Are you In a Royal Rut?
As a “pommie”, it’s been wonderful to see the great excitement around Lizzie’s diamond Jubilee. It’s really been a celebration of everything English! The fan fair and ceremony, the union jacks flying proudly, the English Geezas ( not sure you can royals Geezas...) looking so smart in their regal get up and Kate and even Camilla looking elegant….
And of course Queen Lizzy dressed beautifully, always in gloves and a hat, with her bag in the crook of her arm.
Blue has always been a great colour for Liz.
One thing that struck me over the weekend was that Lizzie hasn’t changed her hair-style in years….decades… and it got me wondering how many of you are stuck in a hair-style rut? It’s easy to have the same hair-style day-in, day-out….there are lots of advantages….um..lets see…
- It’s easy to do every day – you don’t even have to think about it
- You know what hair products to buy…
- Your hairdresser knows exactly what to do
- It’s easy…oh wait I said that…hmmm…
Look if you are getting about with hair from the 80’s or 90’s it’s time for a change. I also believe that if you look back 5 years and your hair and makeup is the same, its time for a change. The Queen might be able to get away with it because, well, she’s the Queen, and she gets to wear a crown, and well she is on money so she can't change her hair like lady Gaga. Most of us benefit from mixing it up from time to time. Here are some good reasons why…
- A change will make you feel great! Nothing better than a new do to spice up your life.
- Chances are your current hair-style may not suit you any more. We all change over time (body shape, colouring and lifestyle) and sometimes the hair-style that suited you, say in your 20’s, is just not going to cut it in your 40’s, 50’s and beyond!
- Fashion changes - You know it. Hair styles and fashion go hand-in-hand. Time to get current. Rather than waiting to be cool again!
- There are so many options now. Short, mid length or long, and the variety of colours are astounding and easy to achieve and maintain!
- As the weather closes in and you are stuck indoors more you can go for a more styled and polished look as it won’t get wrecked by heat and humidity.
So how do you work out how to change your hair-style? There’s a few ways I like to suggest.
1. Check out your favourite celebrities. They get access to the best hairdressers and stylists and are often wearing the latest styles and colours.
2. Check out your friends and work colleagues what do you admire about their hair? Could that work for you?
3. Think about your lifestyle. How much time and energy are you willing to invest in your “do” each day? How often do you want to visit the hairdresser's to keep it looking fresh?
4. Lastly my favourite tip, come in and see us at Stevie English Hair. We LOVE doing makeovers. If you would like a change, massive or subtle come see the clever teams either in Glebe 94237033 or Bondi 93877791.
This weekend is hair expo So the teams area out watching, educating, competing and for good measure a little partying everything hair.
#TeamEnglish
Stevie
England Calling Published
Here it is at last! The amazing shots that were taken backstage at #hairexpo when we were prepping for our "England Calling" Gen Next catwalk extravaganza.The show has been mentioned here in a previous post , and these photos were the talented models and dancers who rocked on stage for us. We had some of our favorite photographers shoot this collection: Chang&Cox Photography , and once again they have produced some incredible images. Byron and Hsin worked tirelessly for the entire day amongst utter chaos backstage, and the shots are a testament to their ability and professionalism. It was quite hard getting the models to the photographers whilst prepping for the show, and the whole process had to run on a pretty tight schedule, but we managed to get it done and the photos speak for themselves.The Hair Expo show was inspired by English Icons, and we had shot a collection with another photographer another team fave the Amazing Nicole McCluskey . This original collection was the inspiration for the "England Calling" show. In the collection seen here, we wanted the English style and flair to come through but still have a different direction and add more fun and movement. It was loads of fun to produce, and I think that is visible in the final images. I often think by the time the pictures have made it to print that you don't want to see them again, but this has not been the case with these two collections. We al love them so much and could look at them forever! #TeamEnglish
Table Tonic
We have had a great little write up in Table Tonic blog and i have just added the questions
Table Tonic Spotlight: Stevie English Hair
Q. Is it possible to get a ‘cool’ hair colour result using natural products? Yes! We use only O&M ammonia-free hair colours in the salon, and we are able to produce incredible results without the use of peroxides, ammonia, and other nasties (our colours are often activated with water alone!). The benefits of removing harsh chemicals from hair colour are many, one of the key ones being the improvement of your hair’s condition over time, meaning your colour will actually last longer. As for getting a cool result, this largely depends on your taste and your stylist, the products are never the obstacle.
