Sara Hepburn at her salon

A COLOURFUL hair salon on the Essex Road is sharing its space with artists.

Sara Hepburn, who opened Sara Hepburn Stylists last year after a 22-year styling career in Spain and London, was this week showing works by her street artist partner David Schmidt. Other artists will be invited in for month-long residencies.

During the Covid lockdown Ms Hepburn had begun studying for business management and marketing, and planned to move into social media before she came back to her love of hairdressing.

Sara with Noelia Cabrera Lara who works at the salon

Mr Schmidt already has pieces of his art displayed in Angel and major commissions with MG cars and Evisu Jeans amongst others, and is the son of Arsenal legend George Graham.

The key to a good haircut, Ms Hepburn said, is taking your time with the client and listening to what they want. “I feel people don’t listen, because they are in a rush to make more clients, to fill the till,” she added. “You have to take your time. If you don’t listen, you make mistakes. You are not doing a good job – you are making bad haircuts.

“You are only worried about the commission because also if you are working on commission, you want to do three haircuts in an hour, not one. So you lose quality when you are in a rush.”