Endless Beauty

Collette Alfar is a beauty therapist, but this was not where she thought her journey would take her. As a young girl her dream was to become a hairdresser and after using her barbie dolls as clients and cutting and colouring their hair with Texta, she thought that’s what she wanted to become. During year 11, Collette landed a job in a hair salon working part time and after 2 years of experiencing the hairdressing industry, she came to realise that this was not the career pathway she wanted to head down.

In 1995, Colette landed a retail job as a supervisor and continued that job for 15 years, in 2008, had her second child and during 2 years of maternity leave realised it was time for her to follow her dream to become part of the beauty industry.

This is her story…

In 2010, I received a phone call from my manager to organise paperwork for me to return to work, but I knew it was now or never, so I bit the bullet and put in my resignation to pursue my dream as a beauty therapist.

After doing my research I found a private college in Adelaide and went in for an interview at the prestigious college. I was accepted and enrolled into a 2-month spray tan and make up course.

Once I finished my final class I was approached by my lecturer. She said to me “Collette I can really see your passion in the beauty industry, and I really think you should enrol in a beauty therapy course.”

After my Lecturer said those words to me it gave me the confidence and pushed me to realise, I was made for this career. I couldn’t wait to come home and tell my husband that this was my dream. I was 35 years old and now was the perfect time for me to start.

I had 2 young children and I decided to study Beauty therapy course at night, although I knew it would be a challenge, I also knew that the only way for me to succeed was to sacrifice. Along the way of studying, assignments and exams and being a mum of 2 little children, I managed to organise my own work experience in a beauty salon.

I went to a number of different beauty salons to undertake work experience and one of them offered me a job because of the passion I showed for the industry, and I continued to work there for 12 months after my work experience.

After 18 months of late nights studying at home and at the private beauty college in Adelaide, I finally graduated in November 2011 and my dream of being a qualified Beauty Therapist had begun.

I was very excited that I was starting a new chapter in my life as I knew I had all the support from my husband and family to pursue my dream. While I was at beauty college, I had already started focusing on opening up my own business, doing my research, thinking of a business name. I created ‘Endless Beauty by Collette’. It encapsulated everything that I envisioned it to be. Once I turned my formal living room into a beauty salon, at the end of 2011, I was ready to welcome clients.

I must admit although I was nervous and experienced a lot of sleepless nights from not knowing if my business was going to be successful, what happened next made it all worth it. Eighteen months later my business boomed, and I was booked out months in advance. Since then, I have never looked back, I only looked to the future.

Since then, I continually pushed myself to study and learn new treatments. I currently specialise in Facials, Waxing, Tinting, Shellac Nails, Pedicures, Skin Needling, Microdermabrasion, Lash Lifts, Led Light Therapy and Body Exfoliation.

In 2021, I had the honour of being voted Top 10 Best Beauty Therapist in SA. I never thought it was possible to reach this position in my career. I was overwhelmed by all the support I received from my clients throughout the 10 years of my career. As The Advertiser continued to put ‘the best of South Australia’ nomination for sectors in the beauty industry I received endless amounts of support from clients, family and friends nominating me. achievement gave me a wave of adrenaline, making me feel overwhelmed and proud. Skin therapy is a sector that I take pride in, and I will continue to grow in this sector. Approximately a month after, there were nominations put out in the ‘Best of South Australia’ series for best wax technician. I received an overwhelming number of nominations and a week later I was put into the top 20 in SA. I was anxiously waiting to see the results. At 5pm my phone rang, I picked it up to hear that I was officially voted as South Australia’s best wax technician. I was in disbelief and shock with my hands trembling. I couldn’t believe it, I finally made it.

After years of tears, hard work, and endless amount of support, I made it to number one in South Australia. This really showed me that hard work pays off once you put your heart and soul to pursue your dreams. This experience has given me the confidence and motivation to keep moving forward and inspiring other businesses that times can be tough but never give up because at the end of the day hard work always pays off.

I have learnt that staying true to who you are, putting your clients at the forefront of everything you do and having the support of family and friends will make the dream possible.

Dreams are possible just needs the hard work and 100% effort; I know you can achieve anything.