Pascal van Loenhout曾於2009年獲得比利時年度髮型師，在安特衛普擁有一間美髮沙龍與剪髮學院，為比利時頗負盛名的髮型師，然而不止國內，Pascal在韓國也有18間沙龍分店。擅長各種剪髮技巧，Pascal稱呼自己為專職剪髮者，獨到的美學品味和傑出的技巧帶領他在美髮界屢有突破。

Pascal Van Loenhout is one of the well-known hairdressers in Belgium and even the world. He owns a salon and an academy back home in Antwerp and also 18 salons in South Korea. Saying himself as a “cutter”, he has such a talented vibe in his works and led him to the position he has got now.

如同許多富有天份的髮型師，Pascal出生在美髮家庭，他的母親在他出生後旋即開了沙龍，Pascal幾乎可以說是被客人抱在懷裡餵奶帶大的，繼承了母親的創意和才華，Pascal14始終對於繪畫等美學範疇有著極高的天賦。

Pascal has a mother who opened her salon at 18, and according to his own words, he was literally being milked by his mom’s clients and grew up in the salon. The genetic reason could be why he has such passion and good taste on hairdressing. However, it wasn’t until he was 14 when he started to have interest in hairdressing.

14歲的Pascal是個叛逆的問題少年，面對未來出路他只有一個念頭－挑一條簡單的路走，知道自己對於藝術創作這塊有著獨特的見解和品味，他選擇跟隨與生俱來的天賦，成為髮型師，想著不管情況再遭，總是有母親可以依靠。就這樣進入美髮專校，Pascal很快的脫穎而出，更意外地發現自己非常喜歡剪髮，甚至到了狂愛的地步，連在一般人聽來厭煩的剪刀聲都如同音樂一般的悅耳。

「剪髮的基因在我的血液裡怦然作響，我在學會吹整頭髮之前就已經知道如何剪髮了！」講起最熱愛的剪髮，Pascal的眼裡閃爍著光芒。他發現自己愛上剪髮的持久性，比起吹整造型，一個精心剪裁的髮型可以維持6週以上，能創造具有時間性的藝術讓他深深著迷。

“I was very rebellious and a bit problematic teenager, I knew I was creative but I didn’t know what to do with it.” He says. Back then, he just took the easiest path – becoming a hairdresser which he will always have his mom to rely on.

Though it wasn’t a great motivation, he still went to school and actually did well. Everything just happened naturally, like it was in his blood from the beginning. “I can cut hair even before I can blow dry.” He then explains, “I love the longevity of cutting hair, unlike blow dry, a nice haircut could last for at least 6 weeks.” He was so obsessed with cutting hair, even the sound of chipping wet hair seems amazing to him.

畢業後Pascal並沒有直接回到母親經營的沙龍，反而先去其他地方實習磨練，學成後才回去工作，也穩穩地升上設計師，外人看來成功的職涯卻無法滿足他空虛的心靈。「那時候的我非常不快樂，縱然擁有事業上的成功，我卻不覺得這就是我想要的人生方向。」於是，Pascal啟程飛往倫敦尋找答案。

After finishing his apprenticeship at some other salon, he went to work at his mom’s salon and has become successful. However, there’s a hole inside his heart which made him very unhappy. “I didn’t feel confident deep in my heart. I didn’t think myself being good enough.” In order to get rid of that feeling, he started on a search by going to London in 1991.

1991年，他初次踏入Sassoon學院，課程才開始五分鐘，Pascal就已經確信這就是自己一直在尋找的缺口，「我永遠無法忘記他們帶給我的震撼，彷彿腦袋裡『喀』一下的所有開關都被打開了。」從這次經驗後，Pascal越來越常飛到倫敦，一年三四次，越來越頻繁，卻也越來越渴望學到更多，最後他驚覺，唯一的解決方法，就是從此在倫敦安頓下來。

決定定居倫敦成為Pascal人生最大的轉捩點，每天與比自己厲害的髮型師相處，讓他日日夜夜看著、想著、念著的都是頭髮，如同獲得武功祕笈一般的讓他功力大增，更讓他開始以截然不同的「藝術」眼光來看待剪髮。

“I went to Sassoon, and I will never forget the first five minute for me to expose to Sassoon.” That’s the moment when he has found the thing that he has been looking for.

