Celebrity hair stylist Jay Birmingham shares his best prepping and styling hair tips

Khloe Kardashian, Amelia Dimoldenberg and Rochelle Humes are just three celebrities who have their hair styled by Jay Birmingham.

But his first client was 11.5 inches tall and made entirely from plastic. “As a child, I would steal my cousin’s Barbie dolls all the time. I’d take them home and I’d be plaiting the hair and brushing and combing it,” he says.

His passion for hair continued through his teenage years in Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham, where he undertook a Saturday job in a hair salon: “I wasn’t earning any money and I wasn’t even doing anyone’s hair, just washing it. But I loved the hustle and bustle and that’s kind of where it started.”

Although Barbie dolls and salon basins have been traded in for Los Angeles and red carpets, Birmingham remains humble and friendly. When we meet, he embraces me like an old friend and asks how I’ve been.

Hair tools to make your life easier

Although Birmingham grew up using “old school heated rollers, a loud, robust, heavy hairdryer [and a] really small plastic brush”, he is now a brand ambassador for Shark Beauty, and was previously the same for Beauty Works.

So it’s unsurprising that when I ask about his favourite hair tools, he lists the Shark Glam, a multi-styler that dries, straightens, curls and styles and the Shark SilkiPro Straight, an air straightener that can be used on wet and dry hair.

He recommends using hot brushes with “really good bristles on them” for optimum tension and hold, along with some flat clips. “Even if you’re doing a lifted fringe or a flat, sleek look, the flat clips are really good to help hold the style in place.”