Manuel Mon, the best hairdresser in the world

At first thought, before meeting him, you might think that to become what Manuel Mon is, he could be an eccentric person in dressing or risky in his look. Nothing is further from reality. Take care of his image, yes. But no extravagant cuts, color mixes in your hair or shocking prints. He rubs shoulders with the greatest, and is one of the most praised professionals in his sector, but he is still the same Manuel as always. Friendly, smiling, expressive, lover of art, sensitive to beautiful things and in love with his profession. He came to the world of hairdressing by chance. “I was not the typical child who dreamed of being a hairdresser. I started working very early for family reasons. At the age of 14 I was already working in hospitality. I had the afternoons free and a classmate told me to accompany him to hairdressing school, which His wife was studying there. I went and I liked what I saw. The schedule suited me and I decided to try. When I finished, In 1989, I set up my first salon. I set it up at home because I had no money. Two years after starting, I entered the first competition, the Revlon Cup, in 1991. I won the provincial and then the national. “I took home a million pesetas, which was great for me because I was just starting out.”

For the first contest of his life, Manuel Mon had to prepare a commercial job, but he already defined the lines that would mark his successful career. “The collection was called The goddess of fire. It was a job with natural hair, in red and black, and for which I designed a matching costume.” And the fact is that Mon creates, in addition to works of art with hair, all the clothing that accompanies them. “I put together complete collections, I think they have to have a common thread. If it is an avant-garde collection, it has the same technique, the same texture, the same colors and that what surrounds it is like that too.”

“Spain is an international benchmark”

Among his numerous recognitions, there is one that stands out above the rest. “Winning the Spanish Championship was incredible, but being in Budapest representing the country, with 5,000 people watching it live, with 500 professionals from Spain there supporting me, is an inexplicable thing.” That image stayed in his head forever.. “When they said the name of the winner, and the room heard Manuel Mon from Spain, the 500 Spaniards got up on the tables. It was something incredible”, Explain. The collection that led him to that unimaginable success was inspired by Picasso and one of his sculptures. “I always liked Picasso profiles, and I decided to create one. In the World Championship you have to wear the same collection with which you won in your country, which is made up of three works. One more commercial and two more avant-garde. In the world, I opted for the riskiest of the three, and I was right.

From that moment on, his professional life took a turn. “You are the best in the world and everything you do is looked at with a magnifying glass. You cannot allow a single mistake. Your work as a freelancer increases, and so do the rates you can charge. Clients from Madrid, La Coruña, from León, who want to come get a haircut with you. I could live on that alone.” But he doesn't want to. Despite the success, it is still the same as it started 25 years ago in its apartment in Oviedo. “I wouldn't like to leave salon work. I go wherever they tell me to work, but I always come back here. I have clients who have been with me all their lives. I did their hair, I did their daughters' hair at communion, when they got married, and now I do their daughters' hair. The loyalty that exists with hairdressing in the north of Spain happens in very few places.” As an expert on the subject, he states that Spain, and especially the North, has become the international benchmark for hairdressing. “Before all the professionals went to France, Milan or London. Now they come to see what we do here.” Mon explains that Asturian women are not risky people when it comes to cuts or colors, but they are big fans of hairdressing. “There is much more social life here than in the South. In addition, the humidity means you have to go more than in provinces with dry climates, which is why people start visiting hairdressers at a very young age.”

For his collections he is inspired by the sea, in the galaxy, in art or in nature. He is self-taught and believes that what he achieves with hair is a gift. “A painter paints on a canvas; I, on the hair. I like to investigate, to see how far a technique can go. That's how I created, for example, the basket weaving technique with which I won the World Championship.” He is not ambitious. “Going back to the World Championship would be greedy. I've been able to enjoy it, know that I'm doing things well and that people recognize my work. There can't be a better prize.”