SESSION STYLING
By Louise May
Proudly established in 2017 by Angelo Palumberi, Salon Sessions fast established a strong reputation for quality colour work and styling, keratin treatments and extension transformations. This success saw the salon recently outgrow its original location in Westfield Hurstville and make the move to a brand new home in the heart of Hurstville. The new salon design is an Instagram dream, with soft curves and cutouts, fresh white walls and natural light giving it a cool and minimal Mediterranean aesthetic. Angelo and his talented team are well known for their color work, made famous for the salon’s lightening and balayage expertise on Asian and European hair types they call the ‘Sessions Signature’. Aligning with Goldwell brings this color creativity to a new level, opening up a new world of color opportunities – from Goldwell’s core Topchic and Colorance lines through to the new LightDimensions Lightening portfolio, powered by unsurpassed technologies and the highest standards to deliver the fastests and clearest result for the perfect blonde. Angelo sees his partnership with Goldwell as intrinsic to the Salon Sessions business commenting, “Color is a major part of our business and I wanted to partner with the front runners. Goldwell’s innovation makes our work easy, they are the magic behind our brand. The Goldwell range is perfect from beginning to end, from the professional colour to take home hair care.” “Goldwell is thrilled to welcome Angelo and his brand new Salon Sessions location to the Kao Salon family,” said Rita Marcon, General Manager, ANZ Kao Salon Division. “Our relationship with Salon Sessions has always been a strong one and we’ve long recognised Angelo’s talent for expert colour work when it comes to lightening even the darkest hair. This brand new salon and location presents an exciting new future for Salon Sessions and we look forward to a longstanding partnership.” Salon Sessions has a ‘real people, real hair’ culture which Palumberi says aligns well with Kao. “The Kao team have supported me with education, sales support and have provided me with opportunities 46
Hair Biz Year 16 Issue 4
that support our salon. As our salon culture is ‘real people’ it really feels in sync with the Kao team. I value that I can always be my authentic self with the Kao team.” Says Angelo.
HAIR BIZ EDITOR LOUISE MAY CHATS WITH CO-OWNER ANGELO PALUMBERI How did you end up in hairdressing? Can you please tell us your background and career path?
I saw hairdressing as a fun and cool job when I finished school so thought I would try it until I figured out what I wanted to do. It was fun, working with young teams it was fast paced but relaxed. The years have gone by, and I never thought I would still be here 14 years later. I was lucky enough to work with such a great boss Elio Nappa who I am still very good friends with and still get lectured by him to this day, I worked with him for 10 years managing different salons and seeing how the business works. Until I bought his Hurstville salon with his son Anthony, rebranding it to Salon Sessions.
You established Salon Sessions in 2017, can you tell us what your biggest challenges have been establishing and navigating the business?
It was such a nerve-racking change, as I had to step out of my comfort zone and take this leap of faith into rebranding such an established salon. The biggest challenge was the rebranding of the salon, creating a new salon aura and ensuring we created a space that is unique to the salon team’s talent but also making sure all our clients
felt comfortable and not feeling like it was a completely different salon. I guess there will always be challenges in business and there is something new every day, but I knew as soon as I opened the business, that I needed a bigger and more empowered space for our clients to come and feel the ‘sessions’ experience and my ultimate goal was to move the salon.
Do you each have your specialist areas of expertise?
Each team member does have their own expertise, whether its extensions, a sharp blunt bob, or a killer blow wave but we do get all of the heat for our balayage’s! If I have to be specific, we specialise in creating bright, blonde results on Asian and European hair types. We call it the session signature.
