Turning A Vision Into Reality – Frank Apostolopoulos

Frank Apostolopoulos began his hairdressing career at a young age and with influence and mentorship by Pavlos Divitaris, he instantly fell in love with the craft of cutting, styling and colouring hair.

Frank’s love, passion, and dedication to the art of hairdressing, in addition to his gifted hands, has led him to have a very successful career in business as well as the creative side of the industry thus far.

Throughout his career, Frank has also consistently prioritised nurturing and supporting his colleagues and young hairdressers in their journey. He is passionate about producing highly skilled, and highly motivated artists, and takes it upon himself to raise the standards across the industry. In addition, he is always looking for ways to improve himself.

He finds his own inspiration through travelling, hip-hop music, raw photography, and other elements of life outside of the industry.

Frank and Pavlos share a Biba product line that is sold in all Biba salons nationwide. The products were created to fulfil the need for natural yet effective and restorative products that do not sit on the hair and weigh it down. The products were created with an apothecary concept in mind which is reflective in its smell and the original packaging.

The product formulation has remained consistent over the years, however the packaging evolved into a more streamline design with pops of colour that’s unique to each individual product.

Frank religiously incorporates Biba products into the in salon and at home treatment programs he prescribes for each individual client. Frank has embraced all components of the hair industry over the course of his career from entering and winning multiple hair awards, to Creative Directing a plethora of hair and fashion shoots, to cutting in his salons. He currently spends most of his time seeing clients at Biba Gertrude St, as well as dedicating as much time as possible to building and educating his current team which he feels is one of the most rewarding components of his career. In the foreseeable future, Frank will also resume his travels, to reignite and further embrace his creative fire.

Editor Louise May was excited to be able to chat with Frank recently and ask him about his journey in the hair industry to date.

Tell us a little about your career prior to opening your salon.

I began hairdressing when I was 15 with no hairdressing experience or knowledge. I grew passionate about hairdressing through being around people that lived and breathed all things hair. Their passion was so contagious that it sparked my ongoing love of hair. I then began to take hairdressing very seriously and bought into my first salon at the ripe age of 23.

You expanded your brand by developing your own line of Haircare products, what made you decide to formulate your own brand? And how has that impacted your business?

I got inspired by developing products that represented the core values of the Biba Brand with an authentic feel for wash and wear hair. I wanted to make products that don’t coat the hair with silicones and other artificial ingredients, I prefer to feel and work with the natural hair in its most natural state. The products have created a cult following of clients who want to embrace all elements of the Biba Brand they trust with their hair services.

Was business ownership always a priority for you?

Yes, I really thrive in environments where I can freely express my creativity. What better place to do that than in your own business!?

Share with us some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the journey and how you overcame these/ What’s the most challenging aspect?

The most challenging aspect of my journey is my desire to keep the brand relevant, whilst staying true to my values and personal taste. As the industry evolves, it is an absolute priority that both the staff and clients genuinely understand that delivering naturally beautiful wash and wear hair, is far more important to me than getting fancy with trends.

Who were your industry heroes in your early years and who inspires you today?

Paul Divitaris, the founder of Biba was my very first boss and mentor and is therefore someone that I have looked up to from the very beginning of my hairdressing career. Paul introduced me to the Vidal Sassoon philosophy which was a major influence in the development of my personal cutting and colouring style. Another one of my big industry heroes is Eugene Souleiman. Until this very day, a large deal of my creative inspiration comes from him. and clients. My overall hair philosophy is to create wash and wear hair, that does not need to be excessively styled on a daily basis and for it to look captivating. The standard I expect of my staff is to be technically capable of understanding how to turn a vision into a result that the salons clients are satisfied with. I thoroughly enjoy the process of getting everyone on the same page, so these results are effortlessly achieved with every single client.

What do you feel is so unique about the Biba Brand?

Biba has always based itself on precision cutting and colouring and allowing clients to easily maintain their hair between salon visits. Biba salons prioritise clients’ individual needs and always placing suitability to the individual.

What specific qualities or characteristics do you look for when selecting potential staff for your salons?

I look for people that are ambitious, humble in nature, willing to learn regardless of the stage of their career they are in, who work well in a team, are open minded and have the ability to deal with a variety of different people.

Share with us your philosophies around staff selection and development. How do you find, keep, and grow high performing staff?

We keep and grow high performing staff by prioritising quality training, both in groups and one on one. This develops the technical ability of our staff as well as builds team spirit and community amongst the staff. Our training style is unique in the way it caters to the individual. We recognise where each individual hairdressers’ strengths and weaknesses lie and tailoring their education program to their needs.

What are your secrets for building a happy and high performing team?

Treating the staff with genuine respect and providing them with support in every stage of their career. I believe that having happy and fulfilled staff is one of the utmost important parts of any business. Happy staff equals happy clients.

What are your secrets to juggling the demands of running a busy salon and large team?

I believe the key to running a busy salon and large team lies in the team culture as they need to feel like they can rely on one another throughout the day, and their overall time within the company. It is important that nobody feels alone in juggling a full column of clients and that everybody receives support from all angles.

What has been your greatest lesson or piece of advice along your business journey?

To prioritise ongoing growth and never become complacent. The moment one stops striving for better, is the moment growth is capped.

What advice would you give others who dream of building an impactful brand?

Identify exactly what it is you believe in and never letting anything, or anyone lead you astray from your core values. It is often very easy to get influenced by external factors and lose sight of why you started in the first place.

What’s on the agenda for the future?

I really hope to be able resume my travels soon, alongside continuing to build the business and in salon team. I source almost all my creative inspiration from my travels, different cultures, food and architecture and fashion around the world.