Beckham Only Man To Make Hairstyle Front Page
Friday, October 1, 2004

David Beckham is perhaps the only man in the world who can turn a hairstyle into a front-page news story.

Celebrity hairdresser Trevor Mitchell once hailed Beckham as an "icon" for the hairdressing industry, and admitted that his every change in style prompted a rush of appointments across the country.

But the England football captain isn’t the only British male who takes pride in his hair - 21st-century man is becoming ever more concerned with his appearance and personal grooming.

Jon MacLeod, creative director at Edinburgh-based salon Paterson SA, says he has noticed a big increase in the number of men visiting his luxurious salons.

The multi-award-winning firm, which has three branches in the Capital, was recently named Salon Team of the year at the British Hairdressing Business Awards. It was also recently accepted into the British Hairdressing Hall of Fame, placing it alongside industry names such as Charles Worthington.

Mr MacLeod says: "People like David Beckham make it completely acceptable to take a real interest in your hairstyle, but there’s a whole lot of guys out there like him."

As evidence, a Research and Markets study estimates that the European male-grooming market will grow at an annual rate of four per cent over the next five years, compared with only 2.8 per cent in the United States.

Recent advertising campaigns illustrate just how lucrative this market has become. Hollywood actor Ben Affleck is the new male face of L’Oréal, Beckham advertises Gillette, and England rugby hero Jonny Wilkinson has signed a deal with Boots to promote its new range of male-grooming products.

Mr MacLeod also singles out a small group of contemporary male hairdressers who have boosted the industry, including popular stylist Lee Stafford and Paul Merritt, the star of Channel 4 reality show The Salon.

"We owe a great debt to the new wave of young men who make hairdressing really exciting," he says. "It’s not just a case of sweeping the floor or cutting hair these days, there’s a lot of excitement involved. It has become a bit of a rock ’n’ roll business, something like it was back in the early 1980s when I started in the industry - I think for a while we lost that.

"Nowadays, working in hairdressing is an interesting career and you can reach almost celebrity status."

Paterson SA was founded in 1988 by George Paterson with a salon on Lothian Road. A second, in Dalkeith, opened shortly afterwards, and the third outlet, on George Street, opened in December 2001.

Mr MacLeod joined the company in 1990 as creative director, and the firm now employs a team of 64, many of whom have worked their way up from receptionists to stylists.

Many salon operators are coy about admitting how much cash they make but Mr MacLeod is an exception:

"Our turnover is around £1.6 million, and I’m sure we will get past £2m in a few years, but there’s no pressure. In fact, I’m not really interested in figures as the people in the business are far more important.

"I don’t think in terms of how much turnover I can make. We have lots of really great people working for us and when they are ready, then that’s when the business expands, rather than being dictated to by profit."

Mr MacLeod thinks the next Paterson SA branch will open in two or three years, but insists it will be in the outlying areas of Edinburgh.

"Our philosophy is that we are happy with Edinburgh, and our salon in Dalkeith has worked really well," he says. "Any new store would be a satellite salon like that."

He insists there are no firm plans for the location of another branch, but draws the line at venturing into the Glasgow market. "I’m looking and visiting areas such as Livingston, Penicuik and Musselburgh. I have to get to know an area, so I have a coffee and I keep going back.

"But Glasgow isn’t something we would ever consider - the clientele wouldn’t accept hairdressers from Edinburgh. I have the utmost respect for the businesses over there, but you have to stick to your own area."

Despite having won more than a dozen national awards, and regularly cutting the hair of celebrities such as Jodie Kidd and Christian Slater, the firm is still relatively unknown outside Edinburgh. British hairdressing is dominated by big brand names such as Vidal Sassoon, Toni & Guy and Nicky Clarke.

Paterson SA is trying to create its own brand image, with each salon promising the "same standards and same price", but Mr MacLeod says he doesn’t want to run a "global empire".

And he has also rejected the option of creating a branded range of haircare products.

"If you’re not first, you’re last," he says. "It’s not a route we would go down unless we had something completely different to what’s already on the market. We have had businesses approaching us trying to get us to create products and I think they’re quite surprised when we knock them back.

"We have a great reputation in Edinburgh, but in Leeds, Sheffield or Birmingham no-one knows who we are. There’s no point in pretending otherwise and, in any case, branded products are very ego-based."

With competition aplenty, hair stylists now offer additional services, including beauty therapies and massage.

But Mr MacLeod insists this is not a path he wants to take, insisting that it’s the quality of the styling that brings people through the door.

"Beauty therapy? Definitely not. If people want beauty therapy they will go to a spa. These different things don’t mix well and we are quite the opposite to most salons in not offering them. What we have works well enough."

He adds: "We will stick to what we do best, otherwise how would I know whether what we are offering is good or bad?"

But won’t this leave Paterson SA trailing behind other successful salons in Edinburgh? After all, a Vidal Sassoon studio opened just last month in Multrees Walk, while Medusa and Hair by JFK were also voted as finalists in this year’s British Hairdressing Business Awards.

"There’s fantastic competition in Edinburgh," Mr MacLeod says. "The city has wonderful consumers, and the standard of hairdressing is incredibly high. People are also quite fortunate with the comparatively low prices and the long sessions you can still get in Edinburgh."

If a price war ever broke out, Mr MacLeod insists Paterson SA would never reduce its costs or lower its standards. "That is not how I run the business. I am guided by my own experiences and not my figures or the figures of my

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