Jacques Dessange

Jacques Dessange (5 December 1925 – 7 January 2020) was a French hairdresser.

Early life Jacques Dessange was born in 1925 in Souesmes, France as the son of René Dessange, a hairdresser, and his wife Aline, who opened a café next to the hairdresser. Jacques first worked in the hairdressing salon of his father, and in 1947 went to work in Trouville-sur-Mer in the salon of Louis Gervais. In 1961, he became the official hairdresser of the Cannes Film Festival, which introduced him to international stars like Claudia Cardinale, Marlene Dietrich, Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner, Jean Seberg and Liz Taylor.

In 1958 he opened his first salon outside of France in Tunis, Tunisia. The company he created, Dessange International, was at the time of his death present in 43 countries with more than 1,700 salons operating under different brands, including "Jacques Dessange" and "Camille Albane". It also sold hairstyle products. Dessange also opened institutes to train new hairdressers: by 2003 108 of these existed.