What first interested you about your profession and what where your early years in the industry like?

I’ve always been subconsciously interested in hairdressing, when I was 14 or so I’d put on my mother’s colour that she’d brought from the chemist! Even before I’d started hairdressing I was naturally interested in it, I just hadn’t quite realised it yet. After a few years of trying my hand in different industries a job came up at a salon where my friends worked, I instantly loved it and just thought it was a great place to work. It came really naturally to me and I enjoyed it from day one. The early years were fantastic, I found my apprenticeship really exciting and within the first few months I was entering competitions. I was instantly hooked on the competition side of hairdressing and was practicing all the time in the salon.

Within four years of starting hairdressing I won the Wella Vogue Award in 1982! So the very first collection image I’d ever done appeared in Vogue! That was a pretty incredible moment! After that I won the L’Oreal Colour Trophy in 1985 then started entering the British Hairdressing Awards. It’s been an incredibly exciting journey!

Where do your style inspiration come from?

We do a lot of research on the internet for ideas but they come from any moment in time. An era, a fashion trend, films, the countryside, animals – anything and everything gives us ideas for colours, cuts, styles, shapes and tones. A lot of our ideas and inspirations come from our clients too. Hearing what they want and what makes them feel good is a fantastic source of inspiration.

Whom do you admire in the industry today?

There are a lot of people in the industry we admire. We admire anyone who has motivation, a strong work ethic and is willing to work hard, get out there and achieve! There’s a great core of people in the industry who love what they do, give their time and expertise for free, and work exceptionally hard. We admire the driven hairdressers who also stay grounded and are fundamentally nice people!

How do you keep up to date with the latest creative trends?

We’re very lucky to travel the world and see lots of hairdressers’ work and performances. We develop the ideas we see at these shows and filtrate our own ideas through the inspirations we see on stage. It’s important to keep your eyes open and take in what’s going on around you in the industry!

 What is fashion for you?

Fashion is an expression of someone’s personality. It represents how someone wants to be portrayed whether that’s through what they’re wearing or their hair.

What do you love the most about your profession?

The variation and range of experiences we’ve had over the years has been unbelievable. We feel very lucky travelling across the world to perform on global stages and meet incredible people along the way. Hairdressing never stops being exciting for us and the UK industry is so accepting of everyone’s ideas and creativity.

What’s been your guiding philosophy?

I suppose we’ve lived by two rules over the years: “You only get back what you put in” and “Treat people in the way you would want to be treated”. We’ve always instilled this into our team; be humble, hardworking and share what you know with others. We’re both incredibly proud of the people we work with and are lucky to have such great loyalty in our team.

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

Over the years we’ve been very fortunate to work on some incredible shoots, both our own and for major hair manufacturers, creating some truly wonderful images. Quite often on a shoot it feels like magic happens and you get that moment when a particular image embeds itself in your brain forever. With every collection we work on, we feel prouder and prouder of the work we do.  When that work’s recognised by our peers and the industry as a whole, it’s a real moment to cherish.  With every shoot you put yourself and your vision in to it so when we’ve been nominated, finalists or indeed won an award it’s with great pride we appreciate that level of recognition.

Aside from the creative, we have five successful salons in our home towns in the North East of England with a team of 60 amazing individuals. We’re extremely proud of our business and brand!

What’s your secret to keeping Clients happy?

It’s imperative to us that our salons create a top quality experience for every client. From the moment they walk in to the moment they leave, it’s all in the customer service and maintaining that strong brand message. Hair-wise, we keep our clients happy by giving them a style that’s individual to them, wearable and easy to manage. After all, our clients are essentially a walking advert. We’re very strong on consultation and feel this is the most important part of an appointment.

What are your personal goals for the future?

Win British Hairdresser of the Year! That’s a personal goal and something we’ve always wanted to achieve. Other than that we want to enjoy the salons’ success, enjoy running them and pleasing our lovely clientele. We’ve got no major plans to open another salon yet or even franchise the Hooker and Young brand but if it’s in the right area and it feels right then it’s something we’d look into for sure.

What is the secret of your success?

As a business director/owner you carry a huge responsibility for yourself, your team and your brand. It’s like you feel protective of these things. I suppose it’s how a parent feels when they have to make a tough decision but it’s for the good of the child. You need to be able to look at things in black and white and realise that good business is about being in control where you run the business, and that the business doesn’t run you!

There’s always ‘that thing’ of how it appears from the outside, what will people think? You can’t let that become a deciding factor in what you do. It takes guts and strength of character to make controlled business decisions for the good of your team and future growth of your brand.

What inspires you? 

We’re inspired by our team, peers in the industry and our extensive hair research.  Our collections have prominent themes that we explore all areas of before shooting and deciding on final looks. Travelling also keeps our creative eyes open and our inspirations fresh. Seeing first-hand new techniques and skills from international events keeps us on our toes, gives us room to experiment and put our own spin on new concepts.

In your opinion, is it necessary to travel to stay at the top of your profession?

We absolutely love to travel and take our skills, ideas and creativity across the world. To really understand hairdressing as a skill and industry, we believe it’s necessary to see how hairdressing is represented in other markets and what other countries are doing. Having said that, it’s so important to invest time in your salon brand and commit to keeping your employees and customers happy!

How do you name your collections?

For us, a collection is all about collaboration. We strive for strong shoot teams where we all synchronise with each other to achieve something beautiful. Months before, we will sit with our photographer, stylist and make-up artist to discuss our theme or inspiration for the collection, we’ll bounce ideas around and agree on a composition or idea that we all think is stunning. It’s then down to each of us to bring that idea to light on the day of the shoot. I think we’ve developed a signature style over the years where we’ve incorporated stunning colour placement with strong and bold haircuts that tie into a prominent overriding theme.

How is the relationship with your co-workers?

Our relationship with our co-workers is one of positivity and mutual respect. It’s so important to surround yourself by likeminded people who you respect and believe in. We appreciate the people around us, learn from them and grow as individuals. We’re lucky to have an incredibly talented and creative team that we learn from every day. Hairdressing for us is about sharing knowledge and encouraging creativity, our team reflects this.