‘All the kids want a Grealish!’ How Surrey barber, who arrived from Iraq at nine with broken English, has become the go-to stylist for Premiership stars – and created Man City star Jack’s ‘highlights and skin fade’ look

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The barber behind the hairstyles of some of the Premiership’s biggest stars – including Jack Grealish, Reece James and Phil Foden – has revealed how he creates some of the country’s most requested looks. 

Ahmed AlsanawI – or A-Star as most of his clients call him – helped refine Man City star Grealish’s look, adding in those sun-kissed highlights and creating a razor-sharp cut under his famous floppy fringe. 

He’s been styling the England midfielder’s hair for more than two years and says he gets ‘thousands – thousands – of kids wanting “a Jack Grealish”‘. 

So, what exactly is a Grealish? ‘Jack’s hair was always long but he didn’t have the skin fade on the sides, and the sharp shape he has now. The highlights? We introduced all of that stuff, we just spiced it up a bit.’ 

What do they chat about when Jack’s in the chair? ‘He’s a lovely guy, inspirational and very trendy with his hair. I really get on with him.

‘I think we put footballers into a different category for some reason – but they’re just normal human beings.’ 

Barber Ahmed AlsanawI – or A-Star as he’s known to his clients – is the go-to hairstylist for many Premiership stars, and the mastermind behind Man City and England midfielder Jack Grealish’s hair

‘Being a barber, you’re very intimate with your customer, clients talk to you sometimes about things that they won’t even talk to their wives about. That’s why they say you shouldn’t cheat on your barber!’

When Chelsea star Reece James leaves A-star’s salon with pink hair, as he did earlier this year, it almost certainly wasn’t his own idea. 

‘Footballers know they want to do something different. I’ll say to them ‘Well, this is a different look – no-one’s done it.’

‘They want to be the first to set the trends – nobody wants to copy another footballer, they’ve got too much pride.’

In the pink: Chelsea defender Reece James gets a new colour; A-star says the biggest stars in the game want hair that ‘no-one else has’

The 33-year-old, pictured cutting Man City star Phil Foden’s hair, is self taught and learned his craft after getting hooked on going to a Jamaican barbershop in Clapham, where he said cutting hair ‘didn’t feel like working’

After being recruited by John Terry to cut Chelsea players’ hair – because his salon was close to the club’s Surrey training ground – A-star began showing off the styles on social media – and now has more than 1.1million followers. Pictured, cutting the hair of former Chelsea player Eden Hazard 

Does anyone ever turn his ideas down? ‘The only person I couldn’t push my ideas through with was Paul Pogba.’ 

French star Pogba, currently playing at Juventus, is famous for his colourful cuts, and was playing for Manchester United when A-star started doing his hair. 

Sharing the cut-and-colours he requested with his followers – the footballer currently has more than 61 million – gave A-star’s artistic styles a dream showcase, and he hasn’t looked back.  

He’s humble about his success, saying that he ‘got lucky’ in perfecting his skills at the right time, as male grooming in traditional barbers – with hot shaves and beard styling – began to take off again. 

After arriving in England with his family from Iraq at the age of nine, school was tough, he says. 

‘Coming here at nine years old, it was very hard to adapt – learning a new language and all that stuff. School wasn’t my happy place at the beginning but I was always playing football; I was an active kid and I loved Chelsea.’

Big break: After working in a salon in his early twenties, he opened his own barbershop in Surrey – and has now branched into products launching the Fini by Astar range 

His parents wanted him to be a doctor, he says, but after school, he studied art for two years, allowing his creative side – which has won him so many clients – to thrive. 

A love of fashion – and a razor sharp haircut – began to come to the fore in his late teens. 

‘I was going to the barbers every four days, to a Jamaican barbers in Clapham and I was just in love with the barbershop vibe. 

‘There was a lot of banter and these people cutting hair, it didn’t seem like they were working. I was doing agency work in a warehouse and I really hated it.’

His parents had wanted him to be a doctor he says, but they’re ‘really proud’ now, he says

The budding barber bought a pair of clippers and started cutting his own hair, then his dad’s and his brother’s – ‘I messed up a lot of people’s hair at the beginning’, he jokes.

He got a job in a salon in Chessington – close to the Chelsea training ground – which put him in the right spot to woo some very famous clients – ex England captain John Terry being one of the first.

He puts his success down to being in the right place at the right time, with the right trends. ‘It was very hard to find a good barber 15 years ago, especially offering fashionable haircuts – with skin fades, shape ups, patterns and working with Afro hair.’ 

After nearly three years, and with a client list as long as his arm – he and his brother opened their own salon. They haven’t look back, and bar a colour course, he’s entirely self-taught. 

Having John Terry as a client meant he got the gig of his life – cutting the Chelsea squad’s hair and travelling with them when needed. 

The barber says he now gets thousands of DMs from people who’ve trained to be barbers, saying he loves the fact the profession has been rediscovered 

With his clients’ consent, he regularly shares videos of him cutting the hair of big name stars, and such social media posts have pushed things to a new stratosphere and allowed him to grow the business. 

This year, he launched his own range, Fini by A-star, products that he says smell so good – using the fragrance oud – that you don’t need aftershave. 

There’s a coffee shop and tattoo parlour too and he has an eye on the lucrative Middle East market, with more salons in the pipeline.   

He gets thousands of DMs on Instagram, he says, from people aspiring to be barbers and asking advice, or telling them they chose to do it as a career because of him. 

‘It’s turned from “Oh, he’s a barber boy, he’s a frowned upon” to something cool. So it’s very nice. It feels very, very good.’

And have his parents forgiven him for not becoming a doctor? ‘They’re very proud of me. They’re really proud, and they don’t have to work any more!’

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