But few in his hometown are aware of the status absorded by the name Scott Sloan.

"He's always been into hair," said his mother Noelene Sloan.

"When he was a kid at Junee Primary School, Scott would be brushing and plaiting his teacher's long blonde hair in class. She'd just laugh, he was a natural."

"He was always doing foils on me too.

"Every now and then I'd let him cut it, sometimes it'd be a mess, but mostly it was very good."

His journey to the top of his career path has not been without its faltering step.

Soon after arriving in Sydney, Mr Sloan purchased his own salon, but a malfunctioning hairdryer caused an overnight fire.

It burnt down, leaving the aspiring hairdresser to begin from scratch.

Again, recently, his current operation in North Sydney was hampered by a broken downpipe that caused the premise to flood.

"He's worked incredibly hard for everything he has," said older sister Jody Russell.

"It's not come easy for him, but he's passionate and that's taken him a long way."

At the helm of his own empire with Sloan Salons, he has had opportunity to style the hair of stars - including his lifelong idol Dannii Minogue, who has become his regular client.

Mr Sloan continues to pay homage to his Riverina roots, having hired and kept his work staff from his early days in the industry.

His staff include Christopher Byrne from Cootamundra, Jordan Hone and Kate Wrona from Wagga, and his longest serving receptionist Sue Campbell, also from Wagga.

Despite his accolades, his family say his greatest pleasure comes from his work with the Starlight Foundation.

"He started off doing the kids hair in the hospital, but now he's going in with beauticians and doing the whole family. He's very proud of it."

His niece Anne Russell, 20, who still lives in Junee, has recently begun following his footsteps. Now working as a hairdresser in Wagga, she recently attended an industry forum workshop in Sydney.

"The class was near Scott's home, so he walked her in, and all the tutors were shocked, 'it's Scott Sloan, it's Scott Sloan, he's here!' they said. Then he walked out to go home, and they're all turning to her asking, 'how do you know him?'," recalls his mother.

"To her, he's just Uncle Scott. But she wants to be just like him."