How did Vidal Sassoon the salon come about?
Vidal: In 1954 I opened my first salon. A client and terrific lady, Lyla Burkman, said she could see the possibilities and had her husband put up the money. It was on the 3rd floor of 108 New Bond Street. I had two staff members and had to supplement my earnings by teaching and moving back in with my mother. I started with nothing. I had so much respect for Raymond that I didn’t want to steal his clients, so success didn’t happen overnight. My immediate goal was to make changes to hairdressing and if I couldn’t achieve that goal I would than move on to something else. Those changes didn’t happen immediately, though. It took nine years of working late, often until 1:00 AM. I practiced on models, worked continually, sometimes alone and sometimes with my team. We focused on our skills and tried to achieve something no one else had done. When did your revolution begin? Vidal: Well, you know the 60’s actually began for me in 1954 when I opened my salon. So there was an evolution before the
