Simply the best!
This week saw the sad death of one of our most loved and respected hairdressers.
There are many celebrity hairdressers in our industry, and Trevor Sorbie was one of the first.
Trevor John Sorbie MBE was born in Scotland in 1949 and was one of the first celebrity hairdressers.
Among his many credits was creating the wedge haircut. This was replicated by many for years and is still to this day iconic.
He was the proud winner of British hairdresser of the year no less than 4 times during his glittering career.
The beginning
After he left school at 15, Trevor became an apprentice in his dad’s salon, opening his first barbers in Edmonton at the age of 20.
Shortly after, Sorbie became Artistic Director for Vidal Sassoon in 1973. During this period, he was session styling at Toni and Guy and John Frieda.
This led to his first hair salon in South East London. He then opened another 2 years later in Covent Garden.
Sorbie brought out his own hair care range in 1986 which was highly successful. The products were developed, using feedback from clients about what suited them best.
He was awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2004 for his services to hairdressing and, shortly after, opened his third salon in Brighton, Sussex.
Another of his successes was being Torvill and Dean’s hairstylist for the skating on-ice tour.
He appeared on many TV programmes, including – GMTV, This Morning, Mary Queen of Shops, The Salon, The Wright Stuff, Watchdog and Faking it.
He was an expert guest on many shows, appearing as a guest stylist. He also made many appearances in magazines.
Sorbie has seven salons in total, in various areas and two in London.
‘My new hair’ charity
The charity known as “My new hair” was started by Sorbie after his brother’s wife became ill with cancer. He helped to create a wig that looked like real hair. This became his fulltime job after giving up styling in his salons.
Sorbie lobbied parliament to gain better wig services on the NHS. The charity is there to teach hairdressers how to cut wigs to make them look as realistic as possible.
My New Hair also helps people with alopecia and medical hair loss.
Trevor Sorbie will be remembered for many things and leaves behind a legacy of knowledge and skills that underpin our industry.
