ep94 – Sonya Dove, Sharon Blain, and Candy Shaw

• 4:42 – meeting and bonding over education
• 9:44 – vulnerability and authenticity
• 42:44 – the importance of staying relevant
• 43:14 – honoring industry legends
• 53:32 – the power of mentorship

Complete Transcript

Chris Baran 0:00
How great would it be to get up close and personal with the beauty industry heroes we love and admire and to ask them, How did you learn to do what you do? I’m Chris Baran, a hairstylist and educator for 40 plus years, and I’m inviting all our heroes to chat and share the secrets of their success.

You talk about a triple hitter. I’ve had the distinct pleasure to have done individual podcasts with each of these powerhouse women. Also found out that they were besties, so I thought it’d be fun to get them together and have a glass or two and have a wee chat. One is an Aussie who is an international hairstyling legend and a five time winner of the Hall of Fame Award. And the other is from the US and affectionately called the Balay Lama and founding owner of Sunlights. The third is a Brit who is a Wella top artist, an Intercoiffure Icon Color Award winner and NAHA Master Stylist Award winner. So stand by, because I’ve got all three of them on one podcast. Be prepared to laugh, be intrigued, and be inspired. I know you will be, because I certainly was. So let’s get into this week’s Headcases, and I’ve affectionately named them the three amigas: Sharon Blain, Candy Shaw, and Sonya Dove.

So ladies, welcome to Headcases. And I have to just set this up with the people are listening watching right now is that the the whole premise of this, I’ve had the great opportunity to have a podcast with all three of these, and I believe it was Miss candy Shaw that we were talking about this. And she mentioned that that you guys are the best mates in the world, and we said that it would be the ideal, as if I just said it would be craziness if we didn’t get all these three people talking at the same time. And I said, what better? And unfortunately for Sharon, it’s, it’s at whatever it is, 930 in the morning on Wednesday, and it is it’s five o’clock in the evening on Tuesday for us, but so we have all have a beverage and Sharon, because it’s in the morning, and said, No, we’re bowing out. But I just want to, first of all, toast to three of the most powerhouse powerhouse. This is I’ve only had one sip, by the way.

I just normally slur. So I just want to say we have powerhouse women of our industry and icons in our industry, and also we have ladies here that are also just in this new legends by Mark Woolley. So I just want to propose a little toast here to everybody. Sharon, I mean, you can pretend, etc, but this is to you guys, and it’s super I’m super excited about having you on here. So a little a little toast.

Cheers. Congratulations, ladies, yes. And so I just want to, first of all, I’m really

excited about this, but I want to find out how, not, what drew you guys together, like, how did you guys meet, and what made these three amigas, as I have kind of labeled you as what? How did you guys meet

Sharon Blain 3:26
in education, something I’m

Chris Baran 3:28
all passionate about? Yeah, what was the incident? I mean, yes, I know that, because you guys are all powerhouses in education. But what, like, what was it did you guys went? What was it an event? Was there something you read individually? How did you guys meet hookup in the in the sense of becoming best mates? And what was that about?

Sharon Blain 3:49
Well, I met the two girls in boot camp. Ah, yeah, you know what, New York and Sonya in LA but I’ll never forget when I taught Candy how to do a ponytail, she said to me, she said, that’s worth double the amount, and I’m waiting for the check.

Candy Shaw 4:11
I got news. Sister, it’s not coming,

Chris Baran 4:14
so wait for it. So you guys, so you met individually, right? So Sharon, you met each of them individually. How did the three of you get together then?

Candy Shaw 4:25
Well, sure, right? Yeah,

that that was sort of the, the catalyst. But Sharon’s exactly right. You know, Sonya and I have always respected Sharon so much. She’s the queen. We all know it. No one, no one ever denies it. And I went and took her boot camp, Sharon, I mean, Sonya took her boot camp, and we were fast friends ever since then, Sharon came and taught in my Academy here in Atlanta. And then, you know, we were always in, not always, but a lot of times in New York, together. With Intercoiffure, and that was a big one. And then I came to Australia to teach, and Sharon was there, and I watched her get yet another legendary award. Now, got you her mantle is probably falling off her fireplace right now from all of them, but, but anyway, I think it was just, you know, love at first sight. We just, we, you know, when you meet a powerhouse woman, especially an educator, that is passionate about what they do, it’s just easy to fall in love.

Sharon Blain 5:28
Yeah, I think we just had a common that common thread, wasn’t it? And, I mean, yeah, connection through education, connection through like mindedness. And I think we had the same belief and philosophies, and I think that’s what drew us together, and it’s just been a really lovely synchronized relationship ever since.

Chris Baran 5:49
What would you say that that that synchronicity and synchronicity and philosophy? Like, what would you, you know? What do you what do you guys notice about each other? Like, what was it that you said, Okay, that’s the that’s the quality that I have in me, or that I like, etc, that draws me to that person.

