Salon Stories: Jack Mead & Lydia Wolfe’s Journey to Building a Successful Salon Business
Jack Mead and Lydia Wolfe are award-winning hairdressers, husband & wife, and the co-founders of Jack & the Wolfe salon based in Lymington. Just a few strides along the historic cobbled streets of Quay Hill, you’ll find a charming 350-year-old townhouse which is where Jack & the Wolfe resides. Since opening its doors in 2019, Jack & the Wolfe has quickly gained a reputation as one of the trendiest destinations for hair and colour services in the UK. With a shared passion for hairdressing and entrepreneurship, this talented power couple joined forces to turn their dreams of becoming salon owners into a reality. In a candid conversation, Jack Mead and Lydia Wolfe open up about their journey to success, how Vagaro has helped streamline their business operations and what the future holds for Jack & the Wolfe.
Jack & the Wolfe Salon: Where It All Started…
Over the last few years, Jack Mead has established himself as a renowned hairdresser, educator and influencer who is highly celebrated within the industry and amongst his peers. Jack was first introduced to the world of hairdressing in his childhood home of Cyprus where he went to school and lived with his mother and stepfather. Since then, Jack has amassed much success from appearing as a contestant on E4’s The Big Blow Out to working backstage at London Fashion Week and accumulating an impressive list of celebrity clientele.
“I started hairdressing at 14 years old in Cyprus after dropping out of school and being in need of a job. My stepdad knew someone who owned a barbershop and a hair salon so he was like, ‘You should go try that.’
In Cyprus, a lot of hairdressers are male, so it was quite a common job for a guy to do. I went into work at this place not knowing anything or what to expect and I immediately thought it was quite cool—there was a real buzz to it. I loved listening to music, meeting new people and looking after people, so it really gave me a purpose. I was very lost at that age, and having dropped out of school, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, but hairdressing really saved me. It gave me that reason to get up in the morning, and because being an apprentice in a hair salon is just as important as being a senior stylist, it also gave me purpose.”
Meanwhile, Lydia’s journey into hairdressing was slightly different from Jack’s. As a self-proclaimed academic who did well in school, hairdressing was never at the forefront of her mind, but rather a passion that she felt connected to from a young age. Determined to follow her dreams, she skipped university to pursue a career as a hairdresser and colour specialist. Taking this leap of faith led Lydia to receiving prestigious international awards for her works as a colourist with her creative work being featured globally in cities like Barcelona and Toronto.
“My journey to hairdressing is almost like the polar opposite to Jack’s, really, and we had very different upbringings. I went to a really good school, and I did well at school, so hairdressing never really entered my world. I was always very expressive with how I dressed, I dyed my own hair, and it was a bit of a running joke at school that no one would know what colour hair I was going to come in with. I remember telling my parents when I was 16 that I'd really love to explore hairdressing, but I was steered away from it because there's a big misconception about what hairdressing can do for people's careers, I think. I was basically told that my GCSEs were good so I should go to university and follow the crowd. I applied to university and then freaked out, and was like: What am I doing? I'm a creative person. I'm following a journey into a very academic life that just doesn't suit me. So, I told my parents that I was going to pursue hairdressing instead of going to university and that’s what I did. I went on to qualify as a hairdresser and work in a beautiful salon for about eight years. I fell in love with doing hair behind the chair as it really itched that creative scratch for me. I then got to the point where I wanted to open my own salon—and that’s around the time that I met Jack.”
Jack met Lydia when she reached out to him to ask if he could be her model for a stage show that she was involved in. Jack wasn’t able to make the show because he was in Cyprus visiting family, but they ended up reconnecting to speak about their shared aspirations of opening a salon. Upon his return, Jack met with Lydia in Lymington, and after further discussions, they decided to team up and open a salon together.
“We came down to Lymington and I changed the name on the lease from my name to both of our names on this 350-year-old building that I had found. When we took the building on, it was just an empty building with accommodation upstairs, and downstairs was just a white room. It was in bad condition, but we thought it could be so perfect. We didn’t have any money, but we made it our own with what we had and used old antique furniture to build our workstations.”
