A hairdressing academy has been launched in Paisley to help care-experienced young people find work in the industry.
Learners who attend Haus of Seisay, in Lawn Street, are given the opportunity to gain a full hairdressing qualification, as well as learn practical skills in areas such as customer service and business administration.
The academy was founded by married couple Thomas and Tony Seisay, who were inspired to create the charity after adopting their two children in 2014.
Thomas told The Gazette: "It was apparent to us that our kids' lives could have been completely different if we hadn't then adopted them, so we wanted to help break that cycle for other care-experienced young people.
"The idea of the academy is to elevate these young people so they are not at a disadvantage, as the care system can be quite a brutal place for them.
"It's about trying to give them the tools to equip them into going into employment."
As well as offering training opportunities, Haus of Seisay also continues to function as a five-star salon.
Thomas said: "We train our learners in the art of hairdressing but we have an employability side as well, and we run mental health and wellbeing workshops with them.
"We also run a 12-month programme that will allow learners to graduate with a full SQA-approved qualification.
"As we run as a fully-functioning salon as well, any money that would be generated through haircuts and hair colours would then go back into the charity to fund education for the young people."
The charity works alongside Tony Robertson Hair Spa, of Kilwinning, to deliver a minimum of three weeks of work experience to each participant.
Thomas added: "All our learners get work experience because we want to be industry-led in this bespoke learning package that we are providing.
"The shop in Paisley that we've taken over used to be called McCallum, which has been there for nearly 30 years, and my husband actually started his hairdressing career there.
"So he's come full circle from training there to eventually coming back as the owner of the charity."
For more information about Haus of Seisay, visit hausofseisay.org.
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