Sonya Dove 6:05
Oh, hard working. Hard working. These two ladies work so hard. They’re not just waiting for things to happen. They just, they’re go getters. And that for me, that was something that I admire about them, but obviously it’s something that I’m like as well. So similarity in that, there’s many,

Candy Shaw 6:27
I mean, well, I think we never took ourselves so seriously that we weren’t full, you know, I think that was a big thing. You know, we all really respected each other’s lanes, you know, had a different philosophy. So it was never, there was never a competition that was never like that. We just were, you know, three broads that, you know, just enjoyed laughing and and were passionate of the industry.

Sharon Blain 6:54
And the thing that I think I love most about the two ladies is that their vulnerability, I mean, to sign up for a boot camp is pretty huge. Because, I mean, it is a real kick in the butt for a lot of people. And the fact that, you know, you’ve got half the T, half the Educate, um, students sort of whinging about doing something, and yet these ladies are there, like, absolutely applying themselves with absolute gustage, or every task is set determined to be, you know, to recreate what they have to recreate without whinging or complaining. And you know, to me, that and the fact that they put themselves out there to attend education, even, as you know, you are so respected with what you do. I think that’s just an incredible thing as well. And I think I’ve always liked to, particularly the those chats with glasses of wine, candies, place, just constantly talking about the industry. You know, I love being able to relate to people that have great, insightful information, but are willing to share it as well. So, you know, I think it’s just that common thread that runs between all of us,

Sonya Dove 8:05
yeah, and just picking up on what Sharon just say, willing to share, that is the both of Sharon and Candy, very authentic, very real, very honest. There’s no there’s nothing hidden. That’s what I love about them. They just say it as it is. And for me, it’s very refreshing, extremely refreshing. And that’s something that draws me to those two as well,

Candy Shaw 8:34
accents too, right?

Chris Baran 8:37
No,

Sharon Blain 8:39
no. I know. I know. I get the Mickey. Take anatomy quite often.

Candy Shaw 8:46
I remember the first time I met Sharon in New York, and I was so wowed by her, of course, who wouldn’t be? And she had been hit by a car, and someone had run over her foot, and she was literally on this boot, you know, the ice machine, and she’s teaching a class. I’m like, I can’t even believe you’re here, you know, trying to do this. And all she kept talking about was her partner and her partner and her partner. And I was like, I did not know Sharon was gay. I I

Speaker 2 9:23
remember Sharon, you don’t they’re not your pop.

Candy Shaw 9:29
Thanks. No, it was just like you had you your your verbiage and our verbiage was different, and I didn’t understand the word and but when I met you, I just was so just an just in awe of a woman who just worked so hard and did not for one second rest. You know, when she had a broken foot, you know, she were broken ankles, she’s out there just. Doing it as if she was super strong, and that was so inspiring to me. And then

Sharon Blain 10:06
I think that’s how life is. I mean, when you committed to something, and I was committed to that class, and I think I got clearance from the doctor just one week prior to leave, because otherwise I wouldn’t have even got any insurance coverage because of the magnitude of the injury that I’d had, but I felt like I can’t get these people down. And I think that’s how you guys are as well. You know, no matter how unwell you are or what, however you feel, you’re not going to let anybody down if, if it’s in, within your power, if it’s up to you, it will happen. And that’s whatever, you know, we sign up for. And I think that’s why we’ve continued, you know, our success over the years, because we’re not willing to let something let us down. We won’t let ourselves down. I think that’s probably more, yeah,

Chris Baran 10:54
you know, I can’t remember who said it. I think it was, I think it was Sonya that said that the other two ladies were go getters and I and I love that expression. And I recently read, I don’t know if you guys have read the book. It’s called go getters and go givers and and it was, it’s a really interesting, very short read. But what would you say? What would you ladies say about being a go giver. What would you say about the other two people on the call here? If, when, what is like? First of all, what do you think it is about that those other your other friends, so Sonya, like for for Sharon or for candy? What would you say that the Go Giver part is about the other two ladies? Yeah?

Sonya Dove 11:43
There’s a lot this could take an hour.

Chris Baran 11:49
Yeah, maybe let me, let me just pause you for there for a second, because I think that it might be a go giver. Like a go getter is somebody that goes out and gets things done, right? But a Go Giver is is somebody that they’re constantly giving and they’re constantly doing something for other people like and that’s the difference between go getter, where it’s something that’s about I got to do things for me, and a Go Giver is about somebody that’s going do things for other people. What do you see in the other two people that really makes them and qualifies them as a go giver.

