Trevor Sorbie

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire on 13 March 1949,{{cite news|url=http://icrenfrewshire.icnetwork.co.uk/pde/news/tm_headline=paisley-helped-make-me-a-cut-above-the-rest&method=full&objectid=19328685&siteid=63858-name_page.html|title=Paisley Helped Make Me a Cut Above the Rest|date=20 June 2007|work=Paisley Daily Express|accessdate=20 July 2010}} his parents moved south to Ilford when he was aged 11.{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/style/trevor-sorbie-dead.html|title = Trevor Sorbie, Creator of the Dorothy Hamill 'Wedge' Cut, Dies at 75|last = Lindner|first = Emmett|date = 9 November 2024|accessdate = 9 November 2024|url-access = subscription|website = The New York Times}} Leaving school aged 15, Sorbie started cutting hair as an apprentice to his father in 1964. He opened his own barbershop in Edmonton, North London aged 20 in 1969.

Sorbie became stylist for Vidal Sassoon in 1972, and Artistic Director in 1973. Following this he spent time as a stylist and session hairdresser at Toni & Guy and John Frieda, before opening his first salon in Stamford Street, London S.E.1, in 1977 then his second in 1979 in Covent Garden; he opened a third in Brighton in 2004. In 1986 he launched his own range of haircare products. Sorbie was hair stylist for Torvill and Dean on their Skating on Ice tour.

He was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2004 New Year Honours for services to hairdressing.{{London Gazette |issue=57155 |date=31 December 2003 |pages=22 |supp=1 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/4546865.Celebrity_hairdresser_Trevor_Sorbie_comes_to_Stroud/|title=Celebrity hairdresser Trevor Sorbie comes to Stroud|date=14 August 2009|work=Stroud News and Journal|accessdate=20 July 2010}}

Sorbie appeared on several television programmes, including The Wright Stuff, GMTV, This Morning, The Afternoon Show, The Salon, Mary Queen of Shops, Watchdog and Faking It.{{cite web |url=http://www.trevorsorbie.com/index.php/trevor/bio/ |title=About Trevor Sorbie | All About Us |publisher=Trevor Sorbie |accessdate=3 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104084608/http://www.trevorsorbie.com/index.php/trevor/bio/ |archivedate=4 January 2012 }} He always appeared as himself, as either a stylist or a guest expert. In addition, Sorbie appeared in many magazine articles, including in Harper's Bazaar, Grazia, Prima, Your Hair, Woman & Home, Now Magazine, More Magazine, and Look Magazine.{{cite web |url=http://www.trevorsorbie.com/index.php/press/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504155715/http://www.trevorsorbie.com/index.php/press/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 May 2008 |title=Press Coverage | Consumer Hairdressing & Salon News |publisher=Trevor Sorbie |accessdate=3 July 2013 }}

Sorbie designed a range of consumer hair-care products. The products were designed using feedback from his salon clients.{{cite web |url=http://www.trevorsorbie.com/public/products/productrangelist.php?categoryid=1&templateid=11&pageid= |title=Buy Hair Products | Online Shop |publisher=Trevor Sorbie |accessdate=3 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219035141/http://www.trevorsorbie.com/public/products/productrangelist.php?categoryid=1&templateid=11&pageid= |archivedate=19 December 2011 }}

Sorbie had a line of seven salons; the first "Trevor Sorbie" salon was opened in London's Covent Garden, with salons following in Brighton and Manchester, then a second London one in Hampstead. These have been joined by another London salon in Richmond, and salons in Bristol and Dubai, also.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

Sorbie started his own charity known as "My New Hair". The charity came to be after Sorbie was involved in helping his brother's wife create a wig that looked like real hair as she battled with bone cancer.{{cite web|url=http://www.hji.co.uk/blogs/2008/06/trevor-sorbie-gives-back-with.html |title=Trevor Sorbie Gives Back With 'My New Hair' |work=Hairdressers Journal |publisher=Hji.co.uk |date=9 June 2008 |accessdate=3 July 2013}} After starting My New Hair, Trevor gave up salon work, and worked full-time on the project. Sorbie also visited 10 Downing Street, and since became involved in writing a national policy for NHS wigs.{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/05/trevor-sorbie-wigs-cancer | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Lucy | last=Freeman | title=Trevor Sorbie: 'I wish I could be half the bloke my brother is' | date=5 December 2009}} In 2010 the charity's representatives met with MPs, and attended a parliamentary briefing during which 25 MPs were convinced – for the first time – to lobby ministers for better wig services from the NHS.{{cite web|last=Thomas |first=Chloe |url=http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/210016/MPs-insist-NHS-wigs-should-be-better-quality |title=MPs insist: NHS wigs should be better quality |newspaper= Daily Express |publisher=Express.co.uk |date=7 November 2010 |accessdate=3 July 2013}} The work of the charity is to teach hairdressers to cut wigs in such a way that they look more like real hair, thus helping cancer patients who lose their hair through chemotherapy and other treatments, to feel as much like themselves as they can.{{cite web|url=http://www.mynewhair.org/Home.aspx |title=Home |publisher=My New Hair |accessdate=3 July 2013}} Sorbie's goal, in the long term, was to have salons with hairdressers trained to My New Hair standards nationwide and eventually to scale to an international level.{{cite web|url=http://www.hji.co.uk/blogs/2010/08/trevor-sorbies-advice-for-work.html |title=Trevor Sorbie's Advice for Working with Hair Loss Clients |work=Hairdressers Journal |date=4 August 2010 |access-date=3 July 2013}} The charity teaches hairdressers through seminars – for which there is a charge which goes directly into the charity – advanced skills sessions, and additionally, hairdressers are also welcomed to shadow Sorbie in one of his salons customising wigs.{{Cn|date=November 2024}} The charity also works with people suffering from alopecia, and anyone else suffering from medical hair loss.{{Cn|date=November 2024}}

