Our DNA

History

“Being current and taking pleasure in reflecting his clientele’s evolving tastes and underlying desires.” This is Jean Louis David’s mantra. The visionary hairdresser opened his first salon in 1961 in Avenue Wagram in Paris, and it wasn’t long before he was at the top of his profession. This success was largely due to his innovative techniques and his passion for woman’s beauty. For Jean Louis David, hairdressing is an art which he continually reinvents as the seasons change.

After working with some of the greatest photographers in the 1960s – including Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts – Jean Louis David decided to get behind the camera, video and photo, himself in the 1970s. This allowed him to display a large number of hairstyles to his clients so they could choose which one they wanted. At the time, it was Jean Louis David himself who was in charge of the changing designs. Since his departure, an artistic team has taken over, keeping up with the latest trends while continuing to invent particular cuts, colours and hairstyles for the sake of women’s pleasure.

Jean Louis David has thus continuously renewed himself in order to reinvent the beauty of hair. We owe him particularly for the famous layered cut, realised for the first time in 1970, originally created to free women from the shackles of rigid cuts. Today, the artistic team continues this tradition and respects this heritage by proposing easy going modern cuts, with customised natural colours.

Building on his success in the media and in the world of business, Jean Louis David has built an empire by opening a series of franchise salons in his name. For him, this “allows traders to profit from the reputation of a franchise and to access a host of commercial methods and techniques specially developed for these franchisees.” This gamble paid off as his network has grown significantly over the years; there are now over a thousand Jean Louis David salons across the world. It remains the number one hairdressing network in Europe and the second in the world.

Training

In order to ensure that the stylists at Jean Louis David are always at the forefront of the latest trends and techniques, Jean Louis David has made training a priority. At the end of the 1970s, he came up with video training to ensure his stylists have the key to his unique know-how, identical in all his salons.

Today, to communicate this know-how, there is a dedicated Training Centre based in rue Cambon in Paris, where all the stylists in the network come to build on their expertise and learn the latest trends in hair styling, new colouring techniques and how to use the brand’s products. The centre, which covers 350m2, offers several levels of training; introductory modules for newcomers, themed training courses for more experienced staff as well as specific training for salon managers.

A unique salon experience

The world of Jean Louis David salons

Light, modern and attractive colours mean that Jean Louis David salons feel clean and contemporary. Warm materials, such as wood, furnish the rounded curves of the salons, giving them a feminine touch. The ergonomic chairs, the lighting and even the shape of the dressing tables have all been designed with a single goal: to provide the maximum comfort to customers. This design promotes the unique atmosphere of Jean Louis David salons, an atmosphere which perfectly balances elegance and moderation with modernity and technicality.

The quality service of Jean Louis David

Welcoming, listening, caring…the Jean Louis David experience is one of pure relaxation. The stylists do their utmost to ensure an excellent quality of service so that each visit to the salon is a unique one. The result of an attitude towards customers for which Jean Louis David has been renown since the creation of his salons!

A watchword: a personalised experience

So that every haircut is unique, each visit to the salon begins with an individual and personalised discussion, known as the “Collection Moment” during which the customer, along with the stylist, selects her favourite hairstyles from the books exclusive to Jean Louis David. The stylist will then decide on what is or is not possible, based on the nature of the hair and each customer’s particular style.