The Blonde Cartel

Owners Giorgia Floyd and Brittany Glover have created their brandnew boutique hair salon located on Collaroy’s beaches, dedicated to creating effortless lived-in hair. Inspired from the natural elements in the Mediterranean, guests instantly feel at ease during their visits.

GIORGIA Colour Director/Co-Founder started her career in Hairdressing at the age of 15, working at a well-known salon on the Northern Beaches as an assistant. Having grown up in the area, she feels at home in Collaroy. She is wise beyond her years with extensive knowledge and a calming nature getting great satisfaction at the final reveal of the colour to her guests. “That instant happiness they get and mood elevation is like nothing else,” she says. “I absolutely love seeing everyone I look after walk out with a smile on their face”

BRITTANY Colour Director/Co-Founder started her career in 2014 in Wollongong, initially not wanting to be a hairdresser but after being guided by a family member she soon discovered that whilst she didn’t mind the trade, she was bloody good at it. Britt relocated to Parkes for a year, soon ending up on the Northern Beaches. She has been building her career here and developing a loyal client base over the last few years that followed her wherever she went. Her fave thing to do is help her clients create their hair goals from colour to cut and she loves the process from start to finish!

How did you come to be in business together?

We both met working together at a salon near Manly (NSW) a few years ago, during that time we found ourselves to have very similar morals and values in both work and personal life.. we are both dedicated to our education and personal growth and we discovered in each other that we had a passion for creating a positive atmosphere and being able to make our clients feel we genuinely care; our clients are more like friends. We have always prided ourselves on making our clients feel unique. So, we talked, and we decided to bite the bullet and go out on our own. It all happened so fast, we had a vision but honestly had no idea how we were going to pull it together, we literally started from nothing, two 20 something year old blonde girls who decided to give salon business a crack. We’re so proud of how far we have come over the last 12 months.

What made you open the salon?

To be honest, it was always a dream to have our own business and be in control of our own success. We believed that we were moving into that next stage of our lives and careers and we need to progress. We needed to be in control of the look and the vibe we wanted to deliver to our clients. I believe we were just lucky enough to have found each other at the right time.

What challenges did you encounter in the opening of the salon mid pandemic and how did you overcome them?

The Blonde Cartel was born in March 2021, mid Pandemic. Scary time to open a new business. Both of us always had a vision of the space we wanted to create for our clients and our staff. We were extremely lucky that both our partners are Tradies and Giorgia’s mum “Kaz”, having previously run business’s, was extremely helpful in getting us organised. When the pandemic hit for the second time, we knew it had the potential will ruin us, but like most business owners in tough times, we knew we had to adapt and we still managed to grow. The Pandemic relief package was a game changer for us and without that, our dream could have died in months.

You have grown quickly in that time; did you find it difficult finding staff and what strategies did you use to attract them?

We have been so lucky with staff, it started off just the 2 of us and now we have grown to 7, we are looking to put on another apprentice and another senior. Considering the nationwide shortage of hairdressers, we do consider ourselves fortunate but we’ve worked hard on creating a positive work environment where communication lines are open to all. We have a workspace where everyone gets along, and I’m not just saying that, we generally are all friends and often go for a night out together. We have chosen to be very selective with who we hire, they must be able in fit into the salon environment that we have created. We would rather work harder and longer than employ the wrong personality into our team. There is no point hiring one person and losing two through a personality clash We’ve heard lately a lot of salon owners saying that all their staff have left to go work from home to make more money. While the money may be slightly better, due to lower overheads, you miss out on that team banter, the togetherness and all the education and career growth that comes with a salon environment. Being lonely at home isn’t for us, we pay our girls well as it reflects the hard hours and beautiful results, they deliver for us and their clients. the less is more look. Our beautiful friend Jesse is an Interior Designer, she was a massive help in delivering our vision. She took us shopping and she worked with our mood boards and visions, and she would basically say yes or no. Our Favourite part of the salon is the front desk area, it’s the focus of all our client photoshoots. We went to great lengths to source our pendants and our handy carpenter made our Moroccan tile front desk from scratch.

Who do you partner with in terms of supplies and why?

We are currently in partnership with Conceptual Brands. We met our rep, Nic Sargisson, last year when we were opening the doors of the Cartel. He genuinely cared about our business, he wanted us to be successful, he has a caring nature about him in general. Nic has had over 20 years in the industry, we knew we could trust him. Sarah-jane the milk_shake technician is a world of knowledge and she is someone we know we can contact at any time, should we need her assistance on anything from colour formulas to product knowledge. There were many reasons we decided to partner with Conceptual brands and Milk_shake, the coverage of their creative permanent colour was amazing, and the shine delivered by the new Gloss acid semi colours were exactly what we required to grow with the ever-evolving trends of our industry. The Smoothies Demi developer comes out looking and smelling like a smooth moisturiser, and our client’s hair really reflects this after a colour service, we are completely in love with the brand! On any given day, whenever we are washing hair at the basin, we are regularly asked by our clients “what is that scent” they can’t stop raving about how lovely it smells. Milk_shake makes home care recommendation and retail easy. We also stock foil-me foil, olaplex, and unite.

You are Sydney milk_shake ambassadors, how did this come about and what do you love about the brand?

Our understanding of why we were approached by conceptual brands was because similarities we have in our values. We are very conscious of the environment, we are a sustainable salon, we try and deliver a beautiful healthy-looking result. The milk_shake products make the most of the benefits of nature, to offer dedicated solutions for all hair types. With ingredients of natural origin such as milk and yogurt proteins and fruit extracts to enhance the hair’s natural beauty. It’s clean sustainable nature, cute packaging and powerful formulas were enough to convince us this was a brand we want to be in partnership with.