Celebrity hairdresser Trevor Sorbie has revealed a battle with cancer has robbed him of his iconic touch.
The Scots stylist is having chemotherapy and one of the side effects is a loss of feeling in his fingers.
That means Paisley-raised Sorbie – who has fashioned the hair of the Queen, Lorraine Kelly, Robbie Williams and Helen Mirren among many others – has had to call time on a five-decade career.
The 74-year-old, who still owns a string of salons from London to Dubai, has devoted himself to a charity helping cancer sufferers beat hair loss.
Sorbie said he still loves chatting to customers and even shampoos their hair.
He said: “When you do hair, you feel the hair – it’s the material that you feel, the quality of it, the thickness, the curl, and I can’t do that any more.
“But I go around and say, ‘Excuse me, madam,’ and I start talking to them. We have such friendly chats.”
Sorbie added: “If I had to leave this earth tomorrow, I’d say, ‘Okay, my time’s up but boy did I have fun while I was here.’
“And I can take that up to my mum and dad and tell them all about it. That is how I want to end my life.
“I‘ve had five cancers in three years. When you’re positive, when you know within yourself that it’s possible to do whatever you want, I’m a person who can prove that can happen, be it in hairdressing, be it fighting cancer.
“Yeah, I’ve got cancer [but] it doesn’t exist in my head. I don’t wake up thinking, ‘I’m going to die, poor me.’ No way. You can hear it in my voice – I’m full of life and I’ll continue to be like that until my day comes.”
Sorbie left school in Paisley aged 15 to escape being bullied and started working at his dad’s barber shop.
He went on to hairdressing college in London, then worked his way up in the industry before opening his own salon in the capital.
Sorbie’s unique styles – such as the wedge, the wolf man and the scrunch – were at the forefront of 1970s and 80s fashion and he began collecting a celebrity client list, including Paul McCartney and Vivienne Westwood.
He became a well-known face on TV and made a fortune from his personal range of haircare products. In 2004 he was awarded an MBE.
Sorbie later founded the charity My New Hair, which helps cancer sufferers get wigs fashionably styled.
The father-of-one, who now lives in Hampshire, told the Grow My Salon Business podcast: “Dying doesn’t worry me. The only thing I don’t want is to die in pain. But I don’t mind dying because I’ve done more than I ever thought I could do.”
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