Fashion

Never Rush Perfection! Interview with Errol Douglas

Published

MBE award winner Errol Douglas  shares how he has found his balance to life with yoga and meditation; along with becoming a legendary hairstyle of his time.  

Errol Douglas knew from an early age what he wanted to do with his life. Born to Ghanaian parents in the East End of London, Errol’s mother was artistic and creative; frequent visits to beauty appointments and dress-making consultations cemented his own love for creativity, and served as the influence for his own art.

His hairdressing journey began when he started working in a London salon aged 11, then gaining his qualifications at Roger Heart’s aged 16. During the early years, Errol worked for Liz and Paul Edmonds, hairdressers based in the East End. The salon then was beside IPC publishers; Paul and Liz did the hair of numerous editors that came by the salon, which was when Errol’s career started to excel by assisting on photo shoots. During those days’ opportunities were fast and furious and Errol was bombarded with jobs to work on photo shoots, editorials and fashion shows. Errol later returned to Neville Daniel as his Artistic Director for 6 years, until he opened his own salon business in 1998. Errol’s work was regularly featured in magazines such as Vogue, Harpers & Queen, Tatler, Red, Cosmopolitan and Elle. In 2010 he was named “Most Wanted Creative Talent” in the Most Wanted Awards for his “mesmerising photographic work”.

His defining moment came when he opened his own salon in Belgravia. His passion for his ethnic roots results in training all his employees to cut afro hair. Errol explains ‘’you just need people to understand and comprehend the afro hair texture’’. Still to this day, many salons and hairdressers do not research or train properly in that area of hairdressing. Errol explains ‘afro hair dressing has dated back beyond Egyptian times and afro hair has influenced a lot of styles that we see today. One of the biggest is plaiting or weaving hair and if barbering sculpting and etching shapes which is centuries old’.

To read Errol’s full interview, download issue 4 here

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