The long and short of it - Steven’s rise to Drag Race fame
ANYONE who has been to a drag show or seen an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race in the last two years will have, even if unaware of it, come across the work of Steven Austin.
Steven, 36, has quickly become one of the go-to guys when it comes to styling and colouring wigs to some of the biggest drag stars working the stage right now.
His career in the hair industry began at the age of 14 when he picked up a weekend job at his local hairdressers in Knutsford. He says he’s not had a chance to look back ever since.
“I got my first Saturday job at the age of 14 and as soon as I finished school, I got my first full time job,” Steven, who now lives in Bolton, tells the M.E.N.
“I knew what I wanted to do so I didn’t really want to divert my time and attention anywhere else because I knew I was good at it.
“People obviously weren’t very happy about my decision at the time but I think I’ve proven that it was the right decision now.”
At the age of 17, Steven decided to leave Knutsford in order to make a life for himself in Manchester.
“I moved to Manchester because I needed to get out of Knutsford,” he explains.
“From the outside, Knutsford is really nice but being gay there 20 years ago was horrible.
“Being gay in high school there was horrible. I was bullied mercisly just for the fact that I was gay and for no other reason”.
Over the years, Steven says he has done it all and risen from rank to rank as a stylist, colour technician and wig technician.
After working in a salon in Swinton, he moved to Kearsley with his partner where the couple now live.
Their home has an extension which has been turned into a salon where Steven now takes appointments.
“I’m a hairdresser and a colourist sponsored by Manic Panic so I use all their colours and do shows for them internationally too,” he says.
Two years ago, Steven was watching an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race when he noticed a potential gap in the market.
He realised that there were not a lot of people - especially in the UK who were specialised in styling and colouring wigs for drag queens.
“I did a bit of research and found there were only a few people in America doing it and the services they were doing weren’t priced for your average drag queen,” Steven explains.
“They were quite expensive unless you had won Drag Race and were touring the world.”
Steven says he spent months researching how a business could take shape before launching his SAHA Wigs company.
Working primarily via Instagram, queens will reach out to Steven and send him photos for inspiration of what looks and colours they’re after.
“Once we’ve established what they’re after, I’ll work with my vendor to make the wig according to their requests. My aims are to carry on doing the queens but to also go on to do more mainstream celebrities,” he says.