To the Letter of the Laure with Rex A.C. Silver

Laure Faddoul knew at an early age it was always going to be hair. School didn’t tick all the boxes for her and at 15, as soon as she could leave school, a career in hair began and there was no looking back. Now leasing space in a ćhic Melbourne salon, Laure has built herself an enormous following of clients and a massive Insta audience just shy of 30k.

Her work is super clean and on point, her customer service is good ol’ fashioned and her approach to business as a solo operator leasing space in an established salon is super successful for her. She will soon be offering education in order to assist others in the industry to grow.

Let’s start at the beginning, tell us about your hair journey… So, I literally always knew I was going to do hair, I naturally had a knack for it and would spend my recess and lunch breaks in primary school doing girls hair. I found it so much fun. Once I was able to leave school, I began my apprenticeship and luckily ended up with a boss who threw me right in the deep end, which challenged me and taught me to trust myself. Due to a shoulder injury I eventually had to quit hairdressing, and for a year I worked in an office and hated every second of it. I missed hair. Thankfully this was around the time barbershops were becoming more mainstream and my brother who is also a barber, helped me get my foot in the door. This was a way for me to keep doing hair without having to lift my shoulders the way I did with long hair. Entering the barbering world was a game changer for me, I felt like I found my place in the industry. It hasn’t been easy, but I really do think we have the most fun job in the world. We cut, we banter, we create looks. We give people confidence and that’s what I love most about it.

Barbering presents such a procedural approach to the craft of hairdressing; your work is so precise and clean and the attention to detail is remarkable. Can you tell us more about this? It was never a conscious decision to make attention to detail my point of difference, it just naturally happened because I’m such a harsh critic when it

comes to my own work. As all barbers would know, to be a profitable employee you need to be doing 3 fades an hour. So, my bosses would often tell me to go faster but I didn’t listen to be honest (sorry if any are reading this.) I never cared about being the fastest, I cared about the client being happy with the finished result. The thought of someone not liking what I’d done would keep me up at night, literally. So, I took my time, knowing I’d be better for it, rather than taking shortcuts and developing bad habits.

How has this transferred to the ‘service’ you offer your guests? Firstly, I start every appointment with a chat, I ask questions, which in my first couple of years some clients would complain about but again, I didn’t listen, what mattered was making sure I always got it right. I make sure my client and I have the same image in our heads before I start. A service isn’t finished for me until I’ve cleaned the neck, made sure there’s no hair left above the ears, trimmed the brows, if need be, and cleaned up any hair below the beard line. It’s these little things that clients really notice and appreciate, so I book myself some extra time to do so. Working this way has helped me attract the right clientele for me, I think by now people know not to come to me if you just want a quick cut.

Tell us how colouring has changed the scope of your services and added another layer to your creativity in the process. Incorporating colour into my barbering career was one of the best things I ever did and is now my favourite aspect of it. I really appreciate the science behind the colouring process and love being able to get creative with it and transform my clients’ appearances so drastically. It has also kept me engaged in my work as doing fade after fade can get repetitive, colours break up my week.

You have started to educate now with one-on-one tuition and small classes, tell us all about that. For the last few years, I’ve been getting requests for education and initially planned on kicking it off in 2020 but of course the pandemic happened and living in Melbourne, things went on a lengthy pause due to lockdowns. I offer 1:1 training for hairdressers looking to transition into barbering, this is a great way to build confidence around fading and learn how to navigate a career in a male dominant industry. I also offer hands on workshops or look and learn nights for salons wanting to upskill their staff.

What products do you use, love and on sell to your guests? I love any products that create texture! Matte pastes, sea salt sprays and powder are my favourites!

What tools do you choose to use? I’m unbiased and use machines of all brands. I have so many clippers but my top 3 go-tos at the moment are Wahl Seniors, BaByliss Skeleton Trimmer and the Silver Bullet Foiler.

And finally, what’s next for Laure? For now, I will continue to lease the space I have and will start to focus more on building the education side up and am currently looking for the perfect studio space to do the classes from. I also am working on an education program to assist solo operators in running themselves as a business, and leasing space in established salons and barber shops, especially hairdressers that want to cross over to barbering.

@laure.barbery