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Sara Jade

@iamsarajade

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followers

2713

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Salon owner. Rule breaker
Not here to make you comfortable
Founder SJ+Co
Where the old rules don’t apply
Northcote
Melbourne
🖤

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Someone asked me what phrase from the hairdressing industry I’d happily never hear again.

Mine isn’t a phrase. It’s an expectation.
The expectation that you’ll give your time, skills, creativity or expertise for free because it’s “a great opportunity.”

I’ve collaborated my whole career. I still do.
Some of my favourite work has come from saying yes to the right people, for the right reasons.

That’s the difference. I chose it.
Real collaboration is an exchange. Both sides bring something. Both sides walk away with something.

What gives me the ick is the assumption that I owe it.
I’ve spent most of my life behind the chair. I know what it takes to get good at this. The education. The practice. The mistakes. The money. The years of refining your craft when no one is watching.

To the younger hairdressers: your time has value. Your skills have value.
You can be generous and still expect to be paid.
Being good at what you do doesn’t mean you owe it to anyone for free.
SJ x

#HairdressingIndustry #KnowYourWorth #HairdresserLife #WomenInHair #SalonBusiness taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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2 days ago

Last week Kérastase invited me to the NGV for Power Talks with Adwoa Aboah. I extended the invitation to Elle, who runs her own business within mine. Sharing nights like this with the women I work beside matters to me.

Adwoa has built a career on refusing to be just a face. Model. Activist. Founder of Gurls Talk. Mother. Every role grounded in one thing. Truth.

I sat there beside Elle, a mother of two girls, thinking about my own daughter. About the conversations I never had at her age, and the ones I’m determined she will. About raising girls who never shrink themselves to fit a room.

That’s what I want SJ+Co to be. A space where women are seen, heard and allowed to take up room. Where they build something of their own. The colour is the craft. The conversation is the point.

I came home energised. Clearer. Reminded why I do this.

Thank you @kerastase_official and @ngvmelbourne for having me.

SJ x taken in SJ&Co by @iamsarajade

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6 days ago

To the hairdresser who gave it everything today and is completely wiped out.

Times are hard right now. Books are quieter. Clients are stretching appointments. Some days I wonder if it’s enough.

So I keep going back to why I picked up scissors at 14. It was never about the money. It was the moment someone looks in the mirror and softens. They recognise themselves again.

That moment still happens in your chair every day. And it’s all because of you. Seems like a pretty great career if you ask me.

SJ x
  #SJandCoAU #MelbourneSalon #NorthcoteHair #6amSalon #MelbourneHair taken in SJ&Co by @iamsarajade

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7 days ago

I picked up the scissors at 14.
(In hindsight, someone’s ear was at risk, training came later.)
I didn’t know what I was walking into.

Nobody told me I’d need to be stronger than the work itself.
Nobody told me to stand up for my worth before someone else decided it for me.
Nobody told me to reinvest in myself, not just the business.

So I learnt it the long way.
Every lesson cost me something.

If you’re at the start, or somewhere in the messy middle, this one’s for you.
You don’t have to wait as long as I did.

What would you tell your younger self?

I’d love to read it below.

SJ x

#sarajade #womeninbusiness #lessonslearnt #hairdresserlife #femalefounder businessmindset taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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10 days ago

I hired someone because she needed a job.
Not because I needed her.

She knew it. So did I.

I felt sorry for her, so I never held her to anything. She took the piss. Slowly at first. Then not slowly at all. Late. Distracted. Doing the bare minimum while I quietly picked up everything she dropped.

I saw it. I let it run anyway.
Because firing someone who needed the job felt cruel. And I didn’t have the spine for it yet.

It cost me money. Plenty of it.
That’s not the part that still sits with me

It cost me the respect of my team. Every person on that floor could see exactly what was happening. They were waiting for me to do something.
I didn’t.

I’ll happily talk about the client who ghosted. The quiet Tuesday. The colour that went sideways.
I’ve never talked about the hire I made out of guilt. Or what it cost me to keep her.

Until now.

I don’t think I’m the only one.

What did it cost you to keep someone you should have let go?

SJ x

#SalonOwner #SalonLeadership #HairIndustry #SalonBusiness #SalonLife taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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12 days ago

I never stopped loving hair.
But there have been times everything around it sucked the fun out of it.
Smiling through a colour correction while doing the mental math on whether this month covers rent.
Nodding along in a consult while your body is already tired from the client before, and the one after.
It’s easy to think, maybe I just don’t love this anymore.

But sometimes it’s not the hair.
It’s everything you’ve asked yourself to carry alongside it.
That’s worth looking at.
SJ x

#ComingSoon taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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18 days ago

So rich in life, never taking a single bit of it for granted

📍 Northcote | Early appointments. Effortless hair. | SJ+Co | sjandco.com.au

#SJandCoAU #MelbourneSalon #NorthcoteHair #6amSalon #MelbourneHair RichInLife GratefulForThis taken in SJ&Co by @iamsarajade

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22 days ago

I’m done playing it safe.

For me, that’s never really been fear. It’s been being mindful of hurting people’s feelings over my own.

But I’ve spent 30+ years in this industry, and I’ve watched too many talented people burn out chasing a version of success that was never built for them.

That’s what I’m building for. Something for hair professionals who’ve built a lot but feel like something’s missing.

It’s not a course. It’s not a hustle. It’s something slower, calmer, and more honest than anything I’ve built before.

Some days it feels uncomfortable. Most of us know that feeling, the one where you’d rather sit in it than spend another year wondering what if.

31 years in, and I feel like I’m only just getting started. If you’ve felt it too, this is your sign.

🖤

#hairdresser #salonlife #hairstylist #hairdressing #womeninbusiness taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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a month ago

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23 days ago

Years in my chair. One honest answer.

“You tell me if I’m heading in the right direction or the wrong one.”

I’ll always tell you the truth about your hair. That’s why they stay.

📍 SJ+Co, Northcote | from 6am | laptop-friendly | sjandco.com.au
🖤 taken in SJ&Co by @iamsarajade

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18 days ago

What makes you happy?

My = Family, salt water + slow mornings + 🎶 taken in Sundays Beach Club by @iamsarajade

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24 days ago

I read recently that confidence is a skill, and it hit home.

Because when I look back over 30+ years in hair, I don’t think I became confident and then made the big decisions.

I made the decisions, and somewhere along the way, the confidence caught up.

I’ve opened doors I wasn’t completely ready to walk through. Changed my mind about things I once believed wholeheartedly.

Made mistakes
Changed business models
Started again (many times)

Let go of versions of success that didn’t fit anymore.
Every time I did, I gave myself another little piece of evidence,

You’ll work it out.
That’s probably the confidence I trust most now.
Not the loud, fearless kind.

The kind that says, I’ve never done this before, but I’ve done enough hard things to trust myself with whatever comes next.

And right now, I’m doing that again.
There’s something I’m building that brings together everything this industry has taught me.

It scares me a little.
Which, if history is anything to go by, is probably a very good sign. 🖤

#HairdressingIndustry #SalonOwner #WomenInHair #HairLeadership #SelfLeadership taken in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia by @iamsarajade

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20 days ago