Keeping trim: Royal and celebrity hairdresser Richard Ward
Celebrity hairdresser Richard Ward is best known for styling Kate Middleton’s hair for her wedding to Prince William in 2011, writes Margaret Hussey.
The 58-year-old has been in business for almost 40 years, winning awards at his ‘super salon’ Hair & Metrospa in Sloane Square, west London.
His client list includes Elizabeth Hurley, Susanna Reid, Sophie Raworth and Sarah Parish.
He lives in London with his wife and business partner Hellen, with whom he has two children.
What did your parents teach you about money?
My father always told me don’t lend money you can’t afford to lose, which I haven’t heeded. Whenever I’ve lent money, I’ve never got it back.
My mother had two hairdressing salons in Folkestone and we lived in the flat above one. I remember coming down when I was about four and seeing just banks and banks of hood dryers. No one blow dried hair then.
My mother’s dream was for me to go to private school – which I did, to Sutton Valence in Kent. It was only when I was older I realised it was always a struggle. My parents had to take me out of school after my O-levels as they had got themselves into debt. They then made an investment into a hotel and basically lost pretty much everything in the late Nineties.
Their debt taught me to be financially secure – they gave me the gift of desperation.
Did that lead you to hairdressing?
Mum took me to London when she was getting her hair done when I was 16, after she had told me about leaving school.
While I was sitting in the waiting area it was buzzing – there were model castings and music. This was the Eighties. Something got into my head. I got a job in a salon sweeping the floor and washing hair, and I moved to London on my 17th birthday.
Have you ever struggled to make ends meet?
When I first started I was earning £28 a week, but my rent was £30. I had to survive on tips.
I qualified within two years, and I would go and cut people’s hair after work for £20 a time.
I stayed in a basement flat in Chelsea with a friend from school whose family had loads of hereditary money. I would go to parties and people would say, ‘What do you do?’ ‘I’m a hairdresser’ at best would be a conversation stopper, at worst they would laugh. It completely drove me to be successful. By the time I was 25, I had saved £25,000.
Have you ever been paid silly money?
I was once flown to Monaco to cut three people’s hair for £5,000 each – £15,000. We travelled in a private jet and they put me up for the weekend. I was cited in that particular client’s divorce for her spending that kind of money!
What was the best year of your financial life?
Probably when I did the Royal Wedding in 2011. That year the salon took off, with Johnny Depp, Kim Cattrall and Michael Caine coming in.
I also had Tangle Angel, my hairbrush company that I have now sold. I was more comfortable in myself too, appearing on Lorraine and This Morning. All the stars aligned.
Kate had been coming in to the salon before she married Prince William, but I didn’t know who she was. They were just a family who had a flat here in Chelsea. I still look after the family and the Duchess of Edinburgh.
Most expensive thing you bought for fun?
An iridescent silver Bentley, which had been my absolute dream car. It cost me six figures but it got stolen last month from outside my house in Fulham. I saw them do it.
It was three in the morning and, as a lot of men my age have to, I had to get up for the bathroom, and I heard a distinctive vroom.
There was a guy reversing it and a guy on a computer. I thought, if I bang on the window it will draw attention to my house.
I won’t get another one. I don’t drive enough to warrant it. I have a scooter I go everywhere on.
What has been your biggest money mistake?
I had two failed hair product ranges before a success. The first we launched around 2000 in Tesco – I don’t think we put enough research into it.
Getting it on to the shelves is the easy part, getting it off is hard.
A cut above: The Princess of Wales
We launched another, a high-end one, on QVC. It was at a higher price point but we weren’t doing the volume.
We took our mistakes from those two and went into Waitrose. I knew the formulas were great. It has been there for 12 years and we have just taken it out and are selling it ourselves.
Best money decision you have made?
Tangle Angel, the detangling brush I launched around the Royal Wedding.
Nobody else liked it, my wife didn’t like it, but I had a feeling.
Within a year and a half we were £250,000 in the red, and we very nearly closed it. But we kept going. I got on a plane and I travelled the world and sold it.
I went to Australia five times in a year. I went to America.
We sold it to our Chinese distributor for a good sum, and we did really well out of it.
Do you own any property?
We have a small portfolio of properties in London.
We have been very measured in our investments. Whenever we have made any money, our biggest goal has been to pay off those mortgages.
Do you have a pension?
Yes, I’ve been paying into one for years. Nothing material tastes as good as financial security feels.
If you were Chancellor, what would you do?
Cut VAT in the beauty industry. Hellen, who is the co-founder of the Salon Employers Association, is lobbying for this.
I have a good feel for business but I’m dyslexic. I carry reams
of information in my head and Hellen is absolutely brilliant at all the things I am bad at.
We can get the VAT back on our stock turnover, but we are selling people’s time for standing and cutting hair, and you can’t get VAT back on time.
We employ 100 people and have about 1,000 clients every week.
What is your number one financial priority?
Holding on to what we have. When you’ve had the journey I’ve had, I never, ever take money for granted.
- For more visit richardward.com.
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