heroes of hairdressing

This month we will be highlighting our Heroes of Hairdressing. These heroes inspire us everyday to test our own boundaries and push our craft further.

Vidal Sassoon is known for iconic haircuts that revolutionized women’s beauty. Sassoon popularized wash-and-go hairstyles, freeing his clients from hot rollers and hair spray. Overcoming many personal obstacles, Sassoon eventually found great business success with his product lines and salons. We admire Sassoon because of his endless passion for hairdressing. His ability to shake up the status quo in business and in fashion is equally inspiring. Sassoon looked at hair and worked on what he could bring out of it, not what he could fix it into.

Sine Qua Non’s founding principle of creating hair that’s easy to wear would not have been possible without the groundbreaking work of Vidal Sassoon.

Our next hero, Antoine de Paris is one of the most innovative hair stylists to date; Popularizing styles such as the bob, finger waves and the shingle cut. De Paris influenced several color trends, like covering  grays with blue and even pioneered the use of highlights. By looking at women as individuals, de Paris used hair styles the way women now use contouring, to correct or heighten what is already there.  He had many tricks to hide a woman’s perceived flaws– if a style or cut didn’t exist, he invented it. Antoine de Paris cultivated celebrity and royal style into the trendsetting industry we see today.

Sometimes genius can come from an unlikely source. Christiaan Houtenbos learned to cut hair in his father’s barbershop in Holland. After a stint in the military, Christiaan met a woman who liked the way he cut hair. She decided to send a letter to the editor of Glamour. Because the woman shared the same name as a famous Broadway actress at the time, the editor confused the two and made arrangements for Christiaan to tour all the top salons in NYC. He was hired at Bergdorf Goodman but left shortly after over a uniform disagreement. Ever the individual, Christiaan has been a freelance stylist ever since. Despite having no formal training, Christiaan has continued to work with big names such as Calvin Klein and Donna Karen. He created his famous undercut “Buzz Bob”. While  Sassoon was creating the perfect shapes, Christiaan was shattering them.

Christiaan is so influential because he is different! He still, to this day, doesn’t have any association with any one brand or product. He didn’t have any formal training, which seems to mean that creative genius can come from anywhere!

Today’s blog is guest written by Sine stylist Jessi Seese and compiled by Sine blogger Vivian.