So Lets Start At The Beginning

Written By Adam Burgess

I can trace the origins of V&V back to my school days. I’ve always been very conscious of my hair – how it looks and, more interestingly, how it makes me feel. Growing up I always wanted the latest and best haircut. I would go to various salons with mum and try the latest styles and products. I would love that feeling you get when you know you’ve achieved ‘that look’. But there were also lots of times when, for whatever reason, the whole experience just left me feeling flat. That’s when I realised that going to the hairdressers is not just about getting a haircut – it’s having an experience that can leave you feeling great!

So there was never any doubt about a future career - my passion for hair led me straight to a leading Oxfordshire salon chain where I trained and developed my skills over the next ten years. I shall always be grateful to that salon for the opportunities they gave me. But, as the years went by, I began to feel professionally restless. My ideas for evolving the salon to improve the overall client experience were listened to courteously but never taken up. I could feel my passion changing to frustration. And then I realized the obvious – the solution to my frustration was in my own hands. If my ideas didn’t fit with my then current salon – I would create my own!

So what were those ideas? Well, the first is the thought that ‘great looking hair is no accident’. The second thought was the realization that it doesn’t matter how good I am at styling hair, if I don’t’ properly understand my client’s needs then I’m unlikely to leave them feeling ‘great’. Those two thoughts gave me a base from which to develop the general principles by which my salon would have to operate if my clients were to leave feeling truly great.  If I was to achieve the right effect for my clients then I would need to know about their hair, what frustrates them about it, what style they would ideally like, what condition their hair is in, how much time in their busy lives they have to deal with their hair and so on. I would then need to assess their hair type, how suited it was to the style required, what, if any, damage needed to be repaired et al.

Now, all of this takes time and so the first decision was that each client session would have to be extended beyond the norm to allow time for this exchange of information. But in order to get the fullest possible picture it’s important for clients to feel relaxed, comfortable and ‘at home’ – and that would mean a salon that is a ‘nice place to be’. Then we have hair condition to think about and that means only using the best products – no Parabens or SLS - and ideally all should be organic. Now – I reasoned that if I could pull all of that together to a consistently high standard then I could deliver true ‘value’ to each of my clients. But ‘value’ isn’t just a word, it’s an equation. Value is only value if it comes at the right price! So the final piece of the puzzle was to assure the delivery of ‘value’ by being certain that although we will never be the lowest price, we will never be the highest either. I have to make money to stay in business so that I can serve my clients. If my clients value what I’m doing for them at an acceptable price then we have a sustainable partnership from which both parties benefit – a virtuous circle.

So – that’s how I came upon the name Verve & Virtue – we aim to give you even more verve than you currently have (or maybe when it needs a bit of a boost!) but only at a price that we both feel is fair - Verve & Virtue.