The hair stylist delves into his journey from a talented upstart in rural Holland to a seasoned industry veteran and how he sees his craft in a landscape of timing and innovation.
Ward Stegerhoek—known mononymously as Ward—is a hair stylist whose decades of iconic looks need no introduction. From his start as an urban cowboy wünderkind from Dutch dairy country on the sets of Steven Meisel and Helmut Newton to a seasoned industry mainstay and co-founder of the haircare company Living Proof, Ward has led a life as striking yet organic as his hairstyle creations.
Ward’s chameleonic hair creations run the aesthetic gamut: from a slick androgynous gamine cut on Anne Hathaway for V Magazine to transforming Drew Barrymore into a post-grunge Jean Harlowesque muse for Miu Miu. His second Mission cover—the first being our issue last spring with guest editor Donatella Versace—he reshaped singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal’s blonde mane for our previous issue, The New Order, lensed by fellow Dutch powerhouse team Inez and Vinoodh and featuring guest editor Nile Rodgers.
Despite his many successes, which include his industry-changing haircare science work at Living Proof and ambassadorship of Orangebabies, a charitable organization dedicated to combating HIV infection rates in small children in Zambia, South Africa, and Namibia, Ward remains cool-headed, ever-curious, and humble: “After all these years, I’m still doing it almost every day, still in demand. It’s a small miracle, right?”
Mission: How did you get your start as a hairstylist in the fashion industry?
Ward: I studied at the school of Vidal Sassoon in London. As students, if you were good, you were selected to help with the fashion show for [Central] Saint Martins. When I returned home, I started on my portfolio and worked with photography students. I bumped into Inez [van Lamsweerde], who was not with Vinoodh [Matadin] then. When I got an agent in Holland, it was the first time a hairdresser had an agent. I got by in the smallest shoebox apartments and tried it in Paris. Then I discovered Le Book, which had everybody involved in fashion in it. Marie Claire gave me advice to keep going, so I called them up like every month to show them a new book with test photographs. The fifth time I opened the door, the girls behind the booking desk rolled their eyes: “Oh, there he is again.” They just gave me a job in the hope that I would fuck it up and never come back. But that story hit, and there were the first signs of demand for me to be on set.
“When Helmut Newton became a fan, I was still twenty-two and a naïve boy from cow-shitland in Holland, surrounded by farms that produced milk.”
When Helmut Newton became a fan, I was still twenty-two and a naïve boy from cow-shitland in Holland, surrounded by farms that produced milk. Everybody on that set was thirty or forty years older than me. So, I always dressed up like an urban cowboy in full leather and cowboy boots. I had a whole act when I was young!
Mission: How do you collaborate with the stylists and the photographers to create a cohesive and distinctive look? For example, how did you develop the hairstyle for Mission‘s last cover? Your second cover for Mission.
Ward: People know I’m not an arts and crafts-type hairdresser. I do hair very close to nature, attainable, real, and proportionate to the person. At first, you’re comparing yourself to everybody else, like a hairdressing competition. I realized the creations weren’t making it to the street; only hairdressers and a few fashion victims were clapping hard and loudly for that. It stopped making sense for me because I wanted to try to create change. When I go to a job, I don’t lose a second of sleep or try to come up with an idea beforehand. I’m like a jazz musician who can jam into any harmony at the spur of the moment. To create a character that represents the market of a particular item or brand, I want to make that person smart, intelligent, and full of character. I prefer people who just walk in with style. Style is very different for me than styled. It’s a small word difference—but it’s night and day for me. I don’t like people that look put together and dressed up and fake.
Mission: You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in fashion and entertainment, creatively re-styling famous manes. How do you establish a trusting work dynamic with the talent that allows you to take exciting stylistic risks?
Ward: Sometimes, that happens very naturally. Other times, it’s much harder, and you continue professionally but not intimately. It’s easier after a few shoots with a subject when you build up trust. It is important to consider if it’s not done at the right time, on a cover, or on a stage where you can launch your new look. I’ve made a few cuts in my career. Every two years or so, a cut hits the road and goes viral; suddenly, you see downtown change. The drive for that is always there, but I patiently work through it until that occasion all falls together at the right moment.
I keep working this hard after forty years because I want to be there when that new girl arrives, with the right photographer and cover. I don’t approach hairdressing as a service to people. I’ll cut everybody’s hair for free or tell them how to do it themselves. It is always about something else.
Hair is very natural to me. It’s something I do more with feeling than a big, pretentious idea. As co-founder of Living Proof, they asked me if I wanted my name on the bottle. I say no; I want to make innovation last hundreds of years, not just pay a licensing fee for someone else’s formula.
“I focus on my subject. My subject becomes my inspiration. That’s a learning curve for me to figure out her beautiful elements or angles. I try to be a good observer.”
Mission: What are your greatest artistic and aesthetic inspirations as a hairstylist?
Ward: When I’m seeking inspiration, it’s in the spur of the moment—the photographer bringing a vibe, a subject has her vibe. I won’t look left and right to find some inspiration from other people’s inspiration. I rely on my craft and slowly work with my feelings.
I focus on my subject. My subject becomes my inspiration. That’s a learning curve for me to figure out her beautiful elements or angles. I try to be a good observer. I’m not good at it every day. I’m flawed like any human being. But some days, I’m good at being so zeroed in that I am ready to grab all the opportunities that come every day.
I think the biggest gift from this job, besides meeting all the other creative, talented people—we all sponge it up from one another, and together, we become better and more refined—is to be able to travel the world. That’s been the greatest bonus, meeting the people from all these countries. I’m no longer ignorant because of it. No longer a farm boy from Holland.
All photography by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, styling by Paul Sinclaire, make up by Fulvia Farolfi, hair by Ward. Talent Grace Vanderwall, wearing Patou. Home page Grave Vanderwall wear Black fake-fur jacket by Dolce & Gabbana, cream blouse by Celine by Hedi Slimane. All jewlery by Janis Savitt. Inside image of Ward courtesy of the artist.
