iStylista's Exclusive Interview with Errol Douglas MBE

His extensive list of clients includes Naomi Campbell, Diana Ross and Uma Thurman to name a few. Specialising in Afro-Caribbean as well as European hair, his expertise goes hand in hand with his enormous personality. This has been recognised worldwide, where he is continuously invited to be a judge or speaker at international shows and seminars. His photographic work is regularly featured in the fashion and beauty press, acting as a source of trend prediction and influence for following stylists. No wonder designers such as Dior and Galliano have called for his expertise on their catwalks. His experience doesn’t stop there. Errol Douglas has been the recipient of numerous awards, including winner of the Afro category three times, Cosmopolitan’s Ultimate Man of the year 2008 and an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire). You may recognise him from GMTV, Celebrity Scissorhands or Model Behaviour.

In 1998, he opened the Errol Douglas salon in London’s gorgeous Belgravia Village. Errol and his talented team offer makeup, nail and both European and Afro hair services to ensure you all can leave feeling reborn. I have arranged to make a visit to Errol Douglas so I can fill you in shortly with my personal scoop on the salon experience! Keep your eyes peeled!

What are your three miracle hair products?

Hydrating Moroccan Oil is amazing, for all hair types. Vavoom hairspray is another favourite of mine, it has a great hold and doesn’t go crispy or leave white residue in the hair. It has a very natural hold, which still allows for movement. A product I can’t live without is Messy couture moulding paste. It’s a wax which is great to apply on the ends of your hair for that disheveled look.

What's the secret to a good haircut?

The best way to ensure a good haircut is to go in and see how the hairdresser works with you and manipulates your hair. Also, it’s good to see how your hairdresser talks and consults you about different shapes and design of the haircut you want. I think magazines and pictures should be the last resort, not the first.

You have worked in a salon since the age of 11, when would you say you knew you wanted to be a hairdresser?

It’s a vocation for me, it has chosen me. I think you continuously learn, it’s an ongoing thing. Most of the people who start young just build on what they have started learning from a young age. For me, from year dot it was all about design, which goes very closely with hair and shapes etc. I’m one of five children, who are all academics. We’ve always had very supportive parents.

What changes do you foresee in hair styling?

I think the industry will only expand. People really love makeovers. All these programmes with Gok Wan etc are so successful. People go gaga over hair and makeup, hair is an extension to clothes after all, it’s fabric. I’ve seen all sorts of people doing whatever they can to keep up appearances, like using soap to fix their hair if they don’t have any products handy.

You have won countless awards, which would you say is the highest achievement and means the most to you?

My MBE. The only way I can explain it is as the most surreal, amazing experience. If you’re born in London like me, you’re brought up around Buckingham Palace, you never think you’re going to go inside it! To be invited to meet the queen is a once in a lifetime experience. It was so personal- you enter from the front, you’re going up her stairs, it’s like you’re in her bedroom!

Can you describe a particular makeover that gave you the most satisfaction?

When I cut Danni Minogue’s hair about 2 years ago. We went from long to short and she didn’t even flinch!

What is the strangest location you've ever had to cut hair?

In the toilets of an open platform train station (haha!) It was freezing! Try and picture it, a 6ft3” hairdresser in a tiny cubicle with the model sat on the toilet seat.

You have so much varied experience throughout your career, traveling around the world for shows and seminars, working with celebrities, photographic work and working in television. What would you say is your favourite aspect of your job?

I love the traveling, having new experiences all the time never knowing what’s around the corner. I’ve just come back from a show in Melbourne with over 900 people and now I’m back in the salon for a few days, then I’m off again.

What advice can you give to up and coming hairstylists?

There are those who just want to be, and there are those who work hard to achieve and get their names out there. If you really want it, you have to get out there and do as much as you can, learn as much as you can. I can only speak from my goals and experience, but go back to basics. Do your homework on periodic looks and basic styles. You go back to basics to rise from that and make sure you’re contemporary. I mean that in every aspect, for European and afro hair.

Tell me about your haircare range that you’re looking to start.

