BOS Hair and Beauty turns 18!
BOS18 Playlist
To celebrate this special occasion, we’ve curated a BOS18 playlist packed with songs from the year we opened: 2005! Click here to listen!
Win Luxury Hair Care Kits
With Unite, L'Oréal, and Joico, we have three luxury haircare kits worth over £100 each to be won. Enter our prize draw at the reception!
Sweet Treats & Cheers
Mini cupcakes and prosecco await you in-salon this month. All our drinks are complimentary with an appointment. Just ask your stylist; they'll be happy to help.
Double the Joy with TreatCard Points
Throughout September, you'll receive double TreatCard points on your appointments, helping you to reach your rewards even faster.
Thank you
We're so grateful for your ongoing support; we wouldn't be here without you!
A session styling conversation with Brendan
Many hairdressers aspire to become a Session Stylist and long to work backstage at Fashion Week, style Celebrities and be assigned to Fashion Shoots. It’s not for the faint-hearted and can be a tough world to get into.
Brendan’s session work has flourished as much as his salon - he now works on commercial and editorial projects worldwide across the fashion, beauty and music sectors. Brendan draws on his expertise and knowledge gained from decades of experience, skilled in all areas of hair design.
From his work with international publications like Cosmopolitan, Vogue Italia, Paris L’Official, Velvet, Elle, and Tattler to his styling at fashion weeks worldwide, to events like the Cannes Film Festival, he has done it all. Designers like Cynthia Rowley, Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith have used Brendan to complete their runway looks.
Often asked for advice on Session Styling and what he loves most about it, Brendan was recently interviewed for an industry article. “What I like most is collaborating with the designer. Looking for current and future trends. It’s not just about following the trends; it’s about creating them and that’s really exciting.”
“While my heart will always be in session, opening my salon allowed me to have some stability. I still love working with my day-to-day clients, being part of a team and helping them progress in their careers really keeps me going.”
Read the full industry article and watch Brendan in action here.
How does he do it?
17 years is a long time, and Brendan O’Sullivan Hair and Beauty has sailed through it beautifully. Reflecting on the reasons for his continued success, Brendan says:
“Maintaining key values within the business has meant we’ve kept growing and improving. Whatever challenges you face over the years, it’s important to keep your thoughts firmly on the future.
Our vision has always been clear – to make every customer look and feel fantastic. We make sure all our plans and actions support this vision. Constantly measuring ourselves against our vision means it has become part of everything we do. Customer feedback is vital to us; we really do read every review, always thrilled by the five-star feedback clients leave for us. Recently we were voted ‘Best Hairdressing Salon’ in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire in the Muddy Stilettos Awards; it meant the world to us all.
No matter how experienced, I think there’s always room for growth; you should never stop learning. We have regular development meetings with all our team members, with both individual and BOS team training plans. I believe you can get better at things you’re already good at. For instance, we are known for being a great colour salon; to make us even better, we recently had a full day of training with industry colour coach Carolyn Newman – team members at every level gained something new.
It’s no secret that I love fashion and session work. Involving the team in fashion and backstage work encourages their thirst for continued learning and discovering trends. This offers more options to our customers, so everyone’s a winner. We regularly send team members on the UNITE Runway Ready course to help prepare them for backstage work at London Fashion Week.
I learned long ago that if you struggle to find time for something, or you know it’s not your strength, get someone else to do it! My Business Partner Wendy is amazing; we work together on future strategies; she takes care of day-to-day business and has a huge depth of experience. It means I can take time out for session projects without worrying. We have a wonderful Salon Manager and Receptionist who also helps the salon run smoothly. I outsource marketing and social media; being on top of all these management functions means we can support the business well. I’m immensely proud of our team.”
The future? I’m so excited about what’s to come! It’s great to achieve our 17-year milestone in 2022, and I look forward to implementing plans to make 2023 and beyond even better.”
Read more in a recent industry interview with Brendan.
BOS supporting Chiltern Foodbank
Brendan and his Business Partner Wendy have always been keen to support the community, getting involved in many local charity events over the years. The arrival of Covid stopped events, so Brendan and Wendy considered how they could continue contributing to the local community.
“We love living and working in Amersham, so giving something back to the community feels important to us,” says Brendan. “Since 2021, we’ve been raising money for Chiltern Foodbank. We’ve had wonderful customer support, and our team is more than happy to help. Through various salon activities last year, we managed to raise nearly £700; we all felt proud to present a cheque to Chiltern Foodbank Partnerships Co-ordinator Kate Turnock. We hope our fundraising reaches £1,000 throughout 2022 and are excited to launch our summer fundraiser for Chiltern Foodbank.”
