The Final Cut with Robert Eaton
Newly appointed Wella Professionals Technical Director ROBERT EATON talks classic cuts and new platforms.
Saturday son I think I always knew this was the industry for me. My dad, Russell Eaton, used to take me into the salon from a very early age and I was a Saturday boy from about the age of 11. By the time I was 16 I had started my training.
Outside inspiration For collections, I draw a lot of inspiration from fashion, architecture and my surroundings. Often I draw inspiration from past techniques and then add a modern twist to them.
Retro redux I like the shapes that were really on-trend in the early days of Sassoon. I like how trends are always evolving and being remade. At the moment I’m enjoying developing my own take on the 80s and 90s.
Feeling faint I’m a strong believer in learning from your mistakes and seeing them as opportunities to improve. I’m so proud of where I am and what I have achieved and everything I’ve done in the past has led me to this point. However, there is one occasion in the early days of my career where I was working on a model with very long hair. I spent over three hours on it and forgot to check my model. She fainted. She was fine in the end, but it taught me to not focus solely on the hair. I like to see this as a mark of my dedication to the look!
Instant access A positive in the industry is that everything is so accessible these days. You can have instant access to trends and inspiration and share your work on platforms that have a huge reach.
When I first started it wasn’t like this at all. You were very reliant on having to travel and actively network which could be time consuming and costly, especially when based outside of London. I did love the social aspect of that, but social media has really helped boost careers at a faster rate. On the flip side, having social platforms that you gave manage adds a whole layer to your workload.
Top job If I was to change anything I would like to make sure that the younger generation see it as the amazing career that it can be. I think young people don’t necessarily see the rewarding side of the business and I’d love that to be emphasised a bit more because it really is an amazing, creative and inspiring industry to be in.
Winning Streak A big highlight for me was in 2003 when I was part of the Fame Team, won the L’Oreal Colour trophy and won my first BHA award. It was an amazing year. Reaching the Fellowship for British Hairdressing Hall of Fame was amazing as was winning BHA Schwarzkopf Professional British Colour Technician of the Year in 2016 and 2017.
Future facing I want to keep on progressing in the industry in all aspects of my career and within my different roles. I’m only 38 so I’m hoping I’ve still got a wealth of opportunity ahead of me to get stuck into. The ultimate goal would be to be nominated for British Hairdresser of the Year. That would be such an incredible honour.