Trevor Sorbie was known for cutting the hair of the rich and famous including Grace Jones, The Beach Boys and Dame Helen Mirren, but it was the opportunity to help sick people suffering from hair loss that made him proud.
The hairdresser, who gained fame with the creation of the wedge cut in the 1970s, died aged 75 “peacefully” with his family and beloved dog by his side after being diagnosed with bowel cancer, a statement from his team announced on Instagram on Friday.
Born in Paisley, Scotland, on March 13 1949, his family later moved to England where Sorbie was bullied at school, leading him to drop out as a teenager when he began as an apprentice in his father’s barber shop.
In 1979 he opened the first Trevor Sorbie salon in Covent Garden, London, with the company going on to open locations in Brighton, Bristol, Hampstead, Manchester and Richmond.
Sorbie was a four-time British Hairdresser of the Year winner and his methods helped to transform the world of hairdressing through trend-setting styles such as the wolf man, sculpture, and the wave – and a fast-drying process called the scrunch.
He garnered increased public attention thanks to various broadcast appearances including This Morning, The Wright Stuff, GMTV and Mary Queen Of Shops.
He also appeared on Channel 4 programme Faking It, where a professional would show a novice how to excel in their field, as a mentor along with TV chef Gordon Ramsay.
Despite numerous awards and styling the hair of Chris Tarrant, Chesney Hawkes, and Olympic skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Sorbie said his “biggest accolade” was being made an MBE by Queen Elizbeth II in 2004.
Sorbie began volunteering at Princess Alice Hospice in Esher, Surrey, after beginning to step back from the salon floor in 2006.
He told The Times “it really unnerved” him when he was asked to cut the wig of a patient for her wedding, but told she might die before then.
“She died the next day, but as I shut the door (after cutting her wig), I remember thinking for the first time in my life, ‘I’m not just a hairdresser, I feel special’,” he recalled.
In 2009, he began to focus his efforts on his charity, My New Hair, which gives advice to patients and NHS staff on wig styling, hair loss and re-growth after treatment.
“It was my personal experience of helping a family member during cancer treatment that inspired the idea of My New Hair,” he said in a statement on the charity’s website.
In 2018, he launched a free wig customisation service for NHS patients who have experienced medical hair loss, including those undergoing chemotherapy, at his home through My New Hair.
A year later, he revealed to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs he was seeking to retire, but would continue to cut wigs for people who had lost their hair.
Later, Tom Connell, international artistic director, headed up the business as Sorbie focused on his charity.
Sorbie also told the Sunday radio show that he had been going through depression and anxiety for much of his life.
He recalled how kiss-and-tell coverage of him during the mid-2000s drove him to consider taking his life, and help came through getting a pet.
Sorbie said: “I read this article years ago and they said that anyone suffering with anxiety and depression, the best medicine is a dog.
“So I went and got a dog and you know what? It’s right. It’s so good for me, that little boy.
“I have to go out for an hour walking and I absolutely adore this little boy.”
He was later diagnosed with bowel cancer, and revealed the extent of his condition in October 2024 during an appearance on ITV’s This Morning.
He said he was told in June 2024 that he had “maybe six” months to live, after the cancer spread to his liver and undergoing a six-and-a-half-hour operation to remove sections of it.
Sorbie said that his surgeon would no longer operate as it was too close to a major blood vessel.
He also said he would spend the time he had left with his wife, Carole, and loved ones.
Sorbie also created training manuals for the industry including the 2005 Bridal Hair Book, and 1998’s Visions In Hair, and in 2023 the Fellowship for British Hairdressing launched a prize in his name, called the Trevor Sorbie Award for creative and commercial innovation.
