I am a barber with an established barber shop in Somerset. Knife crime is rife across the UK but it is not being talked about enough. I think many people are not aware of the severity of the situation and believe it is only a problem in the "big cities" this is 100% NOT the case.

I am always being asked for my advice on all manner of subjects on a daily basis and offer reassurance to clients from a diverse range of backgrounds and ages. I am regularly a confidante to my customers who are often able to share private information more easily with me than with close family members or authorities. Most barbers would agree with me that this is the norm and this is where the idea Barbers Against Blades was born. With the worrying increase in knife crime I believe that as barbers we have the perfect platform to raise awareness and provide a safe non judgemental place to chat about the reality of knife crime at street level.

We would like for members of the public who have concerns about knife crime to have somewhere to talk in confidence with their barbers, ask advice, voice concerns and even deposit a knife without judgement, consequence or explanation.

We want to see our Barbers Against Blades window stickers on the doors of barbershops nationwide and in doing so raise money for youth community projects and education. We believe that taking knives of the streets is awesome but if we can stop any youth picking up a knife in the first place even better!

We quietly launched our website, Facebook and Instagram on 29th July 2019 and without any promotion we are steadily gaining credible followers and have had an overwhelming response from barbers nationwide wanting to sign up to the cause. We will be exhibiting at The MasterBarber Live 2019 show on 8th September and you can read our story in the next issue of Modern Barber Magazine.

We have been given donations in person through our barber shop but have also been asked if we had a "just giving" page for direct donations.... So here it is.... help us to #FADETHEBLADE