A Cut Above

A French pioneer hairdresser in Hong Kong shares his remarkable story.

- Melissa Stevens

As with most successful people, a combination of timing, talent and passion has underpinned the career of French hairdresser EMMANUEL FAIPOUX. The founder of eco-chic salon Emmanuel F, he was a trailblazer when it came to the use of organic products in Hong Kong, demonstrating that a natural approach and sophisticated style are not mutually exclusive.

Training Ground

So, it may come as some surprise that his career began in the most unexpected of places: the French army. Emmanuel was in his late teens when he enlisted to do his mandatory national service. After initial training, he was sent to a camp in Germany where the hairdresser at the base was leaving two weeks after Emmanuel’s arrival.

“He was a professional men’s hairdresser and he said to me, ‘You are going to watch me for one week and I will show you how to hold scissors and cut, and you will ask questions, and then the next week you’ll cut the hair and I will watch you,’” Emmanuel recalls.

Not only did he survive the crash course, he immediately fell in love with hairdressing. “When I started to do my first haircut, that was when I knew I wanted to do that job,” he says. “It was kind of cool – you start with something, you cut and you shape and you have this power of changing someone’s look. The hair is what is most obvious when you look at somebody – you cannot hide.”