Chiltern Foodbank is a local charity supporting families in crisis. Everyone should be able to afford their own food, but as families face the biggest income squeeze in a generation, people have to make impossible decisions between heating and eating and being forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves. The latest report reveals the extreme poverty people face at food banks, with just £248 a month on average to survive on after housing costs. The crisis is no longer about the cost of living but rather the cost of surviving - a rising emergency. Compared to 5 years ago, the need for food banks has increased by 128%.
Speaking about the support from Brendan O'Sullivan Hair and Beauty, Kate Turnock says, "This partnership and support helps ensure no one goes hungry this summer. Your money goes directly to local people and the money raised by you now and last year provides three days of nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to people who are referred to us in crisis."
The salon has launched a Summer Draw to raise funds for Chiltern Foodbank. Anyone can enter, and a whopping £750 worth of prizes are up for grabs. All money raised goes directly to the charity.
To enter, visit the Brendan O’Sullivan Just Giving Page for Chiltern Foodbank
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/bossummerdraw
First Prize
A UNITE Haircare & Styling backpack worth over £300 containing UNITE Hair U Luxury Shampoo & Conditioner, 7Seconds Detangler, Texturizer Finishing Foam, Boosta Spray, Elite Pro Slim Styling Iron, Manta Healthy Hairbrush, Mi Salon Series Vent Brush & Paddle Brush
Second Prize
A hamper of L’Oreal Haircare products worth over £250
Third Prize
A Brendan O’Sullivan Hair/Beauty makeover to the value of £200. You’ll be indulged in a pamper session with our experts, and whether you choose hair, beauty, or a mix of services, our Stylists and Beauty therapists will make sure you look and feel fantastic.
Ice, Ice, Baby - BOS at Chiltern View Ice Rink launch
Get your skates on...
The BOS team love to support local events - we didn't need asking twice to look after celebrity hair at the launch of Chiltern View Ice Skating rink. And with La Voix and Michelle Heaton (both BOS regulars) presenting, no wonder the event sold out in under 24hrs!
Using Unite Hair products, Brendan and Antonella worked their wonders for Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton and skaters from Dancing on Ice and the British Olympic Ice Skating Team.
Guests enjoyed a festive performance of Christmas classics and some hair raising routines from the professional skaters. The combination of Brendan & Antonella's skills and the effectiveness of Unite Hair products resulted in hair staying perfectly in place.
Santa and his reindeers flew in to make an appearance, give presents from the sleigh and add even more sparkle. Chiltern View Ice Rink is open for a limited period so get online to book and wrap up warm!
Brendan O’Sullivan Hair and Beauty receive award for Customer Experience
“Our team are over the moon to once again be the recipients of a Client Experience Award based on consistency of Five Star reviews over the year. We’re involved in many industry and fashion features, however, we consider customer feedback to be the biggest reward of all. Our goal at Brendan O’Sullivan Hair and Beauty has always been to deliver a personal experience that makes every customer look and feel fantastic, and it’s a privilege to look after our customers. We are so grateful to all our wonderful customers who have taken the time to leave us a review”.
“Aman listened to what I wanted but was also able to advise with her professional expertise. She didn’t just cut my hair & say she was done, she wanted to make sure I left happy with my cut and seeing as I‘d never been to her before, we managed to natter away like we’d known each other for years. All-in-all, a lovely salon experience”
“Always a genuinely great, calm and extremely efficient experience. Everyone is so friendly, calm and very professional. Best haircut/colour too, so I’ve been loyally going for many years and won’t move.”
“Jack is exceptionally talented. A highly creative and able hairdresser. He has been doing my hair for years and I totally trust him to do a great job and make any suggestions that will suit me best. And a great person to know”
“Leanne is amazing! Always puts 100% into her work. She is attentive, creative, thorough and entirely lovely with it! I always look forward to getting my hair done at Brendan O’Sullivan.”
Fundraising in the community: supporting Chiltern Foodbank
“Over the years we’ve enjoyed helping a variety of local charity events, it’s good to support the community. With the recent lack of local occasions due to Covid we’ve taken the decision to get involved with fundraising for the Chiltern Food Bank, they do amazing work supplying food parcels to local people in crisis.
