A Story of ENV

Where did it all begin?! Back in a small Northumbrian village. I was always on the outside of village culture. It felt only logical to enjoy my outsider position which gave me the advantage of challenging the systems and boundaries. So – despite having a trucker father, a nursing mother and a school career assessment that suggested I tried accountancy – I chose to go into hairdressing.

Salon life would open a world of colour and fashion for me in a time of cultural change. It was the 1980s: the Purdie mop, Keegan’s permed mullet, Siouxsie Sioux’s towering black punk spikes, Simon le Bon’s romantic looks and, let’s not forget, the perfect make-up of Adam Ant (and whatever Toyah was on each week) – all swirling and vying with impossibly big hair of Linda Gray and the perfect beauty of Victoria Principle. Oh! And doorway-defying shoulder pads or dresses held together with safety pins. And there were the movies: the razor-fingered Freddie, and the boombox declarations of love to nine and half weeks (less romance, more passion). All this – and the first salon I worked in was all about perms and blue rinses. It was high production hairdressing: ‘get ‘em done and out.’

Let me share with you how the tier system worked in a salon, back then:
1.    The Owner (God )
2.    The Stylist (God’s right hand)
3.    Reception (God’s ears )
4.    Trainees (everybody’s serfs)

In my first year of training, I spent more time fetching lunch orders and laundry for all those above me (which was absolutely anyone breathing) than I spent cutting or colouring hair.

Nevertheless, I’m a quick learner – and it wasn’t long before I faced my first ‘perm sale’.

This would happen every three months to finish up old stock. Those that have lived through a perm sale in the ‘80s know it’s not for the faint-hearted: between the smell and the 20-minute turnround, it soon hardened you up.

It was around this time, too, that I first came to Stratford-upon-Avon after meeting a member of the RSC (for a dirty weekend, to be honest). My love of Stratford-upon-Avon was immediate – and has never waned.

Soon, I was employed by a great hair artist called Gordon Anderson. He’d worked with late Trevor Sorbie,( Celeb Hairdresser and MBE), and Gordon introduced me to the art of hairdressing – and to the core belief that a person’s personality is as important as the hair.
Its was unfortunate that artist are not good with money. So! After his salon closed I was forced to honing my skills doing mobile.

Mobile teaches you a lot about people and after a short while , I landed a job with Lawrence Anthony – which proved to be a pivotal moment in my life, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Lawrence wasambitious and professional; he opened my world to fashion photo work and, most importantly, to Toni and Guy (before franchises). Countless courses and interactions showed me that artists are not factory workers: hair is a personal expression of each client, and every client’s needs and wishes are as unique as they are. That revelation was – and still is – mind-blowing, and it’s at the core of my professional beliefs. Never once, in that time, did I hear anyone say, ‘same as last time.’

Big changes can be scary; but small changes, over time, keeps the client fresh – and you, the artist, motivated. Adaptation of trends to suit the individual should be the foundation of great hairdressing. The classics will always be to the front (thank you, Mr Sassoon): to take a classic and add a small twist, or a unique colour, creates your – and the client’s – individual piece of living art.

After, 11 years, of learning all I could I Took the leap to open my own salon in Henley in Arden. I spent 15 years of running a salon in Henley in Arden . Following a tradition and well tested salon model.

But, I wanted to try something that was more me..
I came up with the plan to open a salon with the smallest staffroom force – with no tier system, no ‘them and us’ attitude; I wanted all the artists out on the floor together to share their knowledge on cutting and colouring techniques, to chat, laugh and work together as equals. I wanted clients facing each other, to feel an included, essential part of the salon, rather than just an anonymous face. Above all, I wanted to deliver first-class service in a relaxed, supportive and happy environment – in which nobody would ever feel like an outsider. With that, ENV was born.

So far, it’s been a raging success.