Together Rick and Zoe Roberts are multi-award winning hairdressers and they have built a brand that now travels the world for shows and ambassador work. Their work is deliberately as broad as it is deep, fully inclusive in all hair skills and work and this is as important for their shoots, shows and education as it is for their day to day work in their Beverley salon, Rick Roberts that launched in 2007 as a place that would honour hair identity.

This pledge made way back is a lived experience and it is reflected in each area of their working lives. Take Refraction. A collection named for its shape shifting light and of changing direction. It speaks to the hair work but also to where Rick and Zoe find themselves in their own careers and creative lives.

“It is always so much more than a collection for us when we shoot, it has to have a real meaning, something that plays out in our work, that shows up in our values in really honest ways”,

– Zoe.

We poured absolutely everything into this and the results needed to reflect our constantly driving, evolving and growing creative development and change. We as a business, a partnership and creatives are continually refracting, propelling forward and changing. What we love about this collection is immediate impact and mystery. The pictures draw you in, and working here with diversity we see so many values: strength, vulnerability, beauty, boldness and discretion and each has a place to shine.

For a shoot we have a planned/unplanned approach if that isn’t a contradiction! We fix some things down but others we let move and morph as the creativity flows. We have found that if we are over-planned it can be counter productive, we have to allow some freedom for risk. So we set out our goals for a beginning, middle and end and then everything in between is where the risk and reward (hopefully) happens, but it is where uncertainty is and that makes it exciting and liberating.

Freedom and newness are important, I don’t like being put in a box! And I think sometimes people hear Rick Roberts and think, ‘oh afro/texture’ and yes that’s true, but it’s not all I am or do, and for this shoot we really wanted to move into a space we have not really focused on which is Asian hair and culture. We took ourselves by surprise in a sense bringing our own techniques, hair knowledge and our own cultures and values to this. We are always mindful as to whether its clients or models, that when we touch their hair we are touching their sense of identity so we always honour this.

The team is essential to this mindset, ultimately we trust the process but also have confidence in ourselves and everyone around us to make it work. I count photographer Richard Miles as a friend and it felt like the perfect partnership to try something out of our comfort zone within. Zoe was on a mission to find different and new models, it’s not always easy working with new girls but we worked really hard to keep a great environment on the shoot and gave them a secure space to work which brought the best out of everyone.

On a marketing level it is vital to shot that when we say for all, we mean for all. This material gives us a ready made campaign for the salon and also supports our ambassador work, for example profiling in Asian markets is great for our Hanza scissor work. So it is a fusion of business savvy + hairdressing values. For us both things have to be present to make it authentic and worthwhile.

So that is what is in a name. Everything. For us you have to have meaning behind the work, a real backbone to it. The best piece of advice that someone once gave me was when you are building the ladder of success make sure the ladder is leaning against the right wall, a wall with a great foundation, if not it will collapse. I’ve fallen off a few ladders but I think now we’ve found our creative foundations and formulas that we are feeling strong and good so we can adventure from a secure place!

Enjoy the journey everyone. Rick and Zoe xx

More Info 
Online: www.rickrobertshair.com
Insta: @rickrobertshair

Rick and Zoe Roberts are joint owners of their inclusive hairdressing salon in Beverley Yorkshire, the salon opened in 2007. They have taken themselves back to when they were 15 years old, full of teenage doubt, uncertainty and angst. Unsure of their future and what it held. This letter to their teenage selves is a moving and powerful testament to resilience, meeting challenges with grace and fortitude and of backing yourself!

We wrote this letter to our 15 year old selves that demonstrates our creative journey.

Dear Rick and Zoe
You don’t know it yet Rick but you’re not going to be an electrician! Newsflash, you’re going to be a hairdresser. Zoe, you’ll fall in love with an industry that you’ve started to think about joining (keep going with those Saturday jobs!).

One day, the same passion and curiosity that’s in you now will grow into something essential and powerful. Together you’ll find yourselves in a career that lets you travel the world, touch people’s lives, and change not just appearances, but confidence, culture, and community in your hometown.

Hard to believe right now I know, but keep the faith, things are going to really turn around. So stop worrying so much. Stop questioning whether you’re “enough.” You are. What makes you different will become your greatest strength. Hold on to your creativity. Hold on to your boldness. That edge, that instinct and don’t let self-doubt and the critics steal it away from you. It is not a flaw, it’ll become your magic.

That confidence and hope in yourself will grow as you are both inspired by others and also, in time, you’ll be the one inspiring, and all this will be by finding out who you really are. You’ll work with some of the best in the business, but more than that—you’ll become someone others look to for guidance, education, and hope.

You’ll be parents to incredible, neurodiverse children Mason born on the 15th and the Xander born on the 8th (these birthdays will be woven into the logo of the salon ‘Rick Roberts 1508’). From these amazing children, you’ll learn about empathy, patience, and the importance of real inclusion. They’ll help you see the world in a way no training course ever could. They’ll become your ‘why.’

You won’t be just a creative partnership but a force of strength, connection, and quiet leadership. Together, you’ll build a life—that truly matters. One where you will inspire the most important people in the world. Your two children and under your wing, they’ll learn to fly themselves and follow their own passions, one into animation, the other into football, by watching you strive together for them, they will learn about solving problems, being different and proud, being team players, and leaders in their own right. Your creativity is going to be your route to freedom, being truly you, to business success and to releasing others to be themselves!

So breathe. You’ve got this. With love,
Future Rick & Zoe

“To anyone facing self doubt, be encouraged, we would not have believed that one day we would lift some of the industry’s most coveted awards not just in the UK, but on international stages too. It is still a ‘pinch-ourselves’ moment. And to now represent global brands as ambassadors (Hanza Scissors and Schwarzkopf Professional) is something we could have only dreamed of. It’s a reminder of how far passion, belief, purpose, and your creativity can take you,”

Rick and Zoe xx

More Info 
Online: www.rickrobertshair.com/beverleysalonteam