Monique McMahon has an insatiable passion for education – colour, specifically – and this year she added green to the program.
Monique has trained internationally to hone her craft and now works her colour magic from her Parisian-inspired salon, QUE Colour in Darlinghurst, alongside a dedicated team of eight.
“QUE Colour is known for its service and outstanding colour work,” Monique muses. “We’re a strong team and we work together to deliver the best techniques for our clients.”
Recently, Monique added a new technique to the salon repertoire – sustainability – a decision she says was intrinsic to the QUE Colour culture.
“We are a young, dynamic team and we’re always thinking of the future, so being able to do our part for the environment is important to us."
“Being a Sustainable Salon means that we can share this with our clients who are always looking for ways to help save our planet but don’t know where to start. They just love it when we tell them their full head of foils equals a quarter of a meal for the homeless – they love the fact that we are behind OzHarvest. They’re also very impressed that the hair they’ve just had cut off is made into hair booms to help clean up oil spills in our oceans.”
“We also have a green warrior in the salon,” admits Monique, “it’s Sam… she heads up the back bar and is always directing the rubbish to the right department!”
In 2014, Monique and her team launched QUE Academy – a collaborative education platform designed to inspire and challenge the colour industry. The team offers a practical program of events year-round that aims to deliver the confidence to explore and innovate with progressive colour techniques and styling.
“Basically, we deliver a tool kit of skills to broaden your business, upgrade skills, increase profit and inspire a new generation of colourists!”
That’s one savvy program! Since becoming a Sustainable Salon, Monique has built sustainability messages into her education, highlighting its importance not only for future generations but for business bottom lines as well.
“I’m always traveling and visit many salons, and Sustainable Salons is something I like to bring up,” says Monique. “It’s been a great asset for my business in so many ways – my team is proud to be a Sustainable Salon and they’re always talking about it, and our clients feel like they’re helping the environment just by getting their hair done.”
Earlier this year, Monique became one quarter of an awesome education foursome called Colour Queens. Belinda Keeley (Chumba Concept Salons), Kristina Russell (Edwards & Co.) and Mia De Vries (The Fox and the Hair) make up the squad, and after their inaugural sellout classes in February, the team has just announced a new round of dates from June to October.
Monique calls the 6-hour master-class “a unique opportunity to get inside our little Black Book of colour secrets. Each of us has something different to bring to the table.”
Alongside the core colour topics on trends and techniques, Colour Queens also provides an open forum for discussion on business growth and industry issues.
“Colour Queens has been such a great platform to share with our industry,” Monique enthuses. “Each show is different depending on the crowd. We can be discussing trending techniques and fashion colours, and then we start talking client retention and Sustainable Salons… it’s just such a great day.”
Monique’s dance card may seem full already, but there’s more. She’s also the National Educator for ethically produced product range Christophe Robin, which is also a passion project linked to her ongoing commitment to drive the sustainability message throughout her work.
“Since joining the Sustainable Salons family, the team has met so many amazing people within the industry,” Monique says, “and we’ve had the opportunity to help the homeless by working with Rough Threads. My team is proud to be recognised as such a salon, and this has definitely attracted attention to QUE Colour in many ways – our clients are impressed and want to help share the love!
“Being a Sustainable Salon is all win win for you, your team and your clients! It has made my team stronger and we now work closer together."
“One more thing… thanks to the Sustainable Salons Rewards program, I never pay for coffee pods or garbage bags, and the ones I use are sustainable! It’s a no brainer to me!”
Sustainable Salons Australia provides the most comprehensive waste free systems to the professional hairdressing industry. We collect and recycle 95% of a salon’s waste and reward the salon for their recycling efforts!
Contact us here if you’d like to become a member of Sustainable Salons Australia.
