Legendary and Visionary Stylist Vivienne Mackinder’s Inspirational Story And Trailblazing The Hair Industry 

Hi to my friends at HairBlogStylist. I’ve been asked to answer some questions, so hopefully this will be interesting for you and some inspiration.

I was asked why I moved to New York after having worked with Sassoon and Trevor Sorbie. My career began with Vidal Sassoon, I was an artistic director there many, many, many years ago. I then became an artistic director, a creative director for Trevor Sorbie and Trevor was launching his product line. He asked me to come to America to launch the line here and to build an artistic team, which I did. I then moved to New York and I chose to continue with my career going into a different direction.

Is hairdressing always what I wanted to pursue, and did I have any other aha moments? I came into hairdressing accidentally. I was a dancer and I danced professionally for a while, and I was always intrigued by costuming and how somebody was transformed into a different character when their hair, makeup and clothing changed.

I realized the power of when we dress in a certain way, it changes how we feel and obviously changes how we look. When it changes how we look, then the law of attraction says you start to attract or repel certain types of people and situations. I saw there was an incredible power in dressing for success or dressing in a specific way.

When I stopped dancing, I looked to thinking I was going to continue in the theatre, which I did not do. I went to a college called the London College of Fashion, which was specializing in teaching general hairdressing, two-year program in London. It specialized in getting people into film, theatre or television, so it’s specialized in the entertainment business.

I did that, but I then got sidetracked and I went to Sassoon’s to do another course and to continue my education. That’s when I thought, “Wow, this is kind of cool,” the whole Sassoon world and I made that my home. Ironically, even though I was drawn to film, television and theatre, my career at Sassoon’s really was not so much based in the salon. It took me off to shows and to events that were not very typical at that time. In some strange way, I have remained in that theatrical environment because I have had a career on stage.

The question is, “What do I believe is my role or responsibility as a hairdresser to today’s society, especially in uncertain times?” Gosh. Well, we can sell hope. We can sell happiness because I believe that when you have a really good hair day, you build self-confidence and self-esteem.

When you feel good about yourself, you present yourself differently to the world. When you feel good about yourself, you attract different situations. And so on that regard, the fact that we can transform somebody to be the best authentic version of themselves and instill confidence, create beauty, that’s a huge thing. It creates happier people.

We’re also an ear to challenges and many, many times a hairdresser, we’ll share things with a hairdresser that they may not even share with a therapist, or share with their husband or their loved one. We have an incredible power from compassion, from the experience of working with so many people in all walks of life, we have a lot of street smarts about us. When it’s managed correctly, it can be very, very powerful.

Encouraging, being a source of inspiration is very, very important this time. With the situation that we have right now, where people haven’t been to the salon in maybe three, four months, they certainly know what it’s like to be unkept. Will we have a new fashion of the unkept look? Possibly because fashion is born in times of challenges, but will we also have a reverse? Which would be an excitement to go to the word of glamor, that we’re tired of being in our cozy home clothes and we are looking for something that’s more glamorous and stylish? I could see two very different trends running parallel, and I believe that we do have an important responsibility in society for the lives that we touch.

 

I’m being asked a question about the education and the importance of this in terms of mentoring within our industry. Education is king. When you’re educated, you have confidence. When you have education, you have choice. An educated person knows the pros and cons. They know the danger to walk away from, and they know the excitement of what to walk towards.

A well educated person has more value, and when you look at the laws of compensation, there are three principles to the law of compensation, which is skill, demand, and the cost to replace you. Education, when it’s channeled towards those three pillars will make you far more valuable behind your chair.

Mentoring is very important and as well as being mentored. I have plenty of mentors who inspire me. I’m currently hosting on Facebook live every week Viv’s Hair Heroes and are mentoring me. They are teaching me, they are guiding me and it’s so exciting to learn something new.

