20 Minutes With TOM WHITE

A ‘hub for the good’ is how Salon Owner ‘Tom White’ describes his new salon, Same Same But Different. There are three main issues in the world that have been talked about for a long time says Tom, but really haven’t seen any true progression... Equality, Diversity and Sustainability.

Hair Biz Editor Louise May had an absolute blast catching up with Tom, to get a little more up close and personal and to find out what was the inspiration behind creating his amazing new salon space.

Tell us what you do in the industry today

Founder and Director of Same Same But Different Salon, International Ambassador and Educator for evo and I’m also a co-founder of a new initiative alongside the AHC called Pathway Connect which is a blueprint created for hairdressers to find and access different parts of the industry.

To help us get to know you a little more, would you share a little about your upbringing?

I’m one of two children. My Dad and Mum are both retired, but my dad used to run the Circulation Department for one of the country’s biggest Newspapers and my Mum was a Support Worker for women who suffered from Family Violence. 2 intense roles, for different reasons. I grew up in a small town near Wolverhampton in England. I got myself into heaps of trouble, I just loved to rebel. There is something about ‘rules’ that I just don’t understand. There are so many of them that get in the way of progression, that when I was a kid, I would break them to see what would happen. I went to a nice school, I got good grades, I was academic, but ultimately hated the education system and didn’t feel like it served me properly and couldn’t wait to get out of it!

How did you first get involved in the industry?

Once I left school and I realised I wasn’t going to be a footballer, I bounced around jobs not knowing what I wanted to do. I tried sales, retail, more sales….then a mate of mine introduced me to hairdressing. Now, I’ve never been creative at all, I’m way more analytical, but I saw opportunity in the industry. This became more apparent every day after I started my apprenticeship at 20 years old. I found that you could reverse engineer a lot of it and be ‘creative’ that way. Once I had done 3 months in a salon, I was addicted to the people, the work, the craft. I Never looked back.

What achievement are you most proud of in your life or career?

There are a couple! First of all, my wife. Actually, getting her to agree to marry me and then her turning up on the day is my greatest ever achievement! Lou is the reason I get out of bed in the morning and the most important part of my life, she has taught me what I can be and given me the belief to go and get shit done. Professionally….winning the awards is great, but it has to be Same Same But Different Salon. It’s the baby I’ve always had in the back of my head, and now is the right time to launch it.

Three things you’re passionate about: -

Teaching people that the only thing holding them back is themselves. We are all capable of the unthinkable, but too many let the naysayers get the best of their plans and ambitions. - Spreading the message of equality and diversity and how essential it is to the progression of the human race. - My crew, whether that’s my wife, my family, my team and helping as many of them get to live their individual dreams.

Describe your ideal Sunday

Not nursing a hangover because this ‘getting older’ shit is killing me! Walking my pup GiGi with Lou, getting coffee and breakfast, then spending the next couple of hours persuading Lou to let me watch all the NRL that day. Love a Sunday!

What’s on your bucket list?

3 more salons in particular locations. A honeymoon when Covid decides to piss off. As many kids as we can have, and skydiving, which probably won’t happen because I’m terrified of the thought of it.

Craziest, funniest, or most unusual thing you’ve ever done?

Funniest was working with the crew at Lil Off the Top. I had some of the best years of my life around that crew! Craziest would be the life I’m living now with the new salon and managing that through Covid and lockdowns. While it’s the craziest it’s also the most enjoyable time in my life. Most unusual……too many stories to tell and none of them you could publish. ha-ha!

What’s something interesting or quirky we might not know about you?

My wife makes me sit down to wee because, apparently, my aim is shocking. I haven’t done a stand up wee for years.

Pets or no pets & if so, what/who?

My pup GiGi. She’s a Shih Tzu x Pomeranian. The best dog in the world. I love that scruffy bag of fluff like you would not believe!

What’s playing on your Spotify right now?

I’m a rock fan. I listen mostly to the same 6-7 albums constantly. It drives Lou insane when we are in my car. Sometimes I’ll get nostalgic and rip a bit of Craig David.

If you could leave this industry having achieved just one thing, what would that legacy be?

Leaving the industry better off than when I entered it. It’s really that simple. That’s why I’ve created the 4 brand pillars, Honesty, Creativity, Diversity and Community, and that is why Same Same But Different was established.

Tell us about those Brand Pillars, what they represent and why are they so important?

