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.
2022 Hair Trends
As we approach 2022, Brendan shares his thoughts on hair trends for the new year.
"I love the looks we create through Fashion Weeks and Session Styling. Some however, are too high fashion for everyday wear, so I think about how we can translate runway style into wearable looks for our customers to enjoy. Here are my thoughts for 2022."
Constant Colour
Colour is a huge trend, and this carries forward through 2022. With mask wearing set to continue, there are many situations when we can't express ourselves through our face or make-up, but can show our personality and make a statement with hair colour.
Balayage will be as much in demand as ever and we love this technique, so individual and artistic. Customers can have as little or as much colour as they desire, bold tones or subtle. The effect is beautiful.
Block Colour gets heads turning. This trend is growing and we'll see more drama with block colour in 2022. Again, the technique can be subtler with a face framing or off-set block, or have mega impact with a half head block.
Street Colour is gaining in popularity. The bright colours bring optimism and fun, and can be incorporated into any style, for any age. Joining the vibrant pinks, blues, purples and greens we've seen this year are more earthy colours.
New Wave
Waves will make a big appearance next year and can be dressed up 'big blowout' style or worn in a casual, undone way.
Permanent Waves - yes you read that correctly - are making a resurgence. Forget the frizzy perm of the early 80s, today's products and techniques deliver waves with condition too.
If a perm isn't your thing, there are great professional tools available to create whatever degree of curl or wave you're after. Try a Curl Bar for lots of wave or a Smoothing Iron for gentle movement. Always with a heat protector and hold factor.
And for those with naturally curly hair, celebrate it! There are some great professional products to encourage and support waves, such as the Unite Hair 'Boing' range. Specifically formulated for wavy and curly hair, Boing offers condition, definition and hold.
Super Shine
Whatever the style, luminous hair will be so important in 2022. The great news is whatever your budget, there's a choice of permanent, temporary or instant methods to keep you shining.
Long-lasting lustre can be gained by having a Brazilian Blowdry technique. We use Kerastraight in the salon, it gives a shine and smoothness to the hair for up to 4 months without making hair poker straight.
Unite Hair Silky Smooth treatment delivers what it says on the bottle, as a temporary solution so your super shine will last for several washes.
For an instant shine boost, use a burst of Unite Hair 7Seconds Glossing spray all over your finished style.
And for an edgy look, Wet Look hair is back! This time used in a more natural way, like you've just been caught in the rain. The Wet Look and New Wave trends are a great combination!