Hairdressing’s golden boy of innovation successfully carved out a completely new era for hairdressing salons in Australia in just ten years. A decade on and in a very different hairdressing landscape to the beginning, Jaye Edwards reflects on his biggest lessons, bumps in the road and where to go next in a continually demanding industry, writes Cameron Pine.

It seems like a lot longer ago for some of us, but rewind back to 2012 when Jaye began to envision what his own salon label would look like before opening his first EdwardsAndCo Salon in Sydney’s Surry Hills. One would almost consider ten salons, a brand and an education business to be nothing but a pipedream.

Jaye took a chance on a hybrid business model that was in many ways a first and ahead of its time in Australia and forged ahead with boldness and courage to grow some of Australia’s largest salons, a haircare line, an education brand, a retail store salon concept and even a luxury hotel salon, and that’s just the framework that we’ve seen. There’s a lot more to this vision than meets the eye and, one thing is certain, Jaye’s title as a modern day hairdressing visionary is testament to the sacrifices he’s made and risks he’s taken along the way.

Now alongside clean colour brand O&M as International Ambassador, Jaye continues to share his educational style with the world. He most recently celebrated a real ‘homecoming’ style ten-year birthday celebration and was able to toast such a milestone with beauty media, influencers and some of his nearest and dearest in Melbourne, thanks to the support of his brand partnership with O&M.

Jaye’s celebration night was as much about celebrating him as it was the brand. “I feel people see my brand but not everyone knows me, so spending a night with true friends and industry peers that know me well was very special to me,” he said.

Jaye’s speech was sincere, authentic and tear jerking, for not just him but some of his staff who were in attendance and have stood by Jaye’s side every step of the way, including his PA Inthira Wilby. There were clients in the room who have been with Jaye for ten years, who he says helped make him the person he is today. With a lot of time in the last five years spent abroad, Jaye’s focus is now just as much on being present in his own salons.

“What I’ve learnt from my time away is that we need, more than ever, to inspire our own and focus on educating our own salons to make sure we continue to be the best we can be ,” Jaye said. “Making sure I’m able to commit the time to making the salon grow and that it’s efficient is part of being there and present in my salons because, despite their ongoing success, they do still better when I am present.”

Jaye admits to making his fair share of mistakes along the way. Back in 2021 Jaye signed an exclusive deal with MECCA but, despite the brand’s initial success, the product, titled Jaye Haircare, has proved a huge learning curve. It’s purely down to the amount of money that you constantly need to throw at a product brand, which could be used to invest in other salons or properties instead.

Additionally, when the MECCA store opened, it was a blow dry bar, which he says was a struggle and a mistake. “I realised I wasn’t putting in the effort to engage and build the right team with the services to match,” he said.

Jaye then decided to lead with a MECCA content creation team and took a small retail store salon from 4K a week to 14. Throughout the journey, there have been other learning experiences.

“Noosa has been really challenging because I didn’t really understand the market – people say you don’t need to if you know your service but I disagree.”

The Byron Bay salon has been equally as challenging from staff to profit compared to some of the other salons in the cities – while overheads might be much higher in city salons they are much more profitable. Despite these location challenges, with the transient client and holiday surges of places like Noosa and Byron making them a more challenging proposition to turn a profit, they’ve remained consistent.

Jaye also claims that meeting the expectations of a large team is a constant struggle, something he’s tackled by working with one of his friends and mentors, Leesa Smith, on board as CEO.

“Not everyone stays with you forever but a lot of my staff has still been with me from the beginning. In saying that I believe not everyone should stay. Some people don’t fit your business anymore or the vision of where the business is going,” Jaye said.

The biggest thing Jaye has taken away in the last 10 years is that it’s important not to become friends with your team. Yes, some will become your friends forever – but they are what he calls ‘situationships’.

“You need to spend time building a strong friendship circle even outside of your business or industry and know when the time is right to let some people go,” he said. “Some team members who are not meeting the requirements that should be met, you can’t keep them on just because they’re your friend.”

