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THIS IS THE NEW STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABLE HAIR EXTENSIONS

THIS IS THE NEW STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABLE HAIR EXTENSIONS

Apr 12, 2024 | INDUSTRY NEWS, INFORM

CATEGORIES > INFORM

THIS IS THE NEW STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABLE HAIR EXTENSIONS

Promotion – Great Lengths

As an industry it’s paramount that we work towards more sustainable practices. Bringing a new approach to hair extensions, Great Lengths has achieved B-Corp certification.

Great Lengths models

When it comes to sustainability, it goes beyond Earth Month. As an industry, it’s vital we all do our bit, all year round, to work towards a more sustainable future for everyone. Very few brands and businesses are awarded B Corp certification, and Great Lengths is the first of its kind in the hair extensions market.  

Following years of consistent, sustainable practices across the brand, Great Lengths has become the first extensions brand to have been awarded B Corp certification across the globe. This Earth Month, the Italian brand is shining light on its continued consideration for environmental and social responsibilities that have been part of its agenda for some time, with measures put in place more than 10 years ago which focus on care for both people and the planet by working towards a circular economy.

The B Corp certification recognises the efforts Great Lengths has made to be more inclusive at all levels, from the welfare of its employees and the trust of its consumers to working towards reducing the beauty footprint of the entire production chain. As one of the world’s leading names in human hair extensions, Great Lengths strives to use its influence for good and encourage others to consider the differences they can make.  

“Working with B Corp brands such as Great Lengths is incredibly important to us,” says Susan Collins, owner of, B Corp certified salon Home of Hair, in County Wicklow in Ireland. “We actively seek out suppliers that are committed to the wellbeing of people and the planet, as we know those that have achieved B Corp status have exceptionally high standards of practise.”

Great Lengths

‘Perception’ by Great Lengths

Great Lengths

She adds: “Being a certified B Corp is confirmation that a company is fully transparent and has made ethical choices. This is a very easy sell to a client – if they’re sitting in your chair, they have already decided to spend that little bit extra, but they also know that there are no shady or grey areas in the product they’re investing in. Working with B Corp certified suppliers means that you don’t have to deep dive into everything to make sure they align with your company ethos and practices.” 

Great Lengths offers a circular, transparent chain with its hair. Ethical sourcing of hair is fundamental to the brand philosophy, and it prides itself on the strict processes and measures that ensure both the quality and ethicality of the hair. All hair is sourced from Indian temples, where it is voluntarily donated during a ritual known as ‘tonsuring’. Each strand is given willingly and with full consent, and revenue generated is fed back into the local community. 

In its continued effort to strive for sustainable practices, Great Lengths also has a global partnership with The Little Princess Trust and offers a donation scheme in more than 1,500 salons in the UK and Ireland and more than 60 countries worldwide. The scheme gives clients who use extensions the opportunity to change lives. When their extensions are removed, clients can choose to donate them to the charity to make into real hair wigs, which are provided free to children and young people who have lost their own hair through cancer treatment or other conditions. It costs nothing to be involved and is an impactful way for a salon to give back and reduce waste. Shorter hair extensions which are unsuitable for donation to the Little Princess Trust partnership are recycled in the same way as natural hair clippings.  

To find out more about Great Lengths and its efforts towards sustainability, head to greatlengths.com. 

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DOES OUR INDUSTRY LACK STRONG LEADERSHIP FROM GEN X AND MILLENNIALS?

DOES OUR INDUSTRY LACK STRONG LEADERSHIP FROM GEN X AND MILLENNIALS?

Apr 5, 2024 | CONVERSATIONS

CATEGORIES > EXPLORE > CONVERSATIONS

DOES OUR INDUSTRY LACK STRONG LEADERSHIP FROM GEN X AND MILLENNIALS?

Is Gen Z really the problem? Tony Walmsley of Anthony Salons discusses why strong leadership is paramount to the success of the newest generation entering the industry. 

Tony Walmsley

Tony Walmsley

When I am mentoring or educating fellow salon owners, managers and leaders, the same conversations tend to arise. Currently, always one of the top three conversations is around managing Gen Z and the headaches it brings. What I question is whether it’s the behaviour of Gen Z that is the issue, or is it a lack of strong leadership from Gen X and Millennials? 

 Let me explain. 

 In our industry and beyond, the people in leadership positions seem to be so quick to write off Gen Z because of their attitude, behaviour, and beliefs. For me that’s lazy leadership. 

