IINDUSTRY CON

Errol Douglas

With British fashion model Jourdan Dunn

Check out Errol’s Action Man pose in fi lm Interzone, fi lmed in the 80s, complete with add-on hair!

“People see all the success but there’s

“I’m a climber; I wanted to be

successful but I didn’t

climb over people.”

Errol Douglas MBE

Errol with supermodel Iman

but the answer is often the same. From the mouths of trusted veterans as well as the young guns comes the name: Errol Douglas – a man whose talent and career is held up as the ultimate template to emulate for any aspiring stylist. His countless awards include three

‘W

times Afro Hairdresser of the Year, both the Fellowship’s Hairdresser and Consumer Hairdresser of the Year and most recently, the coveted Cosmopolitan Ultimate Man of the Year (he pipped none other than Bob Geldof to the post!). Not to mention his astonishing 13 nominations for Hairdresser of the Year. Then there’s his MBE; awarded in 2008

it made Errol the youngest person in the hair industry to be honoured for their work. But what really gets us excited about Errol is his unfathomable talent. From dynamic high fashion and editorial looks to cutting edge imagery which simply takes your breath away, it seems Errol has it all. But beneath the sheen of past and

present glory lies another story, says Errol. “I’ve been blessed; all the awards –

everything – but I’ve also had to sacrifi ce a lot. I have a family and it was that – the classic – I was always working. Or travelling, at functions,” he says.

96

ho is our industry’s biggest inspiration?’ is a question asked time and time again,

a dark side – the personal fall-out – that they don’t see. To be told by your wife, your rock, that she feels as though she is a one-parent family…that’s devastating.” So often, he explains, people can see

those who have achieved huge success as leading a charmed life, but for Errol that just isn’t the truth. Errol and his ex-wife Jo, with whom he has three gorgeous children, divorced three years ago and he readily admits that the separation from the woman he describes as “the absolute foundation of my evolution,” was a trauma he thought he might not recover from. He says: “I wouldn’t be where I am

today without her support and I’m just so thankful we still have such a great relationship now. Divorce is like a death and it has a devastating effect on all aspects of your life. Anyone going through that who makes out they’re fi ne, that they can just carry on working as normal has got to be kidding. For me, it was like I couldn’t get out of this thing in my head – you can’t perform, you have to take your time to heal and surround yourself with great friends; they helped me, my kids helped me.” Bouncing back from the brink might

not have been easy but when you learn where Errol has come from, you begin to understand this is one man who overcomes any obstacle put in front of him. Growing up on Mile End’s Roman Road – East London – in the 1970s, which >>