Official competition rules

The Organizer is Argelis Holguin, an individual based in the United States, operating under the trade name 3menda Batalla. Official website: https://3mendabatalla.com. Contact for this edition: info@3mendabatalla.com. This person is referred to as the Organizer.

Applicants must be individuals who are at least 18 years old when applying and have reached the age of majority in their place of residence, practice barbering, and personally perform the work they submit. They must hold any licenses or authorizations required where they compete. No minimum professional experience is required.

Participation is open worldwide, except for residents of, and persons located in, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine; jurisdictions where this format is prohibited; and persons or transactions subject to applicable legal restrictions, including United States sanctions. The country a competitor represents does not replace residence or independently establish eligibility.

People involved in organizing or judging this edition, and their immediate family or household members where a conflict exists, may not compete. Each individual may submit one application. Voters must be at least 18 years old and comply with the voting requirements.

The America/New_York time zone and the official server clock apply. The battle schedule will be announced by email and on the website at least 7 days in advance. Application and voting deadlines are not battle dates.

The application fee is US$50 per person, per edition. It covers registration and review, publication of an eligible profile for voting, and a digital candidate card. A candidacy becomes active when the required information is complete, these rules are accepted, payment is confirmed, and eligibility is validated. If information needs correction, the Organizer will notify the applicant.

Qualifying does not trigger any additional fee. Competitors bear the cost of their tools, model, connection, and other preparation expenses. Any required tax will be displayed before payment; currency conversion and bank charges are not set by the Organizer. The fee does not purchase votes or guarantee a place among the 32, minimum exposure, or a prize.

Failure to qualify, voluntary withdrawal, or a justified disqualification does not entitle the applicant to a refund, subject to mandatory legal rights. Cancellation of the edition entitles applicants to a full refund of the application fee. Duplicate, unauthorized, or incorrect charges will be corrected; if the Organizer rejects an application without enabling the contracted service, the amount charged will be refunded. The Refund and cancellation policy applies.

Qualification voting is free. Each person may cast one vote for one candidate during the entire qualification phase, not one vote per day or per email address. The voter must provide their name and email, select a candidate, and confirm the code sent to that email before the deadline. Requesting or receiving a code without validating it does not constitute a vote. A confirmed vote cannot be changed.

A valid vote must come from a real person who is at least 18 years old, controls the email used, completes verification on time, and follows these rules. A verified email does not by itself establish a unique identity. Comments, WhatsApp messages, social media reactions, and polls outside this phase do not count. Receiving news is optional and does not provide extra votes.

Bots, automation, false identities, impersonation, multiple emails to vote repeatedly, purchasing or selling votes, and money or gifts conditional on voting are prohibited. Candidates may promote their candidacy and request voluntary support from real people. The Organizer may review and invalidate irregular votes using consistent criteria and documented evidence. Several votes from the same internet connection may be limited or flagged for review; a shared connection or IP is a review signal, not sufficient proof of fraud on its own.

Counters remain provisional until the audit is complete. Proven fraud in which a candidate participates, assists, or which the candidate authorizes results in disqualification. An attack or manipulation by an unrelated third party is not automatically attributed to the candidate.

The 32 eligible candidates with the most valid votes at closing qualify, after verification. Provisional results will be published within 5 calendar days after voting closes; incident reports will be accepted for 48 hours, and the final list will be published after resolving them. Each qualifier will have 72 hours after notification to confirm availability.

If candidates are tied for the last qualifying place, a 24-hour tiebreak vote will be held only among the tied candidates, under the same rules and verification as qualification voting. The candidate with the most valid votes in the tiebreak qualifies. If the tie persists, the three judges will decide by majority after reviewing the work each tied candidate submitted with their application. Places will not be awarded by chance.

A vacancy caused by withdrawal, no response, or ineligibility will be offered, in order, to the next eligible candidates by valid votes (places 33, 34, 35, and so on), who will also have 72 hours to confirm. Once a round begins, an absence results in the opponent advancing unless a production incident attributable to the Organizer justifies rescheduling.

The single-elimination bracket progresses through 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and one champion. Matchups for the round of 32 are set by a random draw held live during the broadcast; the draw only determines who faces whom, never who wins. The following rounds follow the published bracket.

Round of 32 (reel battle): each competitor presents a two-minute reel of their haircut work, shown during the broadcast. The reel requirements and delivery deadline will be communicated to qualifiers in advance.

From the round of 16 onward (live battles): each duel allows 60 minutes of live work from the official start signal until the clock expires.

For live battles, each competitor works from their own space with an adult model who has authorized use of their image, their own tools, and safe, hygienic conditions. A prior technical test, connection one hour before the scheduled start, one main camera, adequate lighting, audio and internet, and an assistant to show the work are required. The assistant may not perform any part of the haircut.

The model’s hair must be at least half an inch (1.3 cm) long before the start. Only prior coloring is permitted; no advance fades, designs, or cutting are allowed. Clippers, scissors, razors, and lawfully used barbering, color, enhancement, and styling products are permitted. The model must wear a cape, and assessment covers the neck upward; artistic makeup and themed costumes intended to enhance visual impact are not permitted.