What I see in that generation is more and more people wanting to be something. They have more ambition than ever and are in a rush to get there. Are these bad traits? Certainly not! In fact, 15 to 20 years ago the problem was that there was a lack of those things in a workforce. But maybe that’s what lazy leaders look for – compliance from a workforce. 

Each generation has its own quirks, their own behaviours. It stems from the environment they have been brought up in and what they have been exposed to. 

Tony Walmsley with team

Tony with his team at Anthony John Salons

Gen Z has been brought up in a world where everything is instant. Think about it – most things in their life have been there at a click of a button. Also, and importantly, they have not been allowed to build the same resilience, due to not being exposed to enough challenges and therefore micro doses of failure. This is due to helicopter parenting and the removal of things such as competitive sport and regular tests at school. Third, they have seen people become famous and earn large sums of money for (from the outside at least) appearing not to do very much. And their role models appear more touchable than ever because of social media. 

Then these young adults are thrust into the world of work, and we just expect that they are going to be patient, are going to take constructive feedback well, and that they are going to put the hard yards in before they ‘become somebody’. Why would they do this when up to this point in their life they feel the opposite is true?  

We must show them, teach them, and nurture them to follow us. It’s easier than you think but it’s us as leaders that must adapt to them, not the other way around. 

“Each generation has its own quirks, their own behaviours. It stems from the environment they have been brought up in and what they have been exposed to.”

Tony Walmsley

When you look at surveys of what Gen Z want from an employer number one right now is LEADERSHIP. They want leading. For me the problem, is the lack of leadership skills of the people leading them. As leaders we must not be lazy and pivot accordingly. My leadership team members are banned from saying things like, ‘it wasn’t like that in my day’. We’re no longer in the ’90s or early 2000s, which is when most people in management positions trained. This generation is different – our environments and communication styles should be different because of it.  

“As leaders we must not be lazy and pivot accordingly.”

Tony Walmsley

I believe it all starts with building strong relationships and trust. This should be the main focus of your induction process. We are more likely to follow people that we like, and it’s your job to make them like you not the other way around. This in turn brings trust, and only then can you start to fully guide your people to get them to realise their potential. 

Gen Z will not be dictated to, they do not want to be managed, but instead coached and mentored. A position in an organisation is no longer enough to bring authority, instead it’s the relationships we build, with clear communication. This creates the feeling of growing together that people look up to and will, in turn, follow. We must create an environment of high challenge AND high support. 

Tony Walmsley at Salon Smart

Tony at Salon Smart 2024

I personally like people who challenge the status quo, who want to be something, who want more and want it NOW. I embrace it, I promote it and I grow from it. Why wouldn’t I want people who are all these things on my team?! In fact, where I struggle is to lead people who aren’t all those things. 

Build relationships, build trust, show them you can help, show them you can help them reach their goals. Always communicate to them the timelines and manage expectations. Motivate, incentivise, and reward them. Mentor them, coach them, and give them the leadership they are so obviously craving! 

Bad leadership will blame a generation. Good leadership will galvanise one. Don’t be intimidated… Grow together. 

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Yolanda Cooper The Woman Behind The Supernova Pro

Yolanda Cooper The Woman Behind The Supernova Pro

Mar 28, 2024 | CONVERSATIONS, EXPLORE, TALKING SHOP

Bright Star

Yolanda Cooper is changing the game of electrical styling with her revolutionary SupernovaPRO hair tool.

by CATHERINE | CONVERSATIONS

Yolanda Cooper

It was when she was at an airport in 2016 that Yolanda Cooper had her idea for her electrical tool, the SupernovaPRO. She was checking in for a flight with overweight baggage, mainly because of the number of different hair tools she was travelling with. ‘There’s got to be an answer for this’, she thought. It turned out there was. And it’s a game-changer.

The SupernovaPRO is the world’s first three-in-one hair styler combining a fully functioning straightening iron, curling tong and wave wand in one ultra-sleek, beautiful-to-behold tool. It comes with a whole host of first-to-market patented features, including revolutionary SmartSwitch technology that makes it the only hot styling tool with three independently powered functions; premium grade ceramic plates infused with Trionic technology that softens, smooths and hydrates the hair; and a patent-pending ergonomic DoublePivot system, which relieves pressure on the median nerve to reduce the risk of carpal tunnel syndrome – a condition especially prevalent in pro stylists.

