Rita Rusk pledges to bounce back after money troubles

Feb 11 2010 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

LANARKSHIRE’S best-known hairdresser this week pledged to rise from the ruins of her wrecked business.

Rita Rusk was speaking after the announcement that a meeting of creditors of one of her companies would be held next Friday (February 19) in Glasgow.

In November, HM Revenue and Customs successfully petitioned Glasgow Sheriff Court for the appointment of an interim liquidator for Rita Rusk International.

It is understood that the petition concerned tax that HMRC say is due to them.

Next week’s meeting is expected to confirm the appointment of a liquidator.

Rita Rusk International had two salons in Glasgow, one in Hamilton’s Bothwell Road, and a school that trained hairdressers from round the world.

On Monday, Mrs Rusk said she was now looking to forge a new future in business using other companies with which she is associated.

She told the Advertiser: “The salons are still open and trading and no-one has been laid off.

“I have never been in this situation before and it is very interesting.

“I will go along to the creditors meeting and see what’s what.

“My husband and I are the biggest creditors.

“We are owed £½m. I will never get that back. You have to laugh and say that’s life: you win some; you lose some.

“The power of positive thinking is what I believe in and it’s onward and up ward.”

Mrs Rusk is linked with several other companies: Rita Rusk Events Ltd, which according to Companies House is dissolved, and Rita Rusk Innovations.

In December, Mrs Rusk said she was trying to find alternative finance for the company and dismissed as “exaggerated” reports of her demise as a force in business.

Mrs Rusk and her first husband, Irvine, bought their first salon in Hamilton in the 1970s and established a reputation as one of the most progressive and innovative hair stylists of her time.

She was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious British Hairdresser of the Year title and was four times named Best Hairdresser in the World by the French fashion magazine Metamorphose.

It was in Bothwell Road, Hamilton, that she invested £½m in what was termed the first-ever ‘Cyber Salon’.

Equipped with cutting-edge technology, it had sockets in which clients could plug in their laptop while visiting the salon.

There was also a ‘privacy area’ for celebrity clients and an upper floor ‘Zen area’ which, according to the company website site, was “softly lit by the glow of aromatic candles and furnished with antique benches and ethnic fabrics”.

Asked if she regretted losing the link with Hamilton, Mrs Rusk said: “It is a shame but these times are difficult; it’s the recession. You just have to get on with it.”