The Ginger Ninja

Before I start i'd just like to say that our very own Clive was Involved in the naming of this blog post, when i say involved he named it. (Sorry Antonio)

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Antonio who has been working with us at Charlie Brown for the last 10 years and has been managing our Wallington Salon for the last 6 years he’s hugely popular with clients and has a lot of experience in the industry, Here’s how it went…

First off tell us a little bit about yourself?  How long have you been hairdressing for & what first inspired you to become a hairdresser?

Urm so I have been hairdressing for 20 years (pause) and corr what first inspired me to become a hairdresser?! I was doing engineering before and it was so tedious and boring and I saw loads of fit girls in the hairdressing department and thought I know I’ll try that! Shallow hey but it worked out!

 What’s your favourite thing to do within hairdressing?

I like cutting hair yeah! (long urm) I think it’s the strongest part of my job, I like working with different textures and changing the way things look I just feel I can do that with haircuts really well.

What’s your favourite fruit?

Whats my favourite fruit? Random! Bananas who thought of that question (laughs)

Are there any celebrity stylists you follow or look up to? If so why?

Uurrrmmm oh crikey who do I follow? (long pause)  I still look at a lot of Sassoon stuff even though he’s dead now. I just think that he is the reason why we do what we do, even today with new styles and stuff and for me that will never change.

I love keeping up with programmes like 'Hair' on BBC three at the moment I just think it’s so good for our industry and I feel a  lot of programmes do hairdressing an injustice but 'Hair' is great considering none of them are professional hairdressers

I’m also quite sad I just love looking on you tube at different salons work and videos. I like Hobbs edgy work and also Angelo Seminara who works for Trevor Sorbie he’s really good!

Are there any particular hairstyles or trends that are catching your eye on the street, red carpet and catwalk?

Oh god! I gonna sound like I’m not doing my job properly now aren’t I! Showing my age! Nah just playing! Urm recently I’ve seen loads of guys everywhere with super short hair and crazy long beards

And for women I’m really noticing a lot more blowdried well groomed hair I see it more often than I ever have done in the past

And red carpet urm well the Oscars this year was full of braids and plaits as well as Chignons, There both everywhere at the moment!

Can you tell us about the time you thought your car was stolen?

Oh Bloody hell! (laughs) Yes I can! When I was working over at the Banstead salon a silly short man called Clive thought it would be really funny to take my car keys and move my car really really far away! God knows how he got my keys but anyway… When I left work and realised my car was missing obviously I panicked and was like where’s my car?! I can’t remember how but I think someone said to me oh where’s your car so I suddenly twigged it was Clive, so I got my own back and called him and said ‘Clive someone’s taken my car I’m gonna have to call the police’ He then panicked! Clive is such a prankster! The naughty boy (laughs)

When recruiting what qualities do you look for in your potential team members?

Ahh easy question! Personality comes first before skill! Obviously they’ve got to have skill, but over the years I’ve worked for some great but really dull hairdressers! So for me there’s got to be a spark they’ve gotta engage me yano!

So a little birdy tells us that you’re doing the marathon? How’s the prep going for that? Kudos to you!

Everything’s been really great until a few weeks ago when my hip started playing up and now my other hip and left knee are giving me jip but yeah apart from that all fine!

What made you take up running?

I started running because my dad had cancer and I just wanted to get drunk but my friend said no run! So that’s what I did and I haven’t looked back since! I went to watch my brother run the marathon in Brighton and I just thought the atmosphere was so amazing and I was inspired!  So I did my first 10k in Beddington Park and a year later I did the marathon and became addicted it just gives you so much adrenaline and I just get so focused!

Have you run the marathon before?

I first did the Brighton marathon last year for Prostate Cancer UK in memory of my dad and this year I’m running for Saint Christopher’s hospice in memory of Darren who was my deputy manager here at the Wallington salon for a few years unfortunately he got diagnosed with bowel cancer he was so young it was awful anyways… he ended up in Saint Christopher’s hospice. I’d never been before and I just thought it would be so depressing but it was so uplifting and I just thought they were so good with everyone in there! I just knew I’d like to help them out as personally it’s so close to me

And lastly what’s your favourite product to use on clients? Anything new that’s proving popular?

Urm favourite product that I use on everybody is one that I used to use a lot and then kinda forgot about it but its Redken’s thickening lotion it’s wicked at getting body out of loads of different styles!

New product I love is Redkens ruffle up used on the right haircut its great!

I haven’t ever really had the time to sit down and get to know Antonio properly, but after the interview I came away knowing why he’s so well liked within the company with staff and clients. Such a great guy, and truly inspiring not just for his hairdressing but for his ongoing charity work!

Here’s a link to Antonio’s justgiving page if you would like to help him raise money for the wonderful Saint Christopher’s Hospice

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=AntonioBrighton