The SupernovaPRO tool

 Not bad for a young female entrepreneur from Belfast designing her first electrical tool! “I think going in blind to something allows you to be completely free of fear,” says Yolanda. “If you knew what you were getting into before you did these crazy things, half the time you wouldn’t do it because you’ve no idea how complex it is, how long these things take and how many reasons there are for it to fail. Some of the best entrepreneurs are the ones who just have no clue what they’re doing, they just go into it and commit to figuring it out later.”

Armed only with a sketch of what she felt the tool could look like, Yolanda set about hiring industry-leading industrial designers and engineers to turn her concept into a reality. It took five years to refine the tool mechanically and aesthetically as she constantly challenged her team to come up with the technology to match her ideas.

“Going in blind to something allows you to be completely free of fear” 

“Very early on we realised that if this is going to be a professional tool, then three-in-one is brilliant but it can’t be a compromised experience – we have to make each of those tools incrementally better than what’s on the market,” says Yolanda. And I think I think that’s what we’ve done. So, straighteners have always been symmetrical and rectangular, but what if you need to get right into the baby hairs at the root? We made our straightener narrower at the tip, so that it allows you – for example – to detail short fringes and work with Type 3 and 4 hair.

Ceramic technology provides great negative ions into the hair, but how do we take that even further? I’m a trichologist, so that’s why I came up with the idea of taking a heat protection formula and infusing it into the plates to give superior shine. When it came to the tong, we changed the tip to a rubber material so that you can literally hold onto it, even when the temperature is set at 200˚C. And we spent a long time perfecting the exact torsion of the spring and the double-pivot system to make the tool more comfortable to use. Consumers might not notice that benefit, because they’re only going to use the tool for 20 minutes at a time, but hair pros, who are styling nine hours a day – they’re really going to see the difference.”

Proud that the SupernovaPRO is designed, engineered and manufactured in Great Britain, and fully aware that she is competing against some industry heavyweights, Yolanda is putting her experience as a former marketing director to good use. “Core to our communication and marketing strategy is a grassroots approach,” she says. “We have a programme called The Salon Spotlight, where we send our film crew into a salon to shoot collaborative content, including interviews with the stylists and footage of them styling their client’s hair in different ways. We can also create an event in the salon, where I and our head of engineering will come along and talk to guests. And the content we create can be used for a salon’s own social media campaign to drive awareness. We may not have the budgets that some of the big brands have, but what we do have is passion and agility and the desire to go and partner with salons on a one-to-one basis.”

And finally, why the name Supernova? “I’ve always been fascinated with astrology and stargazing,” says Yolanda. “And with SupernovaPRO we’re trying to create the biggest shining star in the industry. In space, a supernova is a cataclysmic explosion. And so I thought that was a cool name, because we are aiming to be the biggest thing in the industry. It’s quite fitting.”

Retailing at £299, SupernovaPRO is exclusive to salons across the UK and Ireland. To become a stockist or purchase at the wholesale price of £199 plus VAT, visit supernovahairtools.com/pages/creativehead

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THE 3 BIGGEST BLONDE MISTAKES THAT COLOURISTS MAKE

THE 3 BIGGEST BLONDE MISTAKES THAT COLOURISTS MAKE

Mar 27, 2024 | EXPLORE, TECHNIQUES

CATEGORIES > EXPLORE > TECHNIQUES

THE 3 BIGGEST BLONDE MISTAKES THAT COLOURISTS MAKE

Tia Lambourn – founder of Bay Studios in Derby and both Tia Lambourn Education and The Blonding Bible online platform AND a Redken Advocate – knows what NOT to do when blonding a client! These are the mistakes to avoid

Tia Lambourn

MISTAKE 1 – Rinsing too early

The bleach is on and you’re panicking: ‘I’m using a blue bleach, and it looks like it’s ready to come off’. What ends up happening is that the hair’s quite yellow underneath. What I usually recommend in my education and Blonding Bible classes is to take out a tiny strand of hair from the foil and do an elasticity test, instead of just judging it visually. You can then feel if it’s ready to come off. If it has started to feel a bit stringy, then that can also save you from breakage. That has saved me in the past, when I’ve thought: ‘this needs another 20 minutes’.

I’ve been in the middle of a colour correction where the hair looks orange, and I’ve pulled on it, I’ve felt that it’s got a little bit of give, and I know I need to take it off now.

