It was the style that lit up social media and sentcurling ironsales sky-rocketing in 2015: #livedinhair.
If you were good, you had a loyal clientele and maybe booked a wedding here and there.
Post your work online, get a following, go out on your own.
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(Tran typically pays the salon that’s hosting him $200 to $400 a day.)
“I was getting 40 percent and they were getting 60 percent.
As you could imagine, that’s not much take-home.”
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“I would never go back to commission,” says Lawson.
“I don’t actually need someone above me to run my business.
If anything, I could use an assistant.”
“Back in the day, stylists could not even have clients' information or phone numbers.
Oh, boy, that was like a big no-no!
It was not allowed,” saysNunzio Saviano, a veteran New York stylist and salon owner.
Hairstylists want that, especially the younger [generation]."
How COVID-19 Hit Salons
There’s been a lot of talk about how thepandemic has shaken salons.
But even before the pandemic, when direct bookings and house calls took hold, salons were in trouble.
After COVID hit, he says, the culture was forced to adapt.
But now hiring and keeping talented stylists and colorists at salons is more challenging.
“Assistants don’t want to sweep the floor anymore.
When I’m interviewing people, I’m like, ‘Hi!
Do you have a license?’
And they’re like, ‘Oh, no, but I have Instagram.'”
Gen Z’s Z-isms aside, salons keep barreling toward entrepreneurialism.
“When I’m interviewing people, I’m like, ‘Hi!
Do you have a license?’
And they’re like, ‘Oh, no, but I have Instagram.'”
But salons are probably not going to be eclipsed by Real Housewife-style glam squads anytime soon.
A house call is typically double what you charge in the salon.")
Saviano now scouts stylists online, then lets them work as much or as little as they like.
(His salon operates on a mix of chair rentals and hairstylists working on commission.)
Tran recalls growing pains from when his team would first show up at a new salon in 2015.
“It became like, we’re bringing the vibe.”
You follow your own favorite beauty pros, both online and from space to space.
That may entail pulling up a booking app and scheduling a trim, wherever it may take you.
And with it, the essence of having a great salon experience may be dying.
“Where is that personal touch?
