Salon Owner, Tim Scott Wright is celebrating 30 years in hairdressing, so it was only right we had a chat about his hairdressing journey so far, and what’s coming up next!
“My mum and dad didn’t know that I’d started my career in hairdressing until six weeks after I’d started. It was only when she questioned why I was getting dressed so smartly for college that I had to tell them,” Tim Scott Wright tells us as we chat about his journey into the industry. In fact, Tim was pushed into college by his parents as he explains, back then, people didn’t see hairdressing as a great career. Three months into his college course though, he got kicked out for continuously skiving and taking his friends to the pub! Which is why he strolled into Umberto Giannini’s salon on a random Thursday in 1995 and asked for a job as a hairdressing apprentice. “I remember he said, ‘Well you can come in for a trial tomorrow if you want,’ and so I did, and a week later, I started in the salon.”
At that time, Umberto had just opened his own training academy, and Tim was the first person to graduate out of the Umberto Giannini Academy. “I completed my hairdressing qualification in nine months – it was something that just felt natural to me.” Umberto was a great advocate for the British Hairdressing Awards, sponsored by Schwarzkopf Professional, and Tim was soon introduced to the competition world. “I remember going to the awards in 1995/1996 and I was in so much awe,” he tells us. “It was really the era of celebrity hairdressers, so for me, seeing Trevor Sorbie, Nicky Clarke, and all these wonderful hairdressers in the same room, I turned to Umberto and said, ‘I really want to do this,’ and he said, ‘If you work hard enough, you can do it’.” The year after, Tim finalised for Newcomer of the Year, and again in 1998.
Next, Tim began assisting Umberto in London for TV shows and other opportunities. “Me, a kid who grew up in a council house in a small town in Stourbridge, assisting in London and meeting A-List celebrities with a great team of hairdressers working around me – it was just the start of my career, and it made me hungry to do more within the industry,” he says.
After Umberto died in 2001, Tim moved to Lisa Shepherd’s salon in Kidderminster for 10 years, picking up three Midland’s Hairdresser of the Year awards along the way, and being the youngest person to enter the Hairdressing Hall of Fame.
His next venture? Opening his own salon. “By chance, my old doctor’s surgery was coming up for rent and the doctor who owned the building was a family friend, so I went to have a look, and The Hair Surgery was born in 2014!” Since then, Tim has helped grow the next generation of hairdressers who have gone on to open their own salons, with Tim helping and advising them on their journey. “That’s how it should be when someone leaves a business, it should be with support from the person you’ve worked for and I’m proud of that.”
Now, Tim is celebrating 30 years in the industry, and is very much salon-based, working five days a week, running a full, busy column. “I open my diary each September and get fully booked a year in advance – my Christmas week for 2026 is already full!” Alongside that, Tim is a Schwarzkopf Professional BlondMe Ambassador, educating up and down the country – something he’s very proud of. And of course, hairdressing collections are still part of Tim’s DNA! “Working on collections gives me my creative buzz, and it elevates your salon and profile tremendously,” he says. “It’s a great marketing tool and has been essential for my business to stand out from the rest in the area.”
And although seeing his name above his salon door was one of his proudest moments, the initial setup was challenging. “I didn’t have a magic fund to open a salon; it was a dream. I had the premises, but I remember thinking, ‘How do I do this?’,” he tells us. “And I’m sure many salon owners would say the same but coming back from COVID was a major challenge – I would say it’s set me back five years.”
But there’s definitely no stopping Tim. “What’s next for me is to continue and maintain what we do here, making sure I keep a salon owned business model to train the next generation,” he shares. “More hairdressing awards, more photoshoots, and concentrate on where we’re at now.” Something that may also be on the cards in the future is going down a trichology route. “I’m very interested in hair loss and how that affects people, so I may do a trichology degree when I have a bit more time.” No skiving at the pub please Tim!
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