'I lost everything overnight': Meet the Leeds barber rebuilding with a mobile barbershop

Four years after losing his first barbershop van when a franchise promising “guaranteed clientele” went bust, Ross Fadez is back in business and on the road.

Ross Shearon started cutting hair at his parents’ home with an old clipper, using his brother as a canvas.

“I actually put an elastic band around my brother’s head to get the line of the fade,” he told the YEP. “I’d never watched a video. I just did it off the top of my head, and he liked the trim.”

Soon, cousins and friends wanted in, and Ross became hooked, studying his craft online through hundreds of YouTube videos.

“As soon as I watched the first video, I spent hours. I had a notebook full of notes - different ways to cut with scissors and clippers, using a comb, different fading methods.”

He poured money into expensive clippers long before he knew it could be a business. “Some people like to draw a picture,” he said. “I like to cut hair.”

Barbering became a way out of a difficult start. Ross left school with no qualifications after anxiety made the classroom feel like a cage.

“When I walked through the gates, I felt physically sick… like I was trapped,” he said. “I wanted to go to college to get qualifications and make my mum and dad proud.”

Just as a college place was lined up, an Instagram ad for a mobile barbershop franchise appeared, promising a kitted-out van and guaranteed clients. Ross took out a £15,000 loan to join.

The reality was harsher. Once the van arrived, he was told the clients wouldn’t materialise - and there was also a £200-a-week rental fee.

“I had £20,000 in this company,” he said. “Then one day they said, ‘Look, we’re liquidating.’ They took the van back… I can’t even get a phone on contract now.”

He walked away from barbering, taking labouring work with his uncle, before drifting back - first cutting hair in his bedroom while sleeping on his mum’s sofa so the room could serve as a studio.

The turning point came when a close family friend offered to back him for another van.

“Without hesitation, he said, ‘Go get yourself a van.’ He put his trust in me, and I’m not going to let him down.”

This time, Ross built the van himself. It’s fully off-grid, solar-powered, with low-draw 12-volt electrics and a smart TV so clients can watch Netflix or YouTube while he works.

“This has all come from YouTube,” he said. “I’ve learned the right cable thickness, the right fusing… I do all my own repairs.”

Social media helped fuel the comeback. A Leeds artist posted about getting a cut in the van; Ross says he had more than 600 Snapchat requests in a day, with TikTok and Instagram “not stopping” since.

For Ross, the van isn’t a gimmick - it’s what makes his work possible. Busy shops still trigger his anxiety; the mobile setup gives him space, control and one-to-one time.

“Due to my anxiety, I don’t think I could work in a barbershop,” he said. “Mobile barbering is ideal for who I am.”

He calls this chapter “Ross Fadez 2.0”.

“A lot more mature, a lot wiser,” he said. “This is the rise of Ross Fadez. I’m back - and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”