The most honest conversations happen in the staff room (or at least they used to)
The advice, support and straight-talking to make working for yourself work better, earn more and build a career that actually feels like yours.
Doors are closed to new members currently. Add your email to the waitlist to be first to hear when membership opens again.
The chats where someone admits they don’t have a clue what they’re doing with their accounts and aren’t really sure what “turnover” even means.
Where you show someone an awkward client message and say, “What the fuck am I supposed to reply to that?”
Where you realise the hairdresser you thought had everything sorted is actually winging half of it and questioning the other half, just like the rest of us.
Those conversations reminded us that none of us had everything figured out.
But as more hairdressers started working independently, we didn’t just lose the staff room, we lost that connection to the people who reminded us that not knowing something didn’t mean we were shit at our jobs!
Then we go online for a bit of advice and five minutes later we’ve decided everybody else is fully booked, earning a fortune and has this whole working for yourself thing totally sorted!
Spoiler…
they haven’t. They’re just not posting about the last-minute cancellation that’s left a massive hole in their week or the time they’ve spent comparing their career to somebody else’s and convincing themselves they’re falling behind.
Those conversations were far too important to lose just because the way we work has changed.
So I decided to give them somewhere to happen again.
Welcome to SLK’s Staff Room!
I created this membership to give independent hairdressers back what we lost when we stopped working alongside each other — and more of what I believe we’ve deserved all along…
Somewhere to ask 'what would you do?' about the business side — the pricing wobble, the awkward client, the big decision — before you spend an hour overthinking it alone.
Honest answers to the business questions nobody taught us when we learned how to do hair.
Support on the days when one cancellation, complaint or quiet week has you questioning absolutely everything.
Help making your diary, money, clients and working week feel easier to manage (and take up less space in your head!)
Access to the benefits, experiences and opportunities independent hairdressers have been missing out on for far too long.
Before you join, let's be honest about what this is (and what it isn't).
Staff Room is about the business and the life around your chair. The money, the boundaries, the admin, the confidence, the awkward conversations, and the people who just get it.
So if you want to get your pricing right, keep more of what you earn, stop dreading certain client messages, feel less alone on the hard days and actually work out what you want from your career… you are in exactly the right place, babe.
The one thing it isn't is a place to get your colour or cutting questions answered on the spot. If you're stuck on a formula for tomorrow's client, that's what my courses and education are for, and I'll happily point you their way. (You'll still get brilliant education from our brand partners inside — Wella and the rest — it's the group chat that's for the business and the real talk, not technical troubleshooting.)
In here, we talk about everything they never taught us when we learned how to do hair.
Whatever success looks like to you, there’s room for it here.
Over the years, I’ve worked with independent hairdressers inside Host, mentored students and had thousands of conversations with hairdressers who all want completely different things.
Some want to earn more without adding more clients to their week.
Some want better boundaries, fewer awkward conversations and a business that takes up less space in their head.
Some want to explore education, brand work or a completely different part of the industry.
Some of us are three weeks into working for ourselves. Some are twenty years in and still never been properly taught the business side.
There's room for both in here, because "I've just started and I'm fucking terrified" and "I've done this forever and I want more from it" are both completely welcome.
And some already love exactly what they do, they’d just like to feel more confident doing it.
That’s why I’m not here to teach you how to recreate my career or push you down a path you think you should be following because it looks successful from the outside.
I’m here to help you work out what you want from your career then give you the knowledge and support inside this community to help you create it…
So, what exactly do you get inside SLK’s Staff Room?
Answers to the questions nobody taught us when we learned how to do hair.
Everything has been created around the real questions, problems and awkward situations that come with working independently.
Nothing takes longer than 15 minutes so you can come in with a problem, find the help you need and get on with doing something about it!
Watch the video, turn on the subtitles or read the full transcript if you’d rather skip listening to me waffle.
Come in with a question. Leave knowing what to do next.
Self Employment 101
I’ll help with all the things nobody mentioned before you went self-employed and were suddenly expected to know.
We’ll cover getting set up properly, business banking, insurance, pricing and the foundations that help your business run as an actual business.
And even if you've been going years, this is the important stuff most of us were never actually taught, but should probably sort before you’re too busy doing everybody’s hair to think about it!
