Sharon Blain's question time

[Tue 29/06/2010 04:34:40]

By Lena Sgambati

 At Hair Expo Australia 2010, Australia’s own queen of upstyles and Australian Educator of the Year 2010, Sharon Blain, played host to a question and answer seminar about session styling and live hair shows with a panel made up of the crème de la crème of Australian hairdressing talent.

Sharon Blain's Beautiful Brides

Collectively, the panel members have garnered hundreds of awards between them –their knowledge and experience in session styling and live hair shows boasting international success, industry acclaim and prestigious recognition - and they shared their knowledge with an intimate audience.

On the panel was Alistair Thompson from Thompson Productions. Alistair produced Jayne Wild’s Puppet show at Hair Expo Australia 2009. The show was so successful that it went on to receive nationwide television coverage.

Alistair was joined by Lee Nesbitt who at only 24 years of age is Australia’s most successful hairdressing competition winner. To date Lee has won almost 100 hairdressing competitions.

Alongside Lee was Session Stylist Brad Ngata, winner of numerous industry accolades and who in 2007 famously made “Couture Hair Clothes.”

Also joining them was English born International Session Stylist Kenneth Stoddart and Hair Expo Australian Hairdresser of the year 2009 Jayne Wild with business partner Gary Latham from Wildlife Hairdressing. 

Sharon lead the discussion by asking the panel what advice they would give to young hairdressers and salon owners thinking of doing a live hair show – especially for those who may have reservations about the cost involved.

“Just do it!” said Gary. “We’ve done the Generation Next shows four times now and we used to do those on budgets of zero dollars.”

“Don’t be scared that it’s going to cost the earth because you can make it happen,” added Jayne.

Sharon went on to explain that hairdressers don’t necessarily need to start by doing big shows, they can start small.

She gave examples of when she began performing on the live circuit. “I started out doing shows with Schwarzkopf Professional years ago at a little look and learn seminar. It was just about having my own opportunity. It doesn’t have to be something big or extravagant. The people that do start at that level and do well at it, eventually evolve into the bigger picture,” she said.

Lee revealed that prior to working backstage at Hair Expo on shows, seven years ago he was selling shampoo on the trade floor for the company who is now his sponsor.

“I built up the courage one day to go up to the CEO of the company and say to him no-one wants to do a hair show or a photo-shoot for you more than me. The rest is history,” he said.

The panel went on to discuss how they cope with the pressures of putting on a live hair show with all the unplanned mishaps and things that go wrong.

“We create a list of all the things that go wrong at the shows and make sure that we’re well prepared for them at the next show,” said Gary. “You should see how long the list is now!”

Brad added, “It’s those mishaps that build character… the show is the reward you get at the end of the journey but it really is all about the journey to the show. It’s about having the passion and determination. It’s about teamwork and delegation; who’s there at 6am in the morning and who’s still there at 12pm at night gluing hairpieces.”