Meet the 2022/23 Hotshots Team - HAYLEY WARNER

Hayley Warner’s hairdressing journey started 13 years ago where, if she’s honest, wasn’t at the top of her list of career choices. Her passion grew after a long 5-year apprenticeship and after another 2 years of finding her feet in the industry.

Hayley started working at Oscar Oscar Salons. Since then, she has ventured far beyond where she could have ever imagined, doing things she didn’t even know she would love, by stepping outside of her comfort zone and finding her passion. Hayley has been a trainer in-salon for the last 7 years, which also led her to the Oscar Oscar Academy where she had the pleasure of training their entire apprenticeship team in QLD alongside other educators in the company and Education leader Adam Mcintosh!

Hayley won a trip to Las Vegas for the Redken Symposium, assisted Jacky Chan on his photoshoot, co-hosted a colour course for her OO Qld team and now she is a Salon Partner at her Carindale Salon with expansion happening in the near future to Manly, Brisbane!

Hair Biz Editor Louise May chats with Hayley about her journey, being a Hot Shot winner and future plans, and threw in a few fun questions to finish!

What made you want to be a hairdresser?

My passion grew over time for this industry, so my response to this question is based around what made me stay as a hairdresser. It started as making people happy, achieving results for them that they didn’t think possible. The wow factor when they see their hair for the first time. This feeling is unmatched, however, for me, it wasn’t enough.

Looking outside the dayto-day salon culture, I started paying attention to other ways I could be inspired, and this led me to picking up magazines and being in awe of editorials, magazines and competitions and thinking I wanted to do that too! I am a hugely competitive person so to strive for wins inside the salon with incentives, delivering guest expectations and entering national competitions has 100% kept me inspired and driven both personally and professionally.

What kind of hair work is your favourite and why?

Colour!! More specifically, lived in blondes, Brondes, balayage. Beautiful Seamless colouring. I also love a challenge and so working with different techniques and sectioning patterns helps add to the interest of doing it. Most recently however, working on photoshoots with wigs and extensions has been a super fun and new experience that I’m excited to keep delving into! The people and different talents you meet in this side of the industry is truly incredible.

How do you manage life and work balance?

Ha-ha, The best I can!!! I have always lived a fast-paced lifestyle, so I am used to constantly being on the ‘go’. I forget things really easily, so I need to write everything down and have a bit of a schedule. Prioritising most things in a realistic order and keeping focused on what I want to get out of each and every day, but then also not being too hard on myself if I don’t complete something by a time frame and just adding it to the top of the list for another day.

Who inspires you in the creative field of hairdressing and why?

I am inspired by so many creative hairdressers, but I think the standouts for me are Natalie Anne, she has created an amazing brand and you can always tell when you see a picture that’s hers floating around social media. Her work is fashion forward and polished and she’s a successful businesswoman! Many things I aspire to accomplish in my career.

Kobe Bokshish, because I was blown away by how he took over online education during Covid and strived to keep hairdressers and young apprentices motivated! Paul Graham, I am obsessed with his 2021 Avant garde collection, and it has made me want to upskill my editorial game. Lastly, Chris Appleton, because who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by some queens such as J-Lo and Kim K.

If you could spend a day with anyone from a business or lifestyle mentorship perspective, who would it be and why?

Omg there’s so many! Oprah Winfrey, Steven Bartlett, Lisa Nichols, Grant Cardone, Brené brown. Each of them offer valuable insight and advice on achieving success and reaching personal and professional goals. The qualities they possess as a collective would be incredibly inspiring and motivational towards becoming not only an amazing leader and successful businesswoman but also, living life with purpose and intention! To hang out with them for a day would be a dream!

How important are competitions and awards to you?

Awards and competitions are important to me because they give me an opportunity to showcase my skills and talents in the most artistic and creative way. Stepping outside my comfort zone from commercial and the daily ‘norm’ hair.

It’s incredible to see how fashion and hair come together to create these insane looks that you just think “how did they do that!?” Or “what made them think to do that, or put that there, or use that material?” I am really only just scratching the surface to this side of the industry and now it has opened this door for me being on the hotshots team, I am so honoured to be a part of it. This is only the beginning!

Can you tell us a little about what you are most looking forward to being a member of the Hot Shots team?

To be honest, I had no expectations of what I would get out of this opportunity, but from already connecting with the girls and chatting to Linda and Louise about what’s to come I am just super excited and grateful to have been given this opportunity. I’m going to absorb every bit of learning that I can, I’m looking forward to building lifelong relationships with my fellow team members and connecting with some of the greatest artists in the industry.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?

Growing our team and expanding our salon network to more locations is at the top of my list of things I want to achieve. Along the way, I’d like to win a few more awards but see fellow team members up for more awards and taking them out as well.

My career is no longer just about me! I love teaching so I want to continue to educate and share everything I’ve learnt and things I am learning along the way! I am super passionate about travelling, so having structured classes I can travel with would be a dream come true, in all aspects of business and hair!

FUN SNAPSHOT

Worst fashion moment

One of the girls at work had a fun hens party at holey moley where we had to dress up at golfers. My outfit was from lifeline and did not look “cute”

Worst hair day

Freshly washed hair

Fave destination

Las Vegas!!

Fave drink

Seltzers or fruity cocktails

If you weren’t a hairdresser, you would be a…

An actress or a makeup artist!