Our Stylists

Director
Sarah Thomas

Sarah opened Live & Let Dye in 2012 out of a love for creative hair and rock ‘n’ roll!

Not wanting to follow the trend of sterile looking salon interiors, the first thing she did was paint the walls red and black, decorated the walls with electric guitars, drum sets and posters of rock bands and tattoo art, to create Live & Let Dye’s unique interior.

Sarah still loves creative and bright hair colours and short creative cuts. She also loves creating beautiful updo’s, having styled hair for several pin-up & burlesque shows including Venus Starr & Very Vintage Day Out

Sarah studied at Servilles Academy, graduating with “Outstanding” and winning several awards in the Academy competitions. She has worked on NZ Fashion Week & NZ Next Top Model and styled hair for Vodafone Music Awards, music video’s and photoshoots.

Sarah loves rock music from Guns ‘n’ Roses & Black Sabbath to Devilskin and Aerosmith and of course her partners music, Ryan Kershaw.

Salon Manager & Senior Stylist:
Robyn Kirkwood

Robyn is our amazingly creative Salon Manager.

She found her passion for hairdressing 13 years ago over the years that passion has only grown.
Originally from the south island, Robyn moved to auckland 5 years ago, gaining experience and industry recognition for her photographic and long hair work.
Winner of NZARH awards for long lair and a semi finalist two years running in the prestigious Wella Trend Vision Award for her work with creative cuts and colour, she is a force to be reckoned with.
Robyn has also styled hair at new Zealand fashion week and in Sydney and worked along side hairdressing heavyweight Mark Hayes of the Sassoon Academy UK.
Hobbies include traveling nz and the world with her husband, surfing and hiking around our amazing west coast scenery and hanging out at the BMX track with her nephews.
Her Spotify Playlist faves are Post Modern Jukebox, Jurassic 5 and pretty much anything with a good bluesy beat.

Head Stylist:
Lauren Armstrong

Lauren’s love for hair comes from her love to see a smile leave the salon and LOVES colour, shape, style and texture.

She’s appeared and styled hair on ‘Good Morning’ and for music posters for artist such as Anika Moa, Holly Smith and Boh Runga, she’s had training with International Session stylist Carl Revees and came 4th place for her hair-up in the Wellington Regional hair comp. She’s also styled runway shows for some of NZ leading fashion houses!

Hobbies include history, riding on motorcycles with boys, making delicious dinners, binge-watching Lilyhammer with a wine, and apparently is an exceptional constructor of Lego.
Top 5 played on Spotify: Eagles of Death Metal – ‘I Like To Move In the Night’, Lucinda Williams – ‘Essence’, PJ Harvey – ‘Let England Shake’, Dusty Springfield – ‘Son of a Preacher Man’, Led Zeppelin – ‘Hey Hey What Can I Do’

Junior Stylist:
Jessica Uden

Jess is our amazing Junior Stylist who has been trained from an apprentice to develop her skills and now create beautiful creative colour work!

Originally from Christchurch, she loves the creativity of the hair industry and enjoys the fact that you can change a persons whole image and perception of themselves just by changing their hair!

She loves creative colours and big curly blow waves!

She is interested in cars, tattoo’s and animals (her dog is her child!).

DREAM is a word she lives by and her favourite quote is:

“A dream is a wish the heart makes” and “Never let small minded people convince you your dreams are too big, for if you have a dream, there is always a way to make it come true”

Her favourite music is Guns ‘n’ Roses, Eminem, Tinashe & Beyonce.

Emerging Stylist:
Jamie Rogers

Jamie is our awesome and talented apprentice!

She was born and raised in Auckland and studied at Cut Above Academy for a year before starting her apprenticeship.

She loves seeing how happy someone can be, just by changing their hair. Her favourite thing is balayage, ombre and bright colours which she is definitely developing a talent for!

Jamie loves tattoos, old cars, baking and long summer drives.

Her favourite music is anything old school – The Doors, The Beatles, Bob Dylan.