CAREERS
adventures of an Amazing
ALL-ROUNDER
Lewis Pallett is a session stylist and extensions specialist with clients all around the world – we got him on the phone to find out how he’s done it all...
“I have a client who lives in Jersey and they fly me out all the time,” Lewis Pallett tells us when we ask what a typical day in the life is like for him. “They took me all around the island and to France on a boat!” When he’s not looking being flown out to Jersey, Lewis is looking after his clients all over the world. “I have a column in my friend’s salon when I’m not shooting. I’m an extensions specialist so I have extension clients, clients that I travel to, international clients – I also do session work,” he explains. So how did he get here? Let’s take it back to the beginning…
Originally from Suffolk, Lewis began his hairdressing journey in college and completed his NVQ Level 1 and 2 in a year. “I was a little bit older, and I knew what I wanted to do so when I got started, they didn’t hold me back.” From there, he started working in a salon. “I was really lucky,” he says, “The owner could see I was keen so whenever she had a client in, she would get a similar haircut in for me so I would do lots of training.” From here, Lewis moved to London, eventually ending up at Cobella in Selfridges. “I worked there for a while and then I got poached to go to another salon because I was an extensions specialist,” he tells us. Unfortunately, the salon went bankrupt and Lewis was made redundant but this is when his session career began.
“I had dabbled with session. I’d tried assisting, and I really enjoyed it,” he says. “I wanted to try session to see how I got on.” Soon enough, he became Samantha Hillerby’s first assistant. “I was with her for four and a half years. It was amazing, I learned so much about the industry, about hairdressing, about everything!” The best piece of advice she gave him? “Pay your tax! Sam drilled this into me at the beginning. When you get paid, separate your tax into a separate account, and don’t touch it.”
Juggling his session career and his clients on days off or in between jobs, Lewis reached a point where he was ready to stand on his own. His advice? “Say yes to everything,” he says. “I was once asked to do a punk hair story. Punk is not my vibe, but this turned out to be one of my favourite images I’ve ever styled, and it came from doing a job I didn’t want to do. You just never know where something is going to lead. All of my celebrity clients have come from doing free editorials.” We can’t help but ask, how is it working with stars such as Minnie Driver, Hannah Waddingham and Steph McGovern? “Don’t get me wrong, I get excited, but at the end of the day, it’s your job and professionalism is everything.”
When it comes to his proudest moments, for Lewis it has to be his nomination for a BAFTA Craft Award. “I was doing Hannah Waddingham’s hair for a Christmas Special. I had to do a Hollywood wave – a full-on deep-set finger wave, dry, on one of the hottest days of the year,” he recalls. “I found out through an Instagram post that I’d been nominated for a BAFTA Craft Award, and it was so unexpected. For somebody to look at my hair on a screen and choose my work, it makes you feel incredible.”
There’s lots for Lewis to be proud of, so what’s next for him? “The fun thing about session work is I never know what’s happening! I have some exciting jobs coming up but nothing I can talk about…” Some more trips around islands maybe?