captainfawcett
INTERV IEW X BR AND BITE
Liona Moore knows all about old-school barbering. She also knows when to break rank. From make-up and lipsticks to the barbershop floor, education and international stages, the Brussels barber has built a career on technique, curiosity and knowing where she will, and won’t, compromise. And along the way, Captain Fawcett and a certain Right Hand Man on a motorbike became part of the story.
Text: Cate McKay-Haynes It started with lipsticks Liona Moore was working as a make-up artist in retail, putting stock away, when the idea came to her. Vintage style and aesthetics had always drawn her in; now barbering was doing the same. What she wasn’t seeing were many women claiming a place in that old-school barbering world on their own terms. There was room, she thought, for a different silhouette behind the chair. “I looked at myself and thought, ‘With my style, if I really commit to this, I think I could make it work.’” And so she did. Although there were a few people who needed convincing. Liona wanted more than the basic mechanics of a haircut. She wanted to understand why the hand moved in a particular way, where the technique came from, what had been handed down and what could be changed. Online demonstrations led her to Leen and Bertus, and deeper into traditional barbering. “There was something so precise, almost artistic,
about the way they worked.” She watched, tried things and kept learning. Classic barbering gave her the bones; the rest she would make her own. “I think a barber’s signature develops over time. You can have an idea of what you want to create, but it becomes truly personal through working, experimenting, making mistakes and, most importantly, understanding what really feels like you.” For Liona, that became a mix of traditional technique, a feminine aesthetic and close attention to everything that happens around the cut. When she opened her own barbershop, delivering a decent haircut simply wasn’t enough. “I didn’t just want to give someone a quick haircut or beard trim. I wanted the whole service to feel like an occasion.” Products were tested, protocols changed, rituals took shape. Fragrance, texture, heat, touch; every detail counted. It was around then that Captain
Fawcett’s Moustache Wax started appearing in her kit. There was, however, one piece of old-school thinking Liona had no interest in preserving. Gentlemen only Early in her career, she went to a traditional barbershop to introduce herself. She didn’t make it through the door. Women weren’t allowed inside. It was a male preserve, somewhere gentlemen could enjoy what Liona describes, with customary diplomacy, as their “lighter conversations”. “Today, it almost makes me smile, but at the time it obviously stayed with me.” It also sharpened her resolve. “It made me even more determined to prove that I belonged in this industry.” So Liona worked. Holidays were rare; there was always another technique to master, another client in the chair, another measure of how far she’d come. “I’m always looking for the best version of myself.”
47
88
Josh Lamonaca x Nishman
Josh Lamonaca X Fresha
Josh Lamonaca X Nishman
89
HairCon, Manchester June 2026, United Kingdom
Josh Lamonaca x Fresha
Photography: © Mauro Carraro & Snelsky
Andrea Amighetti and Thaddeus X Fresha
Andrea Amighetti and Thaddeus X Fresha
Nick Irwin X Schwarzkopf Professional