Neil Coogan at Risque Hair crowned Coffs Coast’s best hairdresser

This industry veteran has one eye on his own salon and another on the next generation of stylists.

When Neil Coogan first opened a hair salon in Coffs Harbour, the young hairdresser was ready to shake things up.

Despite being daunted by the proposition of going out on his own, Mr Coogan said he was ready to take on the challenge and try out a few ideas in a salon environment. Namely, trading at night.

“I opened my first salon down on the Jetty strip in 1997,” he said. “I was able to trade three nights a week, which was the first salon in the area to do (so).

“That made a huge difference in growing our brand – being located down on the jetty strip that was really busy, here was a hairdressing salon open on a Friday night and full of clients.”

Fast forward almost 25 years and the salon owner at Risque Hair has officially been crowned the Coffs Coast’s best hairdresser.

Mr Coogan jumped back into the industry with both feet after a brief hiatus and, ever the one to think outside the box opened Risque Hair in an area that wasn’t necessarily as “high traffic” as the Jetty strip.

Neil Coogan has been cutting hair in Coffs Harbour for more than 20 years and wants to use his vast experience to train the next generation of stylists. Photo: Tim Jarrett / Coffs Coast Advocate

This wasn’t an issue for Mr Coogan who relied on his skills and experience to ensure the business didn’t have to rely on passing foot traffic.

“At the end of the day if you are good at what you do and your clientele are happy with what you do – they are basically your advertising,” he said.

Despite being an industry veteran with more than 30 years experience, the fire burns as bright as ever and Mr Coogan now has his sights set on leveraging that level of experience – not to mention the contact book – by establishing a regional education program.

Offering salons and individuals a chance to upskill, Mr Coogan says the program will ensure regional hairdressers are afforded an opportunity usually reserved for those in the capital cities. He said he would start by focusing on the cutting side of the trade, as he felt there had been a focus on colour over cutting in the last five years.

“I really want to set this up for regional NSW. One of the challenges we face living in a place like Coffs Harbour is it costs a lot of money for you to go away to the city for education,” he said.

“I feel as though we can put together some really cool training programs for hairdressers of any skill level, whether they’re a first year apprentice picking up scissors for the first time or whether they are 20 years into the industry and really want to get reinvigorated with what they are doing.”

Mr Coogan is very conscious of the need to pass on knowledge and even laments changes in the industry that led to apprenticeships becoming shorter and in some ways “devalued”.

“I think there is still a lot of work to be done once a apprentice finishes their apprenticeship to actually become very skilled at what they do,” he said.

“People say ‘oh yeah, you’re a hairdresser, you just cut hair’ but there is a lot more to it than picking up a pair of scissors and just cutting some hair off.

“The future of our industry really depends on us older hairdressers continuing to ply our trade and train and educate as many young people as we can.”