SCISSOR & STONE

By Louise May

Founded in 2017, Scissor & Stone are well-known, South of the River in Rockingham W.A, for being experts at all things hair and long-lasting colour. Led by Creative Director and Salon Owner, Elle Tumelty, this state-of-the-art salon features all the latest industry tools and leading products, allowing the team at Scissor and Stone to provide the best and most accurate service to every client, every appointment.

Editor Louise May recently caught up with Elle to find out more about her business journey and the Scissor & Stone brand philosophy.

When did your love of Hair begin?

When I was young, I used to go for weekly blowdries because I hated my hair and trying to maintain its course and unruly nature. I just used to absolutely love the feeling of being in a salon and how much better I would feel when I left. As soon as I was able to recognise that I knew I wanted to be able to make others feel the same way and it’s such a privilege to be able to make such a difference in people’s day.

Was business ownership always part of the plan?

Yes and no! I remember when I was doing my apprenticeship, we had to make a dream book for our careers and in mine I included wanting to own my own salon one day. However, after about 5 years in the industry I decided I wanted to take a hiatus and decide if hairdressing was really for me. After a few years I finally decided to return to the craft, but wanted to make sure it was on my own terms, which led me to working for myself and then to opening my own salon six years ago.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of salon ownership?

The most rewarding aspect for me is helping my team grow both personally and professionally and then getting to celebrate all the wins with them. I think it’s super important to help my team develop in both aspects to be their happiest and healthiest selves because it definitely shows in their work. I truly stand by ‘a happy stylist will have the most impactful change in the industry’.

You have an amazing salon business Scissor & Stone. What do you think is the “secret sauce” when it comes to owning and running a successful salon and team?

My secret sauce would definitely be labelled with the word ‘transparency’ as I always encourage open communication within my team. I would also never ask any member of my team to do something that I wouldn’t do myself, I think this is a super important part of owning a business.

I believe the keys to success are transparency, treating people with kindness and how you want to be treated. I have definitely learnt over the years that you never know when you are going to get the opportunity to meet and work with new people, so I really value kindness and having respect for anyone and everyone.

How do you manage the dynamics of such a large team?

The biggest and best gift I can offer my team is my time. I will never be too busy for my team and always make a conscious effort to be their biggest cheerleader. We do a lot of education in the salon which I think is a valuable tool to offer my team, whether it be colour training, cutting training or doing programs like the resilience project.

We also always celebrate the small wins. I know that not everyone remembers their work anniversaries or how long they have been in the salon but there will always be a fresh bouquet of flowers waiting for them to celebrate their anniversary whether it be one year, two years or 5 years and thank them for everything they have done over our time together.

In regard to managing my team, well I definitely do not do this alone! I have a lot of support with management from my salon coordinator, my business coach and I always seek advice from industry friends who I look up to.

What is your philosophy around education and staff development?

I believe that without education everything can become a bit stagnant. It’s really important in an industry that has changing trends that we stay up to date, learn new techniques and just overall develop our skills. You can definitely never stop learning, there will always be something out there for us all to learn and I think that if you went to an education course and learnt one thing, you have still learnt one thing, which is huge development.

As I have mentioned previously, I invest a lot into the personal development of my team. Especially in this industry, there is a huge demographic with team members all being at different stages of life, as I think it’s important to invest time in helping my team navigate through their experiences and what is going on in their lives.

Talk us through your client journey, what makes Scissor & Stone unique to those around you?

In our salon we operate on a one-on-one client basis. Whilst this means we do see a lot less clients a week than other salons (average of 100-120 clients per week), it gives us an edge of offering a more personable experience to the client.

Before commencing colour services with a new client to our salon we always schedule a complimentary consultation that must be completed before an appointment is reserved. For us, this is salon policy and helps us to set realistic expectations for both our stylists and clients, but also ensures that we are avoiding any chemical reactions that may occur during the appointment. To us, it’s all about healthy hair!

What’s the most valuable lesson you have learned along your journey?

Resilience. I am and have always been a perfectionist and since running a business I have learnt that nothing can ever really be perfect and really it shouldn’t be. So, over the last six years learning to be more resilient has been the biggest lesson for me.

What have been some of the best decisions you have made in business?

After COVID lockdowns we came back servicing one on one and haven’t looked back since. Between this and closing Saturdays to operate a 4-day working week have been the best decision for both me and my team.

Two other big things have been investing in education, as we are definitely not the same stylists as we were when we opened six years ago, and investing in people who can help me within the business in areas that aren’t my strengths.

What is your mission, or what have you set out to achieve in your career?

I want to change the stigma around being a hairdresser. I definitely think since I completed my apprenticeship the industry has changed, but I do think there is more we can do to make hairdressing a better career and not be known for terrible pay, working every weekend, or not being treated with respect, because it does not have to be that way.

Due to this stigma, I really think that we are in a dying industry and it’s time to change that to show how amazing a hairdressing career can be! If we create a nice environment for our staff, where everyone is treated fairly and equally, stylists will love what they do more and want to stay in the industry longer, and for those thinking about a hairdressing career, they can be sure it is one that will be successful.

Sustainability is of high importance at Scissor & Stone, can you talk us through how you manage this?

We make sure we have aligned ourselves with brands and companies that are as sustainable as they can be. We work a lot with Sustainable Salons Australia and imply a lot of their practices into our dayto-day running’s of the salon. A huge focus for the team is chemical wastage! When considering sustainability, there are always two choices, you can go with the sustainable option or not. To me, it’s not a hard decision and I can never understand why a salon wouldn’t want to practice sustainability.

What is on the Horizon for Scissor & Stone and for yourself?

For the salon we are excited to be working on our application for the AHIA business awards this year! Over the last year, since our last application, we have been through so much as a salon and have spent a lot of our time focusing on the inner workings of the business, so we are looking forward to showing that in our application!

As for myself, I have partnered with my best friend and Salon Coordinator Lorren Taylor to start a new business called The Bleach Edit, so keep your eyes peeled for that one!

If you had the power to change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

It’s really hard to just choose one thing, there is so much I would change! A few include having a medium price point for salons to base their pricing on as this would help so many salons that don’t charge enough to breakeven and change the perception that everyone is in competition with each other, there is 100% enough clients for all salons, so let’s support each other rather. However, the first and biggest thing I would change is how apprentices are treated.

When we take on apprentices and they are in the early stages of their careers as hairdressers, this is make or break for showing them what our industry is like. I have never been able to understand why we treat apprentices so poorly in comparison to other, higher level, members of our teams. I also believe that apprenticeships need to be restructured to put less pressure on these young stylists to be on the floor with clients sooner than they are ready.