We’re in intricate stages of launching a range next year, for ethnic hair stroke Afro-Caribbean. So it would go from Asian, to mixed-heritage, to Arabic, to Brazilian to afro-Caribbean to African. It’s gonna be mega!

Celebrity you most enjoyed working with?

Pamela Anderson. She’s such an amazing, fun girl. She keeps you laughing, very real, very down-to-earth. Not a diva at all.

Tell us about your charity work?

We do a lot for Centrepoint, the homeless. We do motivation and character building days, doing their hair and makeup. I’ve been involved with that for the last 7 years. We’ve also just started off a charity with John Freida called Hair Raising, where we raise money for Great Ormand Street Children’s Hospital. I’m the spokesman for Hairdressers Against Aids, for Unicef. Yeah, we do loads and loads.

Where would you say you get your influence from to keep producing so many new and contemporary styles?

Well, it’s not even influence, it’s the love for what you do. I see myself as creating trends in hair, which keeps me going because a lot of people copy my photoshoots. I don’t mean that in a big-headed way, but we do a lot of things that influence people. That’s why I find it really important to come up with something unique. I’m always shooting and doing presentation work and shows, so if I’ve learned something or I have something on my mind, I’ll use it in my designs. It’s natural for me.

What would you say is your most influential trend that you’ve set/started?

I would say the introduction of beautiful, black hair pictures being published. It was really uncommon before, but all of our photos have been printed and published straight away. I think that was mainly because people saw that it just looked so easy and natural. I would say we are known for that, and just having great collections. I couldn’t pick one in particular because we do so many.

Have you ever made a big mistake while cutting someone's hair?

Yeah of course I have. I cut somebody’s blouse, and it was worth about three and a half grand! And I cut it clean, not just a nick. I was cutting the baseline when I cut about a good inch and a half line in this silk, Balenciaga blouse. I went white! I did admit it straight away, she said she was fine about it, but I knew she wasn’t. It was a lot of money, a lot of money.

Who does your hair? 

A couple of my junior team. A guy called Joel and another guy called Scott. If I can’t get one, I’ve got the other.

If you had chosen another profession, what would it have been?

A surgeon. I like the title of Mister. Surgeons don’t interact with their patients, unlike hairdressers with their clients, so I’d be the first surgeon to interact with their patient. I want to learn about them and their life. Doctors are quite clinical and scientific, so I would love to really talk and console my patients, be more hands on.

What’s your favourite non-hair related thing to do?

Interior design. I like to do up houses. I cook too, I love cooking. I love coming up with new recipes and experimenting with shapes and colours, or using ingredients you’d never imagine.

Hair tips and trends for the summer?

That undercut, asymmetrical, androgynous style which looks shorn and almost as if it’s over-combed. It’s blunt on one side, with the hair taken over to the other. Keep the cut choppy, with a definite long fringe. Layer the hair in so it looks as if the back is going inwards. Make sure there’s real heaviness on the top so you can wear your fringe blunt, or tuck it into your hair for a sexy fringe. That’s gonna be a huge trend. With long hair, there’s the clump, blunt fringes with very static, jarred layers on the side. The bottom is also cut blunt, but with a bevelled shape to soften the look.

Hair tips and trends for Autumn/Winter 2010?

Well we’ve been through the grunge phase, what I think is going to make a comeback is this kind of psychedelic, shaggy, really choppy, movement hair. The colours will be emphasised for shine and vibrancy.

Worst hair trend?

You know when women with short hair put their hair in a pony tail on the top of the head? I think that looks a porcupine, awful. Or that Russell Brand look, although he’s become more casual now that he’s in love with Katy Perry. He looks much better now! Also when people over-moose their curly hair! Yuck. Crispy hair is not good!

Most influential celebrities with hair?

Not globally, but within Britain, I’d say the person who is always being copied is Posh. You have a lot of people asking for the different variations of the shapes she has. Also Cheryl Cole, her influence is unbelievable. As well as Kate Moss.

Thank you Errol, it was a pleasure to interview such a highly achieved, yet down-to-earth individual.