MEET ISSAC POLEON
THE CREATIVE COUNCIL:
The hairstylist talks authenticity, identity and out-of-body experiences.
“I think that hair is identity and identity is everything,” states Issac Poleon. There’s no mistaking the importance of Poleon’s calling. As FLANNELS go-to hairstylist, he’s brought a new energy to the world of hair. Treating it as the main character of any shoot, its importance has never been more prevalent.
It’s been an impressive rise. A dancer who craved a more stable career, he began working in hair salons at 17 before turning his hand to session styling just four years ago. “I really did a lot in a short space of time,” he laughs.
That ‘a lot’ includes a spot on the prestigious Dazed100 list – which recognises and spotlights 100 voices who are changing culture – working with supermodel Jourdan Dunn, actresses Gabrielle Union and Keke Palmer and collaborating with creatives like Campbell Addy and Ib Kamara. “Those were really big pinch me moments,” he explains. “I hate to call it imposter syndrome, because I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, but it almost feels like an out-of-body experience.”
That ‘a lot’ includes a spot on the prestigious _Dazed_100 list – which recognises and spotlights 100 voices who are changing culture – working with supermodel Jourdan Dunn, actresses Gabrielle Union and Keke Palmer and collaborating with creatives like Campbell Addy and Ib Kamara. “Those were really big pinch me moments,” he explains. “I hate to call it imposter syndrome, because I know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, but it almost feels like an out-of-body experience.”
“I think about my job and I’m like as much as it’s very tiring and exhausting and exacerbating sometimes, it’s also so amazing and it’s such an incredible experience to think you are moving in all of these realms,” he says. “You’re conversing with so many different people; everyone is just doing their thing and are successful in their own right and you know just really standing in their truth and being authentic. It’s amazing.”
To those now looking to him and wondering how to get there, what advice does he have? “Live authentically, man. I think it’s so cliché that people often take the power away from it,” he says. “It’s such a cliché thing to say, but since I did that, I really became who I am. I saw myself, people saw me, and that was authentic.”
He’s also clear that your path to success doesn’t have to look any one way. It doesn’t have to look like his, or like you’re educated it should: “We’re told that to be successful you have to have all of these GCSEs, education or academic experience or degrees or you need to look a certain way, be a certain way, you need to pertain to a certain type of person, and I think that now everyone is kind of creating the world they want to live in. It's certainly been a journey for Poleon so far. “I feel like the best is yet to come. I want to speak on what I’ve done so far, but I don’t know, I feel like there’s more to come,” he explains. While the distant future might be hard to predict, I wonder what’s in store for the next 12 months? He cites a new project with a brand (he can’t talk about it just yet) and his intention to spend more time in the US, because, to quote him: “The girls there, they love me, and I love the girls.”
One thing we do know for sure, Poleon has been back on set for FLANNELS, working his magic on the hair for our upcoming Christmas campaign. And he’s joined the FLANNELS Creative Council, a next-generation advisory board filled with six of the most exciting voices in the industry, including stylist Leah Abbott, artist Slawn and CircleZeroEight founder and editor-in-chief Elgar Johnson. For the past few months, the group have been curating a series of projects for FLANNELS X that tap into their area of expertise. And for Poleon, this means joining the latest instalment of Inside Job with THE FACE.
Inside Job is a new series of URL and IRL events spotlighting rising industry voices at the intersection of fashion, culture, art and music. Designed to share knowledge and remove barriers to entry within the creative industries, the series provides a new generation of fashion creatives and entrepreneurs with the tangible advice they need to level up on their own creative journey.
Our third panel talk sees Poleon join makeup artist Mata Mariélle, nail artist Lauren Michelle Pires and beauty expert Marina Mansour in conversation with THE FACE’s digital director Brooke McCord. Exploring the grit behind the glam, the Poleon was keen to go beyond the surface of beauty shoots, showing the long hours, hard work and determination it takes to make it. Taking place from 6.30PM to 9.30PM on Wednesday 25th October at FLANNELS X, Oxford Street, London, you can bag a free ticket at THE FACE.