Joh Bailey on reinventing himself

Joh Bailey, who introduced the blowdry to an avid clientele decades ago, is out to disrupt the beauty game yet again.

Joh Bailey introduced the blowdry at a time when hair-setting – think curling and rollers – was de rigueur. Picture: Nick Cubbin

Friday morning in the heart of Sydney’s Double Bay. Joh Bailey’s hair salon is jam-packed with middle-aged clients in their athleisure wear, many with toy poodles stuck to their laps. Come Saturday, there’s a younger vibe. The salon fills with gorgeous young things preparing for a first date or a 21st birthday party. Many of them have descended from clients loyal to Bailey from his days as a 23-year-old star at the legendary Lloyd Lomas salon in the same suburb.

Bailey quips that his landmark Double Bay establishment, which opens at 7am seven days a week, closes only when “hell freezes over”. Now, inspired by the ongoing $200 million renovation of the upmarket Sydney department store David Jones – and particularly by its revamped shoe department on level 7 – Bailey, who has retained his movie-star good looks, is keen to disrupt the hairdressing game yet again.

Joh Bailey’s salon in Sydney. Picture: Cubbin

“When I saw David Jones do a complete reinvention, I thought: why can’t I reinvent myself?” he says over an egg-white omelette lunch. “Years ago I took hairdressing and gave it a bit of rock-star glam; up until then salons were dull and staid. We gave it a bit of fun – it was fun and glamorous, and I developed a cult following.”

The ambitious young hairdresser introduced the blowdry at a time when hair-setting – think curling and rollers – was de rigueur. He quickly attracted a following of women who wanted their tresses to look completely natural via one of those signature blowdries, which would go on to become world renowned. Then in 1996, at the height of Bailey’s fame, Buckingham Palace was on the phone wanting him to tend to the locks of Princess Diana for the four days she would be ensconced in the then five-star Ritz Carlton Hotel, just around the corner from his salon.

Princess Di, then the most glamorous woman in the world, had Bailey do her hair most mornings and nights, and the relationship was cemented when she made him a cup of tea. “It was said back then that I was becoming as famous as my clients,” Bailey says.

Along with his business partner of 34 years, Marilyn Koch, he now operates four salons – Double Bay, Bondi Junction, Sydney city and Bowral. But despite their success there will be no mass-market expansion: “Absolutely not; it’s a boutique luxury brand,” he says. “You start opening them everywhere and you lose that.”

Bailey’s new two-level Double Bay salon is devoted to all manner of beauty treatments. The latest high-tech equipment imported from Los Angeles will provide non-surgical skin treatments (requiring no down time), a special eyebrow and eyelash centre, and even a wig lounge. Bailey says wigs are big news in overseas glamour circles.

“You might want a change for a night out or you might be undergoing chemo, but the wigs will be made out of silk and will look like your own hair,” he says. He will charge from $1000 to $2000 per wig.

The recently opened salon, which took a year to create, has ditched the French fantasy decor of old. It’s modern and clean cut, with imported marble, terrazzo flooring, and internal cactus gardens designed by Charlotte O’Neil’s Poco. There are manicure and pedicure stations, 15 seats for hairdressing, and another five-seat wet area. Upstairs, the magic begins with the aforesaid machines, which promise to reduce redness, hydrate the skin, fix fine lines and wrinkles, and tighten muscle structure. “Depending on your skin type, you can actually go out on the night of the treatment,” says Bailey, adding that the new techniques are designed to delay the need for plastic surgery.

But what’s the secret of his own longevity in a tough industry that has claimed many a scalp? “There’s no hair-shaming in my salons,” he says. “I can’t bear it. I will go about fixing a person’s hair rather than shaming a client. You come in for a nice experience, you get your hopes dashed by someone saying your hair is a no-goer.” Instead, he prefers to tell his clients he’ll make them look fabulous. And if his success is any indicator, he does.