Congratulations to Claire for being the winner of the title of Beauty Boss of the Month, after being nominated by Gilmor Bridgend!

After congratulating her on being a winner, we asked Claire a few questions about herself so that we could all get to know her better...

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How did you get into Hairdressing?

I have been in the hair industry for 24 years now… I'd said from a young age that I’d wanted to be a hairdresser!

I started off by doing work experience in a salon for a week whilst I was still in school, before going on to do an apprenticeship when I left school at 16. Once qualified I moved onto a new salon where I stayed for 6 years as a stylist. I then got approached by a client of mine and asked to become a manager of a salon she was opening… after 6 years of being the manager, I became the owner… finally where I’d always wanted to be!

10 years have passed and I couldn’t be happier! I’m the only stylist at the salon but I do have a junior, Mollie, who works with me 2 days a week and is an absolute asset to the salon - the clients love her!

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What was your most surprising part of the job?

The most surprising part of hairdressing for me still is definitely when people say… ‘do whatever you want’... that a client can trust you that much, because for me, your hair is what makes you and if it’s not right, you don’t feel right.

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What has been your favourite client request?

I don’t think I have an ultimate favourite request... I love when clients ask for something completely different. When they put their trust in you to deliver and then seeing their faces when you reveal what you’ve done. Sometimes I still get wowed myself by the change!

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What are your favourite techniques?

My favourite technique is definitely foiling, I find it so therapeutic and you can achieve so many different looks with one method of colour. Cutting short hair is also a big favourite of mine and something I feel very confident in.

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Talk us through your average day.

An average day in my life is that I get up at 6am, I prepare the whole families lunches for the day before organising us all... I drop my daughter to school at 8.45 and the salon opens at 9.30. I work 4 days a week now to give myself a better work/life balance and my weekly working hours are 9.30am - 9pm. 

The salon is generally booked up a few weeks in advance so I barely get a break once the first client walks through the door! I like to be organised so I tend to always plan for the next day before leaving the salon at night. As I work alone this helps my day go smoothly when it can get busy. I spend around 30/45 minutes at the end of each day answering all social media messages.

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Where do you get your inspiration from?

My inspiration comes from my clients, they keep me motivated! The confidence they give me and the support I have is just phenomenal. My clients have made me who I am today, and for that I will be forever grateful!

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What advice would you give with others?

My advice would be to just keep going! Sometimes when you feel ready to give up... DONT! It’s the most rewarding job ever, to know you can literally put a smile on someone’s face in 30 seconds flat… just for being you! We aren’t just stylists, we are superheroes and an essential part of peoples lives for more reasons than just ‘doing hair’.

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What are your hopes and plans for the future?

My hopes and plans for the future are to keep doing the job I love for as long as I possibly can. After the pandemic I realised how much I actually love my job and how I could never imagine doing anything else…

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Beauty Boss of the Month is our monthly feature to build each other up and praise all success stories, no matter how small! Super stylist, Hard working Nail Tech, Amazing Apprentice, Fantastic New Salon...

Do you know someone who, after all our industry has been through over the last 2 years, is totally bossin' it?!

Contact us to nominate them, we would love to do a feature on them!