Raye Leonard, 35, runs retro hair and make-up business Vintage Victory Rollers. Business partner Siobhan Meager, 32, runs Lady Locks Hairdressing, and both businesses recently began sharing a new shop in Cricklade Road, Gorse Hill. Raye and Siobhan both live in Swindon with their partners, and Siobhan is a mother-of-two

HOW do vintage hair and make-up specialists know their authenticity is up to scratch?

Shortly after Siobhan Meager and Raye Leonard began working together, Raye took her on one of Vintage Victory Rollers’ regular appearances at the 1940s re-enactment weekends at Lacock.

The customers waiting included a woman in her sixties.

“Siobhan styled her hair,” said Raye. “Sometimes we don’t have mirrors – just a hand-held mirror so they pick it up and they see the end result, because it is such a transformation.

“This lovely lady, her shoulders started shaking. We asked her if she was okay and she started crying. She looked in the mirror and said, ‘I just saw my mum.’

“All of the stylists were saying, ‘That’s why we do what we do.’

“It is sometimes just seeing the reactions on their faces.”

Then there was the elderly man who assured the two that their work was accurate – and proved it by showing them a treasured photo of his late wife as a young woman.

Depending on their preference, visitors to the Cricklade Road shop emerge with hair or make-up styles ranging from the bobbed or finger-waved image of the 1920s to the post-Barbarella ‘big hair’ and striking make-up of the early 1970s.

There are pamper parties, training, workshops and other events.

Raye’s favourite styles are from the 1940s and 50s.

“It’s the fashion and the glamour side of things – the way they used to dress. I don’t think women dress according to their shape anymore; I think they try squeeze into things.

“It’s the way of life and how elegant the ladies looked. They had more time to get ready and I think what we’ve lost is the spending time getting ready. Sometimes that can be the best part, the getting ready, the hair and make-up. I’m a big believer in body confidence as well.

“The hair and make-up has always been a passion of mine. I would look at photographs of my grandma, and she used to have high-waisted bikinis in the fifties and the nice big Marcel Waves and Victory Rolls.”

Raye originally planned to follow her father into engineering.

“When I first left school I did engineering at Swindon College. I did an engineering skills for girls club at Rover and did work experience at Rover.

“Unfortunately I had a tough time at college. It was quite some time ago and girls weren’t really treated as equally as men were in the industry, and I left.

“Then I first got a Saturday job in David Charles Hairdressers on Victoria Hill, learning the basics there.”

Raye went on to organise a variety of vintage and burlesque events and spent several years in London.

“It was really when I set up the vintage fairs that I started getting my hands back into doing hair. That’s something I’ve always been quite talented at. My sister and I used to charge the girls in the street 25p to have a French plait done, and we were selling fairy cakes as well, so we were making money.

“Some people say to me, ‘Do you ever regret not staying in engineering?’ It only dawned on me last year that sometimes when I was doing my apprenticeship they said I had attention to detail – I was looking at going into toolmaking.

“I know this might sound a bit peculiar but sometimes I think the engineering side of things comes into it when I look at someone’s head. It’s structurally knowing where to place rolls and where the hair will fall. I think it’s something that’s continued in me. I still love it when I get a client who just says, ‘Do what you want.’ You can have fun with it then.”

Siobhan was drawn into the vintage realm by chance but soon came to love it.

She was already a stylist, having studied at Swindon College and been fascinated by the art since childhood.

“My cousin was a hairdresser many years ago. My great grandma used to have a shampoo and set every week and a perm every six to eight weeks.

“I’ve been hairdressing for coming up to five years now. I’ve always been a girly girl – hair, make up, and by a twist of fate I met Raye a year or a year-and-a-half ago.

“Quite quickly we realised we had a lot in common, and she asked me if I wanted to come and do some work for her. Obviously I did, and it went from there.

“We suddenly asked, ‘Why don’t we throw our skills and passions together? I wouldn’t say I’ve ever really been not into vintage, but it wasn’t a massive part of my life until I met Raye. I was hooked, especially with the Fifties.

“Cyndi Lauper summed it up – girls just wanna have fun – and that’s kind of what we do here.”

Business is so brisk that Siobhan is on the lookout for another stylist.

She believes the vintage movement is popular at least in part because it’s an antidote to hectic modern life.

“I think for so many men and woman now it’s 24/7 working and you’re never not working, so just to sometimes go to an event, sit in the chair and appreciate yourself and everything that stands for is nice.”

Raye added: “People say, ‘Are you not worried that your business won’t continue?’ That’s rubbish because eras will keep being revived and at some point we’ll be celebrating this era.”

The two encourage anybody with a business idea to try making it a reality. Raye said: “This has been us out of our own back pocket. There’s no funding. It’s been really scary but really fun.”

Her business partner added: “If you want it, get it, do it, take it.”