And anybody can start on that one. Well,

Sharon Blain 12:28
Candy, Candy is just phenomenal. I mean, the fact that she’s three generational hairdresser, just the way she supports her team. Yes, you know, there’s some some goals to be got by giving as well. And we all understand that. I think as we get older, we probably make sure that what we give, it’s not about needing to get something back, but we make sure that we give, that it will be received in a positive way as well. But I love Candy’s ability to do that, you know, the fact that she can motivate these lovely young people, and she probably doesn’t even do it on a you know, because she needs to. It’s just her nature. It’s just her a natural way Candy is. And I look at Sonya, and I think, you know, I the thing I love most about her is, yes, she’s obviously getting back, when she’s standing up, that they’re creating beautiful colors and feeling super satisfied with what she gets, what she’s achieved with her personal ability, but what that gives to everybody else is significant. You know, her ability to showcase some beautiful color work. And you know, Commander stage at this age, you know, ahead of all those other people, I’m watching it on social media, and I’m watching her on stage, and I’m thinking, you know, you’re commanding this audience, and you’re never ages not to find any of us. And I think that’s something that’s pretty unique as well.

Unknown Speaker 13:57
Agree,

Sharon Blain 13:59
we all have our skills, and we all know we’re good at what we do, but it’s how we impact this next generation, and we’re doing that, and I think that’s something that’s, you know, we I’m internally proud of. And obviously you girls would be the one the Sonia,

Sonya Dove 14:15
yeah, and maybe Chris, uh, go get us. When I said they’re go getters, maybe it’s an old fashioned phrase, but I mean the the zest they have in life to just grab life and just do everything they can with it. You know that they’re very positive, very positive. They give a lot to the industry, so maybe is more go giving because now you’ve opened me up to think like maybe go getters is not the right word, but both Sharon and candy, I mean, they could easily just not have to travel and stay at home and just do what they want to do in their own place. Is, but Sharon, she’s literally just got back from doing loads of touring as usual, and her classes were amazing. The same with Candy. So it’s a never ending giving back for us. And I feel like I love to give back, but it’s in a maybe slightly different way to Candy and Sharon, but we’ve all got the same core. We have the same DNA, the core, our core and DNA is that, and it’s and I love face to face. I must admit, I’d like doing virtual, but virtual doesn’t give me back anything to myself that ignites me or inspires me. I find like virtual can be a little bit cold, but that’s because of me and my personality. But I love the face to face interaction, feeling the light bulb go off in people’s minds and things like that. It’s everything. It really is,

Candy Shaw 16:03
enough about both of them. As far as giving, I mean, you’ve said a lot of it about how we give throughout the industry and how we give on stage or in the classroom, but I look at it from a friendship of what you give me is just hope. You know, you give me confidence. You give me the ability to believe in myself. You give me a reason to get up and to continue. You know, you need your own cheerleading squad. And I think you know, as as you rise to the top, so to speak. You know, we’re all humble. Yes, we’ve been there. We’ve done that. We’ve got the t shirt. But really, when you start, you know, the higher you go up, you know, the the your friend group just gets smaller and smaller and smaller is less people you know you can trust. And I think what they give me is that trust. They give me that opportunity to pick up the phone and ask any question or cry on their shoulder. I mean, I’ve, you know, Sonya and I have, literally, you know, sat together and just cried about life and things. They’ve been there for me through pain and suffering, as well as just through happiness and celebration. And so for me, giving what they give is insurmountable. You know, it’s can’t be measured. To have a true friend that will straighten your crown, you know, that will really lean into you when you need it most, and listen with the intent to learn. You know, I’ve learned so much from both of these women, and it’s not technical, It’s spiritual. You know, journeys that they have, have have gone on. I learned through them too. So what they don’t realize is, even I don’t see Sharon all the time, I’m still learning from her. She’s still giving to me, you know, just giving to me because, you know, I want to be, I want to I want to say to myself, if she can do it, I can do it. You know, same with Sonya.

Sharon Blain 18:04
Yeah. I think that’s very interesting, because, you know, I one of the issues, and I’m sure you girls probably think about it a lot, is the age, yeah, and, you know, the longevity in this industry, and you know, you’ve got a lot of young whackers coming up underneath you. And it’s sort of like, am I? Am I done yet? You know, am I too old for this now? And it’s, it’s wonderful and inspiring to see people still at the top of the game in that, you know, sort of more mature generation, and doing it as powerfully and being accepted by the use as being that person they want to reach out to. And I think this has been a very social media has done a huge, you know, it does a lot for us, or it’s and it can act against it. But you know, when someone said to me recently, when you going to stop traveling, when you going to give up all of this, and I’m thinking, you know, I feel like I need to hold the candle still for those mature hairdress It still has so much to offer, and don’t want to give it away. You know, it’s got you’ve got to lead. You’ve got to lead by example. And you know, it’s all well and good. I could just go and grab a wine and hang out with my grandkids. And I love that, and I do that often, but you know, I feel like this generation, we have to pass on our skills. We have to showcase our mastery for the next generation to understand what is truly masterful and what they need to know. And I and only we can do it, because it’s our experience. It’s that we need to hand on to the next generation, not not just not just skillful, but our life’s experiences is what, you know, encourages and makes them better people, and that only makes our industry better. So it’s all about I we all have the our industry at heart. I mean first and foremost, I’m sure you all. Agree, it’s our industry that we we are so passionate about and wanted to be the best it can possibly be. So it’s up to us. If it’s up to us, then it’s up to us to make that happen.

