A celebrity hairdresser who now styles the stars says he rebuilt his life after losing his vision – even though the experience made him hit rock bottom.

JJ Savani from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, is grateful to a mystery donor who enrolled him at the London School of Barbering as he tried to get back on track.

"It was worth going through the struggles and the fight. At the time I didn't think it would happen, but it's made me who I am today," he says.

Savani, 37, had dabbled with barbering as a teenager, learning from the stylist based above his mum's beauty business.

"I went to Mumbai with L'Oreal but I didn't see a career in it, so I studied psychology and went to work with the NHS."

His eyesight was gradually declining but one day in 2017 the problem became acute.

"I woke up and I was struggling to see: things were really blurry, almost blacked out.

"My local optician said 'You've got a severe case of keratoconus, you need to seek urgent medical help'," he told the BBC's Amir Suleman.

Keratoconus is a progressive eye condition where the cornea thins and bulges into an irregular cone shape, leading to distorted and blurry vision.

At Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, Savani was told he needed immediate surgery.

A corneal transplant led to improvements, but he was still left partially sighted and resigned his NHS job on medical grounds.

"It was like everything I've worked for had been taken away from me.

"During that time I've also lost my father, who's the head of the family – I couldn't work out how to fill that role.

"I went down a dark spiral and started cutting myself away from family, friends. My mental health suffered."

After going through a breakdown in his marriage, Savani spent nearly two months in a secure mental health unit near Northampton.

"When I came out, I'd lost everything – the divorce, my home, my career, my savings.

"I had no choice but to go into government housing. The apartment was literally concrete floors and I had just enough money to get a sofa bed," he recalls.

Wondering how to rebuild his life, an anonymous gift from a Good Samaritan dramatically changed his sense of purpose.

"I got a message from London School of Barbering saying I had enrolled on a course.

"I rang up and said 'I think you've sent this to the wrong person' and that I didn't have a hundred pounds to my name, let alone four grand for a course.

"But they said 'No, Mr. Savani, this has been paid for you, your trains have been paid for as well'."

His initial reaction was, "I'm a corporate, I'm not going back to cutting hair," but he decided to go to London and find out who had made the donation.

It had come via a finance company and Savani has never worked out who the mystery donor was.

"It's got to be someone from my past, because they knew I cut hair and not a lot of people knew that."

After a three-week refresher course, he tried renting a chair at a Wellingborough barber shop, but had to fight preconceptions.

"Nobody trusts a new barber. And if the new barber is wearing blackout shades and it's got around he's partially sighted – you're not going to him," he says.

He opened his own business and learned how to adjust his eye condition to the job.

"I cut in a very specific way, which isn't traditional, but it works for me and I started to build up my clientele."

"When I'm in the green room I've said 'let me just line up your beard, let me restyle your hair before you get on stage'."

Savani says, "It doesn't make a difference to me, whether you're Divine, a millionaire or a day-to-day customer at the shop.

"The way I look at it is, you're giving me the most important thing, that is your time and respect."

Despite the struggles it caused, he says: "I'm glad keratoconus happened.

"I'm glad it took away my vision, because it allowed me to re-evaluate what I want from life, what I believe my responsibilities in life are.

"I just feel like this is what I'm meant to do.

"I'm not here saving lives. I'm here shortening hair, making people look good and chatting to them.

"That's what I get paid to do. It's one of the easiest jobs in the world, in my opinion," he says.

He has written a book about his craft called Positioned, with all the profits going to Moorfields Eye Hospital.

"I want to support further research and development, because without them I would not be where I am today," he adds.

Do you have a story suggestion for Northamptonshire? Contact us below.

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.