Lauren McMurray, Creative Director of Iron + Ivy Hair Studio in Queenstown, is a hairdressing educator and speaker. She teaches stylists around New Zealand through her Modern Blonde / Modern Client series, and in 2026 was a guest panel speaker at the Moroccanoil Atelier in Sydney.
She has been teaching for most of her 25 years in the industry, starting at 22.
In the industry she is known as The Straight Talking Stylist. You can follow her work on Instagram at @thestraighttalkingstylist.
Modern Blonde / Modern Client is Lauren’s education series for working hairdressers. She travels New Zealand teaching and demonstrating how to create the perfect blonde, and pairs it with practical business advice for stylists and salon owners.
It draws on what she does every day as a blonde and balayage specialist, and on building Iron + Ivy from a new salon in 2019 into an award-winning studio.
To ask about a session for your salon or team, get in touch.
In 2026 Lauren was invited to join the guest panel at the Moroccanoil Atelier in Sydney, a two-day conference hosted by The Haircare Group.
Iron + Ivy was the first salon in New Zealand to offer Moroccanoil Pro Colour, and Lauren shared that experience with a room full of fellow hairdressers.
In 2023 she was interviewed by INSTYLE magazine about Moroccanoil’s The Collective in Las Vegas.
Lauren founded the Iron + Ivy Academy to train and mentor apprentices. So far she has taken four apprentices through to working stylists, which she counts as just as rewarding as growing the business.
The same approach runs through the studio. Iron + Ivy invests in in-house training, sends team members to national and international education events, and brings apprentices through to the floor.
Meet the team that training has built on our senior stylists page, and see where it has taken us on our awards page.
Yes. Lauren McMurray, Creative Director of Iron + Ivy Hair Studio in Queenstown, teaches stylists around New Zealand through her Modern Blonde / Modern Client series. In the industry she is known as The Straight Talking Stylist.
It is Lauren McMurray’s education series for hairdressers. It covers how to create the perfect blonde, alongside business advice for stylists and salon owners.
The Iron + Ivy Academy is the in-salon training programme Lauren McMurray founded at Iron + Ivy Hair Studio in Queenstown to train and mentor apprentices. Four apprentices have become working stylists through it so far.
Yes. In 2026 she was invited to speak on the guest panel at the Moroccanoil Atelier conference in Sydney, hosted by The Haircare Group.
Get in touch through the Iron + Ivy contact page with your salon, your team size and what you would like covered.
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