I think to many people, textured curls still signify 'difference.' And kids like to pick on what's different.

I wasn't as confident and creative in the beginning as I am now, so it was all very safe. But I was building my work, and it took me a long time. For a good five or six years I was just kind of bobbing around, doing everything and anything.

I got into hairdressing and moved from Dorset to London, where I got an apprenticeship at Vidal Sassoon. This was around '83 or '84. I was working on South Molton Street, which was then the epicenter of all the shops. It was like a catwalk. So I did my apprenticeship there, but I wasn't successful.

When you respect somebody who has talent, whether it's a designer or a photographer, then you don't want to let yourself down - but you also really don't want to let them down.

I didn't do great in school. I didn't have many options. I mean, I'd like to have gone to art college, but I didn't have the grades. I didn't have any qualifications. But I had some friends who were hairdressers, so I just thought, Well, I'll have a go at it.

Suddenly it was cool to have your hair lank . . . It was a whole different way of looking at things, and it shook up the whole industry.

I'm not saying that everything I do is always tasteful - and maybe it's not always the normal idea of beauty - but hopefully it's always an empowering idea.