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The Endby
If you go to Southampton and seek out one of the few Georgian Squares that have escaped Hitler's blitz you will probably find yourself in Bedford Place. There also you will find one of Southampton's best kept secrets: The End.
Step off the charming High Street into Wilton Lodge and find yourself in one of the most understated, elegant and finest hairdressers in England. Anyone seeking sanctuary from the stresses and strains of city life should look no further than here.
When you find the man of your dreams has turned into a nightmare, your children have become energy draining vampires and your boss runs his empire with all the flair of our late lamented John Major (oh yes we shall win yes indeed)? Then be firm. Abandon them all; book yourself an appointment with The End and find one of the few times in a busy schedule when you yourself are utterly pampered.
The End was recommended to me at a time when I had just getting over a nightmarish relationship.
'Just cut it' I told Rob who co-owns The End. Fortunately he chopped my hair and not my throat although at the time I wasn't sure it really mattered. When Rob had finished, my straggly long hair hung in a perfect short bob and I left looking and feeling utterly transformed.
When I returned six weeks later I found Rob again. Exacting and tyrannical with a pair of scissors he nevertheless acts only with your best interests at heart. He is the only man who I let tell me what to do. For, as he never stops telling me, when I walk though his door, the hair on my head becomes his responsibility. If it doesn't look good neither does he. This is a policy that obviously works. The End never advertises. Its reputation grows by word of mouth alone and you rarely get an appointment at short notice.
This year as before Rob was asked to help top designers at the recent
Here, Rob told me of this year's femme fatale, London Fashion Model's Sophie Dahl. Her Agency sent in wildly inaccurate figures for her weight and height and when Sophie arrived the designers were obliged to search their range for size fourteen and sixteen plus outfits. When she appeared on the catwalk the fashion press didn't know which way to play it. Reaction ranged from a typical 'Plump Dahl lies about size' to 'At last models that look like real women.'
I asked Rob whether the fashion industry was as catty as films such as Pret a Porter portrays?
Rob paused to consider this and pinned up my hair.
'The people who are genuinely at the top', he said at last, 'got there by the good will of the people around them. Actually they are very nice people. It's the Climbers who are aiming above their capabilities who are very bitchy.'
Rob finished my hair. Once more I had gone in feeling frazzled and come out feeling restored. If you have a hairdresser like The End you will know its worth. If you need The End you will find them at…
The End, Wilton Lodge, Bedford Place,Southampton Hampshire. Telephone +44(0)1703 232399
THE END is also looking to take on a trainee hairdresser. If you want to work at the cutting edge of fashion design, obtain the best hair dressing skills and are not afraid of very hard work contact Rob on the above number.