Robert Mascaive

ROBERT

MASCAIVE

‘Everything learned is worth learning’

“I am Robert Mascaive and I am proud to be a hairdresser. Thirty years on from when I started, I am still happily doing my job and loving it, in my salon in Kingston, London as well as being part of the broader hairdressing community. I've won many different awards, however my salon won 'The Best Salon' in the UK twice, which I'm very proud of because this is about my whole salon team. It's not about one individual. So that's why I'm very proud about that. And yeah, I love to share my knowledge and all the things that I have discovered throughout my journey, and to me hairdressing is a journey. “The name Masciave is Italian and is pronounced ‘Mashave’ there. I have some family living in Southern Italy, however, I was born and grew up in France and we pronounced it French style 'Masyave', so it's a hot name!!!”

“I'm gonna tell you how I got into hairdressing but first I will give you a quote, which I'd like you to remember because throughout my hairdressing journey (my story), you'll see that actually, things come back. And my quote is that 'everything learned is worth learning'. Yeah. It's only when you go through life that you realise that the things that you have learnt may have seen completely irrelevant at that time, but sometime they come back to be very useful to you. I grew up in the northeast of France, in an industrial zone, where metal was the main product that was produced there. So, you know, everybody there at that time would go to college and then learn to work in the metal industry, including me! I love technology so when I started working with metal, I learned a lot about manipulating it, as well as learning about electronics. I learned what you call industrial design and industrial drawing and did that for two years until there came a time when I felt I didn’t fit in. It was the mid eighties and I was a punk and had like, huge spikes in my hair. So my teachers and colleagues looked at me and they were like, what are you doing here? You know you don't fit in. And one day, I don't know why it came into my head that I decided to become a hairdresser. I thought this would be great. And okay, bear in mind, I was only 17 and very naive, so my idea was that I would become a hairdresser and it would be a great job and I could do cool hair and change everybody's hair! Because I thought everybody on the streets looked shit and I wanted everybody to become punks. Right? I started training to be a hairdresser in 1984 and that was part of the punk hair era and all that. I’m laughing because during that time the whole world was going through a deep depression. And there was like a social revolution against the government, which was the punk movement, wasn't it? It was huge in France as well.

And, you know, in my home town, I was the only one punk. But people knew me and, you know, they knew I was not a troublemaker.

I thought hairdressing would be a great, great job. But I needed to learn to become a hairdresser and get career advice. But first I had to convince my parents and, they both looked at me thinking, 'what?'. Because of course nobody in my family was a hairdresser. My mom said to my dad "Well, you know, I prefer him to become a hairdresser than an electrician." And, I was like, yes, this is exactly what I want to do. I know, I have the conviction. So they said, "Oh, okay, you've got the whole summer to find yourself a spot. If not, you go back to work with metal." So I started to look for an apprenticeship in a salon but in France they begin at 14 and I was 17 and already too old and I would cost the salons too much so I managed to find a school of hairdressing and from then my journey in hairdressing started. One thing, that was very funny, I had to do a practical and theory test to get into the school. And of course, I never touched hair, apart from doing my own hair spikes, that's all I could do, so I was very nervous. I didn’t mind the theory and I could draw as well. So, my plan was when I got into the school I would find someone that could help me with the practical exam, with practice. And I did just that! I met this guy whose parents had a salon that he was working in and they had sent him to the school to learn. He was nervous about the drawing of diagrams. And I said, well, I can draw. I will help you and you help me with hair. He said okay deal and that's what we did. And that's how I got in! Now the French way of training in styling and dressing hair was brilliant but cutting then was very basic. I became obsessed with my career choice pretty fast. I liked to do things well, you know. Perfection I got from my mom. She taught me to do things with precision. When I started doing men's haircuts it was good for a perfectionist, because you have to get every single detail right. I'm got into it very quickly and I worked hard. I got to a good high level of skill, I passed all my exams quickly, no problem. And then I got a job in my local salon, where I lived. My boss had nine salons and my role was to go in to each salon to do things the proper way.

