By Nayera Yasser
Years ago, a young boy walked into his uncle’s posh hair salon and uttered his most genuine wish; to run his own salon one day. Mohamed El-Sagheer grew up not only to establish his own beauty hub but also to change the entire business.
El-Sagheer is one of Egypt’s most prominent hair stylists in the Arab region with a career that spread across the neighboring countries and also France. For years, the expert introduced new rules and reshaped the local scene to create a solid business in the region.
The leading expert just added a new milestone to his ever-lasting resume a few weeks ago when he launched his auto-biography, ‘Days from My Life’. El-Sagheer organised one of the year’s most incredible receptions for a book signing and to introduce his first book.
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“I wanted to write about my life, including everything I have seen, lived through, and felt,” El-Sagheer said. “In this book, I wrote about the hair dressing career that I started when I was only eight years old. I wanted to narrate my stories back when I used to work for my uncle, help the hair dressers, and clean the salon after 15 hours of work”.
The hair dresser wrote his book to inspire individuals working in any given industry. During his book signing event, he announced that the book’s revenues will be dedicated to fund Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation in Aswan.
Doctor Anisa Hassona, executive director of the foundation, expressed her extensive appreciation of El-Sagheer’s initiative and wishes it could inspire many other celebrities and icons.
Even though the concept of an auto biography revolving a hair stylist’s life is not quite common in Egypt, it is more common around the world where leading stylists share their life-time stories with the upcoming generations.
Many celebrities and iconic figures attended the ceremony and El-Sagheer made sure to show his gratitude to his life-long friend, actress Laila Alwei. The expert gifted the very first copy to her as a sign of recognition for her continuous support.
The book narrates his struggles, start, and education while observing the drastic changes that have shaped the industry today.
El-Sagheer’s career was highly affected by his training and education in Paris. He also received multiple awards, such as the Haute Coiffure award, for his outstanding input. The local hair dresser is considered one of the top 50 experts across the globe and he is also a member of the French entity Haute Coiffure Francaise as well as Inter-Coiffure Mondiale.
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El-Sagheer established his first salon back in the 1980s and now owns a vast chain that includes more than 20 branches around the region and a company specialised in importing exclusive beauty products.
“I proudly remember each and every day of my life, every job I took, every lesson I have learnt, every pound I have earned and every person I have met,” he said. “I wrote this book for every young person who dreams of a promising future, for my son Moustafa, and my daughter Maha so that they would know the journey was tough but deserved all the sacrifices. I wrote it for my grandchildren so they would live in a different era that is different from their present. I wrote it for all of my colleagues for them to appreciate their jobs that love and create beauty for anyone that wants it”.