MONEY
You’ll learn how to work out what you’re actually earning, where your money keeps going and whether your fully booked diary is actually making you any real profit…
We’ll cover things like paying yourself properly, setting financial goals and finding ways to make more without asking your clients for another penny.
Because being busy and making money are not always the same thing babe.
THE BORING BITS
Tax, expenses and all the other boring but important shit you become responsible for the minute you start working for yourself is all in here…
I’ll explain it like we’re chatting in the staff room, not like I’ve copied and pasted it straight from the HMRC website. The last thing I want is for you to feel even more confused than when you started!
It’s still boring - just much easier to get your head around.
WORK SMARTER
The Staff Room covers all the practical ways to make your business and working week easier to manage.
Get more from your booking software, make your diary work better, organise your stock, manage messages and automate the jobs you really don’t need to keep doing yourself.
Less admin. Less to remember. And far fewer things waking you up at 3am.
THE AWKWARD STUFF
Learn how to handle the conversations and situations you currently dread, so when the next awkward message comes in, you feel more confident knowing what to do, what to say and when you need to say no, without rewriting your reply 400 or 500 times.
Because you can be a lovely person and still have boundaries.
WORD OF MOUTH
Help more of the right people find you, choose you and keep coming back, without feeling like you need to turn your entire life into content.
This area is about getting noticed, building a business people genuinely want to recommend, and giving clients more reasons to keep choosing you. And if social media is part of how you want to do that, there’s help with that too!
Because you’re a hairdresser, not a full time content creator.
the next chapter
Get clearer on what you actually want next, whether that means exploring something beyond the chair or building a career you’re very fucking happy staying in.
This area is about showing you what else could be possible, with an honest look at different directions your career could take, so you can decide what actually feels right for you.
Because your career doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.
sarah’s sleepover
For the days when you’re doubting yourself, overthinking everything or need a mate to remind you that one difficult day doesn’t mean your entire career is falling apart.
Short videos to help you get out of your own head and find a bit of perspective.
Think of it as the next best thing to turning up at my house in your pyjamas, getting under a blanket and talking the whole thing out.
if you need this, join us!
and we’re nowhere near done yet…
The education is only one part of what you’ll find inside!
You’re also getting the people, support, benefits and opportunities that make this feel like a place you’ll want to keep coming back to…
Your own private staff room
You’ll be part of a community filled with independent hairdressers who understand the brilliant, difficult and sometimes ridiculous reality of this career.
Bring the 'what would you do?' The pricing wobble, the awkward client, the big decision you keep going round in circles on, and let a room full of people who've been there weigh in. Share something you're proud of, or just say the thing you've not said out loud yet.
Because sometimes you don’t need another lesson. You just need someone who gets it.
a live staff meeting every month
Once a month, we’ll all get together to ask questions, share what’s happening and properly talk through the things that need more than a quick reply underneath a post.
I want to get to know the people inside this membership, and I want you to get to know each other too.
An actual Staff Meeting where we talk about the things that matter, not who forgot to empty the bin again!
Popz — the colleague who never clocks off…
Popz is my AI chatbot that I’ve trained using my education, experience and the advice I’d give you myself.
So when a question pops into your head, you can ask it there and then without waiting for me, the next Staff Meeting or 47 conflicting answers from Facebook.
It’s like having me in your pocket, except Popz doesn’t need to sleep and swears less 🤣
Brand partners who believe independent hairdressers deserve more
I haven’t asked brands to join so I can stick their logos on the website and call it a partnership, I’ve asked them what they can actually give you.
That could mean saving money on things you already use, finding new ways to earn more or getting access to something you wouldn’t usually have the chance to be part of. (Scroll down for more info).
If their involvement doesn’t benefit the hairdressers inside, I’m not interested!
more opportunities for you
Throughout my career, I’ve built relationships, gained knowledge and been given access to some incredible opportunities.
The Staff Room gives me a way to use all of that to create more experiences, events and opportunities for independent hairdressers too, including the things you might have assumed were only available to people with huge platforms.
Because you shouldn’t need 100,000 followers for somebody to decide you deserve something fucking exciting.
three chances to win every month
Three members will win prizes each month for getting involved, joining the conversations and supporting the other hairdressers inside.