Every move and all decisions are dictated by our brand pillars. If an idea doesn’t contribute to making the world better or people’s lives better, we just simply won’t do it. The pillars a great reminder every day that we are fighting to help the industry progress.HONESTY - it’s about simply that. Being honest with our guests, our colleagues and more importantly ourselves. Being that open, that you understand your own flaws and are humble enough to accept and improve. Being honest with our sustainability, showing how we help the environment and holding all companies accountable to their sustainable pledges.

CREATIVITY – We are always aiming to reinvent or create. Not just hair but creativity within our lives. It’s about self-expression and constantly evolving, always aiming to be your best. Finding new ways to move forward and never fearing the unknown.

DIVERSITY – We care for everyone and anyone, we don’t judge, and we promote equality. Everyone deserves to be loved upon and cared for no matter their race or gender. For some reason there are still people out there that don’t get this, so we are here to scream and shout about the social injustices experienced within our nation, but also promoting the beauty of a multicultural society and that love is love!!

COMMUNITY – we are here to serve and lead our community. Hairdressing salons used to be the pillar of the community, and that has been lost. Well, we are bringing that back. We have committed to promote local business’, support, and advertise local business’ and help our guests get their business’ out there and connect them with like-minded salon guests.We are also collaborating with local artists and giving them our space for free to advertise their art. This will be covering all aspects of art.

Singing, painters, indigenous artists, literally anyone can use our space. Giving each artist a platform to get their work out there without having to outlay cash for a site or venue to exhibit. We are connecting with the entire community and bringing people together.Our mission with these brand pillars is to tackle all issues head on and we plan on making some big noise about it. These are some of the things we implemented straight away. Everyone pays the same price at SSBD, because we believe you shouldn’t get a discount because you have a penis. Everyone should be charged and treated equally. We have created a safe space where you don’t have to pick from a hair menu based on your gender or what you identify as. #HairHasNoGenderNearly 65% of the Australian population have some form of curly hair and currently nearly 2% of the population identify as African Australian, which will continue to grow over the forthcoming years, yet a disproportionate number of hairdressers can’t do curly, or specifically, afro hair in this country. It isn’t taught at TAFE and isn’t regarded as a necessity. This is bullshit and it needs to change! We are, as a team, attentively learning all things curl and afro. You shouldn’t be rejected from a salon nor feel anxious visiting a hairdresser because of your hair type, due to the hairdresser not being educated in that field. Diversity and equality should and will be the backbone of any business and our industry should be at the forefront of that!We only stock product companies that are sustainable. We use an incredible high performing, botanical colour, from an Australian, family-owned company in evo. It’s the only colour in the world to have delivered a high spec complete performance colour without the nasties. We also stock their styling products and home haircare, no chemicals, vegan, cruelty free. We also stock Davines, an Italian and family-owned company, which commit to reforestation programs, coral reef planting here in Australia, food foundations, less plastic in their bottles, reusable conditioner, and mask containers as well as a sustainable magazine to show the incredible contribution the company has to the preservation of our planet. They are legally registered as a sustainable company by being recognised as a B Company.

We use a recycling company called Waste Free Systems. Australian owned company that has a vast experience in their field. Because of them, over 90% of everything we use is recycled or repurposed and we are working on the rest.We are supporting local; all our beers are from Burnley Brewery. The wine is from AGlassOf which is an Australian company celebrating indie winemakers. They come in single serve pouches with the winemakers name and region on. We are doing everything we can to support as many local business’ as possible.My colleagues are the most important entity in my professional life. So, I have decided to only open 4 days a week, Tuesday – Friday, and give everyone a long weekend every weekend. Business wise, people say it doesn’t make sense, but I challenge everyone to explore the option. I did all my P and L’s for each individual day; Saturday’s aren’t as profitable as our other days. That alongside 2 key indicators below, are the reasons why it was a no brainer. (And for the record, out of the 180+ regular clients we had on Saturday….only 4 couldn’t move to another day or time moving forward.)

1) we want to support the local arts as much as possible. So, on Saturdays we will opening our salon up and offering the space for free to local artists of any kind to exhibit or show their talents.

2) I want the employees to have a great life. A happy work life balance. Hairdressing is renowned for anti-social work hours. Well, this changes that, and we can still service all our guests due to 3 late nights on Tues Wed Thurs and shutting at 6pm on a Friday. We need more young people entering the industry, they want freedom to live their lives. This goes a long way to offering that!

ONCE I HAD DONE 3 MONTHS IN A SALON, I WAS ADDICTED TO THE PEOPLE, THE WORK, THE CRAFT. I NEVER LOOKED BACK