Hair by Angie

An Interview with a Freelance Hairdresser

The Fashion Page interviewed Angie Allen, a freelance hairdresser from our home town of Birmingham in England. We were interested on what's in, what's out, what's good to use, and what's not.

Angie shared her thoughts and opinions about these and other things with us. She's been hairdressing a long time and is what you might term (ahem) "on the cutting edge".

The Fashon Page: How did you get started in hairdressing?

Angie Allen: I'm from a hairdressing family. All the family were hairdressers, my Dad, my Mom, cousins, sister. So I just grew up and went into hairdressing because that's what everybody in the family did.

TFP: And how long have you been hairdressing?

AA: About 29 years.

TFP: Where were you trained?

AA: Solihull College [in the U.K] - Tudor Grange.

TFP: Did you always want to be a hairdresser?

AA: Yes, that's right. I didn't consider anything else but hairdressing really because everybody in the family did it. My Nan had a shop so automatically at the age of eleven, I went in. And swept the floor first.

TFP: What kind of hair do you enjoy styling most? Do you enjoy long hair, short hair, curly hair, young, old?

AA: It's nice when you do someone whose hair is long and in a mess, and you totally reshape it, and they look completely different. You think "Gosh, they look ten years younger just through the hairstyle," that's interesting. So I enjoy that, when you really transform people. But I enjoy doing all types of hair.

TFP: Is any particular hair type more difficult - curly more difficult than straight hair?

AA: No, but strong, thick hair if they choose the wrong style is the hardest. You think, "Gosh. It'd be better if this was sleek and was cut really well." But strong and thick is the hardest to do - especially if they want it cut short and permed.

TFP: If somebody comes in to you, and they've left their hair a while and says, "I want you to do my hair however you please," what would you do with it?

AA: I would choose a sleek, smooth style that they could handle after they're finished. It's no good me doing a fancy sort of style or perm if they can't. But sleek hair if it's bobbed or soft is easy for them to look after if they don't go to the hairdressers regularly.

TFP: Do you get many people actually doing that - coming in and giving you carte blanche?

AA: Most people know what they want. We do get a few that say they just don't know how to handle it so just do it how you think, but the majority know how they want it, and have some sort of picture in their mind of how they want to look.

TFP: I often take a picture along to my hairdresser.

AA: Yes, that's right. Sometimes someone will ask for a style, and they describe it, but it sometimes doesn't really come over as what they want. They might say short - but they don't mean really short. You have to interpret what they want; sometimes you're not on the same wavelength and what they're trying to get over to you doesn't come across. So a picture is the easiest, it's the best way.

TFP: Describe a normal workday for you.

AA: It would be perms, cuts, blow dries, highlights.

TFP: Do you do colouring?

AA: Yes, people are having colour tints now rather than bleaches. People are going back to the natural look with highlights and lowlights.

TFP: Do many people still have perms these days?

AA: No. Well actually there are still quite a few have perms but it's not so popular now as it was three or four years ago. Young people are just not into tight curly perms. Older people these days have their hair permed and blow dried. We still do sets, people like sets as hair does keep in better with sets. Those tight curly perms from the seventies and eighties, you see the odd one about, but not many people ask for them now. They're all softer or smoother hair now.

TFP: So who cuts your hair?

AA: When it needs doing, and I'm driving past a hairdresser with plenty of parking space I try them! Wherever I'm driving and can park easily! Whenever I've got time that is - which is why it's long right now. Otherwise I just cut the fringe and tie it back.

TFP: So if you see a good parking spot you just go in and get your hair done!?

AA: Yes! It has to be a shop that looks quite good with somewhere to park - I can tell when I go in by how busy they are or what they're doing. If it's not quite what I think, then I'll just have a trim, if it looks good then I'll have a proper cut.

TFP: Visal Sasson was admired for his bob cuts. Is there any hair stylist around now that you particularly admire for their originality or precision cuts?

AA: There's someone in London I like who does a lot of work on Good Morning Television. Nikki Clarke. He's good. I've watched him on TV. He's good. He likes long layers.

TFP: What's the most common style you're asked for at the moment?

AA: Bobbed. Sleek soft hair, slightly layered. It's a more smooth, blow dried, soft style.

TFP: What about the flick that was around last year. Are people still wearing it like that?

AA: That's still quite popular. And the layered, very short hair look - that's still popular too with all ages. It's very easy to maintain.

TFP: How should I be wearing my hair this year? Should I be wearing it long, short, shaggy, smooth, curly?

AA: You can have either a really short, straight style or long and smooth. Both styles are smooth I suppose, hairstyles are smooth at the moment. Here and there you still see long curly hair. But I'd say this year it looks more sleek - and layered as well - but you can have it very short or long. There's quite a choice this year. It's all much softer, conditioned and soft - not so many perms about. But you can have long or short and still be in fashion this year.

TFP: How about hairdressing products. Are there any products you particularly like? Or dislike even?

AA: All the products at the moment are good. I like Matrix from America; that's good. And Wella. Most of the products that are out now are quite good.

TFP: What about styling accessories like brushes for blow-drying? What kind of brushes are good?

AA: Brushes are good because they make the job easy. Some of those new brushes that are out with what looks like tin foil in the middle - they are really good for blow drying. They hold the heat when you put the hair around it. And some of the new round brushes are really good for people to use themselves. I've supplied some of those brushes for customers and they've said how good they are.

TFP: Is it bad or unhealthy to wash your hair every day?

AA: No. If you wash it every day and use a mild shampoo, it doesn't hurt your hair.

TFP: Should you use a conditioner every day?

AA: No, I wouldn't think if the hair's natural that you'd want one every day. You'd use one every other or every two days - if the hair's got no products, no colour, no perm, a mild shampoo is enough.

TFP: While we're talking about conditioners, what about the hot oil type treatment that you're supposed to use once a week. Can they be used with a conditioner; or is that going too far?

AA: If my customers had their hair permed or coloured, I'd say use the hot oil once a week and then wash it off, and I'd tell them not to put a conditioner on top of the hot oil. Unless the hair is really quite dry or they've been on holiday [with the sun and sea salt], most of the time the hot oil is enough. They can condition it two days later then, and use the hot oil once every one or two weeks.

(Pictures in this article are from the Color and Style issue of Celebrity Hairstyles Magazine.)