MISTAKE 2 – Ignoring the clear

When it comes to glossing, not everyone utilises the clear. The most used ‘colour’ in my salon is the clear! Sometimes the hair lifts so perfectly that what you’re going to end up doing is almost making it look slightly muddy, or a bit heavy, or when there’s a lot of pigment in the hair, it makes it appear darker. So, if you do have a client who wants to be mega blonde, and you’ve managed to lift them to a really nice level 11, you want to gloss with your chosen shade and the same amount of clear – go half and half. In some scenarios, I’ll even do three-quarters clear, one-quarter of the chosen shade.

MISTAKE 3 – Using ash toners for a bright finish

Ash was a big trend, everyone wanted to be an icy blonde or platinum, but for really bright blondes, I’m always reaching for the warmer shades. A lot of the time you have a client who wants to be mega blonde, but they want to be ashy, so colourists will mix up an ash toner. But if you think of a white cloud compared to a grey cloud, the grey cloud has more ash in it… and it looks darker. With a blonde tone that’s more ashy, it’s going to appear slightly more dull. It’s not actually dull, it’s just got a heavy amount of pigment in there, so it’s going to appear that way because it’s not going to reflect the light so much. You can do a mix of warm and ash so that it is not golden, but it’s not super ashy. It’s more of a creamy milky blonde, then you get the best of both worlds.

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‘Ask Me Anything’, With Most Wanted Legend Jody Taylor

‘Ask Me Anything’, With Most Wanted Legend Jody Taylor

Mar 26, 2024 | CONNECT, MOST WANTED

CATEGORIES > CONNECT

'ASK ME ANYTHING', WITH MOST WANTED LEGEND JODY TAYLOR

Jody Taylor won the Men’s Hair Specialist award three times. Here, he shares advice and guidance on taking home a 2024 trophy.

Team Phillipart

Sitting on the fence about entering Most Wanted? We probed three-times Men’s Hair Specialist winner, Jody Taylor, for answers to common questions about the competition. Here’s what he gave us. 

You were already a successful artist before winning your first Most Wanted award, why did you enter? 

Because it’s a chance for me to reflect on my own work. To put everything into a presentation and have something I can look back on. It’s also a chance for other people to see my work, who weren’t aware of it beforehand. 

Did you have a game plan for preparing your entries?  

Um, no, I didn’t. The most important part is to just start! I’m a great believer that action creates motivation, so put some time aside, review your work over the last year, what you’ve achieved, and if relevant, pull together the images you’ve created. Then think about your case study and take it from there. My entries took me a while – I went over and over them until I was happy. Then I started cutting them down and got my friends, colleagues and family to look. The only way to do it, is to physically do it – don’t procrastinate over it. It’s just giving yourself time, having a look at it and giving it a go. 

How did you find the time to get everything done? 

There’s not enough time in life to do everything, you just have to prioritise what’s important to you. Entering Most Wanted was something I wanted to put time aside for.

Did you find it difficult putting together the written parts of your entries? 

My English – spelling, literature, everything – is the worst in the world, so I’d write it in my own words, then ask a friend, or family member – my Mum – to proofread it, and help me with it. What I wanted was for the words to be my own. We’re hairdressers, we’re not necessarily academics; as long as your words read like you, that’s what’s important. 

How did you decide what to include or exclude? 

It was quite easy for me. There were moments over the particular year – projects I’d done – that I was super proud of. Ultimately, you’ve got to think of the things that give you stand out from the crowd in your specific field. 

You won three times; did you change your approach each year? 

No. My approach was very similar each time, in that I created a magazine with my work. I wanted to have something I could keep with me as memorabilia, too, so a lot of thought went into the design, the format and the images I selected. I kept it the same every year because I wanted to create these books, almost so I can look back at them in 20 years’ time and think, wow that’s cool!  

Looking back, is there anything you’d change about your entries? 

No, I wouldn’t change anything because I know I put every effort into them, and I think that’s the most important thing. It seemed to work for me! 

Did winning have an impact on you and/or your career? 

Definitely! I’ve got a lovely shiny trophy – or three of them – up on my shelf, which makes me feel very proud. But honestly, it’s not about winning, it’s about entering. Entering is the most important part because you are putting yourself out there and you’re trying to improve. If you don’t win, you’re going to look back and try to improve the next year. Actually, just being proud of your work and allowing other people to see it, I think is the main thing. Making the effort – that is winning for me.  

Any final words about entering? 

100 percent you should enter! Don’t dwell on it, just do it and don’t worry about the outcome. Focus on the doing it! 

It’s free to enter the Most Wanted. Entries must be submitted no later than 9pm on Monday 20 May. Click here for a full list of categories and how to enter. 

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