Candy Shaw 20:12
It’s interesting, when my father was retiring after 60 years at the chair, and you know, he said to me, I don’t want to be an old rock and roller playing the same song. And for people wanting me to get off the stage, you know, he said, I want to be a person that when I when I go and when I retire, you know, people don’t want me to do that. And that’s always stuck in the back of my mind. That’s very good how, you know, my dad did a new guest the day he retired at the chair. And you know that that always stuck with me as someone who said, you know, there are people out there that need to step off the stage. No doubt about it, I think what makes our commonality unique is that all of us are willing to pivot, you know. And he would also tell me that this generation, you know, the difference between this generation and us is we will listen to their music, but they won’t listen, you know. And sometimes I think, you know, we’re out to prove that, you know, that we are still relatable. We’re still that wisdom that they need, you know, sometimes the the new generation doesn’t know they need us yet, right? They don’t know. They don’t know. And if we give up on that, you know, then the pendulum is just going to swing the other way. And you know, all of this wisdom is going to be lost. And I think it’s important to tell your listeners, Chris, really that you know if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Yeah. And these we, yeah, we work hard. Yes, we do, but we, we, we love it, we love what we do, and we love seeing this industry improve.

Sharon Blain 22:00
And I think, I think what’s interesting is that Candy, I think our generation and and the three of us, if you think about what we do, we we purposely push ourselves to create new because we don’t want to be the old rock and roll singing the same song. We we push ourselves, I think, harder than the new kids coming up the ladder, because they’re quite satisfied with what, slapping a bit of paint on and curling the hair with a bit of a, you know, a wave and a curtain bang. We work harder to make a change and make skills more modern and new than I think they do. And I don’t know whether it’s just because we want to be deemed as being useful or whether we want to, but I want to spread new information, and I think we challenge ourselves so much more as we get older to do that.

Chris Baran 22:59
You know, I just want to jump on that. I You just said something. Well, all of you said something that was so profound, and I’ve been taking notes, but what you just said there, Sharon, was so profound about because let’s face it, you guys are at the at the top pinnacle of the careers, and you have to do that constantly by changing and giving new ideas and new trends and and helping to educate people on just the you know, and I’m going to say a word that most people hate, is just foundational work that makes your work beautiful and, and I think it’s harder to do when You do that and you’re at the 90% of the Echelon that’s out there. You know you’re at the top. To get that other 10% that’s new and invigorating and exciting and beautiful, it’s harder to do that than when you’re not in that echelon, because everybody is looking at you, everybody’s looking at what you do and saying, look at are you, you know? Are you fresh and new? And everything you do are just no fart. You know, language, but you know, and I think that’s that that is profound, and what you said is because it’s, it’s, it’s harder to do, and I think that’s the hardest thing for people to understand, the position that you three ladies are at here, and they’re caught. You’re constantly being judged about where you’re at and what you’re doing and and you have to you your imagination, your creativity. You know, like you said before even I heard you say, hope, confidence and trust in yourself as well as the other three ladies, and there has to be that much higher. Is that? Do you think? Is that a is that a true statement? Is it A, it? What do you think

Candy Shaw 24:52
this has got your name written all over it,

Sonya Dove 24:57
for sure. It’s um.

It takes a lot of different things. Sian says some incredible things candy. But I think sometimes now this is a personal thing. It might not resonate with the other two ladies. Is it’s trying to stay relevant in this world now, in this day and age now, because it’s so fast moving. I mean, you can blink and something changes. I mean, I was just someone was just telling me about the new name of a like, old wife, Bob, or some, I don’t there’s so many names, like an example, like, like, yes, like an example, a long layered haircut. Now that’s what it used to be known as, but now it’s the wolf cut, the octopus, the butterfly, the goodness knows, whatever. But at the end of the day, it’s really a long layered haircut. So it’s trying to stay up with all of these things that are happening outside of us and be relevant. Because, as Sharon said, and Candy’s also mentioned, when we’re on a stage and we’re teaching, it’s to a vast amount of different ages, and so the consciousness that I feel sometimes personally is I’ve gotta be on trend a bit to relate to my audience. Is that true? Is it not? I don’t really know, but it’s how I personally feel.

