The number of hair salons is decreasing in all markets except for Australia. Conor James Doyle, Industry Educator, Content Creator, and Olaplex Artist, shares his view on the current development.
– What is happening is a lot of people are going freelance, so I think it’s not so much a case of working against that. Instead, try to maintain and build community within the industry. It’s about leaning into the fact that salons are changing – not necessarily going away, but making sure that we still maintain that sense of community.
Because the number of hairdressers is still the same, so, apparently, they seem to go on their own.
– Yes, there is still a little bit of a dip in apprenticeship. But an important part of education is showcasing the opportunities that we have in hairdressing. That’s also a part of our job as educators; not just to show how to fix colour, but also to explain all the amazing things that we can do in the industry.
And more in general, what are the keys for brands and educators like you to create relevant education in 2026?
– I think it’s really important to have independent educators working for brands who don’t have any conflicting interests. We are also on the floor, working with the community, in the salon, and listening on a ground level to what issues people are having. With brands focusing and investing in educators that come from that angle, we’re more relatable, we solve more problems that people are having in the salon and not just what the brands want them to use their ingredients for.
You also have a significant social media presence. What are the dos and don’ts, and good advice for professionals using it?
– I have a mixed relationship with social media. It’s challenging. My one don’t is not to ever compare oneself. It doesn’t matter if they’ve got 100,000, 200,000, a million followers; they’re always thinking of the people above them, asking, “How are they doing that?” Once they have a clear message, once they’re really sure if they’re trying to speak to clients, to other professionals, or to the brands, and they perfect their tone of voice, to become authentic, that will come through.
– It’s also about not being afraid to just throw a lot of stuff at the wall. The only way they’ll grow on social media is to post quite frequently. I don’t believe in every day, five times a day, but not being afraid to just have an idea and share it. If they share 10 things, one of them is probably going to work, and then they just repeat that, keep doing that until they refine their tone of voice.
Learning by failing.
– Exactly. I have videos that I’ve done with millions of views, and I have videos that I had to take down because they had got one single view, or so. It’s just part of it.
Apparently, Meta now wants us to publish Carousels instead of Reels.
– They say Meta wants us to do this and that. I think it’s down to what fits you. I think people are fatigued with videos. They are fatigued with being blasted in the brain with so much information. At the same time, we’re seeing the rise of things like Reddit and Substack. I’m thinking the reason Carousels are doing well is that people have a chance to slow down, just read them, and consume information at their own pace instead of somebody screaming at them in a 30-second clip.
And you’ve mentioned in other forums that you’re shy and an introvert. Isn’t this problematic for you, then, being on stage? Or has it helped you?
– It’s funny. I can hop on stage and talk to a room of, in some cases, up to a thousand people. But I would find that it’s a struggle to walk into a party with 10 people that I don’t know. I think hairdressing in general gives you a really good ability to put on that extra front. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy it. I do. But how I maintain that and look after it myself is that I just have to make sure I’ve got downtime. I’ve got to prioritise it just as much as I do with work, food, and sleep. I need to make sure I have it – and I think a lot of hairdressers can benefit from that.
And being an introvert, you’re showing that if you can go up on stage and give of yourself, anybody else can.
– Exactly. It’s just a skill like anything else. And I can be the most antisocial person in the world. I really do not want to do these things. But I think, like with anything, when you just figure out like what your angle is, it’s just a skill you’ve got to work on.
There’s no lack of challenges for hairdressers and salons. What’s your view on the industry that you’re a part of? And what do you think is going to happen?
– I think independence is becoming really big in the industry, Doyle shares. People coming up with their own products, people going freelance, people making little studios. I think they are moving into a lot more different kinds of ventures. However, I also see a lot of people going into those places and realising how hard it is. So, I actually predict we’re going to see more people going back to salons. We’re going to see some kind of hybrid business models, because a lot of people are drawn to freelance or business ventures because of the capital, and the money seems more. But I do think there’s going to have to be a halfway point.
– Basically, to pull it back in, I think we’re going to need to go back to the community a bit more. We’re going to need to look at how we can work together both independently as a team as well, because I think it’s very hard. It’s a lot harder than people realise.
And if more and more people create their own ventures, we’re going to have such a fragmented landscape, right? Which we already have, don’t you think?
– Yeah. I think the one thing I’ll say, though, is that sometimes, disruption is good. A fragmented landscape is good because anything that stays the same doesn’t progress. There is going to be loads of challenges in our industry. There always will. But I’m always very curious about those challenges. What is happening?
– Covid, for example, decimated us all. But for a lot of us, it provided really good opportunities in how we reach people online and new ways of how we can do our consultations, and how we can talk with clients. If we can survive that, I think any kind of challenges facing the industry are always solvable.
And such challenges can create opportunities as well, right?
– Yes. Just look at myself. I’m technically a product of Covid. I had to ask myself, how can I reach people online? My income was decimated because all my events were cancelled, all my education was cancelled, and all my clients were cancelled. And just through community and reaching out to people across the world, now I’ve travelled everywhere. And obviously, COVID sucked, but what challenges can show is also that there’s an opportunity there somewhere.
And this new landscape that you predict, a more hybrid one, will that affect education in any way?
– Potentially. It could be better because I think people are quite afraid to go to class by themselves. I know somebody I worked completely independently for a while, doing clients just by myself without even any other hairdressers around, and it isolates you. Whereas I think if people go into these more hybrid spaces and community spaces, they stay in touch. They’re in Facebook groups, they’re on Instagram, and they’re more likely to show up to classes. We’ve seen a huge surge of people going back to events versus online, so I think that’s indicative of that.
Which can be beneficial for you?
– It can. As much as I love being able to do it from the comfort of my own home, people want to be back and do community and see things in the flesh again.
In contrast to what you have described as the social media hurricane.
– Exactly, Doyle agrees.
