HD Salon and Academy from the Beginning

Since starting out as a nail technician back in 2008, I had always dreamt of owning my own salon and having my own brand. For many years this is where it remained as a dream. I am a firm believer that we have control of the direction our lives go in by the decisions we make and that everything happens for a reason. I started out in my career in the industry as a mobile nail technician, initially providing treatments for family and friends, this slowly developed into a small business. This is when I created my very first website, which looking back was of extremely poor quality and had a terrible name……..Cute Tips!!! I was about 2 years into being a mobile nail tech when I received a phone call from a salon owner in Atherton, saying they were looking for a nail tech and would I like to join her team. At first because I had a full-time job in a bank, I said I wouldn’t be able to, but thanked her for getting in touch. Then I thought for a moment ‘everything happens for a reason’. I phoned the salon back and asked if I would be able to start at the salon on a part time basis with the view to build up to full time. We agreed and I started in my very first salon. This was an eyeopener for me. After working alone for 2 years it was refreshing to work along other nail techs learning new tips and tricks and continually improving my skills. I stayed at the salon for 5 years building up my days and clientele and made a lifelong friend in the process. 

Then came along my 2 babies. In March 2013 I had a beautiful baby girl Lucy and then in February 2014 we were blessed with a little boy Sam. My life became a whirlwind and I lost my sense of purpose for a while. There were a couple of things that massively knocked my confidence at this time and on top of this my husband became very poorly, very quickly, suffering 2 heart attacks. I had 2 babies aged 6 and 18 months and a husband completely dependent on me keeping it together and I’m not going to lie I has many wobbles of ‘should I carry on doing nails?’ ‘Should I go back to a 9-5 at the bank? I didn’t know what would be best for me and my family. Whilst thinking and feeling this way I received a phone call from another salon asking if I wanted to go into their salon renting a desk as their only nail tech. At this point I could have given up on my dreams but like I said I’ve always believed that everything happens for a reason. I though to myself that I needed to put my heart and soul into my business for it to be a success so that’s what I did for the next few years as ‘Nails by Hayley’. Continuously improving my skills by attending different courses. Some good, some not so good. This is where my vision of a training academy started. I thought why hold onto this much experience, knowledge, skill and passion when I could pass it onto others and give them a really good start in the industry.

So Many training academies/colleges take peoples money without providing them with not only the skills but the confidence to go out and perform treatments on clients. This is exactly what I didn’t want from my academy, so I qualified as an educator……. And so started HD Salon and Academy. I wanted a clean, crisp name, straight to the point and the Diamond logo states excellence and precision and a high-end service. In January 2018 I was given the opportunity to take over a salon. The one I had worked in for the last 4 years. I grabbed the opportunity with both hands and ran with it as it was my dreams and visions becoming a reality. After a lot of blood, sweat, tears and juggling of finances, I had my dream, I had my vision and its now my reality and now we have the HD Salon and Academy brand. So my message to you really is remember to follow your dreams, you are in control of your future and never ever give up on yourself!

Love, Hayley 

The extremely proud owner of HD Salon and Academy