Salon with a Sixth Sense for giving women confidence

AN AWARD-WINNING salon in Sutton Coldfield which prides itself on being “more than just a hairdresser” is celebrating success as it marks its second year in business this month.

The salon – which was set up in 2014 by Dean Vinning and his partner, Dean Robertson – wanted to give something back to their customers and has since worked wonders for the Sutton Coldfield community, especially those with breast cancer.

Sixth Sense is believed to be the only salon in the West Midlands to offer complimentary sessions with Wella’s hair regrowth product, Nioxin to women who have lost their hair after chemotherapy, giving them a chance to grow back their confidence and recover their identity.

Business director Dean Robertson said: “We looked at lots of online stuff for Nioxin, and it was all Americanised – a beautiful woman with long hair who was supposed to have thinning hair and it just didn’t really match our ethos.

“We wanted to create our own advertising campaign and do that with a real person like Julie.”

Sixth Sense found the muse for their campaign at local support group, Breast Friends which is run for and by women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Since meeting Julie Emery and seeing how much of an impact the product can have on an individual, the salon began running quarterly events inviting ten ladies to have complimentary treatments.

The brand has produced 12 months of documentary videos with their ‘Nioxin ambassador’ Julie to show the change in both her hair and her confidence.

Dean said: “When Julie first came into our salon with a wig we were like girl get that wig off you’re not rocking it, lets show the world your real hair and ever since that day she never put a wig back on.”

At their second birthday event held at Sutton Coldfield Town Hall, the salon showcased the year-long Nioxin project with a catwalk from the brave ladies themselves.  

“Its not just their hair they’re losing, its their identity. Giving these ladies a chance to grow their hair back is all about boosting their confidence and making them feel like themselves again,” he said.

“When I spoke to them beforehand they’d never even consider going on a catwalk in their life, and now they’ve had breast cancer, they’ve combated it and they have no problems getting on stage in front of 300 people and showing the world their hair.”

But the anniversary event also showed a different, darker side to the brand with their Renegade collection, which saw the evening kick off with fire and attitude.

Having received numerous awards in the past year, including the Lifestyle award at TheBusinessDesk.com Masters and Salon of the Year for the entire region, Sixth Sense has big plans in store for its third year in business. 

Dean said: “We want to look at different awards to boost our profile up a bit, do more shows but for Wella, and really push our team to getting the best qualifications they can get.”

The brand also plans to become a “colour house”, specialising in complex colour changes.

“In January we’re going to do a collection specifically for creative colour which should put us on the map in regards to our abilities and what we can do.”