
There was no advertising, no promotion, nothing! I pulled people from the streets and said I’d do their first cut for free to show them what I could do and that’s how I built up the salon and my reputation. 6 years down the line I was so busy that I either had to expand or go my own way. I ended up at a seminar at Salon International where Guy Tang was presenting a hair demo, he noticed me in the crowd (I think it was the long hair) and asked to colour my hair. When Guy Tang asks to colour your hair you can’t really say no? Since then it was all kind of crazy and Guy really put me on the map. He brought me out to LA, introduced me to the team on workshops and YouTube and that really got me noticed with brands and industry!
Do you remember the first time you cut and styled someone’s hair? How you felt at the time and how do you think you’ve developed as a stylist since then?
I remember it well! My first haircut was at college, we started in July and they had us cutting hair by October. We weren’t allowed to practice on dolls heads, it had to be a live model. Honestly, it took me around 4 hours to cut this poor person’s hair, I just could not grasp it. Luckily, she was happy with it in the end, but at the time I had no confidence and was winging it. Now I look at where I’ve come, as a stylist, to where I am now. It’s crazy. It’s always nice when I get to see my old original clients who are so supportive and say that I’m still down to earth and humble. I might work with high profile celebrity clients, but I still come home to Yorkshire where it all began.
You’ve worked with multiple celebrities and talented ‘glam squads’ from Kendall Jenner to Jen Atkin but who has been the most fun client to work with so far?
A lot of people always misread celebrities but at the end of the day we’re all human. I’ve worked with the likes of Kendall Jenner, Jessica Alba and Huda Kattan and honestly, they are all so nice. Jessica was so humble and down to earth. She took me up to her room and there was one point where I was thinking ‘oh my god I’m in a lift with Jessica Alba’. She was my first high profile celebrity, but couldn’t have been more lovely. Huda is amazing too; she’s flown me around the world for events and has such a great team of people yet chooses to work with me so I’m really grateful for that.