Our fundraising kicked off with a Charity Raffle as part of our salon 16 Year Anniversary celebrations in September, and we’ve had amazing support from our wonderful customers. There were three very special prizes for the lucky winners and we are delighted to have raised to date £462 for Chiltern Foodbank.
We will continue to support Chiltern Foodbank and look forward to announcing our next fundraising event soon.”
16 Years of Brendan O'Sullivan Hair and Beauty
On the 16th Anniversary of his salon, Brendan O’Sullivan shares his thoughts on Customer Relationships, Fashion and Education.
“We decided to recognise this particular business milestone as we’re so grateful for the amazing support our customers showed us through the recent lockdowns. The team and I think it’s a great time to celebrate and reward our loyal VIPs.
We really do consider ourselves lucky. When my partner Wendy and I decided Amersham was the best place to open our salon all those years ago we had no idea what a great decision it was. In fact, we loved Amersham so much we moved here! We are privileged to look after wonderful customers and although some travel nationally and internationally to us, most are from Amersham and the surrounding areas, we really do appreciate each client who supports our salon. Amersham is such a pretty town with a strong community and boasts many independent businesses. With great places to shop, fabulous cafes, restaurants, and bars (and of course our salon!) Amersham is a special place to spend time.
I think the main reason our business has thrived for 16 years is high standards. We don’t take anything for granted and look ahead to see how we can improve and always make our clients look and feel fantastic. When you’ve been in business a while it’s great to see customers grow with you, some we’ve seen off to university, helped with their interview image when they’ve applied for jobs, styled them into their career and it’s wonderful to help develop their look as we go along. Trends change, fashion changes and we change with our clients over the years.
We have a reputation for excellent customer service, it’s important to us. No matter how many times they’ve been to us, we look at clients like it’s the first time – their face shape, hair texture, give advice about what would suit them, how to manage their style and achieve the look at home.
In 16 years, we’ve seen many changes with hair trends, I love how fashion is cyclical but always with a new twist such as the current Seventies vibe. Of course, Mullets, Shags and Bangs have been seen before but each time around we bring them up to date with new translations and techniques. We work at Fashion Week in London, Paris, Milan, New York - we’re not just following trends but creating them, and we bring new trends back to the salon. Fashion will never stop evolving and our clients know we can deliver something bang on trend when they visit. Some people believe that you must travel into London to find a salon that understands fashion trends or great service and we want everyone to know we can deliver those things right here in Amersham.
I’ve really enjoyed seeing the return of some shorter, more creative haircuts and have to say one of my favourite hair colour trends has to be balayage; it’s such a great opportunity for stylists to get creative, visual, to paint the hair and work with toners to make hair look stunning. Creative colour is so popular with our customers right now.
Wendy and I have a background in education, for 15 years I was Head of Training for the largest hairdressing company in the world, so we know how important it is to keep providing the team with a fresh view, keep motivation and standards high. When you strive to be the best, training doesn’t ever stop - you continue to learn throughout your career. We also develop our team by encouraging them to enter competitions. Leanne (one of our Senior Stylists) has just reached the finals of the F.A.M.E Team for the Fellowship of British Hairdressing, we’re absolutely thrilled! The F.A.M.E Team (Fellowship Academy of Merit and Excellence) is an annual initiative created to nurture, encourage, and promote an elite group of young, up and coming creative hairdressers.
Over the years we’ve enjoyed helping a variety of local charity events, it’s good to support the community. With the recent lack of local occasions due to Covid we’ve taken the decision to get involved with fundraising for the Chiltern Food Bank, they do amazing work supplying food parcels to local people in crisis.
Business can be tough, particularly during recent times with the challenges we’ve all faced with the pandemic. But after many years in hairdressing, my partner Wendy and I still find the industry fascinating and are passionate about our customers and team and this will never change.
The team at Brendan O’Sullivan Hair and Beauty enjoyed our 16th celebrations throughout September and most importantly, we had the most amazing reactions from our customers who loved the Gift Vouchers we shared and indulged in celebratory prosecco and cupcakes. There was an extra special buzz in the salon. Although business will always have its ups and downs we’re proud of our accomplishments over the last 16 years and super excited about the future.”
Brendan O’Sullivan Hair and Beauty celebrated its 16th anniversary throughout the month of September 2021. Anniversary activities included a Birthday Card with Gift Voucher to all customers visiting in September, 16-day luxury giveaway on Instagram, special anniversary salon refreshments menu and celebratory cupcakes, sharing a curated playlist of foot-tapping tunes, and a prize draw for local charity Chiltern Food Bank raising £460.