A man who was constantly in trouble as a kid said a "lightbulb moment" turned his life around.
As a teenager Aaron Jones, from New Brighton, was "constantly bullied" for being the "only gay kid" in his local area. He said that led him to "rebel and get into trouble all the time with the police"
But a "lightbulb moment" changed all that. It came while Aaron, now 31, was in a juvenile probation centre.
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Now an award-winning hairdresser with a salon on Hamilton Square, Aaron told the ECHO: "When I was a teen I was the only gay kid where I was from. I was constantly bullied for that.
"It led me to rebel and get in trouble all the time with police. Eventually I was sent off to a probation centre and there I met a woman and she pushed me into hairdressing and then shoved me into a hairdressing college.
"It was a lightbulb moment. I realised there was more to life than just going out and being a nightmare."
When he was 17 Aaron was doing an apprenticeship in hairdressing. But as time went on he discovered nightclubs and soon lost his job at a salon he was working at.
He added: "I just didn't turn up to work one morning. That was the start of me bouncing from salon to salon really.
"I found a place and became close with the manager. I later became a manager there.
"One day it became too much and I wanted to give it all up and I decided to leave. I went to manage a nightclub for a year, but always kept a finger in the pie.
"But eventually I missed the face to face interactions as you can barely hear people in a nightclub.
"All the salons I've worked in I've never really found my spot or my place. It reached a point where I just thought lets go and do it myself.
"With savings I had and some help from family I managed to set up a salon, in just nine days from having the idea as well, after I met a woman who wanted to give up her lease for a shop."
That was in 2017, and now Aaron, based in his five-star salon, has won awards for his work, most notably for 'Best Hairdresser' at the National Beauty Awards which he won last month.
Speaking about the award he said: "I've been to a few awards ceremonies with other people and if you're sat by the door it's probably a bad sign. I was basically sat on the door out at this one.
"I was just listening along to what was being said and missed my name being read out and I was just clapping as they said my name not realising it was me who won."
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