à la mode

there said there was a hairdressing job going in Wolverhampton, so I put my Sunday best on and got on the bus, and then I thought ‘what am I doing?”

“W

Luckily for the hair industry, Des stayed on that bus. Arriving at the Wolverhampton salon, he found himself face to face with someone who would go on to become a huge inspiration. “I met Audley Lougheed, an amazing hairdresser who used to work at Splinters. From that day on I just thought ‘I wanna be like him’. He had his own style. I stayed there and did six months as part of a youth opportunity scheme and I stuck to Audley like glue, like a puppy dog. He taught me loads and I put in a lot of extra hours. I learnt later on that it’s those extra hours that make all the difference,” smiles the Walsall native. Although Audley left the salon four years later, the respect and admiration is still there. So much so, that when I ask Des to confirm the spelling of Audley’s surname, he gets straight on the phone to double-check. Although Des is definitely not the showy type, he can’t resist letting Audley know about his new title of British Men’s Hairdresser, and it’s clear that Audley is very proud of his former protégé from the sounds coming from Des’s iPhone.

Once Audley had left the salon behind Des set about entering competitions in nearby Birmingham, but not with much success. “Yeah, they didn’t work too well,” he grins. “But then I focused on a London competition, really focused on it. I took a week off to work on every aspect, I got the clothes made, found a makeup artist – did the colour two days before rather than a week before! This way you get to find out who’s judging it and what they might expect.”

This time around Des won, and soon after was offered a couple of jobs in London; perfect timing, as he had been hoping to make a move to the capital. When he first arrived in London he worked as Art Director for SNL, but was based at Clapham salon, Ebony and Ivory. “We did loads of stuff; Miss World, travelled all over, including Dallas and Vegas; that’s where I learnt a lot more about photography.” >>

hen I left school at 16, to get me off the streets my Mum sent me to do work at a youth club. Someone