Sorbie was married three times and divorced twice; he had one daughter.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukhairdressers.com/heather/interview%20with%20trevor%20sorbie.asp|title=Interview with Trevor Sorbie|publisher=UKHairdressers.com|accessdate=23 November 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119061755/http://www.ukhairdressers.com/heather/interview%20with%20trevor%20sorbie.asp|archivedate=19 November 2010}} At the time of his death, he and his wife, Carole, lived in Fareham, Hampshire.{{cite news|url = https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/fashion/article/trevor-sorbie-terminal-cancer-ill-soon-be-dead-c69d5p02r|title = Trevor Sorbie's final interview: This is the cut I'll remember|last = Scott|first = Caroline|date = 4 November 2024|accessdate = 9 November 2024|newspaper = The Sunday Times|url-access = subscription|quote = Sorbie, 76, is sitting on a cream bouclé chair in the immaculate new-build in Fareham, Hampshire, he shares with his third wife, Carole}}

In 2019, Sorbie was diagnosed with bowel cancer. In October 2024, Sorbie revealed on the British television show This Morning that the cancer had spread to his liver, and that he had been given only a few weeks to live.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=qA1Adb2OVgrN06x4&v=gX8Gl8Z72sY&feature=youtu.be |title=Legendary Hairdresser Trevor Sorbie MBE: 'I Have Weeks Left to Live' {{!}} This Morning |date=9 October 2024 |last=This Morning |access-date=9 October 2024 |via=YouTube}}{{Cite web |date=9 October 2024 |title=This Morning star emotional as they reveal terminal cancer diagnosis on live TV with 'weeks to live' |url=https://uk.style.yahoo.com/morning-star-emotional-reveal-terminal-094142737.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHdCJZSdiwXjFhdACCi05viiiGQIS9C7l9l2-yTVPwPJ9cW6d0o8aOtNtFh7dPBEJXJWpfGNy0m_go0nOtv05P52DM0Wjn0zf2BK5mZgNqq0ENswMKb37AvZdFSIhXXzS8CbHL90xyXS0gWllMXqSIwJ43aOOcQkZequRHzomkKY |access-date=9 October 2024 |website=uk.style.yahoo.com |language=en-GB}} Sorbie died at home the following month, on 8 November, at the age of 75.{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Rose |title=Trevor Sorbie dies just month after revealing cancer diagnosis on ITV This Morning |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/breaking-celebrity-hairdresser-trevor-sorbie-33870668 |access-date=8 November 2024 |publisher=The Mirror |date=8 November 2024}}{{cite news |title=Trevor Sorbie obituary: Celebrity hairstylist who invented the Wedge cut |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/trevor-sorbie-obituary-celebrity-hairstylist-who-commercialised-the-punk-look-fkzlb0pzt |access-date=8 November 2024 |work=The Times |date=8 November 2024}}

• {{cite book|last1=Sorbie|first1=Kris|last2=Wadeson|first2=Jacki|last3=Sorbie|first3=Trevor|title=Trevor Sorbie: Visions in Hair|year=1998|publisher=MacMillan|isbn=0-333-74714-3}}
• {{cite book|last1=Sorbie|first1=Trevor|last2=Wadeson|first2=Jacki|title=Trevor Sorbie: The Bridal Hair Book|year= 2005|publisher=Thomson Learning|isbn=1-84480-324-4}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.trevorsorbie.com/ Trevor Sorbie International]
• [http://www.mynewhair.org/Home.aspx My New Hair: A Trevor Sorbie Charity]
• {{IMDb name|1627908}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorbie, Trevor}}

Category:1949 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:20th-century Scottish businesspeople

Category:21st-century Scottish businesspeople

Category:Businesspeople from the London Borough of Redbridge

Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer in England

Category:Deaths from liver cancer in England

Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire

Category:People from Fareham

Category:People from Ilford

Category:People from Paisley, Renfrewshire

Category:Scottish businesspeople in fashion

Category:Scottish hairdressers