Peter Mark’s longest serving staff on the mistakes they see over and over again

Peter Mark, Ireland’s leading hairdressing group – the first Peter Mark opened on Grafton St in 1961 – recently honoured 120 of their employees for their long-standing service to the company. Collectively those honoured had almost 2,000 years of experience in the hairdressing industry ranging from stylists to support staff. Today there are 71 salons across Ireland and the company employs almost 1,700 people, making it one of Ireland’s largest employers.

We asked three of the longest serving staff at Peter Mark – Karen O’Neill, Michael Doyle and Catherine Doyle – to share one hair hack and one mistake they’ve seen repeated over the years.

Karen O’Neill

Karen O’Neill is based at the Malahide salon and has just celebrated 35 years with Peter Mark at the Long Service Awards.

REPEATED CLIENT MISTAKE

“A mistake I see people make consistently is when hair care and after-care advice is given and it’s not followed by the client. They are missing out on getting the optimum results! I love working together with my clients to design a future plan for their hair and it can be frustrating when this isn’t followed at home as I want people to feel confident and their best.”

ONE HAIR HACK

“I love, love, love big hair, I’m the upstyle queen. One of my favourite hacks is to backcomb the roots of hair before I ghd curl to give an amazing lift and volume. I like to use my go-to favourite product, Redken Quick Tease, €20, which gives the best hold – it doesn’t move, it’s amazing!”

Redken Quick Tease, €20

Michael Doyle

Michael Doyle has been a creative force in Irish hairdressing for over a quarter of a century and has been recognised with a long service award for his 25 years with Peter Mark.

REPEATED CLIENT MISTAKE

“The biggest mistake I see from clients is when they use home colour. It doesn’t always do what it says on the box and you are always better to leave it to the colour experts. If you are looking for something that requires less upkeep in the salon, a balayage style colour is great low maintenance and cost-effective option.”

ONE HAIR HACK

“If you have coloured hair, you need to try our Colour Pop treatment. The service takes 10-15 minutes and leaves coloured hair with an amazing shine and really enhances colour. It’s great for all hair types to add tone or simply shine and is also really cost effective.”

Catherine Doyle

Catherine has been hairdressing for over 35 years and in Peter Mark for 30 years. Catherine’s daughter has now followed in her footsteps and has begun her hairdressing career with Peter Mark too. 

REPEATED CLIENT MISTAKE

“The mistake I see clients make over and over again is using box dye at home. The client usually always regrets it later and it can end up taking a number of sessions to fix depending on the damage, so it ends up costing a lot more than the saving you think you are making by using a box dye in the first place!”

ONE HAIR HACK

“My hair hack has to be the ghd curve classic curl tong, €135. I use it for almost everything. I don’t know how I ever worked without it! It’s so easy for both clients and stylists alike to use, it’s extremely versatile and you can create so many different types of looks with it.”

ghd curve classic curl tong, €135

Backstage photography by Jason Lloyd Evans.