Sharon Blain 26:39
Oh yeah,

Candy Shaw 26:39
I think it’s changing a lot, though. Chris, you know, I feel like the classroom people are really starved for more wisdom now than they ever were before. I feel with, obviously, the abilities for podcasts, the abilities to reach out to people and to kind of get in their living rooms. Now we’ve kind of opened the door to people to have these experiences. If I look back at my own career, I mean, imagine trying to follow in your world champion’s father, you know, world champion father’s footsteps. I mean, that was, you know, you want to talk about something that was difficult to overcome. And in my 20s and 30s, I was already having to reinvent, reinvent, reinvent, so it wasn’t even an age thing for me, because I was following a man that had already done it, and it had already been successful, and it had already paved the way, you know, and I’m trying to just make sure that I don’t let him down. But I feel like back in those days, the amount of sharing that was going on through organizations like such as intercourfe or anybody like that, we all shared, and we broke bread with everyone, and then we went through a stage where no one shared any of their secrets. It was like, don’t talk about it, everybody. Okay, you’ve got that on lock. Don’t talk about it. And then with the influx of, you know, being an entrepreneur, things the pendulum swung the other way. And now I love talking to people who are trying to build a brand, or a great educator like Sharon or Sonya. I love to pick their brain. And you know, the reality is they share openly and always have, but now this generation’s learning that sharing is caring. You know, it’s not about just, you know, who’s the brightest and the shiny new thing. You know, I said one time to someone who’s very high up in this industry that was talking to me about, you know, how many followers you have. And I said, Look, there’s a lot of people that might have the reach, but they don’t have the teach. And that’s a difference, you know. And this is so true that it got the taste lock, you know, we may not be the shiny, you know, out there, you know, killing people with craziness, because we just don’t believe in it. We don’t believe in weird, wacky and wild. We don’t believe in, you know,

ball machines and crazy stuff. I mean, we believe in beauty, you know, our core value is beauty, period and and I think now people are seeing that, and they’re realizing, wow, these are our, our our mothers, you know, these are our mothers that are out there that really trying to share this information so we don’t fall

Sharon Blain 29:29
Yeah, I think you’re so true. And I think, you know, the, I think the pendulum is definitely swinging backwards, absolutely coming back to core, foundational work. And I think a lot of people are a little bit done with the, you know, the 3000 the 3 million Tiktok followers. I mean, can they do hair? This is, you know, someone said to me recently, oh, I’ve got this event. And this person that’s going to be featured there, she has 3 million Tiktok followers, and they’re going to be educate. And I’m thinking, and I said, well, but can they do hair? Because just because you have the followers doesn’t mean to say you have the skills. And that’s that’s where I think we’re questioning the social media side of education very much now. And I really think the big companies are starting to think a little bit differently as well. I think when they recruited these type of people as now their ambassadors, and let go of some of the

stallions, you know, educators, in lieu of those people, I think they realized that, you know, maybe now that’s not probably what they needed to do, agreed, absolutely great stallions, and now they’re just riding a bunch of donkeys.

Speaker 3 30:49
It’s just, I mean, you knew it was going to come out, girls. I mean, I can only sell my for so long

Sharon Blain 30:58
from the same song. Girlfriend, yeah. Athlete.

Chris Baran 31:03
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Yeah, you guys all hit on something. I think that’s really important to understand. And I love the you can have the reach, but you don’t have the teach. And I think that’s where that’s the pendulum side that’s switching for for us right now, because, you know, it’s okay to, I mean, let’s face it, I think we all have something we can learn from both sides. What’s the reach that they have? And what are we doing as educators? Because we’re even one of those buckets. At the beginning, you’ve got to you’ve got to reach, and then that draws the crowd. But then can you teach when you’re there? And I think that’s exactly what you were saying, Sharon, is that if you got the reach, but you don’t have to teach, and then you get together, they’ll go, okay, good, flash in the pan.

But what can we learn from the people that have the reach and can teach, you know? And I think that’s where you ladies come in is that, you know, is you’ve always been putting together your commonality that pulled you guys together was education and vulnerability and the way that you guys can be friends and help one another along in your journey, where you laugh and cry together, etc. So, you know, I think it’s still about the skill at the end of the game, and we have to adapt. But here’s my point that I want to find out from you, is that is, if you what’s the skill or the thing that the other two ladies have, that if you could snap your fingers, and you could take that on right now. What would that be?

Unknown Speaker 33:24
I think Candy has charisma.

Unknown Speaker 33:27
No surprise.

Sharon Blain 33:31
I think Candy has such charisma. And I think and I love Sonya’s vulnerability, because I love the way she stands on stage and she’s just so herself authentic, and she just delivers the most beautiful work. She doesn’t have to say anything. Her work represents her. And I think that’s really important, because, you know, Candy, I see you doing your French cutting. And one thing that I think I just wanted to add here, someone said to me, you know how, how you’re progressing within the industry as an educator, by the people that are signing up to your class. Okay, so the age group. So if I was standing in front of a group of students that were 50 and a plus and plus, I’d obviously realized you’d have to realize pretty quickly that you hadn’t been able to attract the next generations of hairdressers. If you can’t attract the next generation of hairdressers, then you need to look within is what you’re teaching and what you’re doing, and that’s the one thing with these girls. They are actually being able to attract the new generation and impart that knowledge. And I think that’s something that’s just so vital as an educator as well. You’ve got to be able to switch, to keep grabbing the next generation and having them continue to come back to you as students as well, not just a one solve, but knowing that they rebook when you post another class and candy, I’m sure.

