Vidal Sassoon,
CBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born January 17, 1928) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
-born
IsraeliIsraelis , are citizens or nationals of the modern state of Israel. Israel is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds including most numerously Jews, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Druze, Circassians, and others...
hairdresser and businessman.
Early life
Sassoon was born to
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish parents in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. His father was from Salonica (
ThessalonikiThessaloniki , Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. It is honorarily called the Συμπρωτεύουσα Symprotevousa of Greece, as it was once called the συμβασιλεύουσα symvasilevousa of the Byzantine Empire...
in
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
), and his mother, whose family was originally from
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
, was born in London. Although too young to serve in the Second World War, Sassoon became a member of the
43 GroupThe 43 Group was an English anti-fascist group set up by Jewish ex-servicemen after World War II. They did this when, upon returning to London, they encountered British fascist organisations such as Jeffrey Hamm's "British League of Ex-Servicemen" and later Oswald Mosley's reformed British Union of...
, a Jewish veterans' militia organisation that broke up Fascist meetings in East London after the end of the war. In 1948 he joined the Israeli Defence Forces to fight in the
1948 Arab-Israeli WarThe 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe , was the first in a series of wars fought between the newly declared State of Israel and its Arab neighbours in the long-running Arab-Israeli conflict.The war...
.
Influence in hairstyling
Sassoon's works include the geometric, the wash-and-wear
permA permanent wave, commonly called a perm, is the chemical and/or thermal treatment of hair to produce waves, curls or straight hair. The use of the word 'permanent' is justified insofar as when the wave is permed, it remains so; however, as the hair grows, the new hair that grows has not been...
, and the "
Nancy KwanNancy Kwan is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles...
." They were all modern and low-maintenance. The hairstyles created by Sassoon relied on dark, straight, and shiny hair cut into geometric yet organic shapes. In 1963, Sassoon created a short, angular hairstyle cut on a horizontal plane that was the recreation of the classic "
bob cutA "bob cut" is a women's short haircut in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at about jaw-length, often with a fringe at the front...
." His geometric haircuts seemed to be severely cut, but were entirely
lacquerIn a general sense, lacquer is a clear or coloured varnish that dries by solvent evaporation and often a curing process as well that produces a hard, durable finish, in any sheen level from ultra matte to high gloss and that can be further polished as required.The term lacquer originates from the...
-free, relying on the natural shine of the hair for effect. Sassoon is a father of modernist style and has also been a key force in the commercial direction of hair styling, turning its craft in to a multi-million dollar industry.
He was a very influential person to people all over the world; especially those who have become cosmetologists. By the early 1980s, after moving to the United States, Sassoon had sold his name to manufacturers of haircare products and the multinational
Procter & GambleProcter & Gamble Co. is a Fortune 500, American multinational corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, that manufactures a wide range of consumer goods. As of 2008, P&G is the 8th largest corporation in the world by market capitalization and 14th largest US company by profit...
was applying his name to
shampooShampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
s and
conditionersHair conditioner is a hair care product that alters the texture and appearance of human hair.-History:For centuries, natural oils have been used to condition human hair. These natural products are still used today, including essential oils such as tea tree oil and carrier oils such as jojoba oil...
sold worldwide. Former salon colleagues also bought Sassoon's salons and acquired the right to use his name, extending the brand in salons into the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. However, in 2003, Sassoon sued Procter & Gamble in
Federal CourtThe United States federal courts comprises the Judiciary Branch of government organized under the Constitution and laws of the federal government of the United States...
alleging that P&G was destroying his brand by skimping on marketing in favor of the company's other hair product lines, notably
PantenePantene is a brand of hair care products owned by Procter & Gamble.The brand's best-known product is the conditioning shampoo Pantene Pro-V...
. However, the suit was settled to their mutual satisfaction before trial. Also in 2002, the chain of Vidal Sassoon salons was sold to
Regis CorporationRegis Corporation is the largest hair salon chain in the world, with over 11,000 salons , it is ranked 778 on the Fortune 1000....
. By 2004, it was reported that he was no longer associated with the brand that bears his name.
Vidal Sassoon has authored several books, including
A Year of Beauty and Health co-written with his former wife, Beverly Sassoon. He also had a short-lived TV series called
Your New Day with Vidal Sassoon in the late 1970s.
In 1982, Sassoon started the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, or SICSA, a research centre devoted to the non-political, interdisciplinary gathering of information about antisemitism.
Sassoon was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.
Family
In 1967, Vidal Sassoon married
Beverly Adams-Biography:Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Adams moved to Burbank, California as a child. As a teen, she competed in and won beauty contests before becoming an actress. During her career, Adams appeared in various guest roles in television series of the 1960s...
. They had four children, including an adopted son. One daughter, actress
Catya SassoonCatya "Cat" Sassoon was an American model and actress.-Biography:The eldest of four children, Sassoon was born in New York City to famed British hairstylist Vidal Sassoon and his wife, actress Beverly Adams. Raised in Beverly Hills, Sassoon was a rebellious teen who pierced her nose and dyed her...
, died of a drug overdose on January 1, 2002. The couple divorced in 1980. He is now married to Rhonda Sassoon.
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