Learning something new is an attitude of being thrilled versus learning something new and being scared. Well, what if it fails? Some people are very fearful of change and fearful of trying something new in case it doesn’t work out, but that’s why we have mannequin heads and that’s why we practice. That’s why today we can watch tutorials online and we can be empowered. I say, if to be fascinating and to keep growing, yes, education is a vital part of what we do. Being mentored and mentoring is also really important.

“Knowing that I’ve trained many hair artists and turned many into the successful hairdressers, what was the one feedback comment that you’re proud of or humbled by?” Yes, I’ve been very fortunate to have trained iconic, very famous hairdressers. When I watch some of these incredible icons successful in their own world, it certainly does make me very proud. My list of people who I have trained as it’s huge, and they are now owning their own companies. They now are award-winning star lists. They’re published in major magazines. Yes, they’re huge.

I think probably the one that still touches my heart is Mark Hayes, the creative director of Vidal Sassoon because first of all, he’s brilliant. Secondly, he’s the sweetest, most kind, lovely man going. He’s always shown gratitude towards me because I was his teacher. I guided him and coached him and helped him in his early days. Of course, since then, he’s gone on to be truly extraordinary and brilliant. I just look at Mark was such delight and such love, and so that does absolutely make me feel proud.

I have worked with prominent names and product companies, and I’ve been part of very iconic things. Was there a celebrity or public figure that pushed my creativity or allowed the creative freedom? I can’t think of a celebrity that’s pushed my creativity. I mean, years ago I worked on Boy George’s hair when he had dreadlocks, but he came in with dreadlocks and I couldn’t say that pushed my creativity.

I’ve worked with models who’ve pushed my creativity for sure. I would say the people who’ve pushed my creativity more than anything else would be photographers and fashion stylists. Fashion stylists look at the total picture and they push you.

When I’ve worked for product companies, I wouldn’t say that that has necessarily pushed me in a creative way, more of a problem solving way. Very often major manufacturers are conservative and they are hesitant of trying anything that is too risky or too away from their brand. Very often when I’ve worked with major companies, I felt my hands have been tied, and I’ve tried to work in the brief of what they have.

When I’ve worked with photographers, it’s about pushing boundaries. It’s trying to do the best set of images that you can possibly do, so I would say that, that would be probably more of my thing. I’ve worked with iconic hairdressers and they absolutely have pushed me and excited me.

Danilo, who is the hairdresser to Gwen Stefani, had the honour of working with him. Just by his presence and his curiosity, he pushed me to do things that I didn’t know were possible. Trevor Sorbie definitely pushed me. Sassoon’s definitely pushed me, so there have been many, many, many people that have done that and it’s incredibly exciting.

The question, “You’re arguably behind some of the most iconic looks in recent years, what inspires you as a hairstylist and an educator?” My inspiration is life. I am a student of history. I have made a movie 100 years of hairdressing on HairDesignerTV, and I have original footage that goes back to 1915.

It’s fascinating to look at how social challenges, wars, famines, financial hardship, gave birth to new ideas and gave birth to innovation. That is a great source of inspiration, so history is a wonderful way to dip back, look at something, reshuffle an idea and try and give it a new sensibility. It’s always about taking elements.

Trevor said a really brilliant idea, you can’t trace the original source of inspiration. It’s just having a curiosity, asking why, asking how, doing things fearlessly, which sometimes requires courage and practicing, experimenting.

Yeah, and I certainly have favourite periods of time. I’m a romantic, so I love anything that’s romantic. I always think that romance gives you a sense of hope and beauty. In the collection, whatever I do, if I do a black and white collection that’s hard and edgy, the next one will be color and it will be soft and romantic. If I do something that’s very surreal, then the next one will be very graphic. I love to do opposites to what I did the time before, which makes it fun and more interesting.

The lockdown restrictions. Have I seen an increase in traffic to HairDesignerTV? What’s been fascinating is that, this year we will celebrate our 18th year on HairDesignerTV. What was fascinating when we all were locked down was that everyone came into my world. Obviously as more people have had access to do it yourself, so phones, to video, do it yourself editing, all the social media platforms that allow you to do it yourself, there’s a lot of people out there doing it themselves.