Of how many people have continued coming back to your French cutting or to balayage classes, and same with Sonia, you know. And I’m blessed to have this massive little tribe in America that last week, when we had 30 students, I think every one of them had already been to my class so, you know. And that was a prerequisite, I may add. But in saying that, you know, they’d been many times and were willing to still show up and come back again. So I think as educators, it’s so important this whole thing about being able to inspire that generation of newbies and let them see what is core, foundational hairdressing and what they need to know and not just be influenced by someone who can do a messy bun and a ponytail, because it’s so much more. Unfortunately we teach that.

Candy Shaw 35:49
Well, if I could take one core value from each of you women and and put it into my soul for Sonya, it would be her vision I have never I want to get in her brain. Sometimes, this woman can look at a beautiful floral arrangement and then replicate that into hair color. Yeah, things that inspire her walking down the street. I mean, she is like the biggest squirrel you ever met when you’re walking down the street with Sonya. She finds vision and beauty and so many things that I don’t even look at, you know. And if I could take one quality from her, it would definitely be artistic vision. It would also be her patience, because she’s super patient, and I probably am a little impatient, more impatient. That’s why we get along really good, because I’m always a fast moving train, and she’s always kind of pulling me back, and I’m always pushing her forward. So that’s kind of that Sharon, if I could take one quality from you, it would just be how you command a room. This woman has more intellectual property into one fingernail than most people will ever have in their lifetime. The way that she simplifies how to get from A to Z in our industry, and she owns the hairdressing category. There’s nobody in her league. She owns the hairdressing category without question. And I always am inspired by Sharon, because I can look at some of your old work, like that’s dated, yeah, dated in years, not dated. And look, and it can look as current today as it did when you did it 45 years ago. Yeah, and,

and really, what inspires me, or a quality that I would take from Sharon, is she, she not only shares her knowledge so openly, she always, always, always goes back to fundamental core, good and hairdressing never is sloppy. She is never. She just didn’t let anybody get better than her, and that’s like, I love that about you. Someone can get better than you. They all grow up. That’s not my intention. I want everyone to be better than me.

Sharon Blain 38:10
Yeah, oh, thank you, Candy. Because I want, I want them to be great. You know, that’s why I do it. I want them to be more empowered and more mindful and skillful. You know, that’s that’s what we do it for anyhow, isn’t it? Yeah,

Sonya Dove 38:28
no, it’s true about Sharon. Is Sharon’s skill set when you say the word hairdressing, and it really is tagging on a little bit about what can be said that hairdressing Sharon owns it. I’d like she is the way she teaches her classes like the when I went to the class the boot camp, it was unbelievable. It was it was what I dreamt of learning when I was younger, but there was no one, there was no one to really help me, or there was no one to go to. And she’s just got such an amazing reputation for her avant garde, avant garde work, the dressing, the skill set. But what really shocked me the most was when you saw the end result of what Sharon was creating, the simplicity of how she got to that was unbelievable. I thought it would be way more complicated. And actually it was just the fundamental basics. And not to say she’s teaching basics at all in any way, but it was the ground. It was the groundwork that she taught everybody to get beautiful waves. I went there, and my goal was to learn about waves, maybe a ponytail, a ponytail. All of that was not my skill set.

I my passion is more color, but the way she had the patience and the craft that she was sharing with everyone in the class, someone that had never done hardly any dress hairdressing at all, to people that had done a lot, she made everyone feel great. That was and that takes, that’s an ability that well, or it comes naturally to Sharon, but it’s an ability, really, when you think about it, so that’s something I feel that is her strong suit, and she’s extremely humble, really, really humble, very sweet. You didn’t say that.

Candy Shaw 40:40
I just realized Sharon taken our classes.

No, I mean, what’s up with that?

Sharon Blain 40:54
I did color. I did I was lucky enough to be in Annie Humphreys very first color. When they introduced it at Sassoons always one of the first students that week. And I walked away thinking, Oh my God, I’ve done a class with Annie Humphreys. How amazing is that? Yeah, she’s but I went back to the cell and and I thought, You know what, I still don’t want to be a colorist.

I get it. Just felt that I just my passion wasn’t in the color, and yes, of course, the cutting. And I really admire the way you choose to do your how you technically teach the French cutting. Because obviously, for the years, I’ve always gone to sassoons and done very precise, technical cutting. And I love, you know, when I’m seeing what you’re doing, I’m seeing how much amazing, you know, just by combing the hair in this direction and taking it off with the scissors, it’s quite in contrast to the sustained technology, but the results are absolutely beautiful. But I probably haven’t cut hair for so long now. I mean, I have two clients that I do every six weeks, oh yeah, and the whole family in the garden, but that’s another story. Suppose I could sit in and watch and appreciate, and would definitely appreciate, but I guess take I’m more at the moment about tech, still learning and learning from people that are doing really unique braiding. At the moment, I’m loving that because I think I need to incorporate a little bit more of this. I need to know more about textured hair. I feel like I’m on that learning path for that, and not, not to actually have to have to do it. But I need to know so when someone asks me a question, I’m not stupid and say, Well, I know nothing about that. I’ve got to keep my mind open to what I think is going to enhance what I’m teaching at the moment. So yes, that’s my answer,

Sonya Dove 42:52
that learning’s very, very important. And I was thinking about on the thing of learning is I have had the opportunity to go to some of Candy’s classes, and then I’ve seen her team do classes on in the booth area. There’s many different areas and their skill set of the balayage, the blonding is just like, like, yeah, it really is. And then I go home and I try it, I try it, and I look at it and I think that’s not like candies. I’m gonna just go and foil.

