Aroundtown MEETS
Stephen Moody
preserve the business she single- handedly built – a business she relied on to put food on the table in a single-parent household – was to keep moving forward with her training at whatever cost. It was completely normal for her two sons growing up to have their mother on courses constantly. Alongside her own education, she also began offering diplomas in bleaching, perms and postiche.
“It’s difficult in 2021, as we move closer to gender equality, to imagine what life must have been like for a woman in her early 20s, a single mum who opened her own business when others like her were stay-at-home mothers who rarely left the kitchen. People often disapproved of Denise’s choices, but she’s always been tenacious, stubborn and strong-willed and for that I will always admire her,” says her youngest son, Chris, who is now creative director at Moodyhair.
Denise & Eric in the ‘70s
Denise had been captivated by the craft of styling and cutting hair since she was three years old. Born in Darfield in 1935, the family lived on College Terrace in one of 20 terraced houses all in a row, where she says every neighbour was an auntie or uncle.
“Mum could only afford one perm a year as they were that expensive and I remember her asking which auntie I was staying with while she went to Mrs Edna Morton’s. This time, I asked if I could go with her and watch, which she obliged. “I decided at that age that I was going to be a hairdresser. Every day, if I didn’t have anyone to play with on the street, I’d tell my mother I was going down the road with my comb and water to do hair. Mum would say ‘well, you’ve no scissors.’ But Edna gave me some. I knew even then that hair was an emotion, a feeling, and that’s been ingrained in me ever since.”
“He quickly rose through the ranks and ”
moved to California at 19 where he joined the teaching team at Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and ultimately went on to lead 16 global academies.
she laughs.
Soon after her return from London, Denise married Eric Moody and welcomed her second son, Chris, in 1966. But there was never any maternity leave back then; ever since being babes in arms, the boys came downstairs while their mum worked long hours, their childcare being the laps of whichever client was having their hair done that day. “I was so very protective and fussy over who was holding the baby. If I didn’t like the look of who was asking to nurse them, I’d tell them he was sick. We even had a recess knocked into one of the walls to put the bassinet.”
“Eric did an apprenticeship with
Denise at night before taking a year-long intensive course with Vidal Sassoon (who else) in 1973.
Some 20-odd years later in 1961, Denise opened her Darfield salon in a house on Garden Street facing the school. She and baby Stephen lived upstairs and, when we met for our interview, she tells us we’re sitting roughly where the cot would have been in her old bedroom. It started with just one chair for Denise’s clients in a small corner of the downstairs lounge. But over the last 60 years, it has since expanded to encompass the full building. “We could do with more space, but I’m not leaving here,”
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aroundtownmagazine.co.uk ”
Eric worked on the railways but quickly realised his wife wasn’t like those of his colleagues. When he got home from work at 4.30pm each day, he got washed and changed and sat in the chair waiting for his tea. Seven o’clock came and still no dinner. By 10.30 he’d make himself a sandwich.
“My dad had to learn how to cook as the woman he married was never going to be home at four with his tea on the table waiting for him. This went on for five years or so before he recognised the only
way that he’d get to spend any quality time with his wife was if they worked together, so he trained as a hairdresser,” Chris says. “And guess who trained him?” Denise adds in.
Eric did an apprenticeship with Denise at night before taking a year-long intensive course with Vidal Sassoon (who else) in 1973. At their salon, one worked in the front room, the other in the back. With every aspect of family life encompassing the four walls at Garden Street – from work, to play, to sleep – it’s perhaps no surprise that both sons have followed suit into the hairdressing industry. “Both my boys are my doubles in many ways but they’re also brilliantly individual. I’ve never tried and never will take that away from them. The sky is the limit for them both.” While Stephen and Chris have each crafted an acclaimed career on their own merit, neither originally set out to cut hair. After leaving school,
Stephen started an engineering apprenticeship before he left to join his mum in the salon. Aged 19 he moved to London to learn more from Vidal Sassoon who had no idea he was Denise’s son. He quickly rose through the ranks and moved to California at 27 where he joined the teaching team at Sassoon Academy in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, and ultimately went on to lead 16 global academies. For much of the last 40 years, Stephen
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