With 1.4 million Twitter followers and 1.1 Instagram followers, Lou Teasdale is the hairdressing powerhouse responsible for the hair of One Direction. She literally goes on tour with them and does their hair. Does that sound like your dream job? Well, it can be because Lou has written a top book called The Craft – featuring beauty industry tips that range from how to succeed at being an assistant to how to do fishtail braids and update your nail art game. The Debrief sat down with her for the down-low on Harry Style’s ’do, building a school in Kenya and, er, her mum’s embarrassing tweets.
So when did you start working on the book?
Probably about a year ago. It took ages. We had to shoot it when I had a week in-between touring. I wrote it while I was away and then laid it out when I came back. Loads of it was from my old blog, so I went through that and expanded on loads of ideas. Doing all the shoots was the hardest part.
Why was that?
Because I wanted to do everything. What was the point if I didn’t do actually do everything? But I’ve been working with boys for like, three years, so I didn’t even have all the right stuff in my kit. I had to go out and buy it all. I’d had loads of ideas for girls hair though, so I was really excited to do it.
Where do you keep your ideas, do you have a notebook?
Not really, I just use Tumblr – I drag pictures off and keep them on my computer. I guess I use Instagram, too.
You have quite a few Instagram followers.
Yeah, loads. [1.1 million]
Is it weird?
No, not really. You just have to turn your notifications off because it can crash your phone.
If you put a picture of me up right now, how many likes would it get?
It really depends, probably like 50,000. My no make-up selfie got loads, it got 101,000.
If I like one of your pictures, do you get loads of people commenting that I liked it? It makes me not want to like anything that people might think is embarrassing.
Does it not weird you out?
They’re just One Direction fans. They’re really harmless. It doesn’t translate into selling anything other than One Direction stuff. They’re not interested in my opinion on stuff.
Does that bum you out?
Well, I’m still going to tweet my opinion on telly. They can like it or lump it.
Do you get flack?
They’re quite nice to me. If I change the boys’ hair, particularly if there’s a drastic change like if I’ve shaved it, or like, at the moment, a couple of them have really long hair because they’ve had time off, then I’ll get, ‘Do your job Lou Teasdale.’
Who has the best hair?
I like their hair long. My favourite at the moment is Liam’s. We’re doing a hipster beard, shaved side, floppy top bit thing. I don’t have to do much to the others, to be honest.
What about Harry?
Someone asked me what his hair smelled like once, which I thought was hilarious. But I’m really not supposed to say.*
What does it smell like?
Well, I’m obviously not gonna say now!
Fair enough. Have you got Lou Teasdale fans?
Yeah, one or two. I’ve invited them to the launch party for the book. They’ve got loads of followers themselves who are more interested in hair and make-up and me, rather than One Direction. Which is kind of who the book is for. So I embrace the fans. They’re not weird.
Don**’t you think the Lux [Lou****’s two-year-old daughter] fan accounts are weird?**
You just have to not think about it. You could go mental if you start overthinking it. I put us in the position where people do make fan accounts of her because I wanted to keep my family together and work. So I can’t really freak out about it. I understand it. They’re just One Direction fans, not fans of Lux. They just love anything to do with the boys. And to be honest, she doesn’t come with us any more so it’s calmed down a bit.
When you**’re on tour, how many times do you have to see the show?**
Well, I just have to be there. I saw the show last year 183 times. I know all the words. And then, when I get off tour, I get in the car and put the album on. How embarrassing. I love it. It just reminds you of being on the tour, I love it.
What**’s it like being on tour?**
It’s nice. They don’t change their people so everyone’s the same and everyone knows everyone. When you go home you get a bit sad. We’ve been home for four months. You miss everyone, then you remember your friends again. Then you don’t want to leave them. Then you go on tour again and forget them. It’s a cycle. There’s a load of blokes and only like, four girls. The boys all bring their mates, which is really nice. They just sit in the back of the bus watching boxing and the girls sit up front watching Sex and The City.
Do you think you**’ll carry on forever? Or do you think you****’ll do something different eventually?**
I want to write a column actually, or something like that. So I can work from London and not travel as much. I’m working for Fudge Urban, as well. [Lou is their Global Brand Ambassador.] Working with a brand and going on trips is fun, but I don’t want to travel full-time once Lux starts school. She can’t be flying about in a private jet thinking that’s normal.
Does she think it**’s normal?**
I think she's going to. I need to knock it out of her. Bless her. She flies business [laughs].
When I first met you, you were building a school in Kenya.
Oh yeah. I need Lux to know how the world works, so she becomes a nice little girl. When I get the opportunity I’ll take her there.
It**’s impressive that you did that in the first place, fundraising ten grand and then building a school.**
Charities suck me in, what can I say? That’s what happened with the school. We went on holiday with Mum and Dad, like total brats. Mum and Dad told us we couldn’t talk to the beach boys and we were like, ‘We can!’. So the local boys took us to meet their families and see where their brothers and sisters go to school. And that’s what happened. You see stuff like that on the telly, and you just think you can’t do anything. But you can.
Do you think the balance is important, real and unreal?
Yeah, totally.
Was it important to help empower young girls with your book?
Yeah. The main point was really to give young girls who might not have anyone a bit of career advice. People always ask me about how to get a job like mine. Hairdressing is amazing if you’re a single mum. The beauty industry is easy – you can work in your own time and run your own business. So the career stuff was there to be inspirational to people who struggle or who don’t know what they want to do or who have problems at school. You know, you can end up with a really good job or even just make a bit of money if you make doing something you enjoy your job.
How did you get into hairdressing?
I was awful at school and just used to muck about doing everyone’s hair, so I trained to be a hairdresser. My twin sister went to uni to do law. Mum and Dad would always be like, ‘Here's Sam, she's doing law, and here’s Lou, she’s arty. Now they’re like, ‘This is Lou, she works with One Direction.’
They must be dead proud.
Yeah, so much. Mum has loads of Twitter followers too, now. I just saw her tweet Philip Schofield the other day. It’s so embarrassing!
*This answer has been edited because we weren’t supposed to repeat what Harry’s hair smells like (our bad!). Who knew Harry’s hair was so controversial?
Follow Hanna on Twitter @hannahanra
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.