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I’ d been married for about a year; Sue, my wife, was Vidal’ s secretary. Although life was good, work was great, we were living in London’ s Regent’ s Park, we decided the time was right for change.
We were on the brink of moving to New York and Montreal when Mr Hall talked to me about becoming the company’ s Art Director. To use a football analogy, he wanted to buy a top player to make his team stronger all round. Thinking of our Sassoon demos’ success, it struck me as a great opportunity to continue making great impact in the area, a natural progression.
So I moved to the Keith Hall company, working there 35 years in all, 1969 to 2004, starting as Art Director and eventually becoming joint MD, moving on to own the company, along with another director, once Mr Hall retired. I guess I must have done something right; we had four salons when I joined and 20 when I left; the business is now managed by my son, Darren.
I owe Mr Hall very much; he never restricted me, trusted me implicitly, gave me his blessing to get on with it, drive the staff and create a strong art team. One great accolade was being the first out-of-towners to present hairdressing shows to others, including early Salon International events. My Vidal Sassoon grounding stood me in good stead for this.
Although now officially retired from the salon world, my skills are still put great use as Creative Director for Racoon International and in particular, leading its artistic team, The RAT Pack. Twelve opened-minded, gifted individuals with a passion to share, bring the best out in each other, create great looks using hair extensions and spread the message of professionalism in everything they do.
Leading The RAT Pack enables me to express the greatest gift I have from my Sassoon and Keith Hall days: sharing everything I’ ve learnt from the incredibly influential professionals I’ ve worked with.
I don’ t count myself to be the greatest hairdresser in the world, I’ m not bad with my hands, but my greatest gift is watching others develop as a result of what I can show and tell them. It’ s a philosophy that goes right back to early days with Vidal: teaching others and sharing skills for the betterment of individuals and hairdressing as a whole.
Stephen was Business Director of the Year at the Hairdressers’ Journal’ s Business Awards in 2000; Chairman of The Fellowship for British Hairdressing for four years( 2000 – 2004). This premier trade organisation recognised Stephen’ s career with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. And 2012 saw Stephen being presented with The Fellowship Gold Medal – an honour only awarded twice before in The Fellowship’ s 67 year history.
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