The RAW truth – Rogue talks to Ralph from RAW Hair

Rogue: Who are you?

Ralph: I’m a hairdresser. I’ve been hairdressing for maybe 27 years. I started in Southend in Essex, went to Brighton, had a good time there, went to Newquay, a little bit in London and ran my own salon in Southend for 5 years and now I’m just trying to get a salon in Sri Lanka



Rogue: How did you start?

Ralph: Well, when I was 16 or 17, me and my mates were all into the punk scene and we started cutting each other’s hair, it all went from there really. I left school at 14, I actually went into another job from school cos me old man was in the army and as much as I did it and got my city and guilds doing it, it wasn’t really what I wanted to do. I gave it up and started doing courses and working in salons, worked with Toni and Guy.

Rogue: Was it a conflict with your father being in the army and you being a hairdresser?

Ralph: I don’t think he was too keen on the idea but I think he accepted it in the end when he realized I was doing all right at it. He even used to say, you know, I’d get a bad back, I won’t earn any money – which is true – but, you know, I wanted to do it and I had a passion for it.

Rogue: What drives the passion?

Ralph: I like creating, I like doing something new. I like learning and I get a buzz out of creating something, seeing the final result, seeing the person really happy with what I’ve done and just being really happy with the creation that I’ve made, and when you make different shapes and create different styles. It just makes me feel great to look at it and think, “yeah, that’s really cool, I like that, they like it”.

Other things drive me as well, doing photographic work, doing shows and doing rock and roll starts or whatever. They drive me and the education definitely keeps me going because the more we learn, it adds to the passion and the more you do, the more the passion grows. I suppose it’s like a lot of things, like surfing and fishing, the same sort of thing.

Rogue: What kind of clients do you have?

Ralph: Obviously in the salon, normal 9-5 people, guys, girls, youngsters, cool people, cooperate people, office people, solicitors to plumbers to sportsmen to rock and roll people.

Rogue: What kind of rock and roll people?

Ralph: People who are in bands and whether I‘ve seen them out and about or whether they’ve heard of me, its sort of built.

Like the Towers of London, I went to see them a few times, they got to know me a little bit, they realized I was a hairdresser, they wanted me to do their hair, so I ended up doing their hair.

Rogue: I heard you’ve got a good Towers of London story…

Ralph: Yeah, the story was we tried to get into this club on night in London and the guest list was really big anyway, and even though I knew we could get on the guest list, it was bigger than what the club could hold. So I ended up ringing up the guy who was running the night and said to him, “I’m Donny Tourette’s agent” (Donny Tourette obviously from the Towers of London) “and I want to get him in”. He said, yeah, not a problem, just come to the door and I’ll let him in.

So I got my mate to be the agent and dress a bit smart in a suit and I obviously went as Donny Tourette, my hair all spiked up and the shades and the looks and that, his type of jeans. I thought if we blag it and get in, great, if we don’t, well we haven’t lost anything from trying. We got there and turned the corner, unbeknown to us the club had told the paparazzi that Donny Tourette was going to come, they were standing outside, snapping away, going completely mental like I was this major rock star which was crazy because I thought “shit, someone’s going to recognise me”!

We got to the door with the paparazzi taking loads of pictures, got in, magazines were taking pictures, there were girls thinking I was Donny Tourette. I just had to blag it the whole night, got to the VIP area, got free drinks. Jodie Marsh and girls came over, a couple of porn starts – twins – came over, it was a mental night.

Rogue: And you pulled it off?

Ralph: And I pulled it off, and used it again a few times, and it worked.

Rogue: Yeah?

Ralph: Yeah, I did it for a couple of months.



Rogue: I heard you did some time as well.

Ralph: I did yes, unfortunately, back in 2002 I think it was. That was mad, but it was a good experience on one hand because I got a little barbershop when I was in there and I ended up cutting a lot of people’s hair.

Rogue: So it didn’t go against you being a hairdresser in there?

Ralph: No, no, no, it didn’t. You’d think it might do because of the gay side or it’s a bit feminine to do that but people obviously liked me. I ended up doing lifer’s hair, people who were in for murder, people who were in for a long time. I was charging them £2 phone cards for a hair cut, so that was quite a mad experience cutting their hair. Obviously I would never ask a lot about what they did, a few told me what they did, so that was nuts. I even did a few screws.

Rogue: Really?

Ralph: Yeah, I cut their hair as well.

Rogue: Any other stories?

Ralph: We did a lot of shows, I did two TV shows, one called ‘The Hairdresser’, one called ‘The Salon’. So we had a quite a lot of mad things come from that. When we did The Salon, we’d go out afterwards in London with a couple of Eastenders stars and people like them, quite a few crazy nights partying with them.

My mate, he moved into London and got more into the scene and started salons in London, started doing Girls Aloud, etc. etc. but yeah, there was obviously lots of parties, lots of shenanigans as it were.

Rogue: Why are you in Hikkaduwa instead of London?

Ralph: Well, the thing I’ve been in England for so many years, as much as I like it and still have a passion for it, I also have a passion for the beach, surfing and fishing. I’ve been coming here for… this will be my fifth time, it would be nice to somehow tie them in. So I could cut hair, surf, hang out on the beach, do a bit of fishing as well, live the dream really. Through coming here 4 times, it was like, this could work! I could have a salon here! Its so cheap to have a salon here, I want to open a shop here, spend some money on it. I’m near the beach, doing whatever I want to do during the daytime and do a bit of hair in the evening.

It hasn’t come up this year, the shop didn’t come up. I’ve been promised a few but they didn’t work out, but next year, hopefully. I’ve been offered something so if that works out and the deals good, we’ll go for it.

Some of Ralph’s work

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