Scottish salon heroes: jennifer cheyne

Jennifer Cheyne is one of Scotland's best-loved stylists - and was the first Scot to be named president of the Fellowship for British Hairdressing. Having left school in Edinburgh at 15 to follow her dream of being a stylist, Jennifer undertook training at Stewarts in Prince's Street. "I had an amazing apprenticeship," she told HJ. "It was a really advanced salon." Her first day at work proved a revelation. "The staff were all going to a Vidal Sassoon show and had a spare ticket," she says. "I went along and was blown away - that was an amazing introduction to hairdressing." Blow-drying was just starting to become fashionable at the time, and by the time Jennifer had finished her training, it (and the hair) was huge. "My boss told me it would never catch on," she recalls. "But I became the local blow-drying expert. Clients started coming from other salons just to get their hair blow-dried." Jennifer then made a complete career change and took a job with a barbers in the basement of the salon where she'd made her name. "It was a pure barbers and I was the only woman working there," she says. "In fact, I believe I was the first woman to work in a barbers in the whole of Britain. A lot of men were nervous about having a woman cut their hair, but I won them over and built up a loyal clientele. Eventually my male clients started asking if I would cut their wives' hair and gradually it became a unisex salon." When the business partners who owned the salon decided to move on to separate enterprise, Jennifer opted to follow one of them - Charlie Miller, who went on to own the salon group that bears his name. Jennifer spent three years with Charlie, before making the leap to becoming a salon owner in 1976. With her then husband, she bought her first business using a £2,000 loan. And, as hair shows flourished in the 80s, Jennifer was in huge demand to present her work and travelled the globe presenting creative, inspiring hair education. [hji-gallery-legacy] By the early 1990s, Jennifer and the Cheynes Artistic team had become a formidable creative force and were inspired to open Cheynes Education – a school in Edinburgh where hairdressers from all over the world have come to learn the Cheynes techniques. Over 8,000 trainees have passed through its doors since, and Cheynes Training continues to be one of the largest hairdressing training companies in the UK. As well creating a host of memorable work and providing education to the next generation of hairdressers, Jennifer also found the time to invent the Clipmeche highlighting system. The environmentally-friendly, reusable highlighting system allows colourists to get exceptionally close to the root results, and is used the world over. Jennifer still travels to globe educating, as well as throwing herself into numerous charity commitments, including a memorable appearance on Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire. From humble beginnings the Cheynes Team has grown and now has more than 150 staff in six salons located throughout the city centre of Edinburgh. In 2013, she was  awarded an OBE for services to hairdressing and charity.