Gavin & Ella McIntyre embarked on their dream of opening their own salon in 2015 – the year G&E McIntyre‘s was born. Ella began her career in the hair industry back in 2007 as a Saturday girl, a year later Gavin’s career started as an apprentice. Whilst Ella started straight from school, Gavin’s hairdressing career started a little later, after leaving a career in the performing arts at the age of 21. After qualifying in 2009, the pair started building a very successful client base as well as achieving multiple award wins. They even landed placements on national teams like Schwarzkopf Young Artistic Team, Project X and a much coveted position on the F.A.M.E team was awarded to Gavin in 2017, a career highlight to date.
The mission for G&E McIntyre’s was to carve out careers and nurture talent to reach goals, as well as exposing their team to the endless heights our industry has to offer. A devotion to education and development has seen the team grow exponentially since opening and the G&E McIntyres brand becoming more well-known. They are both committed and driven to evolutionise G&E McIntyre’s as a work space environment and a salon environment; and have set a bench mark in modern day employment, to attract new young and exciting talent and nurture them to be the best of the best and surpass those before them.
We’ve had a long chat with Gavin to find out what makes G&E McIntyre’s stand out…
The Planet
We work in partnership with Alfaparf Milano and Nak hair, the two brands provide an in-depth, sustainable and excellent product range to support all hair needs. As most of our technical services involve lightening, we house a number of fantastic lightening and smoothening products to aid our guests aftercare.
The Semi Di Lino Anti Yellow range is a particular highlight from Alfaparf Milano’s portfolio. Boasting a shampoo / conditioner and anti yellow spray which works on keeping any brassy tones away and revitalises and moisturises the hair softening any courseness caused by lightening process.
Blow Dry Cream in Style Stories is also a go-to for eliminating any frizz and supports the structure of the blow dried shape.
For a more robust effect of smoothening the hair, Alfaparf Milano have a fantastic keratin system we use in the salon to support the hair back to prime condition as well as much improved manageability of the hair when it comes to drying, taming and straightening.
Nak hydrate shampoo and conditioner and thermal shield product are fantastic aftercare products and best-sellers for us! Protecting the hair from heat damage as well as aiding smoothening with a de-frizz effect and moisturising properties.
All of our team work closely with Xpert Professional who provide opportunities alongside our stocked products like colour ambassador programmes and after care programmes. Tilly, a Stylist Lin the team is currently a Semi Di Lino aftercare ambassador within the salon, working closely with material provided by Xpert Professional on all the information needed for all the products in the range,
I’ve also been working closely with the Xpert Professional team by visiting Ireland on a monthly basis. I’m working very closely with Alfaparf Milano Global Education Ambassador, Richard Ashforth on updating and re-writing the Next Generation education programme that supports salons across the UK & Ireland on team growth, education within the salon, stylist careers to enhance fundamental techniques and develop all round skills used on the salon floor.
The People
As a salon we operate in a way that is focused around the well-being of our team and our guests. Due to the attentive and supportive nature within the team we have all instilled over time, a focus of care for one another is often the reason for a lot of decisions made when it comes to day to actions within the salon. Because we have focus around sustainability and our efforts at being efficiently better for our planet through waste and the way we work; we have adopted a focused approach to our work life and social life balance. We have also taken on roles amongst each other on the team to do with mental health support and how we support one another if someone is struggling. We feel that with such a focus on these areas we have built a brand and salon environment that everyone within and around us also wants to support as we navigate our working lives.
Myself and Ella have really assessed how we operate within the business in the past two years and areas we can improve and address issues we feel are apparent amongst stylists when it comes to their desire of freedom and financial goals, as well as the education and support they receive from the salon they work at.
It’s why we made a decision to negotiate with a psychologist to visit the salon every month to 2 months for our team to have confidential one to one’s on issues they have privately or at work. We have supported Korey and Salon Host, Julie to become mental health awareness ambassadors within the salon by putting them on in depth courses on why struggles happen and how to help deal with them. Allowing us to take supportive action in the moment with a member of team when they feel they need it. We have seen a huge improvement on sickness in particular since this was brought into action.
We have also seen a small number of new apprentices leave training due to the education and its demands. They feel put under with assessments and gradings, so we felt this was a fantastic way of providing a solution for this also.
For more information on G&E McIntyre’s click HERE. To find out more about Xpert Professional click HERE
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