Pomade-Like Shine Is In : Hair Stylist Trevor Sorbie Definitely a Man of Polish

Would you trust the man who cuts Sting’s hair, styles Charlotte Rampling’s hair, gets the credit for dozens of fashion-magazine layouts in any given season?

His name is Trevor Sorbie and he says to put grease in your hair.

Sorbie calls it polisher--a new variation on pomade that he sells under his own label. “It makes hair shine,” he says.

London-based Sorbie is so popular there that a local newspaper once ran a cartoon about him. (“It’s a Trevor sorbet,” read the caption.)

Wedge Cut

His name is linked with such inventions as the wedge cut, which he says he created while he was international artistic director at Vidal Sassoon from 1970 to 1976, and the “scrunched” look--layer-cut hair pinched and squeezed until it appears corrugated.

He has a lot of ideas on how women should wear their hair now, and he came to Los Angeles to talk about them.

Grow it to shoulder length, get it cut in lots of layers and make it look messy, he tells trend followers.

“There should be wisps at the hairline,” he said, pointing out that the punky, London-born buzz cut is out of fashion. Rampling was one when she came to see him recently. “She’d cut it herself, really hammered it off,” he said. He restyled it before she posed for a photo session.

Done With Care

Sorbie likes hair to be carefully done, even if it’s styled into chaos. His new hair-care collection is heavy on sculpting lotion, mousse and spray. And women leave his London salon with their hair looking “finished, dressed and set but not smooth and fluffy,” he said.

If nothing else, keep this much in mind. “Geometric blunt cuts are slowly dying,” Sorbie said. The change has to do with fashion. “Clothes have a ‘50s feel, they show off the shape of the body, they’re feminine.”

Sorbie’s hair care products are available at the Umberto salon in Hollywood.