This issue, Phil talks to Andrew Barton. From heading up major salon empires to winning British hairdresser of the year, launching his own product range and representing uk hairdressing throughout the world, Andrew is someone that has pretty much done it all. Passionate, inspiring and a thoroughly nice guy, he talks to Phil about making huge leaps, never accepting ‘okay’, and the power of now.
ANDREW, THANK YOU FOR CHATTING TO ME TODAY. CAN YOU START BY TELLING ME ABOUT WHAT YOUR BIGGEST CAREER CHALLENGE HAS BEEN SO FAR?
I’d say the biggest challenge was making the leap from being employed to opening my own salon. Up until that point, I’d spent most of my career working with big brands, so I was used to the set-up of a large, solid salon group. At TONI&GUY (where you and I first met all those decades ago, Phil!), I was travelling with the Art Team all over the world. I was also a Salon Manager and Head of Education for TIGI. It got to a point where I was literally just living on planes! When the opportunity came up with Saks, I got really excited by what they were doing. When I joined, it was a 30-salon group, and we lifted it to about 130 salons in the seven or eight years that I was with them as Creative Director.
So, going from working in those large hairdressing empires to opening my own salon on the Piazza in Covent Garden was an enormous leap – it meant starting from absolute scratch! I’d always had the protection of working in larger organisations where there was somebody else to look after the cash flow, the business plan, the PR or whatever it was. The experience was a learning curve and the whole team worked really hard to build a great reputation, but the one thing I couldn’t overcome was a rent increase of 46% coming in. In honesty, there was not a chance in hell of keeping that shop open, even if we worked 24/7! I knew for a year before we closed that I was going to have to make my team of 30 staff redundant, but because we had to rake in what we could while we were still there, we had to carry on business as usual – that was the hardest bit for me.
THE FACT THAT YOU WERE SO CONCERNED FOR YOUR TEAM SHOWS WHAT SORT OF PERSON YOU ARE. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY ARE THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU LEARNT FROM THIS?
It was the only time that my professional working life has affected my health, which was the scariest thing of all. I had to really fight just to stay positive, but it taught me that people will pull together for a common good that they believe in. Individually, all of my team members had such a great reputation, so none of them suffered at all. I said to each of them, “Tell me which salon you want to go to and I will ring the owner personally for you.” And that’s what happened.
HOW HAS THIS EXPERIENCE HELPED YOU MAKE BETTER DECISIONS FOR THE FUTURE?
Straight after that small door in Covent Garden closed, an even bigger one opened. I was appointed as Creative Director of Urban Retreat at Harrods, where I had the honour and privilege of working with one of the main mentors in my career, George Hammer. Things were all great, but then Harrods decided they could save money by running the salon themselves. So, here I was again! I then went into freefall, thinking, ‘Where the hell am I going to work? What am I going to do with my days?’ I think it’s natural for people to feel a sense of panic, but what I’ve learned over the years is the power of now. To just take some time to breathe, control those feelings and be in the moment.
As it turned out, after Harrods, another exciting opportunity came my way and I was appointed Creative Director of Headmasters. This was a big, commercial and very fulfilling role. Now I’m UK Creative Ambassador for Keune and work with Bloom Lifestyle Salons, which has taken me back in many ways to the boutique salon environment I enjoyed in Covent Garden. I suppose what I’ve learnt is to trust that it will all work out. Everything today feels like a perfect fit, so I truly believe everything happens for a reason.
YOU’RE DOING SO MANY ADMIRABLE THINGS TODAY, WHAT IS IT THAT DRIVES YOU?
What I think a lot about now is how I can use my voice to stretch the narrative of what hairdressing is. What I do is a gift, it really is, and it gives me a huge amount of strength, especially when it comes to facilitating education and training. I thrive off the energy from the people I train, from shifting their mindsets and helping them to feel good about what they’re doing. I think what drives my career is the diversity that I’ve got. I’m as happy sat around a boardroom table as I am teaching a student in a college or being on a shoot; I’m glad that every day is a little bit different! You know, after 30 years of doing hair, I would say from the bottom of my heart that the happiest day of the week is when I can just stand behind the chair and cut somebody’s hair.
HOW DOES SOMEONE CREATE SUCCESS IN THEIR CAREER? IS IT TALENT, EFFORT, MOTIVATION, LUCK? HOW MUCH OF SUCCESS IS BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME?
I come from Barnsley – a very working-class town in Yorkshire – and I made the decision to move to London. The thing is, when you live in a place like London, there is absolutely a different amount of opportunity to seize. So, I think it’s more about getting yourself IN the right place.
I GUESS YOU COULD HAVE QUITE HAPPILY STAYED IN BARNSLEY WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY, BUT YOU CHOSE TO GO TO LONDON. YOU MADE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES HAPPEN.
I mean, it goes back to that thing about choices. I made the choice to push myself a bit further and yes, if I see an opportunity, I’ll take it.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DOUBTED YOURSELF AND HOW DO YOU OVERCOME THOSE FEELINGS?
Anybody would be lying if they said they don’t doubt themselves. I doubt myself often; I doubt my judgement, I doubt my decisions, but I’ve learnt tools to help me work through all those feelings. Breathing, exercise, a relatively good diet, not beating myself up when I have a glass of wine! It’s all about balance. I do a little affirmation every single night when I go to sleep and I make a list of everything I’ve been grateful for that day. My husband would say the love of a good man helps as well (laughs), and he always tells me, “Manage your expectations, Barton!”
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL MOMENT RECENTLY?
I’ve got a few! One was launching Beehives, Bobs and Blowdries, an exhibition that tells the story of hair and hairdressing over the last 70 years in Britain – it’s been seen by over 70,000 people now. Also, being awarded the first ever honorary degree of Doctor of Arts given to a hairdresser for services to the industry, this made me so proud that hairdressing has finally been recognised as an art form in academia.
More recently, I’ve just launched a new podcast called Split Ends with my friend Olga Thompson (comedian and writer, @big_fat_greekmother). We met through our work as ambassadors for the anti-bullying charity, Kidscape. We formed a special bond having both been bullied ourselves, sharing a personal need to highlight the issue. The podcast is about the relationship between a hairdresser and their client, all those conversations we have as untrained therapists. It also comes back to what I mentioned before about wanting to stretch the narrative of what a hairdresser does.
WHO IS A SUCCESSFUL PERSON YOU ADMIRE AND WHAT LESSONS HAVE THEY TAUGHT YOU?
Professionally, I’ve got lots of people I consider to be mentors, but honestly the one person who’s had the biggest influence on my life is my mum. My mum was my absolute best friend in the world and, God bless her soul, she died 12 years ago, but I still talk to her every day. She was the one who taught me when to stop wanting more. She’d say, “Andrew, do you really need it?”
WHAT THREE PIECES OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANYONE AT THE START OF THEIR CAREER?
The best advice I ever had was from the woman I was an apprentice for in Barnsley. Even though I didn’t understand it until I was much older, she told me at the age of 16 to “never accept ‘okay’ as a standard, because it means it’s not.” I use that a lot in all the work I do today. You know, when you finish somebody’s hair, do you make the choice to say ‘okay’ and get them out as soon as you can, or do you go the extra mile?
I know that’s just one piece of advice, not three, but I’ll say it three times over! It’s definitely stood the test of time for me in my professional and personal life.
REALLY GOOD POINT ANDREW, THANK YOU SO MUCH. YOU’VE BEEN REALLY HONEST AND I’VE LOVED THIS CHAT. IT REMINDS ME OF ALL THE LOVELY THINGS OUR JOB ALLOWS US TO DO.
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