Renowned Cork salon owner Val swaps scissors for trowel on South Africa charity trip

Owner of Ikon Hair Val Cahill one of several Irish volunteers on trip for Mellon Educate

Salon owner Val Cahill inside Ikon Hairdressers on Marlboro Street, Cork, as she prepares for her 14th volunteer trip to South Africa with Mellon Educate. Picture: Chani Anderson.

One of Ireland’s leading hair stylists believes the industry has finally recovered from a huge loss of talent caused by the covid pandemic.

Val Cahill is the owner of award-winning salon Ikon, now based on Marlboro Street in Cork city. One of Cork’s best known hair stylists, Ms Cahill is about to swap her scissors for a trowel as a volunteer with Mellon Educate, where she will work as a plasterer, on her 14th trip there.

Ms Cahill said that the hair industry had endured “a hard comeback from covid but I think we're getting there again."

Val Cahill working in South Africa for the Mellon Trust, where she wil wo

“So they went into different areas. And that left a lack of talent. Equally then because of the lack of talent, the whole team culture was affected. You know, people kind of got back as silos and stuff. So it was about establishing the culture again and getting really focused on team.” 

Ikon used the time since covid break wisely, moving premises - back to where Ms Cahill started out in the industry. "My dad got me into hairdressing when I was 13. He got me a Saturday job and summer job in Tony Bernards and then at 16 I left school and I wanted to do full time. I started out as a 16-year-old trainee under the late Victor Frank, where I worked for 13 years, before opening Ikon at a premises on Princes Street 28 years ago." 

Ikon later moved to Oliver Plunkett Street before the opportunity to take over the former Victor Frank’s salon on Marlboro Street emerged. Ikon now has a team of 11 stylists. "Victor Frank passed away last year, but I did get to call out to him before then to just catch up with him and reminisce. I sat with him and got to tell him like how important his part was in my success. it was so lovely to be able to do that."

On Friday, Ms Cahill will be taking time out from her salon to make her 14th trip to South Africa working as part of Mellon Educate, travelling to the township of Lwandle. Mellon Educate has seen 10,000 Irish volunteers helping out in South Africa over the past 23 years, helping to provide housing for 250,000 people. The focus these days is on education and the project has helped 85,000 young South Africans gain access to better education. 

Ms Cahill’s sister has joined her on eight trips while the next generation have also travelled, with Val’s son Finn and her niece Hannah having also travelled previously.

“The first two years, myself and my sister were team leaders. But I felt after those two years, this is what I do every day: I manage teams in the Salon. I do leadership programmes. Instead, I just wanted to do something that was really physical. So I was put on the plastering team and I was taught how to plaster. So now I'm just climbing up the scaffolding and plastering the gable wall. I absolutely love it.”

The intensive work week in the townships outside Cape Town brings together 400 Irish workers for an intensive but rewarding week.

Afterwards, Ms Cahill will return to the salon, as well as her consultancy, teaching leadership programmes and team-building within the hair industry.  "I think it's still a very attractive career choice, because you can be self-employed within a company. If you show the talent, if you show the interest, the world is your oyster. You can build that business, you build that clientele, you build the experience for your clients. You become highly successful very quickly."