Careers in Cork: My obsession with hair all started with Dolly Parton!

PATRICK Murphy, from Mayfield, now living in Dublin Hill, is the owner of Edit Hair Club, based on MacCurtain Street in the heart of Cork’s Victorian Quarter.

I caught up with him to find out how his career started out and how he ended up owning a thriving business in the heart of Cork city.

In the Beginning

It all started probably the first time I saw Dolly Parton when I was about five years old and I thought she was the most glamorous thing I had ever seen. It was the hair that got me. It was completely OTT but fabulous.

Luckily, I had three sisters with lots of hair for me to try and turn into Dolly. I don’t remember them putting up a big fight but maybe that’s just how I remember it. I would set all their hair in those spongey pink rollers at night and I’d be so excited the next morning to wake up and take the rollers out! I still don’t know why or how I got this obsession with hair as nobody else in my family has any connection to the hair world. I think I was just born with it.

This grew and developed as I got older and I even used to glue extensions into my sister’s hair when I was a teenager. (These were different times and extensions have come a long way! I would never do this now!). But as I got older, society taught me that hairdressing was for girls. 

I started feeling embarrassed about it and hiding it. I’d only do it for my sisters at home and never talk to anyone about it. I was realising at the same time that I was gay. And this was a secret I planned on keeping forever.

And I thought, “Well, if I become a hairdresser - I might as well put a sign on my head”. Again, these were different times, but I was a kid and this was my thought process.

A Brave New World

In order to secure my place safely in the closet, I finished school and went to UCC and studied Environmental Science. I went to Chicago for my J1 and basically met a guy and once that happened I realised the closet was not so much an option any more. I needed to face who I was and start telling my family and friends that I was gay. And as it turns out, no-one treated me any differently. I was very lucky but I had built this secret up to something massive in my head and it was extremely hard to give it up. But once it was done, I felt free and the possibilities in my life just opened up.

I moved to London expecting to own the city. But I was so poor and eventually hunger sent me home to Cork where I made the decision to let my mom feed me and follow my heart to do hairdressing. Origin Hair design took me in and I stayed there for almost ten years. I pretty much took to it like a duck to water really and I haven’t looked back. The big dream was to have my own salon and make my little mark on the world. The thought of that responsibility scared the life out of me. I was afraid of getting in loads of debt. I was afraid of failure and people’s judgement.

Life gets put in perspective

But then the scariest thing in the world happened to me and put all my fears in perspective. I lost my mom suddenly to cancer. Ever since I was a little kid, my mom was my world and I was always scared something would happen to her, so when it did, it felt like the whole world just ended.

And when the worst thing in the world happens, all your other fears really do seem silly in comparison.

She wanted me to open my own salon. She always said “it would be the making of you”. I felt bitterly angry with myself that she never saw me actually do it but I felt her with me and found the strangest courage to just get the process started. I haven’t looked back since.

Getting started

My top tip for getting the ball rolling on starting any kind of business is to start with a good accountant. I got in touch with Angela Garvey from AG Associates when I was starting off. She helped me more than I can say. From a business perspective I really didn’t have a clue. I knew the hair part. The business part was a whole different story. But she gave me solid steps to follow and tools to properly lay out what I wanted to create and how to achieve it.

If you’re a hairdresser, speak to the reps for the colour suppliers. I worked with Xpert Professional and stock alfaparf, joico, colour wow and Moroccan oil. They also had a stunning selection of salon furniture that I just loved and helped me a lot to get on my feet.

My favourite part of the set-up process for the business was designing the salon interior. The amount of pictures and images I had for that mood board was verging on just ridiculous. I had very little money to get it started so me and my dad and my friend Mike Daly did most of it ourselves. When I told my dad that I was painting the walls black he nearly keeled over. “What’s wrong with a bit of magnolia?” he asked. But when it was all put together he saw my vision and I was delighted we did it together.

The Best Part

The best thing for me about owning Edit Hair Club is the environment I’ve created. It feels like home to my team and to the clients. I am so blessed with the team that I have around me. We are all creative and inspire each other every day. They have the best energy and the most talent and I feel like the whole salon just has a really inclusive, open vibe. 

It’s the reason I called the salon a Hair Club because I wanted everyone who walked through the door to feel like they were welcome and belonged here. I wanted to create a cool space that was fun to work in. A place where everyone felt included and somehow I think I pulled it off.

We deal with customers all day, every day. Our customers really are the most mixed bag. The common trait they all share is that they are good people and we have built some really strong bonds with our clients since opening four and a half years ago. We are so lucky and grateful for them all.

Shout Outs

I’d definitely love to give a shout out to Karolina and Patrycja who are both fabulous women who run their own businesses from within Edit Hair Club. Karolina owns The Brows by Karolina. She does everything for brows from threading and tinting, to microblading Phi brows. Her work speaks for itself, she is just a magician and I love and respect her loads.

Patrycja owns Nails by Patrycja and is so unbelievably talented and a master of her craft. Both ladies have built strong businesses for themselves through sheer talent and personality and I’m lucky to have them under my roof.

I have to thank the Edit Hair Club team. I literally could not do it without them. They support me every day and give the salon the lovely vibe it has and all the while doing absolutely stunning hair. They are the heart of Edit Hair Club.