Making waves

Just for a second I'm taken aback - then I realise Antony Popadich is talking about his revolutionary new hair appliance - the Sedusa - that can turn straight hair to curly in a matter of minutes.

It is, I realise, an offer I can't refuse and within 15 minutes my straight hair is a mass of curls.

Antony, aged 43, is a Bolton man who is not content with changing women's lives by styling their hair. He wants them to be able to do it for themselves.

The Sedusa - the name, suggested by a neighbour, is a cross between Greek Goddess Medusa and the word seduced - is so easy to use even a complete hair appliance phobic, such as myself, can do it and it looks set to take the hair styling market by storm.

Antony and his wife, 36-year-old Elayne, live in the former home of Bolton's very own famous soap magnate Lord Leverhulme, in Harwood.

Perhaps some of the home's entrepreneurial past has rubbed off on Antony.

"I like to think that he first created soap in the house I now live in," he said.

Antony could well follow in Lord Leverhulme's footsteps and go down in history for his own invention, which is a simple idea creating impressive results.

The name is quirky and a bit cheeky - Antony is going to have T-shirts made suggesting the wearers have been Sedused (the spelling of this will hopefully avoid any unnecessary double-takes).

It's a diffuser drying appliance with a difference. There is a scientific basis behind the end result. The combination of water - hair has to be wet - styling product and the Sedusa will break down hair's salt and sulphur bonds to create a curl.

Antony's technical knowledge is impressive - but it's the end result that will impress most of us far more.

It works with the hair's natural curl - "virtually every European person will have a wave in their hair. Very few people have poker-straight hair," he said.

His hairdressing career began when, as a jobless teenager wandering around Bury, he bumped into a pal.

"I met a friend of mine and he'd just had his hair done. It looked fantastic. It was during the New Romantic period and it was really different.

"I had always loved fashion, hair, music and girls and decided hairdressing would be a great career to combine all my interests. I went to the salon in Manchester, where my friend had been for his hair cut, and managed to talk myself into a job there," he said.

He opened the first Antony for Hair, in Bury, in 1989 and his second salon in 2003.

But it was while staying with friends in Lostock, after selling the family home, that Antony started to develop the Sedusa.

"I was watching Dragons' Den, with my friend, and I mentioned my idea to him. He said I should do something about it, so I did," he said.

Antony set to work developing the Sedusa. "I knew curls were coming back but I also knew they weren't going to come back as they were in the 70s and 80s. Women didn't want the Bananarama look again.

"They wanted natural curls or waves and they wanted to be able to have curly hair one day and straight the next. Women don't want perms these days," he said.

Antony took the idea of the basic diffuser - which tends to create volume rather than curl - and expanded the idea. He included spirals inside the body of the Sedusa which encourage the structure of straight hair to bend and curl. The wavier the hair, the more defined the curls will be.

The Sedusa can be attached to virtually any hairdryer and it really is simple enough for anyone to master. Antony's daughter India, aged 11, is a great fan.

He is currently waiting for a patent on the product, which has been manufactured by a Glossop company. "I could have had it made cheaper in the Far East, but I wanted to keep it over here," he said.

The Sedusa will be on display at the Clothes Show Live in Birmingham at the end of this week (Nov 30 to Dec 6) and Antony will be giving demonstrations.

For more information, or to find your nearest stockist, visit www.rockmist.co.uk or ring 07967 214719. The Sedusa is available at Antony's salons in Tithebarn Street and Bolton Street, Bury.