Sorelle of Hair · Our Story
Built from experience,
not theory.
The story of two hairdressers who spent decades behind the chair, built and sold a salon, and then created something the industry was missing.
50+
Years combined experience
2019
Year Sorelle was founded
10+
Years as partners
Where it began
Two hairdressers. One shared standard.
Sorelle of Hair was created by Nicole McDonell and Hannah Graham — two qualified hairdressers, educators and business owners who have spent years behind the chair, inside salons, working with real clients, real hair, real problems and real expectations.
Nicole brings 37 years in the hair industry. She is a Master Hair Extensionist, certified trainer and assessor, and an award-winning extension specialist. Hannah brings 13 years of experience, with a specialty in colour work, blondes and refined transformations.
Together, they bring more than 50 years of combined industry experience to the hair extension space. That is not a number. It is a body of work.
Clients should not need Panadol, sleepless nights or a week of pain to have hair extensions.
Nicole McDonell, Co-Founder
Before Sorelle
They built a salon. Then they built something bigger.
Before Sorelle, Nicole and Hannah co-founded and grew Maxyn Asher Hair Salon in Mackay — a serious salon brand built from the ground up with systems, standards, service and a clear vision. It grew, developed a loyal client base and became a business strong enough to sell.
That chapter taught them things most people never see from the outside: how hard salon ownership really is, what stylists need to grow, what clients truly value, and that a beautiful brand means nothing without structure behind it.
That experience became part of the DNA of Sorelle.
Why Sorelle exists
They had seen the same problem too many times.
Women coming in with damaged hair. Rows too heavy. Extensions fitted with no thought to density. Painful installs. Poor grow-outs. Stylists guessing instead of mapping. Clients thinking discomfort was normal.
Sorelle was not designed to be another hair extension brand selling packets of hair with pretty photos. It was built to raise the standard — through better hair, better installation, better education and better decision-making.
That belief became the line in the sand that Sorelle was built on.
The Sorelle Standard
Structure before styling. Always.
Sorelle is built around one clear philosophy: hair extensions should protect the natural hair first. Beauty is the finish, not the foundation. The foundation is structure.
That is why Nicole developed the Structural Seam™ Installation System — a method built around controlled tension, clean stitching, correct placement, balanced weight distribution and safe grow-out. It is not based on rushing rows into the hair. It is measured. It is mapped. It is intentional.
Every head of hair is different. Fine hair needs a different plan to thick hair. Damaged hair needs a different plan to strong hair. This is where Sorelle separates itself.
Meet the founders
The people behind the standard.
Learn more about Nicole and Hannah, or book directly at the Mackay studio.