Down among the designer shampoos, trouble is bubbling in the House of Galvin. At the age of 77, patriarch Daniel Galvin OBE leads one of the most successful dynasties in the world of hair; he is the head of a glossy family empire that includes four salons, dozens of product lines and a star-studded clientele that has included every famous blonde you can think of, from Margaret Thatcher to Madonna, Sharon Stone to Princess Diana and beyond.
At one point Galvin employed all three of his hairdresser children, Louise, 53, Daniel Jr, 51, and James, 46. Yet there have been waves. Against his father’s wishes, Daniel Jnr left the family business years ago to join a rival salon, before setting up on his own.
Louise is still with the company, but mystery surrounds James, who left the company after the first lockdown last year and ceased to be a Galvin company director in June 2020. Father and son have not spoken since.
At the age of 77, patriarch Daniel Galvin OBE leads one of the most successful dynasties in the world of hair; he is the head of a glossy family empire that includes four salons, dozens of product lines and a star-studded clientele that has included every famous blonde you can think of, from Margaret Thatcher to Madonna, Sharon Stone to Princess Diana and beyond
Galvin has also been the go-to hairdresser for younger celebrities such as Adele, pictured
‘James served this company well for 28 years. I am grateful to him and wish him nothing but the best in whatever he decides to do next,’ says Daniel Snr today.
James was equally reticent to discuss the split, reportedly so bad that he plans to change his surname by deed poll and rid himself of the Galvin shadow for ever. ‘Who told you that?’ he said, although he did not deny the rumour. ‘I don’t want to talk about this,’ he said when we contacted him. ‘I’m waiting out the pandemic before my next move. I’m in no hurry.’
Whatever next? Sometimes life with the glamorous Galvins feels like an episode of Succession, Game Of Thrones and the Kardashians, all rolled into one. They fight, they make up, they love each other, they can’t agree.
Daniel Snr’s wife Mavis, a former hairdresser herself, has banned all hairdressing talk from the five-bedroom family home in Elstree, Hertfordshire, where the children grew up, complete with its swimming pool and half-acre garden. They were all so cute and attractive that Mavis, Louise and the two boys were used in a 1970s advertising campaign for Lyons Maid ice cream — the ultimate sweet treat!
Meanwhile, in addition to Daniel Snr’s starry clientele, Louise’s A-list clients include Sophie Dahl and Patsy Kensit, Daniel Jnr tends to Kylie Minogue and Kelly Brook while James — the only hair stylist amid this trio of celebrated colourists — has snipped the locks of Patsy Palmer among others. What do all these women have in common? Great hair.
Collectively, the Galvins are beautiful people who make the beautiful people even more beautiful. Individually there are times when they are metaphorically tearing each other’s hair out, perhaps like many successful family enterprises.
Yet here, in this interview, Daniel Snr reveals for the first time the personal challenges he has overcome while keeping his multi-million-pound business at the top of the hair world — and his fractious family together.
Princess Diana pictured leaving Galvin's Mayfair salon in 1994, was a regular customer
When Daniel Jnr left in rancorous circumstances in 1994, Daniel Snr found himself ‘sobbing at night’ and was admitted to a North London clinic later that year. ‘Dad went nuts,’ is what Daniel Jnr said at the time.
Back then, newspapers reported that the family boss was suffering from stress — but that wasn’t quite true, either.
‘I was in the clinic for drink,’ he admits for the first time today. ‘I am an alcoholic. I don’t drink any more and I haven’t drunk for over 20 years, but back then it was a problem.’
At the peak of his powers, with famous women queuing up to have him colour their hair and paying around £300 for the privilege, Daniel Snr’s life was slipping out of control — but never to the point where he was tending to Princess Diana’s hair while half cut himself.
‘I never drank during the day,’ he says. ‘I can’t really remember but I don’t think it affected my day to day life, I just carried on. I was a functioning alcoholic, my family knew, my wife supported me. But I had to change my life. I couldn’t carry on that way.’
At that time Daniel Jnr was back in the family fold, working alongside his father in the family salon, but the pair of them were still on icy non-speaking terms. Daniel Jnr had experienced his own addiction problems, having beaten his £1,000-a-day cocaine habit with a six-month spell in an American health clinic.
Trapped in his own private cycle of abuse, Daniel Snr was drinking a bottle of wine after work each day, then often carrying on drinking at home. Things got so bad that in 2003 daughter Louise finally got him into rehab, into the Clouds facility in Wiltshire.
Margaret Thatcher became a client when she became Leader of the Opposition. He was responsible for changing her hair colour from ‘barmaid blonde to a more demure shade so that she would be taken more seriously’
‘It was just unbelievable, amazing,’ he recalls. ‘There was no private room, no colour TV, nothing like that. It was really down to earth. You didn’t mess around. One week you were the cleaner, the next week you were washing the dishes. I was there for six weeks.’
To his great credit, Daniel Snr came out of the clinic, joined AA (‘a fabulous programme’) and hasn’t touched a drop since. And despite the problems father and son have both had in this area, he doesn’t believe that addiction runs in the family.
‘I think it is more the pressure of the job,’ he says. ‘I’ve always been one of the workers. I’m only the boss if something goes wrong.
‘You know when they were little, Louise wanted to be a PR, Daniel wanted to be a journalist and James wanted to be a racing driver. We all ended up in the
