5th Birthday Blog
As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun…and we cannot believe it’s been five years since Salon Yazbek opened its doors! What a wonderful journey for us that’s been blessed with great clients, some cool milestones and the fantastic support of the lower north shore community. Thank you to everyone who has become part of the Salon Yazbek family, we couldn’t have done it without you! We thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane to see how far we’ve come and share with you some of our highlights…
2010
April
After seven years as a professional hairdresser working for a number of award-winning salons, Nathan decides to take the plunge and go out on his own.
Following extensive research, a rundown salon on Neutral Bay’s busy Military Road is purchased and undergoes a massive renovation to transform it into cool and sophisticated eco-haven for Sydney’s lower north shore dwellers.
July
Salon Yazbek opens its doors, taking Neutral Bay by storm and attracting a bevy of new clients. It exceeds budgeted financial figures within the first few months, much to the relief of Nathan’s bank manager!
September
To celebrate the opening of Salon Yazbek, the team roll out the red carpet and invite local movers and shakers, family and friends to join the festivities and welcome SY to the neighbourhood. We have officially arrived!
2012
March
Salon Yazbek wins the Australian Small Business Champion Awards 2012 in the category of ‘Best New Business’. Yay us!
April
Salon Yazbek creates a photographic entry for the Aveda Colour Harmony Awards…and Kristin Harvey wins the People’s Choice trophy for her peacock-inspired image. Go Kristin!
July
By stocking the entire range of Aveda products including makeup and skin, Salon Yazbek becomes the lower north shore’s first Aveda Concept Salon. We also begin filming our first series of YouTube demo film clips, offering tip and tricks for our clients to ensure their hair is in top shape outside the salon.
2013
January
In line with our commitment to the environment, we switch our hot water and laundry over to natural gas, allowing a cleaner more sustainable source of energy to rule the salon!
June
Salon Yazbek’s third Aveda Colour Harmony photographic collection gets through to the finals. Woohoo!
August
Nathan commences his journey of becoming an Aveda Certified Educator and travels to Melbourne for intense training with Aveda’s amazing global artistic directors from America.
September
The entire Aveda global network team visit Sydney and swing by Neutral Bay to check out the salon, reinforcing their support for Salon Yazbek and further cementing our great relationship…(we must have impressed them!)
October
Nathan travels to Minneapolis for Aveda Congress, a massive US hair event that more than 5,000 global hairdressers attend. And he gets to work alongside Aveda Global Artistic Director Alan Ruiz on the huge Saturday night show (amazing) plus visits the Aveda manufacturing plant and Institute.
2014
February
Nathan puts his teacher hat back on and spends a week in Melbourne to complete the second stage of his Aveda Certified Educator qualifications.
April
Nathan creates a beautiful photographic entry for the Hair Expo Australian Hairdressing Awards based on a futuristic utopian metropolis. The collection is well received and earns him much recognition in the category of ‘Emerging Hairdresser of the Year’. The team also join Aveda’s annual Walk for Water fundraising event, walking around Cremorne Point to raise funds for clean water in underprivileged communities.
July
Salon Yazbek teams up with Oz Harvest to prepare and cook a hot BBQ brekky for 50+ homeless and disadvantaged men, women and children in the Redfern area. It was a very humbling and also rewarding opportunity to give back to the community.
September
Nathan co-facilitates his first class as an Aveda Certified Educator, teaching haircuts from the Aveda 2014 Autumn collection to a group of 15 salons from around Sydney. Go Nathan!
November
And the awards just keep coming…Salon Yazbek picks up the 2014 North Shore Local Business Awards for Best Salon. Double woohoo!
December
The infamous Salon Yazbek Christmas party goes off with a bang. Twas a merry night of bubblies, Aveda goodness and the signature SY awesomeness. Our motto? Merry Christmas to all and to all have good hair!
2015
February
Salon Yazbek receives Silver Accreditation from the Australian Hairdressing Council for commitment to good business ethics, sound business practice, quality client service, training, fair employment practices and environmental sustainability. Snap!
March
We decide that since our client makeovers are so good we should share them with the world, so we start our series of Make Me Over blogs, where we post a ‘before and after’ story online with matching pics to show off our handiwork. These are so well received we get new and current clients coming to the salon asking for some of our featured looks!
April
Nathan enters another killer collection for the Hair Expo Australian Hairdressing Awards in the Emerging Hairdresser of the Year category, this time influenced by his passion for all things Art Deco. It’s dark, sophisticated and very chic.
May
Salon Yazbek receives some great editorial coverage from hair industry online magazine Styleicons, plus a huge story in our local newspaper The Mosman Daily. Thanks for your support guys!
July
Salon Yazbek reaches its milestone of five years in business. “Its been such an amazing journey, I cant believe we are 5 years old, I mean, I could've had a baby in the meantime! HA! In all honesty, I am so lucky to have an amazing team and great clients and a beautiful space to work in. I couldn’t ask for more. Thank you to the local community of Neutral Bay, I can only promise to bring another amazing 5 years of hairdressing and can’t wait for the journey ahead.”