Sometimes, a diamond doesn't look like a diamond until it's been, put together. I say this because one day I was in a very tiny salon in a very tiny village which I used to call a shithole but actually I learned that that was my diamond! A client there said to me, "The way you work, you remind me of my friend's son. He is now in the UK and has his own salon, he is doing very well and he does shows and photoshoots also”. I was interested immediately. I’d never been to the UK and I really wanted to go so she passed on my number to him. He called me and we met up for an interview and I would start my new journey one month later with my mentor Guy Kremer. People thought that because I like extravagant things like punk, that that’s all I liked. But no, that was not so. At home, my mom, a dressmaker, my mom taught me the classic traditional lines which were in fashion and in hair. And, Guy's work was traditional and beautiful. And, to me, we were a great fit, because I learned how to make things beautiful and how to perfect things and I loved it. I began to develop my own style and I was always pushing the limits of my skill. Can my classic style become classic with a plus? Could it evolve more? There I found I had a very distinctive style in avant garde. I opened my own salon 21 years years ago. I started to explore every aspect of my trade. It was all about expressing myself, you know, and I just wanted to try new things. And I think what's important is to, be free of judgment. So to try without the fear of people judging your work, and that's where you really can explore, that's where you discover new things. I always say to people, we don't fail, we never fail, we make discoveries. You discover things that you want and sometime you discover things that you don't want. I started doing a collaboration of photo shoots, where I could do what I wanted. And then suddenly, things happened, you know, and it was, pretty different and the photographer was like, "Wow, amazing! Love it!" Then I did more creative work for him and that's how it began with me pushing myself to the limit. It is still difficult, absolutely. You know, creativity is about courage, you need to have the courage to put things out there. But you know, the thing that people sometimes overlook, is, that you need your basic hairdressing skills to have strong foundations to be able to do creative things. Because you see our job is about expressing ourselves through hair by using our hands. And, you know, you've also got to be able to have a great link between what is in your head, and, and what you produce. So you've got to really work hard so that your ideas can be translated into the physical world, otherwise, your ideas will only remain verbal. If you're a great storyteller, you will be greater at saying things than others, but if you don’t know the foundations of your craft your hands can’t do the work and you will be found out!

When I'm working with my team, they always want me to show them how to work creatively. And I always just show them foundations because if you know them well then you just put your own twist or movement on it to make it creative. You know, people think that creativity is about doing strange things, it is not. Creativity is about challenging yourself and challenging your thoughts. When you put yourself in front of a challenge, your mind starts to think differently. Now, what's important is you develop the skill of thinking outside the box. Yeah. And then from that, you then develop the other skills that are really very important such as problem solving. People think, 'Oh, I'm gonna do some avant garde, can you teach me some technique'? Yes, you can learn some of the techniques, but it's about having an idea, working out how to make it work for you, and that is all problem solving!. For one of my photoshoots I discovered the properties of feathers. They are mind blowing. But the bottom line is that somebody one day could fly like a bird. It’s pretty amazing what birds do. It fascinates me. I start always with moodboards. When I teach, I try to get the students to think creatively. When I'm doing a show, I like to affect people emotionally. Now, when I say that, it doesn't mean that it's always emotionally good. You know, if I'm a movie maker, if I'm going to make a horror movie, well, of course, when you succeed is when you scare people. If you are making a comedy, and people laugh, then your movies are good. That means they understand my sensitivity, and, what I've done, and if they don't, they don’t! And when they hate it, because I affected them emotionally that also is what art is about. The first person that has to be happy is me. You know, when I made the hair outfits, I remember there was parts of it that was really just underneath that nobody would see that I had to have right also you know. I think that the important thing is not doing experimental work, just put everything out straight away, you know, at the end of the day, the development process is a great journey. You've got to work on it and develop the look up to a point where you and everyone else is happy. The first thing I do is to decide on an idea and then I start to think differently - how do I want to present it and what do I want people to feel about it? And now, then you then I start editing it accordingly. Providing you love it at the time, then it really doesn't matter what other people think because providing you're proud to put it out, that's all that ever matters. Deep down I am a real competitor but also I am a businessman. You know awards are good when your peers acknowledge your work. But competitions can also benefit your business, you know elevate it and that’s what I do to increase my value. I present my profile to my clients to gain more confidence and build a better business. And yes I have succeeded in lots of them but remember I also lost some competitions but then I learn from that experience too. The minute you give up that’s the minute you fail, If you are in the game, that’s what matters. Being a finalist can be fantastic, you are already part of a selection and that’s a great achievement so never give up! But remember chasing a title is one thing but it has to be for the betterment of your business and your career. You may become obsessed with competiting but as long as you know what your focus is. Focus is very important be it for your business, your creativity or your own profile. For me it was I wanted to build a profile for my salon business Metropolis and educate myself along the way in this area. I must say, right now, I tell you, I've got a great team that I need, they are really working hard, and my Metropolis Salon is coming up to 22 years open. Its been a good journey. I thought I wanted more than one salon but I realized actually that it was more important for me to have one salon with really good hairdressing craft produced. I think the future of our industry is going to evolve; it's going to change dramatically. I've done some career talks about it. Yes, I talk about it quite a lot, because the future of our industry is going to have lots of technology. Because, you know, robotics is coming and we must stay relevant and creative or we will disappear, that is an absolute guarantee. People tell me that robots will never cut hair but I say they will because they are already teaching robots to operate all sorts of equipment and do all sort of roles. Another thing that I think is very interesting at the moment, is the Dyson hairdryer. It's amazing.. And what it has done, it removes a lot of the skills that I need. Yeah, okay, you need to do sectioning and things, but, it does the job very well. So I see this as one of the tools that are going to start replacing a skill we do. Do you remember years ago the tongs? Well before that there was a brush and dryer to create the look. Now everyone has a tongs. Then the ghd iron came and everyone was like no-no-no a good smooth blowdry is all that you need. .But of course, now we use it every day in the salon, it’s a given, it’s normal to do it. The youngsters coming up behind us you know have a different mentality. They say, well, why do we need to struggle when we have a tongs or a straightner. Well, that's it! The reason why I say, you have got to learn all the basics, you have got to learn all these old skills, because they are skills, because if you want to be able to express yourself, then, then you need to be able to do all these things. Because, you know, a tongs or a straightner might not be enough, you might need to know how to create finger waves, you might want to do different things. And, that's what, will help allow you to be creative and to do different stuff. And that's why you need to learn, you need to learn all these things!. . You know, when I recruit staff, I always have a problem because people think that I have a studio and all that I do is weird hair. But that part of my career is for a show, it's for the public, that's going to watch it, right. But when I'm in the salon, my work is for my clients. They are who I have to please and when I am in the salon they are my focus!. I love getting it right for my clients and for that to happen you need to know about face shape, hair texture, body shape, lifestyle. It is so important to understand the suitability of the work you do is good for the client. I grew up, with my mum making clothes and suiting outfits to a person was always the most important thing. She'd say to me, you know, that doesn't suit that person, that doesn't fit well. When you make something it has to fit well. I always think about what she said about fitting the style to the client…individuality. If you visit to a shoe shop and you say, I like those shoes and those other ones. They will say what size, what colour, normal or wide fit and then you know you will get the right shoes. So when I started doing hair, I used this theory…hair had to fit the

