IN THE CHAIR WITH... MARK LEESON

We caught up with Mark Leeson to reflect on his remarkable 40-year journey in hairdressing and his partnership with Goldwell

goldwell.com @goldwelluki

Tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started in hairdressing

I started out in hair at the age of 16 in a salon in Mansfield. It was the 1980s at a time when hair was influenced by bands such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. All the guys were having colour in their hair and it was a great time to be entering hairdressing. There were no limits when it came to your imagination. I began doing competition hairdressing and made a name on that circuit. Before I knew it, my career was taking off and things snowballed from there.

What made you set up your own salon?

After spending 12 years with the John Hawley salon group, graduating from salon junior to shop manager and eventually becoming an educator, I was offered the chance to buy one of their salons. I saved for a long time to buy the business and worked extremely hard. Richard and I decided to take it on together, and seeing ‘Mark Leeson’ above the door for the first time was incredible. It was a good move. Within two years we had trebled the turnover.

What was the biggest challenge about having your own salon?

Running a business as well as all the creative stuff that goes with it means there’s always something to do. Our current salon in Mansfield is over 3,000 square foot and, it was a massive, massive stretch for us in terms of investment, but we did it all ourselves. We saved up for 10 years to be able to achieve the dream that we had, and we have actually put work first in front of our personal life. We’re not in a big house - everything that we’ve worked for has been ploughed back into the business.

How did your relationship with Goldwell come about?

We have a longstanding history and partnership with Goldwell, so when the opportunity to work with them again came up, it was a very easy decision to return. It just felt very organic and natural and right.

“‘We have a longstanding history and partnership with Goldwell, so when the opportunity to work with them again came up, it was a very easy decision to return.’

What do you like most about working with Goldwell?

Firstly, product performance, but also the team and the familiarity that we have with them. They support us not just on the creative side but from a business perspective too. What is so important is the team’s passion for what they do in every way, and there’s a very mutual respect there too.

What continues to fascinate you about hair?

What fascinates me, honestly, is the fact that hairdressers around the world start with the same raw material - hair on a head, and yet look how different it looks time and time again. With hair, you have the possibility to create something unique. Hair is always being reinvented, and it’s always evolving, and it’s that potential of making something look new that fascinates me.

THE SPIRAL This gorgeous peach / copper fusion was produced by weaving slices of colour through the lengths to give a halo effect. Modern, teased out curls are kept touchable, soft and totally on trend.

Who do you look up to most in the hairdressing industry?

It would be Ann Herman because she’s been there for us from the beginning. From our very first show with the Fellowship back in 1996 when we started, she took myself and Richard under her wing. I’ll never forget, we went down on the train with the team and the models, and she just looked after us. The next thing we knew, we were doing the Fellowship shows on an international stage and a much bigger scale. Ann has always been there for us and everyone else in the industry, any time of the day.

Where do you goto for hair inspiration?

It’s everywhere and I never really switch off from it. Whether it’s a journey on a train or on a plane, I’ll go for a magazine and look through for inspiration. It’s simple things too – real life and people in general. Just walking through London - the people that you see, little quirky elements that somebody’s probably wearing every day that you can adapt and interpret and turn into something quite special.

What hairstyle from history do you wish you’d created?

The Bob. It’s classic, timeless and it’ll never go away. I always say it’s like a Burberry Mac, it has such staying power and gets reinvented every year.

What one product could you not live wit hout?

Goldwell Elumen color. It’s the Gucci of hair colour and it gives you such endless creativity. It’s like an artist’s palette – personalised, mixable, and you can create some incredible shades. It works commercially behind the chair, and it’s extremely effective creatively too.

What advice would you give to someone start ing out in the business today?

Being a hairdresser is not just hairdressing, you are running a business. As a salon owner you need patience and you’ve got to be ultra-organised. You need to be able to wear many different hats, because everything the salon represents comes from you. Whether it be apprentice, front of house, even down to a cleaner, it’s your vision that creates those roles. On the creative side, you’ve got to be an all-round visionary. I would also say that you’ve always got to be able to reinvent and evolve. Times do change and you’ve got to change with them.

How do you switch off from the world of hair?

Honestly? I rarely switch off. We never have more than a week at a time when we go away and even then, it takes about three days to wind down, but that’s worth the holiday. We always have an eye on the next thing that’s happening, and there’s always something to do or somebody getting in touch. It’s constant.

Wherever I am, I’m always thinking of creative ideas.