A journey into Salon Love.
Nichola Hand is our Salon Mentor for our Australasia Market. She has worked with Organic Colour Systems for 6 years and we wanted to find out a little more about her and her story! Salon owner, Mother, wife and educator she tells all so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the read…
What made you choose hairdressing as a career?
I am the cliché hairdresser that will say ‘I always wanted to do it’ as I genuinely did. When I was little girl, all of my Barbie dolls would have different haircuts and styles. We have a very creative household so it was inevitable to be in a career that allows me to be creative every day.
How did you come across Organic Colour Systems?
One of our really good friends that we worked with for a long time had been using Organic Colour Systems as she had a lot of health issues. She put us in contact with the distributor in Australia and the relationship built from there. Before we knew it we had fallen in love with a new way of working and the rest is history so they say. We stopped using a large competitive brand one day and reopened with Organic Colour Systems the next.
What made you open a salon at home as opposed to a high street salon?
Our kids! My family is hugely important to me so having the studio at home means we are never too far away from the kids, we don’t have excessive travel times or traffic to contend with and at the end of the day you can just close the door and leave work at work. I do believe that with hairdressing if you are good at what you do, people will come to you wherever you are so it’s just finding what fits for you.
What made you decide to solely use Organic Colour Systems in your salon?
Once I undid everything that I had learnt prior, because this is extremely important, I embraced the System and I realised that it’s not just a colour line. It’s a System that allows hair colour and hair care to work hand in hand. I believe in the System, how it works and what it does to the hair, so why would I ever go back or use anything else?
If someone was aspiring to become a hairstylist what advice would you give them?
Stick at it! We see a lot of apprentices give up. Hairdressing is an amazing career and an incredible industry so what you put in, is what you get out. Like with any career it is about recognising what your strengths and weaknesses are. Not everyone is good at everything and that’s ok. If you are an amazing colourist but not so much at cutting, that’s ok you just find a salon environment that works for you.
How does Organic Colour Systems allow you to give your clients more of a personalised colour service?
Organic Colour Systems is formulated using a primary reflector so apart from 6TO, 4MO and 8CA that have been pre-formulated, everything else is a primary reflector. Knowing your colour wheel is so, so, so important with Organic Colour Systems as we have to use our concentrates DXAH, LXAH etc. as the secondary reflectors. Traditional ammonia colour lines feel robotic as everything has been done for you. Using Organic Colour Systems allows you to think outside the box which as hairdressers, it’s what we want to do.
What do you think the biggest trends over the next year will be?
With colour trends at the moment I’m seeing very contrasting colours and colour stacking. Pastel hair is the never ending trend which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. I think gone are the days when there was a trend. I think the trend now is to not be on trend but to express individuality. I am seeing a lot more patterns, a lot of stencilling with bright bold colours which are super fun with the No Limits and weaving. Fringes are coming back too but the shorter type alongside the shorter hair. Hair colour and cuts really are timeless as long as they suit the client.
You are a salon mentor for Australia and New Zealand, what made you want to get involved with education and why do you feel it’s important to stay educated?
Education has been a huge part of my life. I did my training at Vidal Sassoon and was an Educator at Toni & Guy in Sydney. It’s something I love and something I am passionate about. Our brains are conditioned to constantly learn and if you don’t, I feel that the light gets dimmer and the passion depletes so it’s so important to stimulate your creativity. If you don’t know your basics, you can’t do techniques. It’s similar to building a house; you can’t have aesthetics if you don’t have a solid base. Any colour or cut is an amalgamation of what you know and you build on it but without a base of knowledge how can you build anything. All of us as hairdressers are educators in a way too as we educate our clients every day.
You have worked with our Brand Ambassador Karine on some of her collection shoots. How did you find this experience?
Working with Karine Jackson has been an awesome experience. The biggest thing I have gotten out of it is seeing how such a big photoshoot comes together. Being able to assist and have creative input is such a highlight for me. It’s good to see it’s not just a hair shoot, it’s about everything that goes into it. Picking Karine’s brain is so good too, using her experience and getting tips from her is invaluable to me.
