From studying law to cruising around America, to two salons and his celebrity clientele, Gustav Fouche tells his journey...
“Listen, having your own salon is the best and the worst thing you can ever do,” Gustav Fouche tells us, as we chat on the phone. But owning his own salon or beginning a career in hairdressing for that matter, wasn’t always the plan.
In fact, his career started with studying law but, needing a bit of extra money, he decided to work in his friend’s salon. “My mum was a hairdresser, so I grew up in the salon. But I never wanted to do hair if I’m honest with you. At the time I didn’t realise that would be my passion.” With an agreement in place with his boss to take the time off he needed to study for law, Gustav worked in the salon for around two years, attending hairdressing college once a week. “I was just doing whatever an assistant does, from sweeping the floors to shampooing. And that’s how my career started, in South Africa.”
From here, Gustav grew very fast and after six months, began to look after his own clients. “I was very hungry to learn and evolve and I eventually stopped studying law as I realised that I just loved hairdressing. I loved the people, I loved transforming them, I loved the impact I could see I had on them,” he shares. “But back in those days, I never had the education that assistants are provided with now. I had to really search for my education – I took the bus at 5am to see my first model at 6:30am because I had to be finished by 8am to start work. I wasn’t allowed to train during work hours; it was a challenge.”
Soon after, Gustav began working on cruise ships in America. “I was there for two years. I did all the East Coast, Canada, The Bahamas, Caribbean and I did that for two contracts,” he says. From there, Gustav spent 10 months in New York before making his way back to South Africa. “I worked for a company for two years before I set up my own salon. I did very well – I looked after lots of celebrities, but I realised that to become a big player, you need to be on a world stage and South Africa just didn’t offer that; it was a very local stage.”
So, Gustav started training with Sassoon in the UK, flying over every three months for two weeks. After three years, Gustav moved to London, working in a salon for eight years before opening Gustav Fouche six years ago. “The idea of opening up a salon is very different to what it is in reality,” he tells us. “It’s very challenging, but it’s rewarding at the same time. It’s a double-edged sword.” Something that made it more challenging was opening the salon in October 2019, just before Covid hit. “We obviously didn’t know, but it was very intense because we fell through all the cracks. We had no support from the government; it was very difficult.”
But it wasn’t just Covid that Gustav found challenging. “You think, I’m a brilliant stylist so when I have my own business, that will be the same. But you actually realise that having your own business and doing hair are two very different full-time jobs,” he shares. “I like to think of myself as a switched-on hairstylist but when I opened my salon, I realised I was fast asleep. That realisation hit me very hard. All of a sudden, I had no downtime. For the first three years, I did not get paid a penny. I’ve had my salon for six years and I work seven days a week. I go home and it’s emails, admin, if there’s a problem, it’s your problem. And what I would say is, I didn’t enjoy it in the beginning – it was a huge shock to the system. But it is amazing, it is exciting, but it’s exhausting.”
Now though, with two salons (in Westbourne Grove and Weybridge) and a whole product range, it’s something Gustav is extremely proud of. “We launched our shampoo and conditioner in 2023, and we’ve just launched our ‘Fab Brush’.”
Something Gustav doesn’t shout out much about though, is his celebrity work. From Kate Hudson to LeAnn Rimes, Gustav has worked with a few A-List stars. “I find with celebrity work, again, it's a blessing and a curse,” he shares. “Celebrities that I see are people who have found me. I've never actually gone out to search for it, because it’s very last minute. I quickly realised that in order to do what I do, I have to be in the salon. I know celebrity work is fun, but I love my clients. I love being in the salon.”
What’s next? A couple of new products are in the pipeline along with an online education platform launching next year. For someone who never planned to get into hairdressing, Gustav sure has proved his case!
