LIVE24SEVEN // Interviews
not. My staff are all told when they start with the company that loose lips sink ships, I pride myself on customer discretion – client confidentiality is paramount to me.
business issues taking them away from what they do best – that creative output. You’re both a successful businessman and a much in demand hairdresser, do you have to switch off from business to focus on the creative side? I can never switch off really, I have a big product launch in the States and that needs my undivided attention, but then there’s a client in my chair who is paying a lot of money for my services and regardless of what’s going on, she’ll want my attention or to offload as people often do when they’re in the chair. I have to multi-task, [laughing] I know there’s not many that can Katie, but I have to.
I was surprised to see that you are in your salon every day seeing clients, does that surprise people too? Yes, it does surprise them. I’ve worked by backside off to get where I am, but it’s another thing to stay at the head of your game, things never stay the same, they get better or worse, so my focus is always on the business, I pride my salon on unparalleled levels of service and it’s one of the things that sets us apart from other salons.
People will know of your celebrity clients, as sometimes they are snapped leaving, but you are beyond discreet, they must love that about you? You can’t help the paparazzi at times, but occasionally when one of our big celebs is leaving I’ll go out and say, “Hey, move on” and they’ll come back to me saying, “But it’s great PR for you Daniel”, but it’s
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Your career spans decades; when you first started working with celebrities did anyone leave you a little star struck? Umm, I’d probably develop a bit of a speech impediment if it was Angelina Jolie! [laughing] When I was 21 I left my full book here and went to LA and I’d have Elizabeth Taylor in one chair and someone else in another and yes, I’d be a little star struck. Then there was an abundance of celebrities, a bit of a zoo for me. [laughing] It was a massive learning curve, I’d have the likes of Belinda Carlisle and Paula Abdul, to name just two, sat in my chair and I’d be a bit nervous, but you overcome your fears.
Do you hate it when people say ‘I want to look like so and so’? No, it sounds a cliché, but I always say why don’t you bring me in a picture and I learned to ask that in Beverley Hills! I had a lady who used to come into the salon and I used to hide thinking, “Please don’t sit in my chair” – she sat in my chair! She was more than Baywatch blonde, she couldn’t go any blonder, her hair was breaking off! I said, “What would you like me to do?” and she said, “I want to go blonder!” I said, “If I make you any blonder you’re going to walk out of the salon with your hair in your hands!” So I said, “Let’s look in the magazine and you show me something you really like.” What she chose was a sun-kissed babe, so she actually didn’t want lighter; she wanted to go brighter! You have to be honest with people though, as I say “I’m in the beauty business not the ugly business”, I have to say “That’s not for you”.
Going right back, you built up your own client base and reputation, but was it daunting leaving the family business and starting a new path for yourself – it was a brave move don’t you think? Yes I do, because it’s a tough world out there and it gave me greater admiration for my father and what he’d achieved and his father. There are parts of business that people take for granted, but when
you’re responsible for all your staff and all that it encompasses, as you know Katie, it’s something! I lead by example, I would never ask my staff to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.
You’ve had many, but can you pick out one career defining moment? Deciding to leave the family business is obviously one? Yes, deciding to go out to Beverley Hills is one, I thought I knew it all at 21, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I learned a lot and came back with a wealth of knowledge from demanding clients and of course customer service in America back then was leaps ahead of us. It was a defining moment because it gave me this vision of what I wanted to create. Organic beauty was another, taking the plunge when others didn’t believe that organic could compete with science – and how wrong were they? Organic is not just competing with science, it’s beating it!
You must be very proud of yourself. Do you ever look back over your shoulder and see how far you’ve come? No I don’t, but now you’ve mentioned it, I should feel good about how hard I’ve worked and what I’ve achieved.
You almost lead a double life – there’s Belgravia and all the glamour of your clients here and then at the weekend it’s country life! Yes, I swap a Ducati for a tractor. [laughing] It all changes when I get on that train for Worcestershire on either a Friday or Saturday afternoon. I go through all the business cards from meetings in the week and all the emails that Leigh has lined up for me, she’s my PA, she’s incredible, her official title is Salon Extraordinaire, she sets up meetings and keeps appointments whilst Amy my assistant is across everything from picking up my dry cleaning to putting two cold Aspall Ciders in my bag on the train going home. I open one of them and that’s when the weekend starts and I begin to switch off. The green countryside unfolds as the train passes Moreton in the Marsh, Honeybourne etc. and then Suzanna picks me up and a 15 minute drive later, I’m home.
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