Guido Palau Quotes

To be a good hairdresser, you have to understand what the vision is of the designer or the photographer and then sort of add your thing.

It's hard to be shocking now. It's hard to challenge people because the Internet has allowed everyone to become much more worldly, much more visual. It's very hard to surprise people.

I'm not giving up on my work. I'm still trying to challenge people's aesthetics and myself.

I got into hairdressing and moved from Dorset to London, where I got an apprenticeship at Vidal Sassoon. This was around '83 or '84. I was working on South Molton Street, which was then the epicenter of all the shops. It was like a catwalk. So I did my apprenticeship there, but I wasn't successful.

I'm not saying that everything I do is always tasteful - and maybe it's not always the normal idea of beauty - but hopefully it's always an empowering idea.

Beauty shouldn't be taken too seriously. Life is stressful enough! Hair should be creative and crazy.

All hair is away from the face - there's no emotion and all of the personality is taken away. I envisioned the way a 'virtual girl' is drawn in a cartoon. Then I added these different colored extensions - white, red and black, which adds to the synthetic feeling of the hair. I used colors which looked most dramatic against each of the models' real hair. The different colors give you that pop of fakeness so we're not talking about reality. Like a futuristic princess.

I used to get defensive and react. Like you, I get pushed and pulled [backstage].... Sometimes people are rude to me, and I feel like, 'You know, guys, I'm just here trying to do my job....' And the reality is, everyone else is just trying to do their job...and sometimes they get on a power trip [and] you feel disrespected. But that's their problem. It's not my problem.

I try to be aware of technology and Japanese animation and old Belgian paintings, and get all my references from bits of everywhere.

I didn't know I wanted to be a hairdresser. I was always interested in fashion and imagery in a very naive way, but it was always an attraction, like glitter balls.

I like hair that's been 'worn in' because it's much easier to deal with.... I actually don't like it when [models] come in with this beautiful, thick, glossy hair. I think, Oh, no! I can't do a thing with this!

When you respect somebody who has talent, whether it's a designer or a photographer, then you don't want to let yourself down - but you also really don't want to let them down.

When I think of the people I've worked with, all of them have great passion, and the passion is what keeps people inspired.

Beautiful things are different.

With Steven Meisel, I'd looked at his work from afar and always loved it, and when I started to work with him, I was blown away. He taught me so much about looking at women and looking at images.

Fashion is emotional, and the way women look at it is emotional, so it's very important to try to connect with a woman's idea of how she might feel.

I'm very lucky that I've worked mainly with two amazing photographers in David Sims and Steven Meisel.

The Brits always favor the underdog. There's an eccentricity to us, and I think you can see that through the fash- ion and the music and the way people look.

I wasn't as confident and creative in the beginning as I am now, so it was all very safe. But I was building my work, and it took me a long time. For a good five or six years I was just kind of bobbing around, doing everything and anything.

I worked in salons, where you do learn the basic sort of thing. But I didn't know anything about the kinds of things I'm doing now. I learned how to put hot-rollers in.

When you work with great people, you learn - about film, about clothing, about life, about sex.

Suddenly it was cool to have your hair lank . . . It was a whole different way of looking at things, and it shook up the whole industry.

When you look back at your career, there are moments that are levels that you hit and you bounce off them.

I was building my work, and it took me a long time. For a good five or six years I was just kind of bobbing around, doing everything and anything.

I worked at a bunch of other salons, and at one, this girl was going out to do a photo shoot for a women's magazine and brought me along to assist her. I remember going on that shoot and thinking, "God, this is great. It's creative, and you get to work with all of these other creative people." At that point I decided that hair would be my in to fashion and all the things I thought I would enjoy - and did enjoy.

I didn't do great in school. I didn't have many options. I mean, I'd like to have gone to art college, but I didn't have the grades. I didn't have any qualifications. But I had some friends who were hairdressers, so I just thought, Well, I'll have a go at it.

I think now because of this whole social media thing, people obviously felt these things [about cultural appropriation] before, and they comment on everything.

People comment, and that's where we are now. It's the way the world is.

Everyone has an opinion and I think we're at a time which is very heated all over the world, so of course people will speak out. And they have every right to.

I have a total complex [because of my curls], though, because I got teased a lot as a kid.

I haven't got a good reputation with pain.

I think to many people, textured curls still signify 'difference.' And kids like to pick on what's different.

I must say, Gisele's [Bundhen] got some of the best hair I've ever touched.

I didn't know I wanted to be a hairdresser. I was always interested in fashion and imagery in a very naive way, but it was always an attraction, like glitter balls. This was in the late '70s, early '80s, so it wasn't like today, where you kind of know all about the industry. Fashion was a very insider industry then - it was very closed. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

Fashion was a very insider industry then - it was very closed. So I didn't really know what I wanted to do.

I think it's more funny how every bit of information is up for grabs.

Someone might say that's a naïve way of looking at things now, and I would respect their opinion, but I also respect every woman's right to wearing her own individual style, including hair.

Even though the industry is very big and there's lots of money, when it gets down to it, whether it's a photographer or a designer, as well as a stylist or makeup artist, you're really only working with maybe four or five people on a project. It's all quite small and intimate.

Fashion now is just so confusing. It doesn't feel as easy. Fashion seems to be in a much more eclectic place.

As the older ones, to understand that it is a different time, and young people look at fashion in a different way . . . It's just different. If we harp on about it, they'll feel like we're just old fuddy-duddies, so I just kind of get on with it. I still feel I've got things to say.

I used to have more meltdowns backstage than I do [now].... It's not that it was ever cool, but right now, it just seems very uncool to have a meltdown. I'm not saying I'll never have one! But I've learnt to stop it just before it happens.

I took Instagram off my phone! I took it off because I found I was looking at it too much.

I celebrate every culture. I love the mix of cultures and I'm never going to change that because that's inspiring to me.

Every culture to me - be it Asian, African, be it whatever - is a source of reference. I don't think I'm 'stealing' it or anything.

You may say, 'That's naïve of you,' and maybe it is, but in my mind, I'm celebrating every kind of woman. That's what a creative person does.

I worked at a bunch of salons, and at one, a girl was going out to do a photo shoot for a women's magazine and brought me along to assist her. I remember going on that shoot and thinking, "God, this is great. It's creative, and you get to work with all of these other creative people." At that point I decided that hair would be my in to fashion and all the things I thought I would enjoy - and did enjoy.