Q. What can I do at home to improve the condition of my hair? Beautiful, healthy hair needs to be well taken-care of, and taking care of your hair means looking after your body as well as being choosy about what you actually put on your hair. We often advise clients to take a silica supplement (available from health food stores) to strengthen hair and nails. Other foods that look after your locks are pepitas (pumpkin seeds), chia seeds and nuts, all of which contain omega 3 essential fatty acids and are mineral and vitamin rich. They are magical, natural, hair-boosting superfoods! Green vegetables (surprise!) are great for general health and full of anti-oxidants. Hair grows at a rate of about 1-2 centimeters a month, so having a healthy body will encourage the growth of healthy new hair. And for a quick at-home treatment, rub avocado oil into the ends of your hair, wrap it in cling-film and leave for 20 minutes. Shampoo using a sulfate & paraben-free shampoo (such as O&M).
What are the top hair trends for summer? In our salon, we have been doing a lot of gorgeous pastel shades and bold, glossy coppery red tints. We are known for our love of pink, and it is a very flattering shade for nearly everyone. Pastel ends are a simple way to update blonde colours for summer, and they fade over time so your colour evolves between salon visits! A lot of our clients take home O&M treatments that have been individually tinted, so you can maintain your pastel tone at home. The copper colours are bold and they must be shinier than glass. O&M do an amazing clear gloss semi-permanent liquid colour that conditions and locks in colour and is ammonia and PPD free- the first of its kind in the world. Balayage is obviously still going strong, and this summer we expect to see it everywhere. Darker roots and lighter ends are lower maintenance than other colour looks, but make it more individual by asking for interesting colour blends rather than the seen-everywhere black & blonde combo. We have taken the balayage a little further by dip dyeing the ends with pastel pinks, purples and even greens. SO HOT!
Q. Speaking of green, is there a way to get rid of green swimming pool hair? Yes! The best trick is to use tomato sauce as a masque - the red counteracts the green, and it's readily available in every fridge. On the colour wheel (the same one you learn in school) every colour has a counter so if your hair is too yellow or brassy you need to use violet/purple shampoo or conditioner to take it back to a cooler blonde.
Wasn't that great?! Are you enlightened? I am. Huge thanks to Stevie English Hair (find them at 153 Glebe Point Road, Glebe. Ph: 02-9423-7033). Click for O&M stockists or buy online at Adore Beauty or Fountain Cosmetics. PS Click here to read my review and find out why I'm officially an O&M convert!
Stevie English Hair Front Cover Love
It's great when your work gets published, but even better when you get a mention on the front cover! We have 2 collections going into this awesome new issue of HairBiz mag: 1 shot at Hair Expo (whilst prepping for our hugely popular Gen Next show), and the other by Joel Phillips. Joel's story will also have an interview with this talented superstar
who got a Highly Commended at Hair Expo. Both collections were shot by oor incredibly clever collaborators CNCPhotography . We will post them both this week, so watch this space.
Pink Hair in Glebe makes it "Tickeled Pink with Fashion"
We love Stevie's face in the picture above, Rachael looks beautiful as always . :) #TeamEnglish
Greener pasture's
Stevie English Hair is not usually in the Bad News Business, but every now and then, something happens. Unfortunately, this particular 'something' happens to be the departure of our brilliant, talented Creative Director, Verity Griffiths. Verity has been an integral part of our team for over three years, and is moving on to greener pastures in her home country of New Zealand. It goes without saying that we will miss her terribly, but we respect and support Verity in anything she does. She has given everyone here so much, and will continue her fantastic work across the ocean. Verity's last day in the salon will be Saturday September 17, so anyone needing that final touch of the magician's wand should hustle themselves an appointment before then.
We will have Pop up weeks when Verity will come back for the odd stint, but with Verity's schedule with films will be unusual so we will not know when till quite close to the time. Make sure you LIKE Stevie English Hair facebook page as that's where we will put the announcements.
We wish Verity all the love and luck. #TeamEnglishForever
Voting makes us happy
We have been finalists in the City of Sydney Business Awards for the last 3 years, winning it the last two times. It was a huge honour, and it comes to that time again when we need our supporters (friends and family) to vote. you can do it by SMS "Stevie" 0447447070 or vote using your email address) here the city of sydney business awards #tip Glebe postcode is 2037
Ssssh Its a secret.
Over the last few years I have been asked many times what it is we do to build our profile, why are we getting so popular? I honestly don't do anything except use Social media. I have never paid for advertising and have not had PR until very recently . I use Twitter a lot and have two accounts @englishhair (which is just hair related stuff from the salon) and @stevieEnglish (mad ramblings of yours truly).I have asked all staff to have a Twitter account. I use Facebook to communicate with clients and friends about interesting salon news. That's the secret. Please don't tell anyone.
