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Five years of fabulous hair at Seven Dials’ favourite salon Bliss

Five years ago, Tracey Scoffin opened Bliss in what was then an up and coming area of the city. Five years on and Seven Dials is one of the city’s most popular destinations for living, eating and shopping. And five years on, Bliss is stronger than ever, a hairdressing destination with a relaxed approach and a strong band of loyal customers.

Back then, Tracey had been working at the popular Cuttlefish salon but felt that her life needed change and challenge. She decide to open her own salon and began the long process of creating her own business. “I was very lucky to have loyal customers back then,” she says. “Some of my customers have been coming to me for 18 years, one comes down regularly from Manchester and another comes back from Spain.

“It’s been hard work and finding the right team has always been the biggest challenge. But now at five years I am really happy that I have the best team ever in place.

“At Bliss we have a strong team spirit and strong ideals. These days the salon is increasingly aware of environmental issues, green energy and recycling. Our image remains constant, the atmosphere and the music is chilled and relaxed. The only change is that we have really grown – in size and in maturity – with a total of over 50 years experience between us, a fact that people seem to like. We do not have a senior stylist pricing structure either which is also popular with our clients. We do have a ‘no children’ policy, we like to keep Bliss as a child-free space as clients really value that special time where they can escape the pressure of family. Clients range from 13 to their 70s but the majority are in their 30s and 40s.

“At Bliss we are more concerned with style than with fleeting trends and fashion fads. We are excellent colourists, and trained in both cutting and hair colour. Most of our appointment times are one hour, double what many stylists will allocate for each customer.”

Asked how she feels about the business as she hit this fifth anniversary, Tracey says: “I am very happy with the business, so much so that I am now taking time to pursue my other great love – art – which I am studying part time.”

Does that put a lot of pressure on you? “Yes, but it’s worthwhile. The art training is influencing the way I cut hair. It works both ways, one influences the other, my cutting has always been very sculptural. My appreciation of colour is also changing.

“Bliss offer a home styling for weddings by special arrangement. We are also involved in running art exhibitions and held a charity exhibition involving Balfour and Varndean schools.”

There’s a refreshing atmosphere at Bliss, there is no apparent chasing of awards, very little hard sell of products – although they do carry an excellent range – and the attitude, while professional, is relaxed and fun, mature but never dull.

Bliss run a model school every week and recruit models for a minimal charge for a cut and colour. Bliss trainees get actual salon experience in the shop as well as training at City College.

The Bliss team is led by Tracey Scoffin and includes Vik Douglas, who has been with the team for four years. Four months ago she had a baby, Theo, but is now back part-time on Thursdays, Fridays and by special arrangement.

Darren Sayers is the newest senior member and was formerly at Saks. A fully trained stylist, he has returned after 18 months travelling the world. Jo Fuller is now coming up to her first anniversary at the salon, Stephanie Appleton has been at Bliss for a year and a half and is in her second year of training and Natasha Hunt is the newest member and a first year trainee.

Darren says: “It makes a refreshing change to work in a salon which allows me to be creative with no strict time boundaries. For example, if a client is booked in for a standard appointment but I get inspired and need to take longer, there is no pressure on me to hurry up. I think our clients understand this and appreciate it.”

Stephanie says:“The best thing for me working at Bliss is the interest and time all the stylists put into my training. I feel confident in all my abilities, especially my creative cutting techniques.”

Jo says: “Bliss has an amazingly relaxed atmosphere compared to other salons I have worked in. The music creates a really creative and positive mood and I think this helps our clients relax so they leave feeling refreshed and looking good.”

Vik says: “Bliss is about individuality and style and I love that about this salon, our clients don’t all end up with the same haircut, we don’t give clients something just because it’s the new trend whether it suits them or not. We are all unique and our work reflects that.”

Natasha says: “I love working at Bliss, I feel like I really fit in, we are all treated equally, I receive lots of help with my training and all our clients are really friendly.”

Bliss, 77 Dyke Road, Brighton, 01273 207400.
Open from 10am Tuesday to Saturday with a late night Wednesday
(last appointment 7.30pm).
Closing at 7pm on Fridays.

Katie prepares to learn the art of burlesque with Brighton’s finest exponent

There is only one woman in Brighton I am jealous of (well, actually there are two – but let’s leave Miss Burchill out of this column) and that woman is Cherri Shakewell.

I can’t remember when I first saw Cherri, but you can bet your bottom dollar that she was – like she has been every time I’ve seen her since – high on a stage, jiggling her abundant assets in a whirlwind of sequins and feathers and flicking her tassels to the beat, while I stared on adoringly through a haze of gin.