On the Importance of Education
With a passion for hair education, Jack and Lydia are both extremely dedicated to empowering their team to grow and constantly evolve their skills. They believe that through sharing their industry knowledge and skills, they can help guide the next generation of hairdressers to success. During the pandemic, Jack and Lydia leveraged social media to host educational workshops and classes for their industry peers and aspiring hairdressers. Today, Jack and Lydia continue to host educational workshops both online and in real life at Jack & the Wolfe, as well as at key hairdressing events throughout the year.
“We have a modern approach to [education], and we truly care about people learning. Whether it’s our team or people who’ve come on our courses, it's not about money, and it's not about the giving up time for us. It's about trying to make people feel like they have gone away with something that is going to change their careers. Even if it's just one thing that they learn that helps them, then that's amazing. We feel incredibly lucky to share knowledge with our team and for the fact that they want to learn from us. We are leaving a legacy by building the next generation of hairdressers and doing our best to pass what we’ve learnt onto them.”
On Using Vagaro to Automate Jack & the Wolfe
As an in-demand session stylist, Jack spends a lot of his time outside of the salon, on set at shoots, working with reputable brands in London and across the globe. Thanks to the Vagaro salon CRM software, Jack can stay connected with his team and business developments with just a few clicks. It’s so much more than just a business management tool, Jack also uses Vagaro as his personal diary to schedule in his repeat clients and block out his availability for bookings when he’s not at the salon.
“I use Vagaro every single day. It doesn't matter where I am—if I'm in London, I'll still be looking at it. It’s great for my own peace of mind to just know what's going on in the business and to be able to see what my schedule is like. I tend to schedule things so far in advance, so I need to know what's going on in the next six months when booking something in. So, the fact that it’s on my phone 24 hours, seven days a week, is great. I can just pick it up and go. It’s really like a diary for me as well as a booking system. Our salon manager, J Ralphs, also sends me figures of how we've done monthly and it’s really important for me to have a view of how we’re doing compared to previous months & years. Vagaro helps us we make most out of our services to try and improve the profit whenever there are dips in business.”
As a colour specialist, Lydia creates custom looks for all her clients at Jack & the Wolfe that starts with a detailed colour consultation. Lydia uses the Forms feature to capture key information to ensure the formulation and application will be suitable for the client.
“Colour is a technical thing, but we're also working with chemicals, so you must be super careful to ensure the safety of your clients. The app is really helpful when it comes to consultation forms and taking signatures, which helps us gain trust from our clients when they come in for their colour consultations. When clients see that we are using these salon forms, they know that we're serious and can trust that we know what we're doing. We ask all the right questions, we're taking notes on the app, and it's all getting saved to their client profiles. The great thing about this is we can look back and see things like if the skin’s been tested or any problems they’ve had before, as well as their journey with colour. Plus, any team member can easily access client history from forms so they can best serve them as needed.”
The Future of Jack & the Wolfe
When it comes to the future of Jack & the Wolfe, Jack and Lydia’s focus lies on nurturing the team by providing them with access to opportunities within the wider hairdressing industry for growth. They hope to expand their artistic team and involve more of the team in creative projects at Jack & the Wolfe and beyond. Later this year, Jack is set to work at Cannes Film Festival, styling celebrity clients, and he has invited his Jack & the Wolfe Creative Director, Ben Brazzo, along for the experience as Jack & Lydia both believe in supporting their team in realising their dreams.
“I'm proud to say I believe that Jack & the Wolfe gives the team opportunities that not many salons can. I really think that, with the number of shows we do, photoshoots, and education, whatever you want to do in the hairdressing industry, we can kind of make it happen at Jack & the Wolfe, and I'm proud of that. We have a more modern approach to running a salon. We're a bit like: If everyone gets paid well and everyone's happy, the clients will be happy. Jack & Wolfe is a bit like our shop window. It allows us to do all the things that we do that also make us money, like stage shows, ambassadorships, photoshoots, and education. We would love to make the salon a little bit bigger, but we don't want to disrupt what we have too much. I think the future of Jack & the Wolfe is to become a household name, to be recognised as somewhere you will receive a good service and get the hair that you want—and hopefully also get published in magazines and be something that my daughter can grow up to be proud of.”
More from Jack & the Wolfe: Read on to learn about Jack Mead’s Vagaro Master Class that you can take completely free, and how one of the apprentices at Jack & the Wolfe has a special superpower!
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