European car manufacturer #Skoda, in their wisdom, gave me a car for the month of June, our Hair Expo month. After December, it's the busiest month of the year. The reason for this was because I tweet and use facebook, and I suited the target demographic for the new Skoda Octavia. I'm not a car expert, but I did not want to give the car up at the end of the month. It's a diesel, Bloody lovely, loads of extras that was fun to drive and really economical. There were no strings attached to the loan, but I loved that car so much I can't help talking about it! Clever #Skoda marketing team. I want to drive that car forever. And I'm trying to get my lovely clever wife to let me buy one.
Still think Social Media is a fad?
Stoli Vodka contacted us about doing a video blog about our Original idea in the salon, as a part of the Stoli Originals online campaign. here they are on facebook. Stoli is the Original Vodka, and we follow an original philosophy here in the salon. I'm really happy to talk about an Original brand like Stoli, not only because they gave us vodka, but because we love the idea of promoting originality in any form. But why did they choose us, because they knew we like Stoli vodka? It was because of our online presence, because we have a pretty cool brand, and we are visible due to our use of social media.
And more...
I was given a whole collection of the coolest colourful watches from Plstc. Again, why? Because I love watches, yes! And these watches are well cool, I handed most out to the guys at work but kept my fave two colours. Again this was because we use social media. I'm not an "expert" expert. I'm social. I enjoy engaging with people. And that's the key for me: it's talking, it's not broadcasting. It's getting involved with what's going on, and making contact with people and brands who are interesting and engaging too.
I would like to thank #skoda, #stoli #plstic for choosing us and for the other brands that have given us drinks, plays,tickets to the footy and dinners. We are a social bunch here ate Stevie English Hair, and we love the Social Media!
Hair Expo 2011 Generation Next.
Hair Expo is the largest hairdressing conference in the southern hemisphere. It attracts some of the biggest names in the hairdressing industry, with over 200 exhibitors, 2000 models, hair stylists chopping, colouring and creating amazing styles to enthrall local talent and makeup artists helping. It's a big three days. 
This year, Stevie English Hair was asked to do a show at the prestigious Sunday night Generation Next night. It's a bit of an honor to be asked, but the invitation comes with a lot of pressure.
We decided an English theme was the way to start (obviously) our assault on the Hair Expo stage. We shot a collection with Nicole McCluskey in March and we had the awesome CNCphotography do are moving image for the collection, and we used these images as the start of prepping for the show. It took 4 story boards, and many hours of talks and meetings just to come up with the ideas . Stevie English Hair creative director Verity Griffths worked tirelessly on this show, it would be impossible to calculate the amount of time and energy she spent on every aspect . Now we have a top team with ideas and help, but nothing quite prepared me for the amount of work, time and effort that goes in to a 5 minute show. This is a summary of what went on:
* 8 models
*2 extras ( punks)
* 1 kid
* 12 separate looks
* 16 wigs and hairpices
* 10 fantastic vintage costumes, sourced from Grandma takes trip by our amazing stylists Kelly Hume and Mattie Cronan.
*1 handmade Vivienne Westwood-style skirt, made from Union Jack flags and Stevie English Punk Regal print fabric.
* 2 choreographers
* 3 photographers
* 5 makeup artists
* 1 manicurist
* 16 hairstylists
* 1 live stream blogger and technical manager
* 1 horse
* 1 dog (note: horse and dog did not make it onstage, the old saying about working with animals is true!)
It was the biggest team project we have ever undertaken, and we pulled it off. The show was incredible, everything we wanted it to be, and the realisation of Verity's vision. It's difficult to explain how proud we are of our whole team, and how much we appreciate the work they all put in. Can't wait until we have the video to post, but in the meantime, here are a few images taken backstage and on the night. What fun we had!
A special thanks to the companies who helped us with our show so a O&M , GHD , Prohairstylist and Skoda
Best Hairdressers in Glebe, Best Apprentice in Australia!
Last weekend was Hair Expo, the biggest hairdressing event in the southern hemisphere. The Stevie English Team participated in many elements of the Expo, including the very prestigious Apprentice Competition. This contest is no easy task, the young stylists are up on stage with their model and they are given 45 mins to finish a haircut in front of a packed auditorium. It's hard enough to do a haircut in 45 mins, let alone with the added pressure of being watched by all of your colleagues, peers and friends. To top it off, some of the best hairdressers in Australian scrutinise your worked and pass judgement on it!
This year we had two of our young superstars entering the Apprentice Comp- Joel Phillips and Stephen Grech. Joel was recently awarded Judges Recognition for his incredible photographic collection for Hair Expo, and both he and Stephen are prized salon assets. The fantastic news- Stephen was judged the winner on the day! His award is a credit to all his hard work and natural talent. We are all super proud of both our boys.
