Deadly Hair Dude

BY LOUISE MAY

After commencing his hairdressing Apprenticeship in Darwin 1980, and qualifying in 1984. Gary Strachan opened his first salon and has been self-employed ever since.

In 2002 Gary decided to give something back to society, to fight for people who could not defend themselves, to fight for injustice. He believed the best way to do this was to study Law, hence completing his law degree in 2007. Earning large sums of money was not his ambition, so he commenced employment at Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission.

Gary quickly realised that the legal system was about dealing with the aftermath of events, it did not address the root cause of why people were offending in the first place. He saw the same clients regularly; some were arrested on fresh charges on the very day he defended them on other charges. Gary was determined to think of a way to break the cycle of criminality. Gary decided to join his legal skills with his hairdressing skills and assist young people in Youth Detention Centres and adult offenders in prison.

He noticed Judges speaking about rehabilitation for people who had committed crimes. However, in his experience he realised prisoners incarcerated served their time without learning any new skills while in custody. Gary believes if education and training was not undertaken while in prison, upon their release they would go back to what they know, criminal activity.

Gary decided to design a hairdressing training program for people while in custody. Once he commenced the training program, he realised a holistic approach was necessary. It would be pointless to provide a trade qualification if there was nowhere for the ex-prisoner to work.

There is a huge demand for qualified hairdresser tradespersons. Of the approximately 76 remote Northern Territory communities and multiple Indigenous homelands none to Gary’s knowledge had a working hairdressing salon for Indigenous people.

A high proportion of in-mates in prison were of Indigenous decent, so it made sense to tailor the program to cater for Indigenous and special needs people. Deadly Hair Dude commenced operations In Darwin, in August 2020 after years of preparation. The Deadly Hair Dude program is a not for profit Indigenous and special needs training program. Deadly travels to remote communities to teach local Indigenous people how to cut, colour, and style hair.

Since commencement in 2020, DHD has conducted training in 30 communities, engaged 28 trainees, who have undertaken more than 6000 cuts and 4000 colours. Training has taken place in remote communities, youth detention centres, bail houses, youth outreach facilities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres, and youth diversion programs.

Over the past two years, three trainees have completed their certificate II in hairdressing and all three have gone on to commence their hairdressing trade certificate III. This is a significant achievement, since these students have come from disadvantaged and low socio-economic backgrounds, have low numeracy and literacy skills, and in some cases, are also challenged with learning disabilities. Not only have students learned new skills, but this has also led to increased confidence, self-belief, and self-esteem. These students have also become role models for other Indigenous trainees.

Over the past two years, these students have achieved incredible success. This is despite many personal and socioeconomic challenges they have had to overcome, including learning disabilities, loss of family members, poverty, poor health, mental health issues, and physical or sexual abuse.

DHD has recently entered into a partnership with Charles Darwin University. The willingness with which CDU has joined forces with DHD not only provides evidence of the incredible work being undertaken by DHD, but also is testament to the professionalism, expertise, support, and performance of DHD in remote areas.

Australia will provide opportunities that remote Indigenous persons have never had prior to DHD commencing operations. Using the “I do, We do, You do” teaching methodology, which has been especially designed for Indigenous students, which sees them cutting and colouring hair from day one. This program will provide students with a hairdressing certificate that enables them to service the grooming needs of their community within 12 months for ladies hairdressing and 6 months for barbering.

DHD recently entered into a partnership with the Barkly Regional Council to provide training to Elliott. This initiative aims to generate economic development in the region. It has been well-recognised that DHD provides a significant opportunity for training that will provide meaningful employment for Indigenous people in remote communities. The Barkly regional Council has indicated an interest in rolling out the DHD program to all Barkly communities once the pilot program is successful.

To support access to remote communities and to maximise the training experience for trainees, DHD is in the process of applying for a specially fitted out truck, which will increase accessibility to communities during the year. This will also enable training to be conducted in communities that do not have access to a salon. DHD has also applied for funding to support Gary to complete his pilot’s licence, therefore decreasing wait times in airports and to maximise on ground training.

While the initial focus of the program was hairdressing training, DHD is working to establish local hairdressing salons within communities, offering to provide ongoing administrative and business support. This will ensure long-term sustainability of the business, and therefore, ongoing employment opportunities for people in these communities. DHD intention is to support the establishment of other microbusinesses, driving economic development in remote communities. This will support long-term employment and socio-economic outcomes.

DHD has also commenced working with the Commonwealth and NT Governments to develop a horticultural program. DHD goal is to provide food security and to deliver market gardens in remote Indigenous communities. Having access to fresh fruit and vegetables is rare, given the time and distance that these perishables take to arrive in communities. The cost of fresh fruit and vegetables are out of reach for most local Indigenous community members living on Centrelink benefits. Through this new program, Indigenous trainees will learn skills in horticulture that will aid them for rest of their life. There are plans for further expansion into other industries and areas. To support this expansion, DHD has purchased an industrial shed in Coconut Grove from a grant obtained through the Aboriginal Benefits Account (ABA). This will enable Darwin-based drug and alcohol programs, youth suicide programs, those currently residing at Don Dale Youth Detention Centre to learn a trade, so they can change their life trajectory and gain meaningful employment upon release.

Louise May chatted with Gary about his journey with Deadly Hair Dude, and what it took to get it off the ground and what he has come to learn during the process.

What were those early days like, trying to get the project off the ground?

Early days were tough- the public, remote community organisations, and government liked the idea of having hairdressing salons in the communities but was unwilling to support financially a concept that had no proven track record. It was unclear if remote Indigenous people would be interested in having their hair done since they have never had access to the service before. It was clear for DHD to commence operations funding would need to come from DHD Director. This was a test to see how much confidence I had in my idea that I had to put 100k of my money in to commence operations.

What have you learned about people during this experience?

I have learnt that there are people who will try and encourage and dis-courage you from achieving your goal. My advice is to continue to put 100 percent effort into your project if you believe in what you are doing as is for the good of people.

What is the most moving or rewarding thing about what you do?

The most rewarding part of DHD is to see students with little education achieve their dream of becoming a hairdresser learning new skills. To see the look of delight on remote clients face when they receive their new look is priceless. For most of them they have never received a professional hairdressing service before (even though they maybe 50-60 years old).

What can our industry do to help?

The industry can help by sharing our social media posts and raising awareness of what DHD is doing. The Industry could also assist by advertising for qualified hairdressers to join with us to expand DHD reach nationally.