'What teachers saw as flaws is what made me thrive'

In school, Sam Bell was often told she was "too loud, too disruptive, too much" – yet she feared reading aloud in class.

She quit school with no career prospects and before long she was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Sam, now 47, runs her own salon in Bristol and has done hairdressing work for film, TV and fashion shows. She also takes on apprentices every year to help others like her.

At 17, walking into a hair salon in Portishead looking for work, Sam had little to offer but her bubbly personality.

"I didn't want to be a hairdresser," she told John Darvall on BBC Radio Bristol. "But my mum was going to kick me out if I didn't get a job."

The owner took her on as an apprentice, paying her £45 a week.

She remembered being "amazed" to learn that her job was to chat to customers all day while washing their hair and sweeping up.

"I loved it, and it was so liberating to finally be told I was good at something," she said.

In school, Sam said she struggled and that reading out loud in class was "petrifying".

"I knew I wouldn't be able to read as well as everybody else, and that the other kids would make fun.

"So I would be really disruptive so that teachers would kick me out of class.

"No one ever picked up the fact that I was dyslexic," she said.

Now, she believes that her dyslexia is invaluable to her life and career.

"I think being dyslexic is my superpower," she said. "I'm more imaginative than other people and I'm really good at communicating."

Sam stayed at the Portishead salon for more than a decade, earning her qualifications before opening her own place in Cotham Hill in 2009.

Her career has seen her style hair for celebrities and actors in TV shows and films – as well as for models at fashion weeks in London, Paris, New York and Milan.

A spokesperson for the British Dyslexia Association described the condition as a "lifelong neurological difference that affects how the brain processes information".

"While it can present challenges in education, employment and everyday life, each person has a unique profile of strengths and areas of difficulty," the spokesperson said.

"Many dyslexic people develop resilience, problem-solving skills and other valuable strengths."

Sam said the behaviours that made her a "bad student" at school – being loud and chatty – had helped her to thrive outside it.

She is now helping other young people into the industry by taking on apprentices.

"I think [apprenticeships] are a really good opportunity for people who aren't academic," she said, adding it gave her great joy to see young people flourish.

Former apprentice Tony Mitchell, who has worked at Sam's salon for more than a decade, said it was a "really supportive" environment.

He joined when he was 20, following a change in career from carpentry. Now, at 33, he is a hairstylist.

"At a previous salon, I was told I was too moody. But I felt no-one really took the time to show me the ropes like Sam did," Tony said.

"I was always a shy kid, and this place has helped me become more confident and to feel like I belong."

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