BLOG SPOT. By Gary Latham

IT TAKES A VILLAGE

Forgive me if it seems I’m going off the topic of hair for a bit but please bear with me as I think its worth it. As I write this NSW has just gone into lockdown, Delta style. It has been a rough year globally, in Victoria especially Covid has been a real bitch.

What makes it interesting is its reaching everyone in some way, like the weather it is something we all have in common. The constant buzz of Covid is in all our lives. When will it end? You would think that’s enough bad stuff for one year and everything else should be good news, but life goes on just like before. Staff are still taking sickies, clients still no showing and seniors are hard to find. It’s more stress on top of the Covid buzz. I’ve seen the extra strain impact on staff, clients and friends.

There is a bright side to adversity though and I have seen the best come out in people this year. Two things guaranteed to make a committed team player are knowing they won’t make it on their own and others won’t make it without them. I am always surprised when young staff refuse help in their goals as they want to say they did it all themselves. I got news for them, no one does it on their own. Life is tough enough, take whatever help you can get. It doesn’t stop you working as hard as you can on top of that. There is often more joy in others success than in your own, don’t take that from someone who wants to help you. well and truly fell into it by accident. If you had have told a young me and my friends I’d end up in hairdressing we would have laughed you out of town. I’m so glad I did fall into this special place.

It’s no secret I’ve been living with Parkinson’s Disease since 2012. Recently I reached the point where the amount of medication I needed to control my symptoms produced too many side effects. My meds were reduced and as a result I experienced more “off’ times. The solution is a Deep Brain Stimulation surgery which stops my tremor and reduces the amount of medication I need. The procedure and recovery despite having top medical cover would leave me needing to find a large chunk of cash. As I will be awake during the operation, I did consider buying a drill and doing it myself! (joking). That’s where the wonderful hairdressing community comes in. Sharon Blain and Elli Julia organised a Gofundme page as suggested by the Neurologist. I did suggest to him it should be called a Gofundhim page. The money was unbelievably raised in 48 hours. Dollars aside the amazing support I received across the Hairdressing community was an amazing tonic and one I will always be indebted to. What makes this such a special band I asked myself and I think the answer can be found in the last issue of Hair Biz. More precisely in the story regarding families in Hairdressing. As a collective of small businesses, the family is at the heart of hairdressing. Even some of the biggest names like Toni and Guy where a band of brothers and the likes of De Lorenzo and Davines are family businesses. Closer to home my business partner Phil Cordony is a secondgeneration hair entrepreneur. His father Louis Cordony OAM an Italian street sweeper in Paris who took up hairdressing before emmigrating to Australia. Employing his brothers who all Francocised their names to appear French rather then Italian. In true hairdresser style Louis married his apprentice and built a fortysalon business. I know far too many wonderful hair families to name and like many other businesses Jayne and I have always tried to treat Wild Life as a family. Only trouble is you can’t sack family!

So, in closing I would like to thank the hairdressing community for all its heartfelt support and for just being you.