Basically, the more you put into the Staff Room, the more you could get back from it.
And some much bigger things throughout the year…
There are exclusive experiences and opportunities being created specifically for Staff Room members.
I’m not telling you what they are yet because I need to keep some secrets 🤣
But they’re the kind of experiences independent hairdressers usually watch happening for people with much bigger platforms while thinking, “That’ll never be me.”
I want more of those moments to belong to you.
INTRODUCING THE SLK staff room brand partners
Wella Professionals
Official Color Partner
GHD
k18 biomimetic hairscience
glowwa
timely
foil fox
blonde solutions
Freelance Hairdressers' Association
the pricing calculator by maddi cook
You're not just joining a membership.
You're getting in the room with the brands who actually want to back you.
Independent hairdressers usually watch from the sidelines while the education, the gifting, the events and the opportunities go to the salons with the big names and the big teams.
Staff Room changes that.
We've brought some of the industry's most respected brands to the table — and not for a logo on a page and a discount code you'll forget you own. For real access: education that actually helps you run your business, product gifting, first looks at new launches, invitations to rooms independents don't usually get into, and the kind of experiences most stylists only ever see on someone else's Instagram.
The specifics are waiting for you inside. What matters is this: when you're in Staff Room, the brands are thinking about you.
A taste of what being a member opens up:
Learn directly from the brands you already use and love
Get on the list for gifting, product testing and first looks
A real shot at experiences and events, not just for the stylists with the biggest following
Savings, systems and support that make the business side genuinely easier
A seat in rooms independent hairdressers don't usually get into
I’ve learned this stuff the hard way
I’m Sarah. I started in hairdressing at 14 and have spent the last 20+ years immersed in pretty much every part of the industry.
I’ve been employed, rented a chair, managed salons, worked on high-profile shoots, spent seven years at Bleach London, built my own education business and taught more than 15,000 hairdressers around the world. So I’ve seen a lot of what this industry can look like, from behind the chair to behind the scenes.
But I’ve also learned a lot by getting things wrong. I’ve experienced burnout, struggled through periods where cancellations meant I couldn’t pay my bills and had to completely rethink what success actually meant to me.
I know that being brilliant at hair doesn’t automatically mean you know how to run a business, make good money from it or work out what you want your career to look like next. That’s the stuff I’m here to help with.
REAL WINS, FROM REAL MEMBERS — IN THEIR FIRST FEW WEEKS INSIDE
"I'd completely built it up in my head and convinced myself I was going to get negative responses. I finally sent it. Not ONE negative response. The majority have been messages of support, telling me I'm worth it. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?!"
Lisa-Marie
"I've finally posted my first ever reel of myself doing hair, with a voiceover too! It took me about 100 attempts… but I didn't give up. The script idea Sarah gave me really helped!"
lucy
"A month ago I was so scared all my clients were going to leave after I did a big price restructure. A month later I'm nearly fully booked for the rest of the year. I realise now I'm charging my worth, and I deserve a better work-life balance for me and my family."
KAYLEIGH
"I've been working on making my online bookings easy for clients, and I had a holiday where I didn't answer a single client message. It's the first time I've had a holiday that felt like a holiday since going self-employed."
KATIE
"I've really struggled this year with charging properly. Today I had a client come for a colour correction and I quoted her £300 thinking she'd never agree to that, but she DID!"
JEN
"I suffer with imposter syndrome badly, so this was a huge leap. I had a 'fuck it' moment and entered the Glamour Awards in the vivids category. Got an email to say I'm a finalist, such a confidence boost."
SHARON
"A client asked to cancel because I'd 'got too expensive.' Two years ago that would have weighed heavily on my mind, but because of you guys and Sarah's videos I said to myself: you can't win them all, and if paying myself a fair wage means he leaves, so be it."
NICKY
"As my diary is getting fuller, and thanks to this group, I'm realising I absolutely CAN put boundaries in place. I stuck to my policy and separated my emotional side from my professional side (something I've always struggled with). It's a turning point."
CHARLOTTE
"My prices have officially increased, I've taken off the services I didn't enjoy, AND I've submitted my tax return already — normally I'm crying into a pile of receipts. Boundaries, sensible pricing and early admin… I feel like I've got my shit together."