Some is brilliant. Some is, I don’t think you really should be on there. It’s just like when we go to YouTube, there’ll be in cooking some people that are brilliant chefs and it’s like, wow, amazing recipes. There’s others it’s like, sweetheart, you should just stay in your own kitchen and not be presenting right now, because you’re not that skilled. The same thing happens in all businesses, doesn’t it? There’s some good, bad and ugly out there.

What happened during this situation was that, everyone came online. The market became saturated with good, bad and indifferent. Everyone was offering free, which is very difficult in a business model that I have where I am pure education. I’m not selling you a widget. I am 100% selling my knowledge of 40 plus years and my expertise. There’s an incredible investment in an online business. It’s huge. It’s huge.

I’m going to tell you something that my ponytail collection was $60,000 to produce. I had somebody very flippantly say, “Well, why am I not doing it for free?” Do you stand in your salon doing things for free? How does your salon run if you don’t make money?

HairDesignerTV was certainly challenged, so for myself like everybody, I probably lost about 80% of my business. I do online education of course, and I also do workshops so I lost about that. Then a lot of people couldn’t afford the subscription anymore, and a lot of people were wanting free.

What did I do? I put myself out there. To this point in the two months I created 28 webinars. I posted 100 new videos on HairDesignerTV. I try to do as much free as I could to help and support people through this hard time. It was probably one of the hardest things going to be locked in a tiny room with me, cameras, computers, and lighting, and just be a one woman show where I’m used to having a production company. I’m used to doing things at a high level, and at the mercy of the internet.

It was not an easy time, but I tried to stay focused on helping people, educating people and showing that what I do is not like everybody else out there. That there is value. My goodness, if you can learn from my 40 years of success and failure, and I can help accelerate your growth and your financial rewards, then is it not worth something?

Now we’re starting to see people go back to work. Now they’re busy of course, trying to take care of themselves and their clients, and their safety and their wellness. I would say that while we’re just trying to survive, it’s probably going to take a while for us to thrive because of the economy. We’re trying to figure out how to redesign what I’m doing. I’ve completely reinvented my business and that’s part of the reset button, isn’t it?

I do also provide training onsite and I enjoy working one-to-one with somebody. There’s nothing more special than seeing somebody and being able to work one to one. Online education is a very different beast because you have to engage with the camera. You have to understand how to work to a camera and how to engage with some intelligence. Online is probably harder to engage and to captivate, I enjoy both platforms.

“What online courses would you recommend aspiring hairdressers to sign up for and why?” Well, gosh, I think more the question is, what are you interested in? We have cutting libraries on HairDesignerTV. We have editorial styling libraries. We have color, we have motivation and inspiration, and we have designing to face shape on consultations, so we have a lot of courses.

I now have 1,000 videos on HairDesignerTV. If you want to up your communication, your creativity, and your ability to design at a higher level, I would say go to who is sitting in your chair, that’s a course. It dives into face shape design, it dives into how you come up with ideas and how you sell the idea.

One goal seven looks is a journey with a mannequin head and you go from the longest hairstyle to the shortest hairstyle. Together we go through it, from long layers to a pixie, that’s a great course. We have the ponytail collection, which is my brand new collection, which is a journey through ponytails. How to back comb, how to pin, how to design to face shape, that’s an awesome, awesome program.

The cutting library is divided into short, medium and long haircuts. The color is divided into many different categories, and it’s a library that we’re building more intentionally at this time. The inspiration that is in my site is huge because I have films on, I’m not just a hairdresser, which is journaling iconic hairdressers. I have a lot of content, so when you come to my site at HairDesignerTV, ask yourself, where do I want to park? Which is the book I’m going to pick up and what am I going to browse through? There are so many videos in my library, so you have to have some clarity about what you need and then you can start going from course to course, and it is structured in courses.

 

“What piece of advice would you give hairdressers at home, not being able to release their creativity at their salon?” Be very mindful of where you study, because human behaviour is contagious. If you watch mediocre, chances are you’ll be mediocre. Really discern good from great. Get real clarity around what you need to study and why.