I’ll endure it. Well, that’s what I say. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100% 100% the other thing about Candy that I really admire is that she is her own brand, and a woman’s brand, brand being Sunlight, the product, the products that she has, the the cares, the care range, shampoos and conditioners, the sunlight, obviously, and all of The different things. Is it’s great that I love it, but it’s a family business. Because family businesses are cool. I’d love to have had a family business, but there’s only me, but I love that when I see her work with a husband and then her son and his wife, it’s really the way they all work together to create their dream is very, very inspiring, inspiring, very interesting.

Candy Shaw 44:30
You’re part of that family. Both you ladies are, oh, you’re on my way in a plane.

Chris Baran 44:38
The thing that I want to bring out here is that, and part of the reason why I wanted to start this podcast was is that I think that there’s this is going to sound wrong people in our industry that that get forgotten because we’re not honoring the people that came before us. And whether you’re a Vidal Sassoon, or, you know, a one of these three remarkable ladies is at some point, you know, our industry moves so fast, sometimes we forget where the techniques came from and where all the greatness came from before us. And the reason I’m bringing that up is because one of the greats that I always used to watch and and, you know, we didn’t have a watch. We didn’t know nobody was sending out videos, but I was, I would watch Modern salon every month and candy your dad when I was a young pup, just growing up. Your dad was in there all the time. So in my mind, he was always like, what that’s one before I knew Trevor, and I don’t know I did podcast with Trevor, but I was a Trevor, and Trevor Sorby and I are like this, this is me, but for those of you, I’m holding up two fingers, my thumb, my thumb is me on the way in the outside. But you know, it’s like, you know, your dad did so many great things and and I, the reason why I’m going back to that is I don’t want people watching and listening. You can hear that name, and you’re talking about your dad and and everything that that he did in our industry, and why you looked up to him, and why you you were the you had to you had that shadow to follow. But

I’m afraid that some of these greats that we have in our industry are going to get lost. And I think I’m gonna encourage everybody to go out there. And if you’re listening to this and watching it, just type in. Jamison Shaw, take a look at what he did. Take a look at the world championships that he was in. You know how he helped other people, and he helped and he helped to train other people. I think that’s what are the people that you guys feel that might there’s afraid that we might might lose, or this people that inspired you along the way, and you just went, oh my god, like, you know, because of the fast pace that we have, we might lose out on some of these people that really made a huge difference in our industry.

Candy Shaw 47:00
My husband teaches a class in V school about how to get and keep your first job out of school, like how to make great decisions. He’s He’s an attorney. He works within our business, but he gets he gets up and he talks about the business part of what we do, but part of his stick is honoring the past and looking at and he will go through this slide show, and he will pull up a picture of, like, horse recklebacker. Yeah, he’s at an Aveda school, and they don’t even know who he is. You know, it’s like he’s working, yeah, hard and diligently to re educate this youth of of your forefathers and foremothers who have paved the way. And there’s so many like, I think about like, one that comes to my mind right off the bat would be Martin Parsons. Oh, I used to have dinner with him over the phone and FaceTime because he was painfully shy on the stage. He was a dynamo. He was a he was just a tiger. He was unbelievable. But when he would get he had very little, very little contact with people. And I did a, one time, I did a photo shoot with Martin, because I called him and I was known as the lady in yellow. That’s how he knew me from the show floor. And I called him up and I said, Martin, I know you remember me. I met you at this show. I just admire you so, so much. If I put everything together, the photographer, the dresses, the models, I colored, the hair, I got everything done, I got the studio, would you come from Canada and just do a photo shoot with me, because I want to learn from you. I just want to see you in action. You know, I was so inspired by him, and this is probably, you know, 1213, years ago that we did this collaboration together, and we didn’t even know each other, and I just had the guts to to to just kind of reach out to somebody that I admired, because Martin was the Sharon of Australia in America, along with Anne Bray, right? And so, needless to say, when you get on the show floor, you meet those people, and

you’re absolutely right. It scares me to think about what gets lost. You know, in in the scroll, you know, it’s like a five finger scroll, you know, three to four or five scrolls later, you’re not even in the feed anymore. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Sharon Blain 49:32
Well, I must say, I think, you know, I’m I always talk about Anne Bray, because if it wasn’t for Anne, I personally don’t buy skill set would be any way it is today. Yeah, because Anne, to me was, you know, the one person that helped me learn about competition, hairdressing, and you know, that’s when I started to compete. But the skill set that she teaches is still very. Much part of my DNA today, and yet mention Andre, and there’s only a handful of people know who Anne Bray is. It’s the same with Leo passage and you know, even videl, even Vidal. I know the brand’s still going but I still, I would hazard to suggest that if you ask people under 10 years in this industry, who videl sasuni is, I think a lot of them would would not know. So keeping those icons alive, I’m not sure how one does it, but I think it’s super important for people to know what the heritage of our industry is all about, and who were the who those that set the pace and paved the way for excellence along the way.

