About Richard:
Richard grew up in New Zealand. In High School he was a punk and at around the age of 14 he used to go into salons to have his hair coloured and cut into wacky shapes and styles. On one particular visit he had a wedge style cut and multiple colours including orange and purple with green tips.
Richard began talking to the hairdresser in detail about the colour and the hairdresser explained that the way she approached hair colour, the hair had a very specific and measurable response to the colour. This allowed her to know how to enhance or subdue a result.
Having a great interest in science in particular biology, there was a moment where something clicked and he realised how the two worlds aligned. The hairstylist then spoke with him about haircutting and how the hair on the head is lots of small organic fibres sitting on this organic form, which is asymmetric and unique to every individual. She explained that by approaching a haircut in an architectural way you could create a very geometric and measured result.
Richard said “It was like being hit between the eyes with a sledge hammer.” That was the first time he knew without a doubt that doing hair was what he was going to do with his life. Richard ran home super excited to tell his mum he knew what he wanted to do with his life and it was to be a hairdresser! Richard’s mum’s response was “no way on earth”.
As there was a stigma around hairdressing that it was what you did if you didn’t know what else to do, Richard’s mum didn’t see it as being a very prestigious career choice.
Hairdresser’s play such a large role with what we do behind the chair and what Richard does outside of the salons in session styling. A responsibility to self-imagine, people’s sense of self-worth, be understanding, empathise, understand chemistry, biology, human anatomy, fashion, art, beauty, sociology. It is a massive data base to even just be considered competent.
Eventually after many discussions and arguments, Richard’s mum sent him out to get an apprenticeship in Hairdressing. Richard, being 15, young and rebellious didn’t do so well as an apprentice. Having left school so young entering the adult world was difficult. Fortunately he had bosses who saw something in him. They were a great support and wanted to see him succeed despite his many mess ups.
Now 18 and having left his apprenticeship, Richard went to work in an old school barber shop/tobacconist which had been at the same location since before World War II. It was here that Richard learned to have an eye for shape and an understanding of technique. As well as understanding that shape is more important than technique. Richard says “this framed the way I approach hair even today, it’s all about the shape, it’s all about what looks good on the person.”
At 18 Richard also began karate competitively. Karate gave Richard a focus and discipline that he hadn’t had before, allowing him to apply the same discipline to his everyday life. Using this new focus Richard decided he wanted to incrementally improve each aspect of his hairdressing, from getting hair cleaner when sectioning to smoother when styling, he wanted every detail of his work to be sharper and better. Richard says, “repetition with incremental improvements is the best way to achieve your goals”.
Having been told by most authority figures in his life that he would never amount to anything Richard had begun to believe that there must be some truth behind it. However once he started to put in the hard work he started to see the rewards, including receiving his black belt in Karate. In New Zealand there is a saying, Mana (power, prestigious) comes from Mahi (work). Richard then wondered what could happen if he applied the same work ethic and discipline that he did in Karate into his career.
Richard then began working more days, more hours and investing all the money he earnt back into his career. Into training, into photoshoots and anything else he could think of. Stepping into the photographic world, Richard realised if he wanted to succeed he needed to have all the elements of the photograph, the photographer and the beautiful models. Looking through magazines for beautiful inspirational images, Richard realised the majority of the pictures he tore out of the magazine were by one particular photographer. Using the phone book he found the photographer’s number and rang him up to see if he might be interested in working with him on some awards collections (L’Oréal Colour Trophy).
Collaborating together they created a collection that awarded Richard with runner up at the L’Oréal Colour Trophy. This image was then published internationally for various publications. From there Richard began working throughout New Zealand with the photographer doing campaigns and learning more about creating hair looks for photographic images.
Richard says “yes should be your first response.” As a result of saying yes, Richard ending up hosting television shows which opened doors to him working overseas in New York on the shows. He then worked on Guido Palau’s team at Fashion Week, doing all the big shows and around 200 shows over the years.
Moving to Australia only 8 years ago, he had been back and forth for many years with work and one beautiful sunny Sydney day Richard realised this was where he wanted to be. Richard now works as a Freelance Session Stylist worldwide, doing photo shoots, and fashion shows, and working with Redken as part of their Global Artistic Team. The last 3-4 years he has become more of a Redken Ambassador, now offering more of on the job educational experience where stylists go and assist him. At the end of each day there is a debrief, where they discuss how things went, along with what could have been done differently. It becomes more like a mentorship than traditional education. Richard says “you need context to learn about the session world and be immersed in the experience.”
Richard also works as a creative director for GHD Australia/New Zealand. As well as the Creative director for Rodney Wayne salon group in New Zealand. Teaming up with a friend who is a lawyer a few years back Richard and his friend collaborated to create the hair accessories brand Kokoro.