If you just watch tons and tons of videos and you don’t apply any of it, it’s just like browsing through loads of movies, but it doesn’t apply to your life. It’s more important to have a focus, practice and follow along, recreate the looks, photo journal so that you can look back and say, “Wow, during this lockdown look at all the different looks that I created.”

A long head mannequin is a good one so that you don’t keep having to cut and buy more mannequin heads, and go through an editorial course. Work on your photography skills with your phone and look at how you can take better pictures so that you can do better posts.

All of these things I think are very, very important, but I would say more than anything now, our clients, when they return, even if they’re a client that usually would not want to make over, she’s going to require a makeover because she’s been on unkept for a few months. I would say, learning or taking your consultation to the next level will be critically, critically important.

“In your professional opinion, how do you think the hair industry is dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic?” Oh gosh. Well, I’m sure it’s ranging from managing really well. I’ve heard salons work together as a team, come up with incredible ideas and in crisis to see opportunities. I’ve seen great leadership and great team effort, and I’m seen some amazing things and they will thrive.

I’m seeing some salons that haven’t been communicating. The owners are distant and the lockdown is literally a lockdown. The stylists feel lost and confused and worried, so I’m seeing a mixture of how we have handled it. Like in any situation, some people will see great opportunity here and some people will just melt.

If you didn’t have a strong thriving business, this is a time to take real inventory of the business, of your life, of the choices that you’ve made. Say, “Okay, what do I do differently? How do I press my reset button? Who do I need to bring in to help me run my business better? How do I get into this new situation?”

Now more than ever, we’re going to be greatly appreciated because when you have a regrowth and you have unkept hair, my goodness me, you’ll treasure, your hairdresser even more. Some people may have been busy going to the pharmacy and picking up hair color that they shouldn’t be using, and that you may have color corrections. Some people may have cut their hair themselves, and it’s a hot disaster. Do you know what? Some people may have cut their hair and colored their hair and done a pretty good job.

We’re going to see a mixture of things. We’re handling it as best as we can, and it’s very natural to feel very, very frightened about going back. One’s health, one’s vulnerability, the conversations that one’s going to have, the uncomfortableness of wearing a mask and a shield and being uncomfortable, that’s another issue. It’s very, very difficult because we’re almost having to act like a nurse or a doctor in the ER, but we’re doing creative work. It’s not exactly a comfortable thing for any of us, but overall, the industry has come together very well to support each other as the trade.

There’s been a lot of reaching out. There’s been a lot of generous hearts out there. Now the reality is of how we handle it is what we do when we return to our space, and how professional we are and how we adapt to, I hate to say the word, the new normal.

I want to just say thank you for asking me these questions today, I hope they were helpful. What I would say to you is, at a time like this, when you’re pressing your reset button, think about how you can design your lifestyle first and reverse your career into it. Think about what you want from your life and what you can live without and what you can edit. Really look at how can you increase the quality and not the quantity, and ask yourself, what do I stand for? What is my brand? When people describe me, what do I want them to say that I am as an artist?

I know that from when I was asked once by a journalist from a magazine to describe my style, I said, “I don’t really know how to describe it. I do so many different things.” He said, “Well, this is what you do,” he said, “You have creativity, you have an edge to your work, but really your brand is edge with beauty. That you never compromise beauty, but you have this blend of a little edginess with some classis.” He said, that’s my style. Okay, so that’s interesting.

What’s your style? I think you should ask yourself that. Check out HairDesignerTV. Also, please do go to Hairdressers Create, which is my Facebook group. You can join that for free, so it’s Facebook group Hairdressers Create. There you’ll see some of the great opportunities that we offer to HairDesignerTV members and to the group.

We also once a week do Hair Heroes, which is a Facebook live with Vivian’s Hair Heroes, and they teach me. Also, what else do I want to share with you? Go to HairDesignerTV, invest. Invest in you and I promise, you’ll see a return. I wish you safeness and take care and bye for now.