Keep On, Keeping On

Founder of A Cut Above Hair Salon And Hairstyling Academy Datin Winnie Loo looks back on her 41 years of being in the industry, and looks ahead at what’s next in 2021

- Koyyi Chin

It wasn’t so much a leap of faith as it was a determined dive towards her goals for 23-year-old rookie hairstylist Winnie Loo when she opened her very own hair salon, A Cut Above, alongside business partner-and-husband Richard Teo in 1979. Renowned locally and internationally, Loo not only runs multiple outlets across affluent districts, but has also opened a hairstyling academy, and has since earned herself numerous accolades, two of which include the 1997 World Master of The Craft in New York, as well as the 2010 Ernst & Young Woman Entrepreneur of The Year award.

However, as the age-old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Loo’s hairstyling empire. Trained by the late British hairstylist Vidal Sassoon himself, she recalls being sidelined by senior colleagues and customers alike when she’d first started out in London as well as Singapore before ultimately returning to Malaysia.

“Well, I guess being bullied as a rookie is commonplace in any industry,” Loo muses. “But I thought of it more as a character building exercise instead of it being a negative experience, using the lessons I learned to polish and perfect my skills.”