Cherri Shakewell is Brighton’s very own blonde, burlesque bombshell. Things that make you jealous of Cherri include:

• That she has a vintage wardrobe you would die for.
• That she always looks hot, even when it is 3am at a festival, her mascara is melting and her hair has matted itself into a giant birds nest (find the evidence on her Facebook page).
• That she has tasseled her way through the The Whoopee Club, The Tassel Club and the incomparable Lost Vagueness.
• She has starred in several MTV videos including performing for Brighton’s very own Fatboy Slim at Brixton Academy.
• That despite the above she is sweet, funny and clever – without a trace of dumb blonde about her.

But ultimately, the best thing about Cherri is the way she dances. Damn can the girl dance. Not just a pretty-in-timewith- the-beat, wiggling, provocative, technically sound kinda way. But screaming the kind of confidence that makes the room shut up and stare.

“By the end I’ll have learnt to tantalise and tease, pose and please”

If you could take the confidence that Cherri exudes when she’s on stage and pop it in a bottle, Boots would be fighting queues around the block to try and meet the demand. Sadly then, Cherri is not making a perfume. She is, however, starting a burlesque class.

Cherri promises me that her burlesque workshops will feature feathers and sequins, bubbly and strawberries. That she will be transforming women into showstopping showgirls. That after four years of burlesque experience – and years of classical dance training – she can teach anyone to shake it like they mean it. And that by the end I’ll have learnt to tantalise and tease, pose and please and – better still – master the fine art of tassel twirling.

All of which sounds lovely. Especially the bit about receiving a complimentary pair of Shakewell tassels on arrival. But actually the reason I am joining Cherri’s burlesque classes is none of the above. It’s just so that next time I am at a party and I spot Cherri whipping her kit off and taking to the stage I will not be so sickly green with envy. Instead, I might just join her.

Lessons start 10 November and 1 December at the Caroline Of Brunswick, 39 Ditchling Road, Brighton.

For more information or booking see www.myspace.com/cherrishakewell, call
07855 213517 or email cherrishakewell@yahoo.co.uk.

Sandra Omo says dealing with rejection is the key to being a strong model

How often does a model have to face
rejection in her career?

The answer is: always! As a model, this is the number one thing you have to be prepared for. The knowledge that you have what the next person does not is the tool that keeps you going.

I cannot count how many castings I have had, but I can count how many jobs I have done. Ask the most successful of models and they will tell you the same. You will get more ‘no’ than ‘yes’, but the good thing is that when you get a ‘yes’, it always boosts your career and proves all the ‘nos’ wrong.

No one handles rejection like models. I can boast of this anywhere. In the industry I have chosen to work in, rejection is part of the business and often it has nothing to do with the model directly. It may be because you do not suit the requirement for the particular job at hand. That is the reason you often find yourself accepted on a later date for another job by the same agency that had turned you down before.

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Andrew Kay returns to see a friend at an old favourite, Goa Spice Of Life in Brighton

Living in the suburbs has its ups and its downs. The peace and quiet of suburban life is a joy, the nights are darker, the stars brighter and the neighbours, in my experience, more friendly. On the down side there is not the choice of places to pop into for a casual drink or a meal, even take-away food is limited. I suppose that having lived for three years in Preston Street spoiled me for choice. There were many evenings when my neighbours at Nishat Tandoori would ring the bell late, offering trays filled with new dishes for which they wanted an opinion. I sat up in bed many times eating new aubergine or fish dishes from the foil containers.

It was through Nishat that I first met Mohammed. When he decided to branch out on his own and open Goa Spice Of Life, we of course went along to lend some support. It was good, we even had our Latest Magazines Christmas party there one year, an excellent affair in which the production director was given a set of sex dice in the Secret Santa. How we laughed.

“I love it here, it’s never the same two times in a row, but that adds to the excitement”

Years along the line and Mohammed and Goa Spice Of Life are still going strong. He has worked hard and his efforts have paid off as his unassuming restaurant at the bottom of Hanover’s steep streets has a loyal clientele and strong sense of community.

I decided to pop along and see him and one of my nice new colleagues from the magazine joined me. Mohammed knows that I have little desire to choose dishes when I visit and that I am happy to let him put together a balanced meal. It’s a method I often use in Indian and in Chinese restaurants and any good one will put together a meal that is varied but not over-expensive, matching costly dishes to economical ones.

He remembered this and we arrived to find our meal ready for us, plus two creamy salt lassis which he knows I also love. He was slightly disappointed that we did not want wine, it was lunch time, but happier when we accepted a beer.

We started with a crisp patty of spinach and cashew nuts. I love both, so I was bound to like this, and I did. We followed that with huge king prawns in a rich tomato-based sauce flavoured with fresh spices as well as dried ones, again excellent.

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