Howard Fugler was, according to his former employer Vidal Sassoon, “the greatest hair stylist in the world”. When Sassoon set out to establish himself in New York in 1966, Fugler went too, and soon he was trusted to take the brand to Beverley Hills. Fugler was part of a revolution in hairdressing that began in the Jewish East End of London and was exported to Hollywood and beyond.

Born in Stamford Hill in 1949, Fugler enjoyed a happy childhood on a Jewish estate where his extended family all lived close by. Two of his uncles had fought Mosley’s blackshirts in a Jewish street militia called the 43 Group, alongside Vidal Sassoon, who was by this time doing a good trade in Bond Street as a hairdresser. His mother arranged an interview, and Fugler left Brook House Comprehensive at 15 to sweep and shampoo for Sassoon eight hours a day, learning to cut hair in the evenings and getting home most nights at about 11pm. The pioneering hairdresser was at this time still working from the poky walk-up he had rented in 1954, but the five-point cut he had just perfected — and used to give Mary Quant her trademark bob — had taken him to the brink of fame and a second salon at the Grosvenor Hotel.

Recognising his junior’s dedication and skill, Sassoon quickly made Fugler his protégé, trusting him even to cut his wife’s hair. Fugler was still painfully shy — he would take his brother, Jeff, along to bargain with him in the boutiques of Kensington — but he gradually bloomed into a confident, colourful showman, able to hold his own in the most demanding shows and competitions.

A lack of previous training meant that Fugler had no need to unlearn teasing, reverse pin-curling, finger waving or layers of hairspray — all formal skills that were anathema to the revolutionary process of “sassooning”. He worked for two years at the Grosvenor Hotel salon — astonishing clients with his cheek, his furry blue ladybird coat and his mismatched shoes — before moving to New York. Once there, Sassoon’s refusal to take a test based on outmoded techniques, and reactionary press reports saying that, thanks to Sassoon, you couldn’t tell the boys from the girls in London any more, meant that it took some time before any of the team was permittted to cut hair in the city. But once established the brand grew quickly, and Fugler went back and forth between New York, Beverly Hills and London.

He developed several new cuts, including the firefly, which Trevor Sorbie later developed as the wedge. He took part in elaborate shows, such as one in front of 6,000 people at the Albert Hall. But by 1974 he was effectively living in New York, and had started doing editorial and advertising work on the side. He went freelance, forging a career by styling Raquel Welch, Debbie Harry, Elizabeth Taylor and Diane Keaton. He worked with dozens of Hollywood actresses and models over the next 25 years, including Naomi Campbell who once delighted him by calling him “a bitter old Louise”. Recently he worked on Robert De Niro’s hair for an issue of GQ. He hardly ever spoke of his work, unless it was incidental to an amusing piece of gossip, and even his largest assignments would only become apparent through credits in magazines. A string of clients would be styled by nobody else, trusting only what many referred to as his “magic hands”. His contract with Polo Ralph Lauren lasted for more than 30 years.

He suffered for several years from the effects of alcoholism, quitting ten years ago. He devoted much of his time to Alcoholics Anonymous thereafter, his selflessness surprising many who had come to see Fugler as a sharp, wickedly funny, often exasperating bon vivant who made it very clear when someone had got on his wrong side. He remained very close to his family, and it was often said of him that he managed to maintain compassion in an industry and a way of life that was, by any objective measure, shallow. After being hospitalised for four months in 2000 he lost a great amount of work, and had to rebuild his client list. Nor did he fully recover from the death of his dog, Petunia, two years ago. He never married.

Howard Fugler, hair stylist, was born on December 24, 1949. He died of heart failure on August 9, 2007, aged 57