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Brief History Of Forresters
Forresters have been hairdressing professionals for over 35 years. Back in the early days, John Forrester, attained his qualifications in his native Scotland after which, he gained further working experience abroad and later with P&O cruises where he met his Berkshire born wife, Jill.
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Family Business Independently owned by Husband and Wife team John and Jill Forrester, the Forresters hair & beauty salon group comprises of seven salons in and around Berkshire, more recently expanding into Oxfordshire with the newly franchised Wallingford salon. Since the early days, living above the shop in Shinfield with a young family, Forresters have single handedly created a brand and its own dedicated team of trained stylists to provide the very best in hairdressing.
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Forresters Artistic Group, although relatively young, offers a wealth of talent and experience in the field of hair styling. Gemma Forrester leads the team and is also responsible for compiling the popular 4-You page. Robbie Robertson, as Artistic Director of the Group, brings hair colour in to a whole new dimension. His skill and techniques are well known and sought after within the industry. Other key players include Stuart Forrester; Rupert Towers; Lee Hathaway - who is the manager of the Sonning Common salon and has a wealth of knowledge on every aspect of hairdressing; Melanie Cant - Manager of the Caversham salon is the live wire of the group and is just a bundle of energy on and off stage; Hannah Buckland, the youngest member of the group, is the trainer at the Pangbourne salon and clearly a star of the future These young people represent Forresters Artistic Group. Their artistic ability is given life in their hair presentations throughout the country. They also work on photographic shoots for Forresters and their efforts ensure that Forresters stays at the cutting edge of hair design - as leaders and trendsetters
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To be female and a hairdresser is not so unusual, but when you look at the very top of the hairdressing profession you enter an almost entirely male dominated arena.
With continual award nominations, and a British Hairdressing Award already under her belt (Newcomer of the Year 1994, which she won on her first go, aged 21) and a busy salon to manage, regular session styling for magazines - it's no wonder Gemma is being touted as the future face of British Hairdressing. Photogenic, articulate and confident enough to control an audience, Gemma has already proved that she's got what it takes Although Gemma is at the helm of Forresters, and heads up the training and development of staff, she sees her future as being far from purely salon based. "I love the creativity and freedom of photographic work and how it can be passed onto our culture here at Forresters. I'll never leave the family business, but I will do my own thing because I need the challenge" 'The world of hairdressing is changing,' she says. 'More and more women are challenging men's positions at the top of the profession and I feel privileged to be part of that'. We've got the best hairdressing in the world,' she concludes, 'and I plan to make it better'. |
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But the lure of hairdressing soon got the better of him - after being inspired by the burgeoning success of his twin sister Gemma, and that of his school friend Rupert - Stuart rose to the challenge and discovered that he could stamp his own unique style on Forresters. Stuart is now general manager of the newly refurbished Shinfield Road salon and an integral part of the Forresters Artistic team and with Gemma takes on the important role of being responsible for staff training and the general running of the salon group.
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I look at hair 'decorating' like an interior designer looks at a room,' he says. 'It's not just a question of slapping colour on, but combining and blending shades to create harmony within a haircut'. Colour is pivotal to Robbie's passion, and his theories are often called on for International seminars. Robbie, 29, grew up just outside Glasgow, in a family of interior designers. 'Colour, how it's used and the transformations you can create with it in any area of your life have always been important to me. That's why I decided to go into the technical side of hairdressing. I never liked the idea of cutting hair'. Robbie has also worked with celebrities, including Dawn French who used him as inspiration for a character and sketch about hairdressing in French and Saunders ('She dressed up like me, with a blonde crop, chain smoking and repeating "Yeah, that's great, yeah, that's brilliant", all the time', he says). |
After taking a year out to go backpacking around the world, Rupert returned to manage the Shinfield Road salon. With his
undoubted talents and aspirations discovered at such an early age, Rupert's
career continues to go from strength to strength. |
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At 18, Lynne went to John Forrester for a job and ended up fast tracking her career into the role of salon manager at Shinfield Road. Lynn's early commitment to the growing Forresters group flourished and when the opportunity came to open and manage her own salon in Pangbourne, she leapt at it. Lynne has
been a full partner in the Forresters - Pangbourne salon for 19 years;
during which time she has developed and honed her skills by contributing
regularly on sessions, seminars and training programmes for not only her
own salon, but that of the whole group. |
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Diane started her hairdressing career as a Saturday girl at our Shinfield Salon some 25 years ago. Diane has always been one of the strongest members of Forresters. She has a wealth of experience having graduated through the ranks. Being manageress at our Shinfield branch ,controlling a very busy salon with a large client base. Her personality is one of her many strong points along with her technical and artistic skills. One of Diane's main contributions to Forresters over the years is her commitment to training young people which she has done with vigor and enthusiasm. Diane took up the challenge of taking on the Franchise of our newly refitted Caversham Salon in August of 2001, which is proving to be a major success |
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"Once
it became apparent that Stuart and Gemma were keen to enter the family
business, we were naturally thrilled and on leaving school, that's precisely
what happened. Gemma had already been a Saturday Girl for two years and
Stuart was learning the business side. Collectively, their learning was
enhanced by stints at both Toni & Guy and Vidal Sassoon training schools.
...
young women like Gemma Forrester are now challenging this traditional
male dominance.
Despite
his obvious ability - hairdressing is undeniably in his blood - Stuart
never intended to enter the family business. "I thought it was a
job for girls and quite honestly my aspirations at the time were elsewhere"
As
Forresters technical director, anyone who has ever met Robbie Robertson
will be more than familiar with his zeal, enthusiasm and commitment to
his profession.
Rupert
went to school with Gemma and Stuart which is where he was first introduced
to the world of hairdressing. 
Lynne
Herman began her hairdressing career quite by accident after enrolling
on a make-up course with aspirations for career as a make-up artist. As
hairdressing was part of the course, Lynne tried it and liked it!
Cindy
is a highly skilled Hairdresser with over twenty-two-years of experience,she
has excellent technical and communication skills and relates with customers
at all levels. 