Razwan Amin is offering Erdington Academy free haircuts to every student from a low-income background, and the scheme has already started changing how young people feel about walking through the school gates.
Amin, 27, left the Birmingham secondary school in 2015 and went on to found Razortrim Studio, which FMAT describes as one of Birmingham’s busiest hair studios. Cuts there normally run to £18 a session. Under the new arrangement, students referred by the school’s parent teacher association will receive them at no cost.
The context matters. Erdington Academy serves a part of the city where deprivation levels run above the national average. More than 50% of its pupils are eligible for free school meals. Amin knows that territory personally.
‘My family was low-income when I was growing up. I used to be on free school meals and my parents struggled to get me into a barber shop because of the cost of living,’ he said.
Erdington Academy Free Haircuts: A Simple Gesture With a Longer Reach
The initiative began modestly. ‘At first, we thought about offering a free haircut for prom as a raffle prize, but I wanted to do more and extend it, so that every child from a low-income background could have a haircut. I said, bring them all in,’ Amin said.
His argument for why a haircut matters is straightforward and hard to dismiss. ‘A simple haircut really does help a child’s mental health. Looking fresh for school can really raise their confidence and eagerness to learn. It’s just a small change, but it goes a long way,’ he said.
Amin is also conscious of the calendar. Families feel cost-of-living pressure most acutely during school holidays, when free meals stop and activities still need paying for. He is pitching the offer as a small buffer against that seasonal squeeze.
Nicki Kansara, chair of Erdington Academy’s Parent, Teacher and Friends Association (PTFA) and a governor at the school, has seen the appeal from both sides. ‘In my roles at Erdington Academy, I’ve seen many of the different struggles the children face first-hand,’ she said. ‘The cost of living has been affecting so many people, not just pupil premium students.’
Kansara’s son Esa, a current Erdington student, has already taken a free cut. ‘When I get my hair cut, I feel like a new man, and it makes me feel more confident in general,’ he said. The inspiration dimension matters to him too: ‘Razwan went to Erdington Academy and now he’s a successful businessman, so he makes me realise I can be successful as well. It’s empowering.’
A Business Owner Still Building
Kansara frames Amin’s value to the school in exactly those terms. ‘There’s potential for Razwan to inspire the children as an Erdington alumnus. He shows them that they can go from the school and make it in the real world,’ she said.
That real world is expanding quickly. Records held by Companies House show Amin holds two active company appointments: Razortrim Academy Ltd (company number 16807559), incorporated on 3 November 2025, and Barbers Raz Ltd (company number 16117393), both registered at 989 Tyburn Road, Birmingham. The academy company, in particular, suggests ambitions beyond the chair itself.
For now, the offer sits at the community level: a former free-school-meals pupil, a school whose students still qualify for them in large numbers, and a chair that costs nothing. The government’s free school meals programme covers term time. Amin’s programme covers the gaps.
I think the detail that makes this more than a feel-good story is the Companies House filing. A man who grew up without spare cash for a barber is now incorporating a training academy under his own name. Whether Razortrim Academy Ltd eventually runs barbering courses for young people from similar backgrounds is unconfirmed, but the direction of travel seems clear enough. Watch what happens when the academy’s first enrolments are announced.
