Hair Royalty

By Louise May

Royals Hair first opened in 2007 in Castle Hill in Sydney and at the time owners Mary and Adam Alamine were among the youngest local business owners. Both Mary and Adam came from families that owned businesses including restaurants, jewellery stores and hair salons so you could say that business ownership was in their DNA.

“To be honest, we really didn’t know what we were doing when we first started,” says Mary. “We were just young and stupidly courageous, so we dived in headfirst. The reason we succeeded was because we kept evolving and improving. We knew if we kept at it and didn’t give up, we would eventually get it right…or kind of right lol.

We’re still learning and improving, and I think that’s a never-ending process. As all business owners know, it comes with a lot of rewards and challenges and there are moments you question whether it’s worth it. The key for us was to continuously adapt while keeping our focus of our vision. We also knew that we needed like-minded people around us that also had passion, resilience, and a desire to grow. We’re very proud to say they we have so many team members that have been with us for over a decade, and they have personally achieved so much while being a part of the team at Royals”

Editor Louise May caught up with Mary recently to chat about the Royals Brand, The Royals Academy and what is on offer for our industry.

How many salons do you have now? Are there plans for more?

There are currently 4 Royals locations covering Sydney’s Northwest (Hills District), Sydney’s North Shore and The Northern Beaches plus the Academy in Castle Hill. At the moment we are looking at other business ventures that would complement our salons but for the time being we’ve put a pause on opening further locations until the skills shortage situation improves a little bit.

When did you open your Academy and what inspired you to create it?

The Academy opened a few years ago and exists as a separate business to provide education to hairdressers and members of the Royals team. As an apprentice I invested so much of my own money into educating myself and attending courses outside of the salon that I used to work in. I knew that I wanted to strive to be the best at my craft so when we opened the first salon, I knew that education was going to be the foundation of Royals. I wanted to share my knowledge and experiences with my team, and I felt greatly rewarded seeing them grow and develop their skills.

We designed the workshops based on what was in demand and a necessity to maintain a high standard in the salon. I had attended so many classes and when I started educating for companies, I could see what hairdressers really enjoyed and what they didn’t. I knew that my workshops had to have an easy and simple approach and teach skills that were relevant while still giving hairdressers that creative edge they are hungry for.

I wanted students to walk away and be able to use what they’ve learnt at our academy, on their salon floor instantly. I also knew it had to be inspiring and creative at the same time. We realised straight away that most salons needed practical education that provided real results that they could immediately see on the salon floor.

After developing our workshops and calendar we decided to open it up to salons and their teams that were interested in up-skilling. Coming from a background of education in the hairdressing industry and from working on the salon floor, running my own salons, winning creative hair competitions, Directing hair at Sydney and New York Fashion Week, and working on editorial shoots I could really say I’ve done it all.

It gave me a lot of insight into what makes all the different hairdressers tick and gave me the skills to understand and be able to bring out the best in people.

What training do you offer through the Academy. Let’s delve into some of the courses.

Our classes are all bespoke and are designed with an easy approach so that the hairdresser can walk away and be able to utilise their new set of skills immediately on the salon floor. Over a decade of educating, I have seen what works and what doesn’t, and our approach gives the hairdresser the skills and teaches them the techniques they need to create any colour, cut, or style their clients are after.

The techniques they learn allow them to have the ability to incorporate that with what they know and give it their own twist. It’s important for us to keep up with the trends and also predict future trends so our hairdressers know exactly what their clients want before they even walk into the salon. This has been key to our success.

Examples of our classes include Balayage Masterclass, Cutting Vol 1, 2 and 3, Tape Hair Extensions, Styling, Consultations, Bridal Hair & Make Up, Men’s cutting and of course a Social Media Workshop is incorporated in all the hands-on classes.

We will be offering a look and learn component to most of our classes for those that love to just come along and watch. We are so excited to be offering some new classes with new techniques and trends to share. We will be releasing all our dates shortly so stay tuned!

Is the Academy designed to train, educate, and grow your own stylists or open to anyone to visit and gain industry knowledge and upskilling?

The academy is open to anyone to visit. We release a calendar each year in January, and we run courses throughout most of the year. Hairdressers from across Australia can book in and come to our courses.

You can enquire online or email academy@royalshair.com.au We are so excited to share our latest calendar for 2023. Stay tuned for all the details and some of our guest artists.

What certification do you give for those completing your training?

We’re not an RTO so while our certificates are not officially recognised, our courses are carefully designed to cater to hairdressers, salon owners and their real needs. We don’t design courses to sell products or promote anything. Each student receives a certificate after completing each workshop that they can add to their portfolio. What’s important to us is what each hairdresser gets out of each class and giving them the tools to use this on the salon floor.

Tell us about your Royals Awards platform, what inspired you to create your own internal Awards, and how does the process work with criteria, judging etc?

We designed the awards to create a platform where we could recognize and show appreciation to our talent. The team love it and it’s an excuse to have a party. What’s not to love? This year we had it around Halloween and decided it would be vampire themed. It was a lot of fun and we got to thank and reward people who worked their butts off in 2022. It’s always a fun night and a great excuse to dress up and party with our team.

We always try and do something a bit different each year and make it a fun and special night for our team. This year we had sparklers, awesome prizes by O&M, ghd, Kevin Murphy and Eleven. We also had a DJ and not to mention great food! Definitely a night to remember.

Royals offers an extremely attractive Career path with potential to partner with you in new locations as you have already done. How did this come about and what do you look for in potential business partners?

The most important thing we look for in a team member is a great attitude and vibe. Most of the times you spend more time with your team than you do with your own family and basically your team ends up being like your family which is how we see it. If a member of our team are interested in a partnership, there is definitely a process that we follow.

Business ownership is not easy. We never sugar coat it. It has great rewards, but it also has its challenges, so we always look for honest, trustworthy leaders who possess great people skills while also being immensely resilient.

Usually, we would’ve worked with them for years, so we know them quite well by the time we become business partners. It’s sometimes funny when I think about some of the reasons, I wanted to start my own salon. I used to think I want to dictate my own hours and have the flexibility, so I opened a salon and now I feel like I work 24/7 lol. It’s not unusual for me to send emails at midnight or be planning our next marketing campaign on a Sunday. Worked out exactly as I planned ha-ha.

I guess the real reward is building something of your own and elevating others to succeed, not just yourself. That’s the real reward.

How important are industry awards and competitions to Royals such as AHIA Creative and Business as well as Hot Shots.

The AHIA Awards and Hot Shots have been instrumental in developing some of the Royals staff’s careers but as you know even, I learned a lot and greatly enjoyed being a Hot Shot, State and Australian Salon of the year Winner as well as a finalist for Australian Hairdresser Of The Year not to mention the huge marketing benefits associated with winning a category in the prestigious AHIA Awards. It was one of the biggest highlights of my career and really shaped me as a hairdresser as well as the salons.

Where do you see the business heading in the next 5-10 years?

We’re hoping the skills shortage will begin to ease which will potentially allow for further expansion. We do have some ventures that we’re working on but it’s all hush hush at the moment. When we get closer to fruition Hair Biz will be the first to know.