Candy Shaw 50:44
And Chris, I gotta, I gotta, really, you know, give you a shout out trying to collaborate with all of these people and really document this. It’s like the documentary of the hair industry. And so much of what we have out there is is unseen, unheard, and the fact that you’re putting this in writing, so to speak, or in listening as as as you are, is really a testament to your love of the industry and your your give back. You know, we’re only as good as the last person we taught or we inspired, right? All four of us are great mentors, and I think that’s a commonality that each of us have, is our mentorship qualities. And I think the fact that these podcasts have brought many people to life has been, you know, quite remarkable.

Chris Baran 51:36
Yeah, thank you. You know, just to that point, and I know this is about you, and I want to go, I want to go to Sonya here in just a second. But I, you know, I just have seen too many kids that just don’t understand where they come from. And what always made me sensitive, angry you picked the word was when people would say it, would have that ego around them, not that it’s a bad thing. You can be proud, but when they would say

I invented this, and that’s a word that really bugs me, because, you know, if you really are a study of our industry, you you know where everything came from, and you can’t say you invented that. I mean, you might want to. You can make fool five people with it, but I’m going to. It’s not that I disrespect you. I just don’t have the respect for you if you try to, if you try to take credit for something that somebody else did. And that’s, you know, to my mission. And I, you know, you know, I thank you for the compliment. I don’t know quite know how to take it that well, so, but I just want to say thank you, Sonia. What do you how do you feel?

Sonya Dove 52:43
Well, anyone that says they invented something that’s a very bold statement. It really is, because nothing, it’s people like you can’t really make that claim to a degree. Yes, you can and no you can’t. It’s a delicate area. But I think people that say that it’s like it already sounds a little bit full of ego. Personally, I think there’s other ways to say it, that you were inspired by some things like Sharon mentioned Annie Humphreys, oh my god, her hair color work was everything, absolutely everything. I’m always saying to Wella that they should really honor her. They really, really should, because she was everything for color. I remember seeing her for many, many years. She was incredible. But she I would if I did something, I would always refer back to Annie. She did it this way. I’m doing it this way. But with I think inventing something is not always what people want to say they it’s the words. It’s the words. I think it’s a little bit harsh to say something like that. So I think something that I admire about candy and Sharon is when they speak, they speak with authenticity, without putting something else down. We’re always very conscious of speaking in the right way. You know, because words are words. Once it comes out of here, it comes out of here. And I hate to bring this up, but it’s something that really upsets me when I see, sometimes I see hairdressers in an audience on a stage, and they’re they’re dropping the F word, they’re cussing. It’s not really adding, it’s not really adding to the technique that’s being shown. It’s really not it doesn’t make it any better, it doesn’t make it any worse. It’s just it is. So I think we have.

To be really thinking about what we say, because words of power. They really are. They’re they’re things that people remember forever. Once you’ve said it and it comes out of here, that’s it. So it’s sort of a, sort of a loose thing to answering what you were saying, Chris, but there’s no wrong or right in the world of social media. We’ve got social media. Take us back 40 years ago. 30 years ago, we didn’t have social media. All we had was face to face education. Now the world’s expanded, and we’ve got social media education and face to face. Maybe we’re going to have social media face to face, and we’re going to have aI education. Who knows? Who knows? We don’t know. You know, the AI is, it’s a very interesting concept at the moment, and you can see it’s in our industry, because it’s so visual. With photographs at Naha, with photographic things at the the Australian Competition, the awards, all British hairdressing awards, it’s now starting, because this third thing that’s coming in AI, so it’s going to get wider and wider. We’ve just got to stay in our lane, maybe, and just be true to our own gift and our own love and passion,

Candy Shaw 56:34
really. Yeah, I agree. Sonya, I absolutely agree. My mother used to say in the south, be careful that your words are sweet, because you never know when you’re going to have to eat them.

Someone has had some great sayings. Yes, we do, but that I always remembered that, because the tongue is a knife, you know? And, yeah,

Sharon Blain 57:01
it could be one or the other. Can it? It’s very hard sometimes to hold back, but you have to think, is that going to serve you well to make this statement, absolutely, absolutely.

Chris Baran 57:14
So stay tuned for part two of this wild ride on next week’s episode of head cases. Head cases is produced by cut action media, with Marjorie Phillips doing the planning parts, Lee Baran on the video bits, and Adrian Taverner mixing the audio jazz you.