Wellingborough barber who lost his sight publishes book — with every penny going to hospital charity

A Wellingborough barber who rebuilt his life from a sofa bed after losing much of his sight has published a book — and is donating every pound of his profit to the hospital that treated him.

JJ Savani, who runs the ONE barbershop in Wellingborough and founded the education business The Global Stylist Blueprint, today works between the UK, India and Dubai, has styled celebrities at international fashion weeks, and teaches hairdressers around the world.

But for twenty years, the dark glasses he wears everywhere have hidden a story almost nobody in the town knew.

"I'm still partially sighted, and I'm sensitive to intense light," he said. "Bright lights and my eyes have an arrangement — the shades are the treaty."

"My night out wasn't that heavy"

Before hair, JJ worked in the NHS, heading up a learning and development team. Then his eyesight began to fail.

One morning he woke to find one eye had gone to what he describes as "a complete blackout", the other blurry. His first thought was that he'd overdone it the night before. "My night out wasn't that heavy," he remembers thinking.

His optician referred him urgently to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, where he was diagnosed with keratoconus — a condition in which the cornea becomes distorted and vision progressively blurs.

Surgeons tried to slow the deterioration in his left eye. The cornea in his right was already too thin for the procedure. He eventually underwent two laser-assisted corneal transplants, made possible only because strangers had donated their corneas after death.

Starting again

The operations tell only part of it. As his sight went, so did everything he had built.

"I won't dress up what that period was," he said. "I had a full mental breakdown and needed specialist support, including supported housing. I shut out my family and my friends. It cost me my home, my relationship at the time and my business.

"I started again with a sofa bed and government support. That was my starting line, the second time around."

The second operation was the turning point. "My sight came back quicker, and for the first time in a long time I could look forward instead of just getting through the day."

Back to the chair

Being able to look forward raised another question: what now? Professionally, all he knew was corporate training.

The answer took him back to his childhood. His mother was a beautician, and the salon she worked in had a barbershop upstairs where he worked Saturdays as a teenager. Hair had quietly been part of his life long before it became his career.

He enrolled at the London School of Barbering and started again on around £100 a week, learning a new trade while adjusting to life as a partially sighted man.

From there he became an educator at the same school that trained him, rented a chair, and eventually opened his own shop in Wellingborough.

The international work followed — including styling the rapper DIVINE after his team found him on Instagram, and cricketer Yuvraj Singh for the Wimbledon finals.

"Really humbling to hear"

Consultant ophthalmologist Dan Gore, who treated JJ at Moorfields, said the surgery used a femtosecond laser accurate to within a hundredth of a millimetre — but recovery was slow, with stitches remaining for a year or more.

"JJ's recovery wasn't quick, but he's had a great result and his vision should hold for decades to come," he said.

"That an operation taking two hours can have such a dramatic effect in helping him turn his life around is really humbling to hear."

Charity chief executive Robert Dufton said: “JJ’s story is one of extraordinary resilience, generosity and skill. Everyone at the charity is deeply inspired by his journey and achievements.

“The world-class care and treatment he received from Dan Gore and the team were instrumental in allowing JJ to rebuild his life. By generously donating the profits from his new book, JJ is helping us fund groundbreaking innovations in eye care that will transform lives for generations to come.

“We offer our heartfelt thanks to JJ and wish him continued success.”

The book

POSITIONED: How Barbers and Hairstylists Go From Behind the Chair to the Global Stage is part memoir, part practical manual, aimed at helping others in the trade build careers beyond the salon chair.

The book sets out the eight-stage GSB Ascension Method™ he teaches through The Global Stylist Blueprint, the mentorship he founded for barbers, hairdressers and colourists building international careers. It includes the stories of three of his students — from Malta, the Faroe Islands and here in Northamptonshire.

It is also the first time he has spoken publicly about any of it.

"This book is the first time I've ever explained the sunglasses, let alone opened up about my mental health."

Every pound of his author profit is being donated to Moorfields Eye Charity.

"Moorfields gave me their expertise, their determination — and hope," he said. "Donating every pound of my author profit is the least I can do."

POSITIONED is out now in paperback (£16.99) and Kindle (£9.99). More at globalstylistblueprint.com/positioned, or at The Global Stylist Blueprint.