When time expires, cutting, touch-ups, and styling must stop, and the front, sides, and back must be shown. An individual disconnection does not stop the clock. A competitor may be without video for up to 5 minutes; on returning, they must show the work done during that time. More than 5 minutes without video counts as a forfeit. For production failures attributable to the Organizer, both competitors may be paused or rescheduled under equivalent conditions, recording the reason. Incident handling may not create arbitrary advantages.

Every battle, including the reel battle, is decided 60% by judges and 40% by the public. This is separate from the voting that selects the 32.

• Judges (60%): three judges each choose one winner. Each judge’s choice is worth 20 points for the chosen competitor.
• Public (40%): a free YouTube poll during the live broadcast, open for 2 minutes after the reel or haircut ends. Each YouTube account can vote once, as provided by YouTube. Each competitor receives 40 × their share of the poll votes.
• Final score = judge points + public points. The higher result wins; rounding displayed on screen does not determine the winner.

If the final score is tied, the three judges vote again between the two competitors only, and the one with at least two of the three votes wins. If the YouTube poll fails or receives no votes, the judges’ choices alone decide the battle.

Judges will disclose conflicts and be replaced when appropriate; their names will be announced before the battles. The Organizer does not verify the identity of YouTube voters; the poll result is taken as reported by YouTube. The judges’ decisions are final within the competition. This does not prevent correction of calculation errors, investigation of fraud, or exercise of legal rights.

One champion will receive a gross cash prize of US$1,000 plus products from the edition’s sponsors, which will be announced on the website before the final. The cash prize is not contingent on the final number of sponsors, and announced products will not be unilaterally replaced with lower-value items.

The Organizer will contact the winner at their registered email within 5 calendar days after final results. The winner will have 7 calendar days to respond and securely provide the identity, eligibility, payment, and tax information strictly required. A final notice allowing another 7 days will be sent before declaring a failure to respond.

Payment will be made, at the winner’s choice, by bank transfer (domestic or international), PayPal, Zelle (United States accounts only), or remittance service such as Western Union, within 30 calendar days after verifying the information and confirming the award. Verification will be completed within 10 calendar days after complete information is received, unless a legal obligation requires otherwise and is explained to the winner. No purchase or claim fee will be required to receive the prize.

The winner is responsible for their personal taxes and for receiving or currency conversion fees charged by their institution; the Organizer pays the outgoing transfer cost. Legally required withholding and reporting will be carried out and supporting documentation provided. US$1,000 is the amount before any required withholding. Product shipping is paid by the Organizer or the sponsoring brand; customs duties and import taxes in the winner’s country are the winner’s responsibility.

If the winner declines, is ineligible, or does not respond after both notices, the prize will be offered to the eligible runner-up. If that person cannot receive it, the eligible semifinalists will be ranked by their semifinal results (judge points plus public points). A substitute winner will not be selected randomly.

Grounds for disqualification include false information or work; failure to meet age or eligibility rules; proven vote fraud; impersonation; rights infringement; advance cutting; unauthorized assistance; working after time expires; unjustified absence; technical noncompliance that prevents assessment; threats, harassment, discrimination, or unsafe working conditions. Sanctions will be proportionate and communicated with reasons; related materials and votes may be removed.

Send incidents to info@3mendabatalla.com with case details and evidence within 48 hours after learning of the result or challenged decision. Where possible, the affected person will be heard before final disqualification. Reports will be resolved within 5 calendar days, or the necessary extension will be explained in writing. This internal process does not shorten legal time limits or prevent complaints to authorities or courts.

Participants retain ownership of their materials. By accepting this authorization, they grant the Organizer a nonexclusive, worldwide license without additional compensation to reproduce, adapt for format, subtitle, and publish their name, stage name, photograph, work, voice, and video on the official website, broadcasts, and social media for the organization, coverage, archiving, and promotion of 3menda Batalla, for 5 years after the edition ends.

The license permits technical use by providers and platforms distributing the content for those purposes. It does not authorize sale of a person’s image for unrelated campaigns or imply a personal endorsement of a brand without further permission. Content will not be edited in a misleading or degrading manner. Participants must hold the necessary rights to their work, music, and other materials and documented permission from models and other identifiable people. Brands retain ownership of their logos and materials.

Requests concerning data, content removal, and future uses will be handled under the Privacy policy and applicable law. Removal may be limited by legally necessary records or previously distributed materials; requests will be assessed individually, and removal of independent third-party copies cannot be guaranteed.

The Organizer may make necessary changes for safety, serious failures, circumstances beyond its control, or legal requirements. It will publish the reason, date, and amended wording and email affected people. Votes, criteria, or prizes will not be changed retroactively to favor anyone. Essential changes that prevent delivery of the contracted edition will be handled under the Refund policy, not treated as an automatic waiver by the participant.

If the edition is canceled, the application fee will be refunded in full. If the edition is postponed, the Organizer will announce a replacement date within 30 days; otherwise the edition will be treated as canceled and fees refunded.

These rules are governed by applicable New York State and United States federal law without excluding mandatory participant protections in their place of residence. Disputes may be brought before competent New York courts unless another mandatory forum applies. No arbitration or waiver of nonwaivable rights is imposed. Translation differences will be interpreted consistently between versions and in a manner that protects mandatory user rights.