persons face shape, hair texture and their personality. EBLADE, that stories started a long time ago, actually more than 25 years ago. I started working, holding my scissors differently. This happened because I met a French hairdresser that had a shoulder injury and, he was told that he couldn't cut hair again because he couldn't lift his arm. And, the doctor said, unless he could find a way to hold his scissors differently he would never cut hair again. When I met him, he said I've got this idea, but I need somebody creative to help me to think of technique and things. So I was like, well, let's do it together. And that's how we developed the idea. Then I worked on this for quite long time but of course, my life, went on too. You know, I opened my salon and I didn't have time. And my focus was somewhere else, you know?

Then one day a few years ago I wanted to change my own scissors, but I couldn't find any scissors that would allow me to carry on working that way I like and have that high quality blade. So that's when I decided to make the EBLADE. I thought, well, I'll make a prototype just for me. So I bought scissors that had the detachable blades and asked my friend who was a jewelry maker to make a handle. I did a drawing. I made the drawing in two seconds because I knew precisely what I needed. Could you make that? So we did that and then we refined it. I worked since then with my prototype and it was great. It worked really well. But then three years ago I had an accident. I broke both my wrists and dislocated and broke my shoulder. So the result was an operation. I've got metal in my elbow and shoulder to fix me. So I felt like a robot! Now when I say “I'll be back”, it means something. I couldn't work for, for, for many months, but I was determined to go back to work and I thought, you know, I wonder if I take my scissors and try to work out how I can do this differently. When I started holding my scissors differently, I realized actually, wow, you know, I was able to do haircuts again. The other way was restrictive and I realized that I've got something here that can help others. And if I don't release it, I I'm going to feel selfish. You know, maybe other people, have injuries, and because if it helps me, it might help others too. And that's, when the EBLADE journey began. I had to find somebody to manufacture it and I then needed to develop the brand people would trust and a brand becomes a business! And that’s where I am now. I have now designed for people all over the world and there's already a change in the way that we work when using them. How exciting is that? The EBLADES have different grips also. For example I have used the inverted grip for many years then there is the Eastern grip that came a bit later. I continually challenge myself and others to think of different ways to use the blades. Our industry revolution is already happening. Now we need to put, things in a certain way to make sure that we can pass it on in the right way. We hold all the responsibility to build a good future for the young generation of hairdressers. So when they start working, they could start with a way that's better, healthier and a way to be more creative. You know, creativity is always on the court and I want to challenge people, you know. “I never get bored. I always say, only boring people are bored.” I will finish with a message to you… You must challenge yourself. Creativity is not about doing strange things but about being challenged. Challenge yourself to do your creative work in silence and it will allow you to evolve your thoughts and you never know, you could bring something fresh to the table that inspires everyone. That’s my challenge to you! So go do it. Challenge yourself!