The Sassoon philosophy: liberating cuts

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 14

The Sassoon philosophy: liberating cuts

What was the Sassoon philosophy that turned the hairdressing world inside out? — Rosaleen McCarroll. Well, we basically liberated women from the neck up. We released them from the tyranny of curlers and back combing and once a week setting at the hairdresser. The theory was based around “the cut.” With a fabulous cut, women only needed to visit the hairdresser once a month. — Vidal Sassoon. What made your cuts so revolutionary? It was a whole new way of looking at a woman. Rather than trying to create a pretty head of hair, I cut hair according to the bone structure. I

was the architect. The hair was the natural landscape, and I had the power to manipulate this to enhance the natural features. What about the criticisms that your styles were mannish and unfeminine? Not to me they weren’t. Never. Quite the opposite. The new styles made women look stronger, more intelligent, more individual. To me they brought out the sex of the lady. Hairdressing is a very erotic profession. There is touch, there is eye contact ... sometimes you were so successful that you even wanted to seduce the lady. But, of course, that would be unethical.

What changes did you have to make to incorporate the new styles into the salons? We introduced the short scissors which we had to have to control the angles. And also the hand-held drier.

What are your views on training hairdressers?

You have to be an artisan before you can be an artist. Take ten years, if necessary, to learn your craft. If you are artistic in any way, your artistry will emerge, but you must have the skills to support it. People who started off when we did, who were artists but not craftsmen, sometimes succeeded spectacularly for a short

time. But they were just a flash in the pan. Was it the artisan or the artist who created ali those fabulous Sassoon styles? Well, I have got to admit that very often sense perception took over. The cerebral action did not come until later. But don’t forget I had been in hairdressing for 15 years when I created the Shape, my first revolutionary haircut. I would advise hairdressers who want to be successful to aim at longevity in the industry. Was there anything that set your salons apart for the hairdresser? Our training sessions. Definitely. We had training sessions three nights a

week. We expected a lot of our staff. There is only so much you can teach people. It was the training sessions that eventually brought out the artists in our artisans. Is there any other field in which you feel you could have been successful? Architecture? Whenever I go to a new city, I always have a longing to tear it down and build it up again.