Going to the hair salon should be a relaxing, fun experience and Headmasters Brighton never seems to fail on all these things and more…
Let me introduce Hugo Ratzel, Owner of ‘Headmasters Brighton’, who started his training career with ‘Jean Louis Desforges’ in Paris. He then moved to England, where he became the Artistic Director for various companies including ‘Headmasters’ and ‘Trevor Sorbie’. Having acquired extensive experience in session styling and working on numerous fashion catwalks and hair shows, he followed on to win the prestigious ‘L’Oreal Colour Trophy’.
Hugo’s background and experience have allowed him to become an accomplished trainer in cutting, long hair dressing, hair up dressing and session styling. This wealth of experience gave him the opportunity to open his Headmasters Franchise in Brighton in 2008.
Your involvement in fashion shows?
I’m really passionate about hair; trends and fashion are extremely important and certainly something I encourage my team to follow and embrace as making people look and feel their best is so rewarding.
We have been involved in many shows over the years from London Fashion Week to Graduate Fashion Week.
We also headed four shows for Brighton Fashion Week two years in row, but most recently we had the great pleasure to work on the ‘Gareth Pugh’ show at the ‘V & A’ and ‘J.W Anderson’s’ last collection.
Why do you love working in Brighton?
What is there not to love about this town? Its tolerance, Vibrancy and diversity make it a truly unique place to be.
On the work side, I love the opportunity it gives us to push boundaries in terms of creativity with an eclectic clientele.
I enjoy working in Brighton, being in the outdoors and fresh air gives me head space – going to the sea front for an hour at the end of each day really helps you get rid of all the noise, plus I live here so it’s great for me and my family.
Tell us what the difference is in Brighton ‘Headmasters Brighton’ customers to anywhere else?
The difference in Brighton is that the clients tend to stay open minded and are quite daring when it comes to trying the latest techniques. It’s a real treat for us artists to have such vivacious clients to work and try new services with.
They are also extremely loyal. A lot of our clients become friends and book in regularly as much for the upkeep of their hair as a social engagement which we definitely encourage.
What are the hair trends in cut, style and colour that you are seeing and that will be emerging?
The Bob is most definitely the cut of the year, even long hair devotees like Rosie Huntington Whitely, Sienna Miller, Felicity Jones and Jourdan Dunn all adopted shorter tresses this year. It’s indicative of women in their prime, high achievers showcasing a confident bolder side to their personalities and our Brighton clients have definitely embraced this.
So Headmasters created ‘The Runway Bob’ which is a cut and colour that really reflects this trend, adding some subtle colour to enhance the shape and add definition. Fundamentally, The Runway Bob is personalised by us for our clients, where we generally will place colours a couple of shades lighter and darker than their natural colour to enhance the texture and movement throughout their hair, contouring and framing their face, similar to using a bronzer and highlighter.
Ideal for those who like to wear their BOB, POB or LOBS tousled, wavy and textured, the placement of ‘The Runway Bob’ helps to plump and draw attention to the wave, rather than divide and break it up like highlights would.
‘The Runway Bob’ concentrates on enhancing volume at the ends rather than on the roots which can make the hair look round and dated.
What’s special about this, is the new technique ‘Prisme’, which focuses on taking triangular panels rather than highlights and we place either the lighter or darker hues around the face and throughout the ends of the hair to create shadows, which will enhance the cheekbones and the jaw-line. These triangular sections are still subtle but help to draw attention to the movement of the cut.
What are the best products to use this summer?
With long hot summer days immanent it’s really important to protect your colour, particularly against UV damage which can weaken and alter the colour of your hair.
I would recommend the ‘Kerastase Soleil shampoo’ and conditioning mask. They protect the hair fibres adding smoothness and shine.
We live in Brighton so embrace your inner beach beauty and invest in a Sea Salt Spray like ‘Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger Texturising Spray’, for a tousled beach style with effortless volume and a touchable texture.
What do you offer that makes headmasters in Brighton so different to other salons?
Our team’s skills are constantly being updated to keep them ahead of the latest trends & innovations so that our clients can benefit from these specialised techniques.
We continually develop our people, which we believe creates happy, motivated, passionate hairdressers. Headmasters also has more ‘L’Oreal Master Colour Experts’ (the highest colour qualification in hairdressing) per salon than any other salon group.
At ‘Headmasters Brighton’ we now have five of these colour degree specialists, delivering expert cutting and colouring services from ombré to balayage, colour correction and colour change, allowing our clients to feel they are in safe hands.
We also have two men specialists who are trained in male grooming, offering beard trimming and in the near future wet shaves.
Headmasters Brighton, 7 Jubilee Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN11EG
TEL: 03454597730