Vidal Sassoon

Who He Was

Vidal Sassoon was born in London in 1928. After his father left, the family was so poor that his mother placed him in a Jewish orphanage, where he lived for seven years until he was 11. At 14, he began an apprenticeship in an East End barbershop, and in 1954 he opened his first salon in London. In the 1960s, Sassoon changed hairdressing with sharp, geometric cuts built on precise scissor work, including his famous "five-point" cut and the short bob worn by fashion designer Mary Quant. In 1968, he was flown to Hollywood to give actress Mia Farrow her famous pixie cut for the film Rosemary's Baby, and he later launched a line of hair products with the slogan "If you don't look good, we don't look good."

Why He Matters

Before Sassoon, many women had their hair set and sprayed into stiff styles at the salon every week. His cuts were designed to fall into place on their own, so hair could be washed and worn, giving people back time and changing what a haircut could be. He treated hairdressing as design, shaping each cut to the person's bone structure the way an architect shapes a building, and he trained generations of stylists in his method. His story shows young people that a career can begin with an apprenticeship at 14 and still reshape an entire industry.