A good hair day is a great day, especially in this Instagram age.

Dar Barot has been tending to the tresses of the stars for four decades.

 

Now he works from his Hair By Dar salon in the courtyard of St James' Court, a Taj Hotel, in Buckingham Gate.

His clients have included a constellation of stars from rock royalty Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger to a bevy of Bond girl beauties.

A View To A Kill

It was Dar who gave Fiona Fullerton her stunning short hairstyle to play opposite 007 Roger Moore in A View To A Kill.

From talent show judge Simon Cowell and X Factor judge Nicole Scherzinger to Eighties pin-up Samantha Fox, Dar has styled them all.

His Bollywood clients have included stars like Aishwarya Rai and he is a renowned expert in Asian hair.

 

“I still feel so creative – even after all of these years there’s always something new.

“I look at the whole of the person to see what would look best and see the hair as the crown in a way,” he says.

Even now, Dar is creating groundbreaking new methods of cutting hair. His V cut enables women with long hair to maintain the length while still having layers that lift the face.

And he still has an international fan base. There's a client who runs a university in Germany who flies over every couple of months just to have her hair done.

Arriving in the UK

All this is a far cry from when Dar first arrived in the UK in the 1970s and lived in Swindon.

He moved to the capital after his girlfriend Gillian suggested he try hairdressing because he was so good at doing her hair.

Imran Khan

In a short space of time, Dar was training and working at Vidal Sassoon, before going freelance as one of the rst photo-shoot hairdressers.

Soon, his editorial work led to video work for the likes of Spandau Ballet and Boy George.

Then, he went into business with his great friend Imran Khan, the cricketing legend and now Pakistan's Prime Minister.

They opened a salon in Marylebone. (It was Dar who gave Khan his playboy locks, including on his wedding day to Jemima Khan.)

“Imran and I became very close friends. He loved women and so did I. He said to me, ‘We should open a salon’.”

 

The launch was covered for free by Patrick Lichfield and was featured in Vogue, Harper's and Tatler.

But Dar admits; “we didn't really know what we were doing”, and the project failed.

However, he picked himself up and has continued his passion, opening the salon at St James' Court.

“I love creating and I love meeting people and connecting them. This is what makes me happy.”

For the full article in Victoria magazine read here.