Prominent hair stylist Vidal Sassoon dies at 84

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vidal Sassoon, hair stylist and fashion world pioneer who created a natural look in the 1960s and built a multimillion-dollar business on his name, died on Wednesday, May 9, after a long battle with leukemia. He was 84, Reuters reported.

Sassoon died at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by loved ones and his wife of 20 years, Ronnie, his family said in a statement. "He will be greatly missed," they said.

Sassoon was dubbed a pioneer for coming up with so-called wash and wear looks - liberating many women from weekly salon trips to have their hair done.

But as much as he was a genius in the salon, Sassoon was a whiz in business. He began marketing his name, styles and cutting techniques in a worldwide line of beauty salons, hair-cutting schools and later, related lines of hair products.

Still, Sassoon never felt the profession that he put at the forefront of modern fashion received the respect it was owed.

"Hairdressing in general hasn't been given the kudos it deserves," Sassoon told Reuters in 2010. "It's not recognized by enough people as a worthy craft."

"If you get hold of a head of hair on somebody you've never seen before, cut beautiful shapes, cut beautiful architectural angles and she walks out looking so different - I think that's masterful," he said.

Born in London on January 17, 1928, the son of a poor Turkish-Jewish carpet salesman, Sassoon spent eight of his early years in an orphanage after his father abandoned his family. He quit school at 14, and his stepfather agreed to finance his apprenticeship as a hairdresser.

"It was my mother's idea," he once said of his entry into hairstyling. "Her feeling was that I didn't have the intelligence to pick a trade myself."

Apart from hairdressing interests, he set up the Vidal Sassoon Foundation to help the needy in educational pursuits both in Israel and abroad.

His family said a memorial service would be planned for a later date. Sassoon is survived by his wife, three children and grandchildren.