There’s no denying Australian salons have a unique skillset in comparison to a lot of other countries in the world and it’s embracing these unique strengths and gaining new ideas from other salons that can be key. Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Byron Bay and Noosa – each EdwardsAndCo salon has its unique success and atmosphere. Despite these differences there’s no denying the mothership salon remains as Sydney’s Crown Street salon.

“It’s the busiest salon we have – it’s crazy busy in there but that’s what I love. It’s not for everyone but I feed on that energy.”

The Crown Street salon continues to see upwards of 300 clients a week. It has become the headquarters even though Kippax Street was the first salon, with Kippax Street being much less chaotic and fast-paced. The Fortitude Valley salon is in a premium location and still stands as one of the most aesthetically pleasing salons of the group.

“Brisbane has really moved ahead in recent years and, now being my hometown, my aim is to spend more time there, stop traveling as much and spend more time educating my salon teams,” he said. “Brisbane is without a doubt going to catch up to Crown Street in the next few years – I think Brisbane has more opportunity than any other city in Australia at the moment, you just have to see how it’s growing. People need to tap into that.”

The new Prahran salon is one of the company’s largest to date, with 306 SQM of salon space that adds to EdwardsAndCo’s significant Melbourne presence.

“I opened my first Melbourne CBD salon more than eight years ago, then my Fitzroy salon in 2019, so the time felt right to finally bring the EdwardsAndCo brand to Melbourne’s South,” Jaye said.

Having rarely aligned to brands beyond his own, Jaye’s partnership with O&M comes from a mutual appreciation of the people around him and the values of a brand that wants to see others succeed and improve their lives.

“I love working for Jose [Bryce Smith] because she believes in people. She wants people to be their best. Apart from the money and the success she just wants everyone to share success,” Jaye said.

In terms of where he sees the biggest growth potential in the next few years, Jaye believes hair extension services show the biggest opportunity for his business. He cites American salons that see over 80 per cent hair extension clients and envisions that potential at home as well. In general, Jaye will go into his next decade of EdwardsAndCo with a focus on internal growth.

“For 2023 my last trip ends in October – I really want to focus on my own salons and not be stretched across as many education classes, as much as they are very rewarding,” he said. “I put so much knowledge and effort into other markets and salons but it’s my name on the door, I’ve realised I want to be more present and help my entire team do better. I can also really see how extensions will continue to transform our businesses. I’m really excited to work with Jadore Hair Extensions in this growth period for us.”

Who would have thought anyone would be able to do ten salons in ten years? Well here and now it’s been done and, despite the current challenging business environment, the salons continue to grow and are led by vision. A vision of a man who is prepared to take risks, put his money where his mouth is, continually evolve and who is willing to make mistakes to learn.

“I truly never imagined EdwardsAndCo would grow into the business that it is today. It honestly blows my mind to think that we did this. I’m often told, like so many other business owners I’m sure, that my expectations are too high or that my dreams are unreasonable,” Jaye said.

“The truth is that my name might be on the door, but none of what has been achieved is possible without every single person, past or presently engaged or employed. I might have the dreams, but my team are the ones that bring them to life. Everyone knows that having a business is a roller coaster, the lows are extremely low and the highs make you feel invincible. One thing I can say is that it’s allowed me to experience intense loyalty that I didn’t know existed,” he continued.

Jaye has always invested in marketing with his PR agent Billy Daniels, something he credits as pivotal to his trajectory. “Billy, thank you for making sure no one ever forgets my name, putting on the best events and for being my hype girl always and agreeing with me even when I know I’m wrong,” he said.

Just like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket, Jaye continues to take everyone with him on his journey of success, admitting that nothing will ever replace the time we invest in our people. With 140 staff and counting, let’s see what the next ten unfolds.

“This milestone isn’t just about ten years of EdwardsAndCo, it’s about ten years of growth, tears and happiness, but most of all being proud and grateful,” Jaye said.

For more information visit www.edwardsandco.com.au

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