Convict Cutters celebrates birthday after three decades in Launceston

Director Robert Matthews said a lot had changed since he first started cutting hair, but said he was more surprised by what had stayed the same.

"I started with mullets in the '80s and if you look at the AFL and around the town, mullets are back in my life, he said.

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Mr Matthews said while the mullet has remained other things have changed.

"The industry has changed a lot in the last 10 years from where there was a very highly educated industry to now where there is a lot less education," he said.

"Salon staff used to go to seminars and do a lot of learning in their own time, but not any more and that sort of slowed down the education of the industry."

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He said with up to 18 staff working for the salon at one point, maintaining a skilled workforce became one of the first major challenges the business needed to adapt to.

"We started to train our own staff in the salon and we did training every Tuesday which was a good thing because we got better staff quicker," he said.

It wasn't always a boon time for the business and Mr Matthews recalled the early days when the support from his friends, family and the community helped sustain the growing salon.

"It was just myself and my mother for the first couple of weeks until I got my first apprentice and then it just started to grow," he said.

"We have a few VIP customers, there's about 20 of them that have been coming into the salon for all those years, right from the very very beginning."

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Looking back on his time as a hairdresser, Mr Matthews said his advice for the next generation looking to make it in the industry was simple - be flexible and adapt to the demands of the next generation.

"There have been lots of changes, hairstyles, extensions, straightening and new styling through different eras," he said.

"Everything has changed, but the fundamental thing has always been the client, what the client wants, whether it be bright blue hair or nice glamorous hair."

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