Matt

“I have been a hairdresser for 22 years. I was always fascinated by how cool my first proper hairstylist in a decent salon was. His name was Tony, and he was easily twice as old as I was, but had such an interesting attitude and great sense of style, and always seemed to be doing interesting things as a hairstylist. I wanted a bit of the life Tony had, for sure that was certainly the nucleus that inspired me to start a career as a hairstylist.

What I enjoy most about being a hairdresser is how I can be involved in so many creative things within one job. It’s like I’m being paid to live out all of my passion projects!

I also really like working with natural hair, always. It doesn’t matter if it’s straight, wavy or curly, it goes without saying that well looked after natural hair is the most pleasant hair to work with to create something interesting.

The type of clients that should visit me would be people that are obsessed by sub culture, popular youth culture, and all the best music, fashion, lifestyle in the 80’s/90’s/00’s. l relate to people that look a bit deeper into how they want to feel wearing a haircut, rather than just merely having a haircut.

I would really love to give Thom Yorke (Radiohead) a haircut. He’s ultimately had the most influence on me throughout my career, his era and himself are things that regularly influence my work within the salon and on creative projects/shoots. I’d like to tell him I used to have my hair cut exactly like his every time he changed it when I was younger haha!

I tend to lean towards doing lots of hairstyles referenced by subculture, popular youth culture or fashion. This usually means any guys who wear their hair on the longer side would fall into a “specialist” category for me, but broadly I’m obsessed by making hair fit a head, rather than being a cookie cutter version of something you can get anywhere. I use the term “indie” a lot, and that doesn’t necessarily mean a type of music, but I like the attitude of how that might feel, just the same as how punk isn’t necessarily a type of music, it’s a feeling and an attitude. My specialty is trying to understand what that “feeling” can feel like within hair.

The best hair advice you could give to a client is get your hair in the best condition possible. Invest time, and as much money as you can justify, and you’ll open up your ability to spend less time making whichever style you have look good in the long run. 

Mostly I use products for curl in any hair type. If it’s a curl cream, gritty spray mousse, or wave spray, they always give good texture, and a natural, lived in finish. My catchphrase has become “tomorrow’s hair today”, because I like hair to look lived in, rather than too silky, flimsy and freshly washed, and products for curly hair achieve the lived in look perfectly.

Every haircut is different and deserves the merit of living in the moment for what it is, when it is.”