A creative hairdressing career

Sam Millard is a stylist at Peter Prosser Hairdressing in Hereford and is passionate about his hairdressing career and the breadth of opportunity it offers. What would you say to someone who doesn’t see hairdressing as a long-term career? I would say so long as you have a passion and commitment for hairdressing then continue with it.  There are so many possibilities, opportunities and paths you can choose from, whether you want to teach hairdressing do creative or session work or run a successful salon column, you can carve out a very strong career path if you are prepared to put the ground work in and grow as you learn. How did you enter hairdressing and what was the attraction for you? I always wanted to be a hairdresser since I can remember I love fashion and creativity and there’s plenty of opportunity in the industry to combine all three loves and play with creativity.  I began aged 15 working after school and at weekends in a local salon and started my apprenticeship at 16. What were your first impressions of the industry and the possibilities open to you? I loved the buzz of being in a busy salon and meeting new people all the time.  Watching and learning from my peers allowed me to see the different paths I could choose from and I wanted to learn everything. How did your career progress? I began with my apprenticeship over 3 years and started doing competition work whilst training. I built up a salon column whilst completing my training and was on the salon floor full time soon after. How did you start to work towards achieving your goals? Having qualified I felt to achieve my goals I needed to work in a city so I moved to London.  I worked for an established company and did as much stylist training as possible and entered any competitions that I could do.  I also did a lot of photographic work for myself as I love that area of hairdressing the most.  My aim was to get onto an art team which would then lead on to more creative opportunities. What advice would you offer someone looking to carve a long-tern, exciting career in hairdressing? Learn from your mistakes, get back up and try again when you get knocked back and believe in yourself.  Someone told me “you’re only as good as your last haircut” and it’s a good motto to believe .  Watch and learn and be open to all opportunities. What have been your career highlight to date? Reaching the grand finals for Wella Trend Vision, styling hair for London Fashion Week,  and presenting on stage at Salon International. Producing a photographic shoot for HJ’s British Hairdressing Awards for the Artistic Team category was also a career milestone for me.