In 1996 I sat at the kitchen table with my Dad, not knowing what to do with the rest of my life. I came across an ad for first year hairdresser required for a Dundrum salon. I asked Dad what he thought of me becoming a hair dresser. With a slight snigger, followed by a cough, Dad told me to give it a try. Up on till this point I'd been working construction and behind the bar at the weekends, so for me to consider a career in the hairdressing world was going to be a very different path. Herman's Hair-stylist's in the old Dundrum shopping center was the first salon I started out in. A Dutch hairdresser who has several salons and barbers about the city. I was earning £30 per week. £1 each way on the bus, 5 days a week. €10 to my Dad for food and lodgings( he didn't want it, but he thought me a valuable life lesson). So that left me with £10 for the pub at the weekend. My friends at the time lived in Meath so I'd take a bus to the Navan road and hitch a lift to Navan town were I'd join up with them and party. To make an extra few bob. Evening when I wasn't training, I'd pack shelves in Quinnsworth in the Blackrock shopping center. This is were I met the notorious Aidan Fitzgearald. He offered me a job in his salon, to finish my training there and that I did. I was fortunate to get this position as I found myself working with a high caliber of artists. I'd watch intensely every angle and movement of the blades, seeing the transformations unfold before me. Grafting and absorbing all that I saw to my me the artist I am today.
24 years later I sit here writing this in my own business in the sea-side town of Blackrock, Co. Dublin in the beautiful country of Ireland. Blackrock is where I trained, where I began really. A lot has happen of the years to bring me to this point. This is the beginning of the next chapter, the second half the book, the back nine.
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