How did you get into this line of work?
I never wanted to be a hairdresser. I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to paint and I got bullied at school. In those days you could leave at the age of 15 and instead of staying on, taking my art exams, I said to my dad, "look dad, I can't hack school anymore. I've got to get out." He said, "what are you going to do?" I said, "I don't know. I'll get a job in the factory." My dad was a barber, he had a little two chair barber shop over in Essex. He said, "why don't you come in the shop and see how you get on?" I said, "well, I'll try it. Nothing to lose." I was more interested in girls in those days, anyway and I didn't have any real desire to be anything other than paint pictures. And within three months, I was cutting hair. I found hair dressing really easy, I never found it difficult. I used to stand and watch my dad. After watching him, you know, after a couple of months I thought, don't look too difficult, I'm going to have a go at that. Got the clippers and I was like, whee, I love this. It was a great sensation, cutting people's hair, and that was how I started. Never looked back, too.
