#yt:28jvlBA0RMk Avant-gardist, Vidal Sassoon is considered, by a lot of celebrities, to be a modern hairstyle master. He wanted to simplify women's life by inventing hairstyle that can be easily reproduced and which are, despite the years, still mythical.    Vidal Sassoon was born in 1928. In 1942, when he was 14, Vidal started to work as a shampooer in a little English salon. Three years later, he joined the " 43 Group ", a militia which fought against fascist gathering in England : from this years he will keep the nickname " anti fascist hairdresser-soldier ". When he was 20 years old, he participated in the Israel war, fighting for the new State independence. Once he had money, he financed the " Centre international Vidal Sassoon for anti Semitism study ", in Jerusalem University. It is in 1954, that Vidal Sassoon opened his first hairdresser salon in London. One of his first client was Mary Quant, the one who created the mini-skirt.   

Assuming their own power

" Women started to work, to finally assume their own power. They did not have time to wait sitting down below the hair-drier ", explained Vidal Sasson in 2001 to the Los Angeles Times. To solve the problem, he invented, in the 1960's, the geometric perm that will revolutionized the hairdressing world. In 1967, the film-maker Roman Polanski offered him 5000 dollars to realize his mythical hairstyle that Mia Farrow wore in the film " Rosemary's Baby ". Successful, Sassoon opened schools from 1973 and gave his name to a line of hair-care products. Those care products permitted him to build a real empire. In the 1980's, he sold his brand to the Procter & Gamble group, making him the first hairdresser to do so. With his short cut hairstyle, Vidal Sassoon freed the hair from traditional hair clips and curlers that women of the 1950's wore to sleep. Thanks to its famous " wash and dry " hairstyles, easy to maintain, he rose to the top.  

Appointed by the Queen

In 2009, Vidal Sassoon was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen Elisabeth II, for its services performed in the English hairdressing industry. One year later, a documentary-tribute is dedicated to the " man who changed the world with scissors ".   In 2012, when he was 84, the visionary creator died in Los Angeles. Its techniques are still taught in the Vidal Sassoon Academy, and there are 32 hairdressing salon and 14 hairdressing schools in the world that have his name. Stars like Rihanna orVictoria Beckham owe him their " Bob cut ", the plunging bob that won't go out of fashion.   Laureline Siguret for LiveCoiffure.com ►Discover the episode 1 of our dossier "scalp and hair": Antoine de Paris ►Discover the episode 2 of our dossier "scalp and hair": Alexandre de París ► Discover the episode 3 of our dossier "scalp and hair" : Carita sisters