August 2026: Just Cuts, the largest hairdressing franchise network in the Southern Hemisphere, is marking Women in Franchising Month by celebrating both sides of its business - the Stylists who have spent decades building careers behind the chair, and the Salon Owners who have built thriving businesses around them. Together, their stories reflect what Just Cuts considers the real strength of its network: a model that lets women succeed on their own terms, whether that's growing a long-term career as a Stylist or stepping up to run a Salon.
Of the network's 220 plus Salons across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada, the vast majority of its 30,000 Stylists are women. Some have spent their whole careers behind the chair; others have gone on to become Owners, and some have come to ownership from outside hairdressing altogether. The common thread across all of them is a business model built on flexibility and systems designed to remove the guesswork - for Stylists building a career, and Owners building a business.
Joanne Ashkar is proof of what that pathway can look like. "Twenty-seven years ago I picked up my first pair of scissors here, never thinking I'd one day be celebrating 10 years as the Owner of this very salon," Joanne said.
“That's the thing about Just Cuts - you don't need a business background to become an Owner, you need the systems, and they're already built for you. I just had to put the work in and back myself.”
"So many of our Stylists are mums juggling school pick-ups, and the flexibility of this model is what keeps talented women in the industry instead of walking away from it. I want other women coming through our team to look at me and think, if she can go from behind the chair to Owner, so can I," she added.
Just Cuts' fixed-price, no-appointment model - and the training, marketing and operational systems that sit behind it - means Owners don't need to have started as a Stylist, or hold a hairdressing qualification, to run a successful Salon. It's a distinction the network is keen to highlight as more women look to franchising as a pathway into business ownership.
Catherine Denney is proof of that. After almost 20 years in marketing and finance, Catherine joined a growing wave of professionals leaving traditional corporate roles in search of flexibility, purpose and community connection. In 2022, she purchased the Just Cuts Salon in Penrith - a move that has since grown into a four-Salon network spanning Bathurst, Orange and Port Macquarie.
"I wanted a career that allowed me to work for myself while staying connected to my community," she said. "You don't need industry experience to run a great business - leadership and people skills take you a long way," she added.
Her transition comes at a time when franchising is attracting record numbers of career-changers who are seeking business ownership without the uncertainty of starting from scratch. She believes the key to that success is good systems and focusing on the wellbeing of her team.
“When your team feels supported, clients feel it too,” she said. “That’s been at the heart of everything we’ve done.”
Decades before flexible working became a mainstream conversation, Just Cuts was offering its stylists, overwhelmingly women, fixed pay, flexible hours and the ability to leave on time. No split shifts. No commission-based anxiety.
That same flexibility has shaped Courtney Currie's journey from Stylist to multi-Salon Owner. Courtney joined Just Cuts 18 years ago as a Stylist at Just Cuts Ipswich, and after several years running her own mobile hairdressing business, returned to the network before stepping into ownership. She recently celebrated 10 years as a Franchise Owner and now runs three Salons - Just Cuts Mt Ommaney, Just Cuts Burleigh Heads and Just Cuts Coomera.
"I loved the team environment, the systems, and the flexibility it gave me as a mum," said Courtney Currie.
As a solo mum, Courtney says that same flexibility has carried through into ownership, letting her build a business while still being present for her son. "One of the biggest blessings has been having the flexibility to attend school events, sports days, concerts and spend quality time together during school holidays," she said.
It's a factor that Just Cuts founder Denis McFadden has long pointed to as central to the brand's success.
"There are thousands of Salon Owners and Stylists, particularly women, who've built careers, raised families and bought homes because of what Just Cuts gave them - flexible hours, real pay, and systems that let them succeed without having to reinvent the wheel," Denis said.
For more information on Just Cuts visit justcuts.com.au.
For media enquiries, please contact Sari-Elle Kraemer at skraemer@alphaconsulting.global or 0407 284 457
More about Just Cuts:
Just for you. Since 1982.
In 1982, Denis McFadden had to wait three months to vacate a lease he no longer needed, as he had already moved his Sydney salon business. To keep things simple, he decided to hold a promotion offering a “no-appointment” $7 Style Cut for all Clients.
The response was outstanding, and that day marked the moment the Just Cuts brand was born.
Just Cuts is an Australian hairdressing franchise that bridges the gap between a barber and a high-end hair salon. With Salons in every state of Australia, on both the North and South Islands of New Zealand and within the United Kingdom, it is the largest hairdressing company from the Southern Hemisphere.
Based on a fixed-price, no-appointment system, Just Cuts offers Clients affordable haircuts from fully qualified hairdressers and performs over 100,000 Style Cuts per week across the globe.
For more information: https://www.justcuts.com.au