Jasmin says… “I believe in the hidden meaning of colour, its ability to effect feelings and influence wellbeing. Beautiful colour doesn’t just happen by chance; it’s a precisely calculated creation”

By the time she was fifteen, the allure of hairdressing meant Jasmin was already skipping school to work in a salon. Intrigued by colour and its ability to create mood and emotion or accentuate personality, she was introduced to Errol Douglas a year later. Securing her a break into the sector, initially as a mentee to the already well-established hairdressing titan, she swiftly began to define her own career combining craft and knowledge with intuition, care and imagination.

At sixteen, Jasmin found herself working alongside Errol on a show in Australia where she met Jane Stacey, Creative Director for Toni & Guy. Jane took the ambitious teen full of enthusiasm and curiosity under her wing. ‘I was in awe of Errol and Jane and just so clear that this was what I wanted to do with my life’ Jasmin recalls. The weekend in Sydney provided the foundation for mentoring relationships with both leaders which continued over the next two decades. By nineteen Jasmin had become Errol’s Head of Colour, testament to her innate gift for colour and client connection: ‘I’d begun to realise how much impact I could have on a client when they sat in my chair. I remember on my very first day as a qualified colourist, a client confided in me about a family tragedy she’d just experienced. In that moment I understood something about the responsibility of the role. How personal it is to touch somebody’s head and the barriers that are broken down just by where you stand and touch. I love the privilege of that part of the job, how I can leave somebody feeling lifted. It’s about so much more than hair.’

Douglas’ Knightsbridge salon, which opened in 1998, went from strength to strength and simultaneously, attitudes towards hair and identity were changing. Errol Douglas Hair Salon is now internationally recognised as a salon which accommodates all hair types. From Afro to Asian, European and mixed heritage hair, its level of service is unrivalled within the industry. As a mixed heritage woman, Jasmin also found her voice. In 2009 she became a Matrix Colour Master, the most prestigious accolade in the industry. Over time she has developed a scientific understanding of hair which, combined with skill and intuition, achieves superior results. 

In 2015 Glamour Magazine included Jasmin in a game-changing article about mixed-heritage hair. Distinctive from both Afro and Caucasian hair, it was a time when mixed women blow-dried their hair in line with mainstream representations of beauty. Jasmin soon became a preeminent voice on curly mixed heritage hair, driven by a desire to see the next generation celebrate their natural curls informed by an understanding of her own hair. 

The pandemic has been a turning point for the London-based colourist. Forced to pivot as salons closed, Jasmin discovered that she could deliver the same level of service to clients in their homes with a degree of flexibility and freedom she relished: ‘Client relationships strengthened and so began my train of thought about how the industry was changing and our role as hairdressers needed to evolve to support the collective shifts in the way we work and live.’

Today having parted ways with Errol Douglas after seventeen years, Jasmin has stepped into her role as an industry leader, paying forward the support she received by creating pathways and opportunities for other stylists and colourists to grow, expand and thrive. “At its heart, hairdressing offers clients the opportunity for connection which is crucial to our positive mental health. Equity and equality are so important to me and I want to see the industry prize the wellness of clients and stylists above all else. It’s an exciting time for the sector.”