There’s a new name on our high street, and Deirdre Huston met new owner, David Rae, to find out all about it.
David Rae went into hairdressing at 16. He trained at L’Oreal, in Hammersmith, learning through a series of courses which ran alongside an apprenticeship. He went on to work at Michael John, a well-known hairdressers known for its celebrity clientele. “It was good fun,” he recalls. After stints at various salons, in 2004, at the youthful age of twenty-four, David opened his first salon in Petts Wood, Bromley. “I always wanted to have my own business,” he says, “because that was my biggest drive when I was younger.” His parents were entrepreneurial, and David could imagine doing nothing else. The first business is still trading to this day and David now also has salons in Orpington, Tunbridge Wells and Hassocks! All the salons are called In Session. “The name came about because I’m a session stylist,” says David. He works on photo shoots, at fashion shows and at events such as London Fashion Week.
In 2018, In Session were the UK winners in the global competition, Style Masters. The competition starts in your own country. Entrants are briefed to create a photoshoot on a single day using just one model who must portray three different looks. David elaborates: “The art of this competition is how to evolve the hair without it becoming too overworked.” The theme was to represent the sea, but there was a more specific story to each picture. For example, the commercial image represented coral with its colours, crevices, and fragility.
David took ownership of the Hassocks salon, Identity, in December and he’s glad to have Laura Parsons continue as manager. Laura’s worked at the salon for f ifteen years and she says: “It’s still the same team here, but now we have more opportunities for training and lots of fresh ideas, too. We try to get involved with the fashion side of it so that we can pass on new trends to our clients.” See David cut hair underwater: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8NWaGo1tNw
To read David’s full story grab yourself a copy of Hassocks Life.