Behind the chair · 1 January 2015 · 2 min read
Zoltan Vargyai Bio
ZOLTAN IS AN ARTIST. HE TAILORS IT TO EACH CLIENT MIXING UP HIS OWN FORMULATIONS. IT’S LIKE A JIGSAW RATHER THEN ONE SIZE FITS ALL.
Known as the King of the Brazilian Blow Dry or “the Heston Blumenthal of the hair world” (New! magazine, 2009), Zoltan Vargyai, is the go-to for UK beauty editors for bespoke texture treatments and has honed his craft since his first permUP in 1991.
Born in Hungary, he started his career in Budapest where he learnt the basics of hairdressing; cutting, colouring and perming. He went on to open his first salon in 1994 whilst also doing session work. He was the Editor-in-Chief of Hungary’s biggest professional hair and beauty magazine Szepvilag.
In 1998 he moved to London to be a colour technician at the renowned Molton Brown salon. He then trained with Yuko Yasmashita and managed the Yuko salon in Mayfair, where he found his true calling.
“My greatest achievement was at the Yuko salon and academy, that I was the first person to successfully perform the Yuko hair straightening on afro-Caribbean hair.”
At Yuko, Zoltan studied the techniques and developed all the necessary skills to become a hair texture specialist. His ability to adapt specific treatments to transform individual hair texture became his trademark and after he left Yuko he opened his first London salon, Compton in Soho where he continues to offer his clientele exceptional results.
In 2002 Zoltan expanded Compton's salons to Covent Garden and Barbican where he remained sole owner and Creative Director for twelve years. He sold his salon chain in 2013, to focus on hairdressing, treatment and product development.
Zoltan’s technical wizardry extends far beyond the straightening techniques learnt at Yuko. He trained in Brazil, pioneering the Brazilian Keratin blow dry in the UK and also learned digital perming in Korea. Always at the forefront of trends, he is constantly refining and adapting his treatments to ensure they are the epitome of efficacy and unparalleled technology.
Achievements:
1993 Designing and building his own salon basin from scratch
1999 Zoltan was the first person to offer Yuko system in Europe outside of their own salon
2003 Bringing one of the first Digital perming machine to the UK
2004 Offering smoothing treatments
2006 Zoltan's salon Compton was one of the first salons to offer the Brazilian Blow dry
2014 One of the first person to introduce Olaplex to the UK press (John Freeda salon were the other company)
*this list is currently updated
Zoltan is a hair texture specialist in Mayfair, London, perming since 1991 and straightening since 1999.
More from Behind the chair
- Why does my hair behave on holiday and fight me at home?
- Keratin Treatment & Hair Straightening in the South East: Southampton, Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Brighton, Kent and Surrey
- Is it worth crossing town for a hairdresser?
Are you a pro? The full technique is on tecSture. For hairdressers →
