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Meet Ricky Walters: the Londoner shaking up the hairdressing industry with Soho’s disruptive Salon64

Ricky Walters’ journey into hairdressing isn’t unlike the well-trodden path of others before him. Yet not many, if any, celebrate owning their own salon in the heart of London’s buzzing Soho district before their 28th birthday.

Walters has styled the locks of some of Hollywood’s biggest names; Sandra Bullock, Rebel Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger to name a few. He counts the legendary Daniel Galvin among past employers, while music, sports and TV stars make up some of his loyal clients.

London-born, he is bursting with energy, ideas and ambition to shake up his industry. Walters is aiming to push boundaries by creating dressing room-style salons which have a members club feel – “the Soho House of the hair and beauty world,” he says.

At 27, he’s already the owner and creative director of a West End salon, but it’s not been an easy ride.

Video tour: see inside Soho's Salon64

Following the resignation of the manager who’d hired him to work at The Corinthia, one of London’s most exclusive hotels, Walters, then aged 21, drew up a business plan and left it on the general manager’s desk. His vision was so dynamic he was instantly promoted to salon manager and turned it from making a loss to a profit within a year.

After riding the wave for a few years, Walters became restless. “Deep down I always knew I wanted to do it for myself,” he says, “I thought, if I can build someone else’s salon up to be a success then I’m sure I can do it for my own.”

His likeability and entrepreneurial drive helped him to secure the trust of two long-standing clients who offered to become his business partners and backers.

Young blood: Ricky Walters opened his Salon64 in Soho's Bateman Street in October last year
Young blood: Ricky Walters opened his Salon64 in Soho's Bateman Street in October last year

The concept

A hairdressing salon, make-up station, café and champagne bar — the perfect pre-party space.

Designed by award-winning architects JaK Studio, with Walters very hands-on during the two years it took to create, the salon is arranged over two floors. There is a make-up bar at the entrance that has phone charging docks and jewellery boxes are hidden inside sleek, white table tops.

Hammered brass pendants by Original BTC hang over the stairs and the cocktail bar – adding a wow-factor to the statement entrance – while personal booths are set around spectacular Corian firepits. Dimmer switches enable clients to change the light around them independent of the salon lighting.

Forget frantically topping up your make-up al desko before you leave the office; now you can have your hair blow-dried while you apply your make-up, recharge your phone, sip a glass of fizz and gossip with friends — all just a short stroll from the restaurants and bars of Old Compton Street or theatres of the West End.

“The high street’s changing and people want much more of an experience rather than just another hair salon,” says Walters.

After just eight months, the salon has already made its first TV appearance with Made in Chelsea’s Liv Bentley filming there recently. Walters is quick to play it down, pointing out that six hours of filming for nine seconds of screen time was slightly anticlimactic, “But perhaps we can try to beat our record and go for 10 seconds next time,” he grins.

Why it’s different

Salon64’s champagne bar and bespoke hair and make-up stations are tucked behind a sleek, minimal exterior on buzzing Bateman Street.

“People walk past and have no idea what it is. We don’t have hair products on show because it’s not just a place where you have your hair done,” says Walters.

Steal the style: hanging brass pendants over the stairs and downstairs cocktail bar, pictured, make for a cool, contemporary touch
Steal the style: hanging brass pendants over the stairs and downstairs cocktail bar, pictured, make for a cool, contemporary touch

“You can just stroll in and order drinks, even a takeaway coffee, so at the beginning people were stopping and asking: ‘What is it?’ Someone asked if it was a Japanese restaurant. Other guesses were a hotel members club,” he laughs, clearly enjoying such curiosities.

Walters says 99 per cent of new clients walking through the door have first heard of the salon on Instagram. So it makes sense that he recruits that way, too. Walters uses a largely freelance team, made up of former colleagues — “everyone seems to know everyone” — and stylists causing ripples on Instagram with exciting new ideas.

“I don’t think the hairdressing industry have heard the word ‘headhunting’ before. Let’s call it cherry-picking,” laughs Walters. “I don’t kidnap anyone. If you create an amazing staff culture and a cool place to work then people are naturally going to be drawn to you.”

And what of Salon64’s reception in the industry so far? “It’s hard to gauge,” says Walters, “We’re disrupting the marketplace, taking inspiration from those doing well in industries outside of hairdressing and fashion, places like Apple, WeWork and Soho House for instance.”

“The hairdressing industry is a creative industry that’s not all that creative,” says Walters. “Hairdressers are too busy looking at the heads of hair. They’re creating these incredible looks for catwalks and the fashion industry, and then everyone goes back to their boring old salons.”

What’s next?

Although still a relative newbie on the streets of Soho, there’s so much more to come from Walters and the Salon64 team. “Product design is definitely next,” he says confidently, and it’s quickly apparent we’d be foolish to expect a conventional offering from the brand in that aera too.

“I don’t want to see another hairspray or serum that’s just a hairspray or a serum. We want to create something that doesn’t exist and really fill a need that’s not being filled at the moment.” As they’ve done with their social hub salon.

Along with its thoughtful, sleek design, there’s something at Salon64 for discerning eco fans too. Award-winning Davines are the sustainable hair colour brand of choice and the salon’s own-brand coffee is made using Colombian beans, which are then roasted and packaged in north London.

“It’s how the cool kids of Soho are doing it,” he says with an easy confidence that belies his years. Walters is firmly of the opinion that Salon64 is at the forefront of the salon revolution. “There are plenty of places in London where you can book to have your make-up and hair done, but there’s nowhere where you can just stroll in, order a drink and do your own make-up and that’s what we’re trying to put out there. It’s your dressing room, in the middle of Soho.”