“I felt like there’s something in my head had been turned on from that very moment.” To complete his pursuing on knowledge, he went back home, drove his mom crazy and went back to London four times a year. Eventually, the more often he went, the hungrier he became. He then realized there’s only one solution – settle himself to live at there.

在倫敦美髮界打滾多年後，Pascal加入Toni&Guy追求更穩定的成長，他努力不懈地爬到全球僅有5位的國際藝術總監之位，年復一年的巡迴全球的表演和教學，甚至是站在倫敦皇家亞伯特音樂廳舞台上，對著5000位觀眾演示剪髮技巧，Pascal形容自己已經沒有任何未竟之事，這一刻彷彿所有的夢想清單都已經悄悄打勾。這讓他開始思考未來之路，於是他在告別陪伴他10 年的Toni&Guy，帶著滿滿的收獲回到家鄉比利時，成立沙龍與學院，對此他表示「我不希望自己只是經營一間沙龍，我想要的是創造一個品牌，打一片屬於我的天下。」

He spent most of his career in London being surrounded by greater hairdressers and thinking about hairdressing 247. He worked himself up to international art director of Toni&Guy where he has deeply influenced by Anthony Mascolo. “I love this man’s great personality and the way he makes technic into something really cool.”

Pascal traveled all over the world and did some seminars and shows. There was also a moment that he did a show in Royal Albert Hall in London with 5,000 audience. He had a really successful career until he came to a point that all the boxes had been ticked.

帶著遠大的理想，Pascal回到競爭激烈的家鄉，一切從零開始，在2007年成立Hair by van Loenhout。少了過往待在大公司隨手可得的資源，Pascal在創業初期經歷不少挫折，光是要找到適合的人才就以煞費苦心，更別說建立一個強壯的團隊，培養屬於Hair by van Loenhout的作品。當他在兩年後獲得比利時年度最佳髮型師時，彷彿向全世界證明了自己，這座獎項給予象徵著他當時最需要的肯定。

Therefore, he decided to take all the expertise he has gathered back to his root Belgium and open his business in 2007. “I wanted to really start a brand rather than just open a hairdressing salon.” Starting all over again from zero without the resource a big company has, everything became hard. It did take some time for him and the team to find their way and built up a strong team.

2011年，正在籌備課程的Pascal突然接到一通電話，這通他等待很久、久到都忘了的電話。電話另一端是Pascal在倫敦熟識的髮型師，這位來自韓國首爾的髮型師曾許諾Pascal，「總有一天，我會打一通特別的電話給你。」事隔多年，Pascal早已把這件事拋在腦後，沒想到這位韓國友人竟帶著一個計劃飛來安特衛普，向他提議在韓國開設Hair by van Loenhout的分店，「他是一位你無法向他說不的人，我不知道這麼縝密的計劃花了他多少時間，但我只回答『好，我加入』Pascal如此形容當時的狀況，而這個計劃也在未來四年一一實現，他們很快的在頭三年成立15間沙龍，更於2015年新成立了3間，足跡遍佈韓國各大城鎮。

4 years ago, Pascal got a call from an acquaintance who he met back in London. They two had a quite strange conversation when Pascal was about to leave. This Korean guy told Pascal that he will one day give him “that kind of call”, Pascal had totally no idea what he was talking about then. After many years, he finally got the call and found out this guy had a whole plan of inviting his brand to South Korea. Owning to this visionary guy, Pascal opened 15 salons in 3 years.

