My Month Ahead – Richard Phillipart, February 2022

Our favourite hair pros share their to-do list

 Richard Phillipart – owner, The Boutique Atelier, Cheshire 

Absolutely front and centre for me this month is London Fashion Week, which starts on 18 February. It’s always completely last minute which shows get confirmed, but I’ve been preparing my kit and finalising my team so we’re good to go.

I’m an ambassador for both L’Oréal Professionnel Paris and BaByliss PRO, but this season will be the first time I get to take my very own product range – The Boutique Atelier luxury hairbrushes – with me in my Fashion Month kit.

I’ve spent over a year trialling and perfecting the design and materials will be making full use of them backstage!

This fashion week, I’m taking my Activator mentees along for the ride too, so they get to feel the backstage buzz and how session pressure differs from the salon vibe. I’m excited to have them alongside me and hope they enjoy the whole experience as much as I do each time.

Another thing I’m really excited about is a wig workshop I’m booked to attend, run by Pablo Kuemin on the Wig Academy platform.

I rarely get time to do anything for myself when it comes to things like this, and I’ve known Pablo for a while through his work assisting Eugene [Souleiman, whom Richard also assisted in the past], so it’s going to be great to devote some time to being a bit creative and learning some fresh skills. I can’t wait to get stuck in!

In the salon this month, we’re trialling a new digital tipping system with EasyTip. It should hopefully make the whole process more streamlined, with tips going directly into the individual stylists’ accounts, and a more seamless payment journey for customers.

We’ve also got The Boutique Atelier brushes proudly on display, though the launch has been such a massive success among both clients and fellow hair professionals that stock is running low. We nearly sold out of one brush type within the first day!

Finally, alongside fashion week the whole team is gearing up for competition season. We’re entering every category in this year’s L’Oréal Colour Trophy contest, and we’re lucky to have had success in both the STAR Award and Men’s categories, coming out on top in the past. This year, the gendered element to categories has been removed and so you can use models of any gender identity for your entry. I think it’s a fantastic move and really opens up the competition, transforming the playing field!

I believe Creative HEAD’s Most Wanted and The It List Awards launch on 1 March, so towards the end of the month we will certainly be gearing up for that and watching closely for updates…

Read more ‘My Month Ahead’ rundowns from our favourite hair pros >