NARRATOR: Kyle wants to be a hairdresser. But he's struggling to make the grade, as he was born without a fully formed hand. Leading his fix is designer Jude.
JUDE: Hey there. Good to meet you. Hi, I'm Jude. Nice to meet you, Kyle. So, what have we got here today?
KYLE: We're going to be practicing a little bit of cutting today.
JUDE: Ok. I have to be honest, I don't know much about cutting hair.
KYLE: Nor me.
JUDE: Uh. [laughter]
KYLE: And obviously my situation is ten times harder.
JUDE: Oh yeah. Were you, were you born with this?
KYLE: Yeah. I've always been told the umbilical cord got wrapped around the wrist, which then stopped the circulation in the hand forming itself.
JUDE: So, what movement have you got in your hand?
KYLE: Um, it's literally that.
JUDE: Ok.
KYLE: That's all it does. It literally does not go any further than that.
NARRATOR: Despite the disability, becoming a hairdresser has been a lifelong dream for Kyle.
KYLE: I can remember playing with hair in school, sat in assembly, girls with long hair, putting into a plait. Um, so I've always wanted to do it. Never thought I would be able to. But I'm creeping up to thirty now, so thought I'd better start now before I get too old. And the moment passes.
NARRATOR: With little dexterity in his left hand, Kyle struggles with the basics.
KYLE: Normal hairdressers hold the hair up in their fingers. So, trying to get all of that hair in between that.
JUDE: It's quite a job.
KYLE: It is, yeah. Cos obviously if you don't have that tension in the hair, [JUDE: Uh-huh.] when you do cut it, it's going to be at all different sort of lengths. So you do need to get that straight. I can sort of hold it with the comb. See, it's sort of dropping already? And then bits here will fall out.
JUDE: So, you need that, you need that tension with the fingers quickly.
KYLE: Yeah, I need to hold that there. And be able to pull that hair straight and cut along it. So, it's just sort of that I need on that side.
JUDE: Ok, that is really challenging.
NARRATOR: As an award-winning product design engineer, Jude should be ideally placed to help Kyle.
JUDE: Certainly an interesting challenge, this.
NARRATOR: But first, he wants to find out more about how he copes in his day-to-day life.
JUDE: So, what are the sort of things that you struggle a bit with?
KYLE: Little things, getting in the shower, getting out of the shower, trying to get dry. I've had shirts, sometimes I've had to leave it open until I've got to work. So, people could do my buttons up, which can be awkward. I get really, really self-conscious in particular when, when I'm eating out. There has been times I'm having to pass my plate down to my friend to cut my food up. Um, which at-鈥
JUDE: Yeah.
KYLE: Which at 27, is really hard. Especially when you've got people around you, because you almost feel a bit like a child in that you have to be looked after. No, it is quite difficult. It's just that feeling of being judged, I think. And I don't want people to look at me and judge me before they've got a chance to know me. I don't want people to give me the title as that's the guy with one hand.'Cause I'm not a guy with one hand. I'm Kyle.
NARRATOR: Keen to find out how he can mimic the dexterity of a human hand, the first port of call for Jude is the National Centre for Prosthetics and Orthotics, in Strathclyde University, Glasgow.
JUDE: I killed it?
SARAH DAY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Biomedical engineers Dr Arjan Buis and Sarah Day have agreed to show him the options.
SARAH DAY: The simplest thing is a body powered device. These get a lot of bad press because everyone thinks of Captain Hook. But it's really functional. And it's simply opened by using the body's natural movements to open and close.
JUDE: I see, so you shift.
SARAH DAY: Yep. This cable along here stretches across my back. And that just opens the hook.
JUDE: It's actually very intuitive, even if it's not aesthetically very pleasing.
SARAH DAY: Absolutely.
JUDE: So, I guess the alternative to a mechanical solution would be an electronic solution?
SARAH DAY: Yes, that's an option for him. So, this would be a powered hand. And we're using muscle contractions. And we pick those signals up with little sensors that you place onto his skin.
JUDE: Oh wow! [laughs] I need to make quite a definite movement. And of course, Kyle's going to have to do this thousands of times in one haircut. Do they have a delay even when you get good at them? \
SARAH DAY: There is a delay, um, in, in the message getting to the hand and the motor kicking in.
JUDE: Yeah. It's very complex.
ARJAN BUIS: From an anatomical point of view, your hand is one of the most complex things to mimic. Yeah? That's why it is so difficult to make prosthesis who are cosmetically correct and functional. And you can also do this, the fine grip. [JUDE: Yeah.] Yeah.
JUDE: Is there anything out there that is going to enable Kyle's left hand to hold hair delicately whilst his right hand cuts?
SARAH DAY: So, this is one of the most technologically advanced prosthetic hands that we can offer to our patients. It has motors in all the individual fingers and can move into a whole variety of different hand positions. Um, but even this cannot do the task that you, you're doing for Kyle.
NARRATOR: Jude has had a brain wave.
JUDE: So, I had quite an exciting idea. I've just been using this trimmer, which works by having two blades go past each other like that. But instead of letting the blades cut, what if I just made the combs clamp the hair so that it couldn't move. And it was in place for Kyle to cut it. Maybe that could be it. Need to prototype this.This is version one. That's good. I'm pleased about that.
