the salons history so far...
D’Aguiar: hair.skin.nails was born from a passion and has been a labour of love for founder Rachael D’Aguiar since November 2001 when D’Aguiar Beauty Therapy begain its humble existence in a spare room in Rachael’s rented Mt Eden villa (which she still lives in today). Rachael was a one women band for almost 2 years before she realised her vision of a greater D’Aguiar team and a larger community for women. In fact many of the women who used to visit Rachael in her home helped build the foundation blocks of the new D’Aguiar clientele.
Although the new Symonds St premises were a huge upgrade, many will miss the friendly Xena the cat sitting on their stomach whilst they were having their monthly facial (Xena misses their attention too!)
Finding a new premises and the cash to set up a new Salon felt like a pipeline dream for Rachael at times, so when Rachael saw a tiny random advert in the New Zealand Herald simply reading, “Hair Salon, Symonds St, $500/wk, Rachael thought it was too good to be true.
After a whirlwind virtually sleepless 7 weeks of negotiating, lawyers and hiring staff, D’Aguiar: hair.skin.nails opened its doors with a party (of course) on October 1st 2003. Ruki the previous leaseholder, who stayed on to rent a chair didn’t know what had hit her.
The Salon opened with Rachael plus 3 staff, one of which lasted 2 weeks. Keri, Rachael’s cousin stayed on for 9 months as receptionist - thank god because no-one else new anything about computers and Aimee stayed on to do a wonderful 3 year innings as our hairdresser, only to move on for further training and development.
The first couple of years were intense. Rachael can literally point out the wrinkles that were created over that period. But D’Aguiar: hair.skin.nails blossomed into a friendly supportive fabulous place to work and visit. Rachael was featured in a particular article for ‘Her Business’ Magazine called ‘Love your work’….and it’s true to say there’s not many people who love it more.
Rachael Aimee and Nicole continued to grow the business doing annual competitions for which they achieved some merits and of course hundreds of weddings for which D’Aguiar has built a sought after reputation. Rachael’s previous freelancing hair and makeup work and current position as Trucco’s consultant and educator gave even more credibility to the salon as a hair and makeup destination.
Word got out and D’Aguiar was asked to be the official hair and beauty salon of TV series ‘10 Years Younger’ and was the salon that the NZ Herald chose to recruit as its enticement to gain more subscriptions.
When Nicole left for Sydney her boots were so big to fill that they remained vacant for a while and Rachael once again took care of all the beauty side of the business.
Eventually Jessica came on board as a full time beauty therapist to relieve Rachael of her 70 hour plus weeks. Jess stayed with D’Aguiar for 1 ½ years until she too moved to Sydney.
With a bit more time up her sleeve once Jess was on board, Rachael went about designing her own range of makeup brushes. Over 11 months Rachael created, crafted and perfected the D’Aguiar Pro Brushes which are now available at wholesale rates in the salon or at the online shop
www.makeupbrushes.co.nz
In March 2007 D’Aguiar & Terri found each other (it’s an uncanny story that I am sure she will tell you). Clients are still falling in love with Terri to this day. Rachael was a little worried because a month before her wedding to Chris not only had she hired Terri, but another therapist (Rachel Moore) who has since left. It was the first time that Rachael had had 3 weeks off in 9 years, so she crossed her fingers and ran off to Thailand on her honeymoon.
Well with marriage comes shared responsibility and Chris can now be found in the salon on a daily basis. Working as a team to grow and improve the business Rachael and Chris enlisted the support and mentoring of Greg Milner and team at Worldwide Salon Marketing. Within a few months of using the marketing tools provided by Worldwide Salon Marketing and the hard work of Chris and Rachael, the business grew almost 40% allowing Chris and Rachael to hire 2 more beauty therapists (Michelle & Marg) - or the M & M’s as we like to call them.
This was no mean feat to find the 2 perfect therapists as Rachael wouldn’t hand her clientele over to just anyone. She kept on working through her RSI putting of treatment until she could confidently hand the reins over.
