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Hello Healthy Hair Tribe!
Did you know that my first celebrity hairstyle crushes led me to where I am today??? Back in the 80’s not only was I obsessed with Stevie Nicks, Olivia Newton John, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna for their music – I thought that they all had AMAZING hair. At an early age, I had learned that hair was our #1 accessory and always the first thing that I noticed about someone.
In the 8th grade I remember seeing the movie “Can’t Buy Me Love” with Patrick Demspey and Amanda Peterson. What a classic! And Wow - has Patrick Dempsey really come along way! But my hair crush was not on McDreamy, it was on “Cindy Mancini,” the prettiest, most popular girl on campus who was the object of his affection. She had the most beautiful blonde hair that wasn’t crimped – it was WAVED.
That was when we were first introduced to the sister iron of the crimper that gave us those bigger “more natural” looking beach waves. I was obsessed with her hair so I subjected my hair to torture everyday as I recreated her beachy look.
My next hair crushes started to develop when I was a freshman in high school. I was thrilled to see my subscription to Seventeen, Vogue and Allure magazines in the mailbox every month. This was the supply for my latest “fix”…Supermodel Hair! There was Niki Taylor, Elle Macpherson, Claudia Schiffer, Helena Christianson…they all had gorgeous hair! I knew back then that my thin textured hair would never be like theirs, but OMG – I loved to look at it!
My real obsession was with Linda Evanglista, the beautiful supermodel “Who wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10k a day.” She was famous for changing her hair color as often as we changed our underwear. In the 90's she was the face of Clairol and they did a campaign where she was a blonde, redhead and then a brunette all within 3 days. It was the transformation she went through during this campaign that gave me the desire to be a hair stylist.
I finally figured out how to be “close to” hair that I was seeing in the magazines that I had been collecting and storing under my bed for years…I knew I wouldn’t be able to have all of these amazing hair styles, but if I could create them – THAT WOULD BE THE ULTIMATE FIX!
I grew up in a neighborhood in Orange County California and attended a high school that groomed us to all go to a four-year university, so Hair School or “Beauty College” was not on my radar. I went to college at UCSB and lived out my hair fantasies by cutting friends hair and experimenting with my own hair cut and color…
My Junior year I was on a mission for “Peach” hair that unfortunately no hair stylist I went to was able to figure out. What a Bummer!! (Hence my obsession with the latest Fantasy Hair Color Trend)
After graduation I entered the world of fashion merchandising because I thought it would get my creative energy going and somehow be close enough to hair styling in a corporate way that I could still get that fix. After 8 years in the fashion industry and soon turning 30 AND still carrying around tons of hairstyle pictures that I had torn out of magazines over the last 2 decades, I realized that this burning desire wasn’t going to go away. I had to get my butt into beauty school and be the hair stylist that I always wanted to be.
After a year in school and all the changes in my life settled, I found myself in Del Mar, San Diego. I rented a chair for a few years at a salon in town and in 2009 I opened up my own salon. This is where I still do hair today.
Why do I tell you all this? A couple reasons! First, I want you to get to know me a little better and learn why I chose the hair industry to be the place that I make my imprint in. Second, I want to prepare you for the onslaught of hair inspiration photos that I will post along our journey together. I used to have a wall in my bathroom at the salon that had magazine tears of gorgeous hairstyles I loved wall papered all over the bathroom wall. This is where I paid homage to my personal journey to reach my great achievement of opening my own salon.
This past spring my salon had a flood and that wall was destroyed so I now feel moved to create my virtual wall here and on my Pinterest Boards to be at home with all of my Healthy Hair and Wellness Tips. I hope that you love and get inspired by these photos as much as I do and my clients did when they visited my salon. I know that a week won’t go buy at the shop without hearing from a client how much they miss that wall. Hopefully this blog and Pinterest can be that new FIX!
Wishing You Lots of Healthy Hair Love!