Stevie English Hair is proud of our team, we are proud of our culture too. We love hairdressing and we love to share our knowledge. We have a really strong team, who enjoy each others company and who enjoy sharing our talents and skills. We put a lot of emphasis on training. Our assistants are tomorrows superstars, and some of our young guys are really starting to shine. Georgie Won this award 2 years ago, and so for Stephen to win it this year was great and sets the standard for the students coming though are academy . There is a slight bias but the winner was going to be either Stephen or Joel, both haircuts were both technically good. Jade is the head trainer in the salon with Kirsty and Verity helping out to
show slightly different approaches to cutting and Stevie runs all the colour education. 
Here are two shots we took of Stephen's winning haircut back stage prepping for our #GenNext show.
Great colour, (someone has taught him well)and great haircut. Not bad for someone who has only just started the third year of his apprenticeship. We are really proud of Stephen and Joel, not only for winning and getting attention but for trying so damn hard. They have great careers ahead of them and we can't wait to watch.
Hairdresser's Natural Approach
I was lucky enough to be asked to help film an advert for Tafe (college) NSW, its away to help get best practice in Tafe's and school's on climate isues . I was asked to talk about eco-friendly hair products like O&M and talk about what we have implemented in the salon do do our bit for the environment. Its always fun having a camera shoved in your face and to be asked lots of green questions. We love green issues, all the Stevie English staff have taken it on too, from re-cycling, to drying towels outside and the little things like switching plug points off minimize affect and energy consumption. Its wonderful to be given the opportunity to share with and inspire young hairdressers to make a difference. Would like to thank the team who came in and filmed and hopefully will make me look good Hopefully... *crosses fingers*
Hairdressing Salon Training In Glebe At Its Best
To have the best salon in Glebe, voted by the city of Sydney two years running is amazing, but we love our hair skills to do all the talking. But how do we stay sharp? We hire one of the best in business to come in and train our staff in our upstairs Academy. Tracey Hughes who owns and established mieka hairdressing is Melbourne. Tracey is one of the great educators in Australia, she is one of the Artistic directors for redkin and spends her life traveling around Australia and the globe. Tracey has just come back from NY fashion week. Its great to inspire our team with 1 on 1 training and Tracey's approach to hair is enthusiastic. What with her fashion talk from NY, catwalk styles, future predictions of trending hair styles and colours.
Hair coming out of Stevie English will be current and fun. Thanks Tracey.
The Best Salon In Sydney Two Years Running!
We have done it again! The hangovers have subsided and we have another trophy on the mantle piece.
We are always thrilled to be nominated or to win awards for our hairstyles but I think hairdressers often forget the business side of our industry, we are the left-brain creative types. So for us to win a business award for the second year running is a big deal. It shows that it is possible to be creative and to understand my business. It's a team effort, The creative team make our business successful, and the business team make sure we don't go bankrupt!
We have lots of great friends who help us, none more than the team who own Atlantis Hair . They were also nominated in this award category, and I dedicated the win to them. They taught us so much about starting up and being successful, as did our friends at Chumba Hair. And some other great friends who i would be nothing without. We are very proud of ourselves, and forever grateful to our fantastic team and our super amazing clients. Thanks for voting everyone, and thanks for the support. We love you all!
Go #TeamEnglish
Getting Seriously pampered in Glebe
We are very priviliged to work with great people, especially the lovely team from Realize beauty.
So two lucky winners will come up or down to Sydney and get the Stevie English treatment, then they will have an image consultation by Cosmina, and be taken shopping with $500 to spend on a guided shopping tour of Sydney. Amanda Foxon-Hill, who is the big brain behind Realize Beauty will do a cosmetic kitchen workshop. The winners will then get to take part in their very own photo shoot. How Awesome!
Hair Biz, Stevie English And A Geezer.
It has been so cool to watch our shop grow from 2 employees to 14, and to have this great vibe whilst working, but the cream on top is getting industry recognition. We are so lucky to work with and educate for top product companies like Bio-Ionic, who give us our great straightening products Kera-Smooth and ReTex as well as the amazing OnePass irons and dryer. O&M is the best colour company on the planet and I get to talk all the time about ammonia free hair colour and its joys ,and Simplesalon, which is just the best and simplest salon software on the market. Everything in the salon is a team effort #TeamEnglish, and all the staff work really hard on looking after every client, as well as education as well as looking after me. They put up with the crazy schemes and silly jackets! ;)
ps thanks to Hairbiz