A year of yes: how love, hair and Brighton sparked a salon revolution
Some of the best business stories don’t start with spreadsheets or market research, they begin with a haircut. Or, in this case, a really good one.
Sophie and Simon’s story could easily be a rom-com script; she was a painter, teacher and writer, freshly back from a “year of yes” that took her to South America; he was a stylist with years of high-fashion experience under his belt. Fate, or perhaps a touch of Brighton magic, brought them together in a Brighton salon chair.
“I’d just come back from South America, full of plans to relocate,” Sophie recalls. “I went to get my hair done, Simon happened to be free, and afterwards I said to a friend, ‘If I was sticking around, I might have asked him out.’ She said, ‘Well, isn’t this your year of yes? Go on then!’”
One orchestrated ‘chance encounter’ later, Sophie invited Simon to a music event. The pair went on their first date in June, got engaged in August, took on the lease of their salon in October, married in February, and opened the doors that April. “We did the whole thing in nine months,” Sophie laughs. “It was a whirlwind!”
Simon wasn’t new to the industry. For more than two decades he had styled models for Gucci, Dsquared², and Vivienne Westwood, worked across London, Paris and Milan fashion weeks, and even landed the cover of Vogue with Adele. “She was brilliant, exactly as down to earth as you’d hope,” he says, grinning. “But when she sat down it was all business.” More recently, he worked on the Barbie video with Dua Lipa.
Yet, despite the glamour, Simon knew something was missing. “I loved the creativity, but salons themselves often felt toxic or rigid. I didn’t want that kind of environment any more.”
Sophie, coming from the client side, had her own frustrations: the gendered pricing, the noise, the ownership salons claimed over clients. “If I phoned up for an appointment, I didn’t care, I just wanted my hair cut. But salons often made me feel like one stylist’s property.” So, together, they set out to build something different.
When they opened their Brighton salon 13 years ago, Sophie and Simon weren’t interested in doing things the way they’d always been done. The couple drew up a list of everything that frustrated them, both as stylist and client, and decided to do the opposite. That manifested as gender-free pricing long before it was fashionable — they charged based on time, not gender; silent services for clients with sensory sensitivities, anxiety or simply a desire for peace; a private room for people experiencing hair loss, undergoing treatment or just wanting privacy; hybrid working where stylists could choose employed or self-employed models, with freedom to pursue outside projects.
“It was about disruption,” Sophie says. “Not for the sake of it, but to make salons authentically kinder, more inclusive, more sustainable spaces.” The plan worked. Within a year, they were finalists in multiple national competitions; soon after, they won UK Ultimate Salon. Other Brighton salons started following their lead. “I remember a makeup artist telling me, ‘You did this, you gave people permission to enter competitions and take up space.’ That was when we realised we’d actually changed the hairdressing culture.”
If their ethos is progressive, so is their environmental focus. Long before ‘eco-salons’ became a buzzword, Simon and Sophie were quietly innovating with hair recycling — all their hair cuttings fertilise plants at Brighton’s One Garden, turning waste into food; green energy — all utilities and lighting have been renewable since day one; Eco Heads — water-softening shower heads that reduce product use and protect hair; and Vish systems — smart colour-mixing technology that prevents chemical waste.
Their dedication was recognised with a Global Sustainability Leadership Award, making them the first UK salon to be honoured on that scale. “It was never a gimmick,” Sophie insists. “If we wouldn’t accept harmful products or waste in our own lives, why would we run a business that way? Sustainability isn’t a trend; it’s an expectation.”
Simon is also one of the UK’s few certified Calligraphy Cut artists, a pioneering German technique that uses an angled blade to cut hair. Unlike traditional scissors, the Calligraphy Pen cuts hair at a 21-degree angle, the specially angled tool reducing split ends and giving the hair a natural flex, which creates movement a seamless finish, and it protects natural hair as well as extensions. “It’s science-backed and transformative,” he says.
He adds: “Clients notice the difference immediately, it feels softer, lasts longer and has more definition.”
For a salon always pushing boundaries, it’s the perfect symbol of their ethos: blending artistry, innovation and care.
Yet for all their global awards and celebrity credits, Sophie and Simon’s hearts remain firmly in Brighton. Post-Covid they shifted focus from shoots and competitions to hyperlocal initiatives. They partnered with the Brighton Women’s Centre on a pay-it-forward scheme, offering free haircuts to women in vulnerable circumstances. They give discounts to North Laine independents, use local coffee suppliers, host exhibitions and constantly reinvest in their neighbourhood. “When we won the Brighton Girl Salon of The Year Business Award this year, it meant more than anything else we’ve achieved,” Sophie says, visibly moved. “Because it wasn’t about politics or industry prestige, it was our community saying: you matter to us.”
Looking back, Sophie still credits that impulsive ‘year of yes’ for everything that followed. “It taught me not to be afraid, to leap, to manifest,” she reflects. “That spirit is woven into this place. Every silent haircut, every gender-free service, every handful of hair going into Brighton soil, it’s all because we said yes.” Simon nods. “At the end of the day, hair grows back. It’s not about control, it’s about possibility. And I think that’s what we’ve built here, a salon where yes is always the starting point.”
Simon Webster Hair is in Brighton’s North Laine. To discover more about their work, ethos and community projects, follow them on Instagram:
@simonwebsterhair / 16 Gardner St, Brighton BN1 1UP