懂得賞識Pascal才華的人還有國際知名外景造型大師Kevin Murphy。Pascal和Kevin多年前在一場秀的後台相遇，互相交換著美髮理念和作品，兩人相談甚歡。同樣喜歡自然、輕盈、不矯揉造作的造型，他們對於現有的剪髮技術與工具都不慎滿意，在多番電話往來後，Kevin飛往比利時與Pascal會合，抱持著「要做，就要創新」的決心，兩人花了一週的時間構思出了CUT.ME的完整概念。

回想那一個禮拜的腦力激盪，Pascal表示Kevin完全把他帶離舒適圈，「Kevin提議我用特殊的螺旋剪刀，以顛覆過往的方式剪裁，這是在我21年的職業生涯裡從來沒有想過的事！」

His talent has also been seen by Kevin Murphy, the famous Session Stylist and owner of KEVIN.MURPHY. They met at the backstage of a show back in London. They really get well on personal level and they both have a taste on hairdressing. Both of them don’t enjoy using razor to get the effortless and weightless looking, which links them together to create the concept of CUT.ME. Kevin said to him that “If we do what other people are doing, it will be pointless. If we are doing this, then it must be innovative and different.”

They started working on the idea two and half years ago, “Kevin really shook me out of my comfort zone.” Kevin made Pascal did so many things with the special scissors which he has never done for the past 21 years in his career. “It was more of how you think differently because of the curve of the blade.” He explained.

「雖然這是一個創新的技術，但它需要一定的基礎，嚴格說來它更像是一個建立在我們已知技巧上的全新剪法。」Pascal認為許多人對CUT.ME有許多先入為主的想法，認為不需要再多學習一個「重新包裝的老把戲」，然而Pascal堅持讓學生在體驗過後再做出定論，「看見跟嘗試過是完全不同的兩件事，有些事除非你親身嘗試過，才會發現它的奧秘，」而CUT.ME的奧妙之處在於刀刃的角度與手勢，完全顛覆過去習慣的方法，親身體驗過的髮型師們都大大的被CUT.ME所富含的創造力驚豔，Pascal和Kevin都深信這個「興奮感」與「創造力」是現在沙龍亟需的火花。

“CUT.ME is an innovative, fashion led, wash and wear haircut.” It requires certain level of skill combined with a whole new pattern of thinking and the right tool is also important. It’s an addition to what hairdressers already know but could benefit their cutting skill. Pascal strongly believes CUT.ME could give the hairdressers more inspiration and motivation to get them excited again which is exactly the clients need to see in a salon.

最後分享了自己成功的祕訣，Pascal感嘆現代年輕人缺乏耐性，「還不會走路就想飛，他們忘記經驗才是最好的老師。」從14歲入行至今，Pascal投資非常多的時間磨練自己，也花了更多時間等待時機的到來，「在美髮界裡沒有一蹴可幾的故事，有的只是鐵杵磨成繡花針的努力與耐心。」

在比利時，安逸的環境讓很多年輕人把周遭一切視為理所當然，因此少了熱忱與積極進取的上進心。與韓國人相處4年多，Pascal發現在亞洲文化裡，年輕一代還是十分願意學習，尤其來到台灣，看見髮型師們的求知若渴，讓他大受感動，直言若是能來台灣開設分店該有多好！

To share his story of becoming success, Pascal says he gave himself years of time to become who he is right now. And that kind of patient is in fact what our young generation lack. “They try to run before they can even walk, they don’t allow experience and time to make them better.” It’s sad to see they forget what they have to undergo to become stronger. So Pascal is very excited to be in Taiwan and see how humble and eager the hairdressers are in Taiwan.

自從回到比利時後，Pascal又有了新的夢想清單，野心蓬勃的希望可以在世界其他國家多開幾間店和學院，並且在教育界擁有更高的聲望。除此之外，Pascal也想著當未來有更多時間時，能有機會嘗試一直很感興趣的攝影，替自己的作品留下永恆的紀念。

Pascal now has his boxes reopened with ambition to open a few more salons around the world and being recognized to be very influential and successful in education. He also hopes that one day, when time and financially available, he could pick up camera and do some photo shooting someday.