NARRATOR: Jude is trying to turn his two-comb concept into a bespoke hairdressing tool for Kyle.
JUDE: I have a prototype. Doodoodoo. Comb, comb, comb, lock, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip. So, it's really simple and I kind of like it.
NARRATOR: But Jude's device needs to attach to Kyle's hand. So, he's arranged for Kyle to get a prosthetic socket custom made at the National Centre of Prosthetics and Orthotics.
KYLE: It's really starting to hit home how lucky I am. It's just going to be the start of a complete new life for me. Phew.
NARRATOR: First, they take a mould of his hand and then they create a socket made from carbon fibre and resin, which is removed from the mould and trimmed to fit.Two days later, Kyle has come to London to show Jude the finished socket.
KYLE: It doesn't look much, but I'm really excited to have it.
JUDE: I'm really apprehensive, it's really small. [laughter]
KYLE: I know, it's tiny.
JUDE: I'm like, oh my god, how am I going to stick stuff to something that small? This leads me to something that I've been working on. I was watching you work with the hair and realising that you were combing things. I thought well what happens if we comb and then we could just use like a, a lock mechanism. That's the idea. I don鈥檛 know if you want to have a little鈥
KYLE: I like the idea of that.
JUDE: And we can see whether this works. And if it doesn't, you have to be honest with me. And it's ok to go back to the drawing board.
KYLE: This is really interesting.
JUDE: Yeah.
KYLE: That's good. I think it's great. The actual concept of it, I think is ideal for what I need. My only concern with this at the minute, these teeth are really, really close together.
JUDE: Yeah.
KYLE: Um, and obviously with a comb, so this is my normal one that I use. [JUDE: Yeah.] So, you've obviously got really close together ones [JUDE: Which do you usually use?] and really wide ones. Can we have a sort of base and put another one in?
JUDE: A fine and a coarse comb. That just seems sensible.
KYLE: It's not the prettiest looking thing, I must say. [laughter]
JUDE: I'm a little bit apprehensive that the, the socket is so delicate. And we only managed to make one. So, I cannot screw it up in any way. Also, it's gotta look absolutely sensational. Yeah, it's on, now.
NARRATOR: With the pressure on, Jude wastes no time in tracking down a jeweller to help him finesse the hairdressing tool.
JUDE: How do we, how do we give it a bit of flair?
NARRATOR: They spend the next three weeks together, working to refine the design before they reveal it to Kyle.
JUDE: [laughs] How're you doing?
KYLE: Good. You ok? Good to see you, you ok?
JUDE: Long time, man. Long time. So, this is it. This is what I've been working on for the past few months. And, uh, somewhat late last night as well.
KYLE: Oh, really? I'm really excited. I'm really nervous.
JUDE: Ready?
KYLE: Oh, god.
JUDE: So, I've given you ten different tools to cut hair. So, I hope it's like, the whole, whole suite for your cause.
KYLE: It is. It's incredible. I don't think I expected so much. This is so cool. [laughs]
NARRATOR: Jude has created a unique toolbox tailored to Kyle's needs. Each device clips seamlessly into Kyle's handmade socket.
KYLE: Looks amazing. Looks so cool. It does feel really good. I love it, absolutely love it.
NARRATOR: But the big question is, will it work?
JUDE: I think it'd be good to, to give it a test, before we celebrate too early. Yeah.
KYLE: Yeah, definitely. We should, we should.
JUDE: So how do you fancy giving me a little haircut then?
KYLE: You're braver than me. [laughs]I'm a little bit nervous, because I've never cut any hair like this before. It's usually less crazy.
JUDE: Thanks. [laughter]This is you getting thrown in the deep end for your first haircut. I swear, I鈥檝e had so many bad haircuts.
KYLE: Right. Let's put this to some real good use. It's quite springy hair you've got.
JUDE: Yeah, you're not wrong.
KYLE: So far, so good. I think it's nice that you're trusting me to cut your hair. But it's working really well. FYI. It's doing exactly what I need it to do.
JUDE: I can feel the tension, actually, at the back of my head. It's great. [KYLE: Yeah, it's really good.] I can actually feel it like, lock.
KYLE: It kind of feels like it's just my hand. It's incredible. It just works. It's like so natural. I can just really kind of see a future of me cutting hair. Whereas before I was a little bit sceptical, I guess. I didn't a hundred percent believe I would be able to.And it's because of you. I literally don't know what to say.
JUDE: This is just the beginning, right?
KYLE: Yeah.Happy with that?
JUDE: High five.My hair looks amazing. I'm so excited and really impressed. This is the beginning of Kyle's career. So, it's just tremendously exciting. I'll be back in six months for another haircut.
The worlds of engineering and hairdressing meet to help Kyle fulfil his dream.
Kyle鈥檚 ambition has always been to be a hairdresser, but he was born with a deformed hand making it impossible for him to hold hair while cutting or styling it.
Determined not to give up on his dream he has enrolled at a hairdressing academy, but he鈥檚 reached a point where his disability is stopping him from progressing any further and he cannot complete the course.
Product design engineer Jude Pullen needs to come up with a solution that will give Kyle the dexterity required to work as a professional hairstylist.
See how he researches and develops a unique prosthetic that gives Kyle hope.
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