Tim also works on a part time basis for the Salon as the cleaner and flyer deliverer…if you find a flyer in your mail box, its probably Tim who delivered it!
Today D’Aguiar is a bustling busy salon that strives for perfection and customer care. In fact they solidly stand by their 100% money back guarantee. The salon continues to organise 3 or 4 successful promotional evenings each year and also supports causes such as ‘Look Good, Feel Better,’ in fact our last fundraising event raised over $1400.00
Each of the staff at D’Aguiar could be the subject of a ‘why I love my work’ article which fills the New York loft style, large salon with oodles of positive energy! We can’t wait to see you in the salon soon!!! |
 teri mcrae
Terri joined our team as a senior hairstylist in March 2007. Before moving to D’Aguiar she worked at Servilles in Takapuna and Albany. Servilles is also where Terri achieved her hairdressing qualifications gaining an ‘outstanding’ mark.
She also won numerous in house awards for creative hair ups, colour work, mens cuts, womens daywear and client care.
 margherita ciuchini
Margherita was born in Rome Italy and moved to New Zealand when she was just three years old, and has lived here ever since.
Marg who joined the D’Aguiar team in March 2008 has been a senior therapist for 5 years now and has previously managed other Beauty Salons. She did her training at AUT and gained Cibtac qualifications in body, aesthetics and electrology which she passed with merit, and a Cedesco qualification in 2003 in Holistic therapies.
She specialises in men and woman’s Brazilians, Reflexology, Indian Scalp Massage & Hot Stone Massage and has a loyal existing clientele from previous salons.
Marg absolutely loves art and is currently doing a drawing course every Wednesday afternoon so she can further her knowledge and expertise in this area.
She also loves cooking (especially Italian food) which I can definitely vouch for having sampled a number of her creations!
Marg looks forward to meeting you in the Salon soon!
michelle keogh
Michelle was born in Dublin Ireland and moved to New Zealand when she was just 1 year old. Since then Michelle has moved back and forth between Dublin and Auckland. Michelle has now been settled in Auckland for 11 years and loves the amazing countryside as well as the great group of people she works with.
Michelle attained a Cedesco & Itec NZQA in Beauty therapy and was very proud to receive Beautician of the year from College of Camille & thesis of the year in cosmetic surgery. The course took 18 months and she qualified in April 2007. Michelle joined the D’Aguiar team in March 2008.
Michelle loves the hands on approach with clients and specialises in Swedish massage, Hot Stone Massage, Facials and Brazilians. Michelle says about Brazilians “I chose Brazilians to be my specialised subject because I love doing it for the instant results and satisfied customers - They’re easy to do and just have to be done right”.
Michelle enjoys staying active by running and getting involved in sports like indoor netball when she gets the chance. She also enjoys the thrill of a game of poker, but just with friends. She has always known she wanted to do something in the Beauty Industry, mainly because she loves to make people look great, feel great and just relax a bit in today’s rushed world. Michelle says, “D’Aguiar is great for that because coming here is like relaxing at home with friends, except you get pampered here, and it’s all about you!”
Michelle looks forward to meeting you in the Salon soon - if she hasn’t already!
 laura shaftoe
Laura was born and raised in South Africa, and immigrated to New Zealand, with her newly wed husband,in July 2008 to start a new life. In fact, one very different from the game park full of wild animals where her and Deane just exchanged their vows!
Laura is a qualified senior hairstylist who has been in the industry for 8 years. Back in South Africa Laura's clientele included a number of celebrities as well as top musicians, and she participated in numerous top industry competitions where she received many accolades.
Laura enjoys creating a style and colour to suit your unique image and personality. She enjoys the challenge of realising that everybody is completely different and styles you to match your dream of yourself.
Laura has a passion for life and for people and is incredibly close with her family. Luckily her Sister, brother-in-law, nephew and niece have also immigrated! She is loving her new adventure here in New Zealand and is looking forward to meeting you at D'Aguiar to create your unique look!
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