NICOLE
AND THIS IS JUST THE FIRST FEW WEEKS…
Since the Staff Room opened its doors, members haven't just felt more supported, they've actually done the things they'd been putting off for years:
Sent out price increases they'd been sitting on for months. most with zero pushback
Finally filled in The Pricing Calculator and found out what their services are really worth
Held their cancellation policy instead of waiving the fee "just this once"
Changed their working hours to suit them, not everyone else
Got the tax return in early, for once
Said no to the extra client, the late night, the Saturday, and didn't feel guilty
Imagine what your own list looks like a few months from now?
frequently asked questions
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It's a membership for independent hairdressers — part community, part business education, part little black book of industry perks. You get a private "group chat" of stylists who get it, a growing library of straight-talking business lessons, monthly live Staff Meetings with me, Popz (the in-house AI you can talk anything through with), and access to a roster of brand partners. It's the staff room you lost when you went out on your own.
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As soon as you join, you're in — everything's there waiting for you. Right now doors are closed, so hop on the waitlist and you'll be first in when they open.
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Honestly? A lot of the room is already international — Ireland, Australia, the US and beyond. Here's the straight answer so you know exactly what you're getting: the community, the mindset and confidence side, the pricing and money psychology, the marketing, the boundaries and the whole business-owner shift apply wherever in the world you work. The one exception is the UK-specific tax, insurance and legal lessons — you'll take the principles from those rather than the letter of the law where you are.
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No. There's a monthly live Staff Meeting with Sarah, but every one is recorded and the replay goes up for you to watch whenever suits. You can even send your questions in beforehand, so you get an answer whether or not you can make it live.
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This is honestly one of the best times to join. There's a whole "Self Employment 101" area for exactly this — the scary leap, understanding your agreements, what to put aside for tax, the lot. Far better to have the room around you from the start than to spend the first two years winging it on your own.
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The stylists who've told us "I'm 16 years in and still figuring out the business side on my own" are exactly who this is for too. The hairdressing you've nailed. It's the money, the boundaries, the systems and the "what's next" that most of us were never taught — and that's what's inside.
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The group chat isn't the place for on-the-spot technical help — if you're stuck on a formula or a correction, that's what my courses and education are for, and I'll point you their way. What you will get inside is education from our brand partners (like Wella), plus everything on the business and life side — the money, the boundaries, the confidence and the direction.
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Because this isn't a course you have to "get through." The lessons are short and made to dip into when you need them, not homework to feel guilty about. And the real engine is the community — a room of people cheering you on and answering your questions is what actually keeps you turning up.
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The Group Chat area already one of the busiest, warmest bits of the whole thing. People are asking the awkward questions, sharing wins, having the Sunday-night wobble out loud and getting picked back up. You won't be shouting into the void.
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There's nothing to keep up with. No timetable, no falling behind. Lessons are bite-sized, the community's there when you need it, and you take what you need when you need it. Even ten minutes in here can shift how your week feels.
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Really easy to fit around a busy day. Every lesson has captions, so you can follow along with the sound off. You can speed them up or slow them down to whatever pace suits you. There's a built-in AI search that pops up which you can even talk to — so you just ask for what you need instead of hunting for it. And if you'd rather listen than watch, you can play the lessons like a podcast: the audio keeps going, so you can take it all in in the car or between clients.
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Not at all. If you can use Instagram, you can use Staff Room. And if you ever get stuck, there's always someone to help.
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Fair question — and the honest answer is that this membership is built to pay for itself. The money and pricing lessons alone are about charging properly, keeping more of what you earn and stopping the quiet leaks — the stuff that costs most independents far more than the monthly cost. And if it's ever not right for you, you cancel any time.
be first to join us when doors open again
I know you’re bloody brilliant at what you do but you still have moments when you wonder if everybody else has got this career figured out better than you have.
You’ve spent enough time being the person with all the responsibility, making every decision and trying to find every answer on your own.
Now you get to have somewhere that has your back.
Some days you’ll come in for an answer and leave with a massive weight off your shoulders.
Other days, you’ll find an idea, conversation or opportunity that changes what you thought was possible for your career.
And sometimes, you’ll just need to hear that you’re doing a much better job than you’re giving yourself credit for.
Whatever brings you here, babe, when doors open again, I can’t wait to have you…
