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The Messy Hairstylist
Whether you are a mess literally OR figuratively we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist. Each week we deep dive in to tough topics to address the struggles we face in our industry. We push the boundaries, break the stereotypes and go hard against the "norms" that make us feel inferior.
The Messy Hairstylist
Back-to-School, Blonding & a Summer Reset
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Kelsey and Abby are back from summer break with fresh energy and big updates. From their new partnership with Sunlights to the back-to-school rush that’s busier than the holidays, they share real talk on balancing life, salon chaos, and smarter marketing. This one’s packed with relatable stories and tips to keep your chair full—without running discounts.🎟️ Don’t miss your chance to learn The Blonde Catalyst in Garwood, NJ on September 29th! Tickets are available now, but sales close September 14th.
👉 Grab your spot here
Follow Abby on Instagram and TikTok at @theabbywarther
Follow Kelsey on Instagram at @kelseymorrishair
Welcome to the Messy Hairstylist Podcast.
Speaker 2:I'm Kelsey Morris and I'm Abbey Warther. Whether you are a mess, literally or figuratively, we are here to help you take imperfect action to find your success as a hairstylist.
Speaker 1:We've been doing this now for like two years and still every single time I look at you and I'm like how should we start? And then I like think of something awkward. I don't even know what to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then I like think of something awkward.
Speaker 1:I don't even know what to say. Yeah, and then here we are, and here we are, we are.
Speaker 2:I'm chowing down on Cheez-Its, just trying to like we didn't get any more refined over our summer break, that's for sure we sure didn't, we sure didn't.
Speaker 1:But hey, you know, at least we're, at least we're back in it. Kids are back in school and and we're like it's time, it's time to record again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's the reality of it is. We stopped our last recording I would have to look back. Is was basically towards the end of school. I think we were still in school, but for anyone that has kids in school, they know that May is crazy. So that was the last time we recorded and you got so many messages like oh my gosh, where is the podcast? No one messaged me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got. What is up with that. Are you getting messages? She's like no and I was like no, I don't know. And then I had clients like come into the salon.
Speaker 2:Like are you guys recording anymore? I did have a couple of clients Like I wonder if I wonder if they were like wonder if there's like juicy falling out between Kelsey and Abby. I know Messy hairstyles Nope, nope, just crazy Actually. No, I lied. No, I did not get any like where are you guys? Messages. But I did get messages from different people. I'm sure maybe they'll come up in different episodes of questions that they've been asking and how to navigate scenarios in their salons or just how much they've helped us. And we have had some people that have tagged us in like listening to the messy hairstylist on their way to work, which is awesome because you know we were off all summer and it's always scary. I don't care. You know this is the podcast, but whether you're a hairstylist and you, maybe you took the summer off with like posting on social media for your business and you're afraid, you know you're afraid to like pull back because like, oh my gosh, am I gonna lose everything?
Speaker 1:But no, it's everything gonna fall apart. But no, you just right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Social media this summer? I honestly did not either. I had a great summer. I did do hair I know I did hair as well but I took a lot of time off. I went off the grid a lot in Northern Michigan. We have a cottage up there, so I spent multiple weeks up there, completely off the grid. No cell service, no internet nothing cable.
Speaker 2:Step back in time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we just. I just really needed that moment to just, you know, I don't know take a, take a breather. We always encourage everybody to do that, so I'm glad we did it for ourselves.
Speaker 2:We did. Yeah, it's like as my kids get older I now have a freshman, a seventh grader and a third grader and it's just as your kids get older, it's like you just want to slow it down, and so it's like I've always been an ultra present mom, but now it's like I'm trying to like grab onto every little moment, and so it felt so good to do that this summer and just be like I'll just go to work, do some hair and then be in like mom summer mode. It was so fun.
Speaker 1:It was fun, okay. So I think what we should start with is we have two things I want to talk about today, and so let's start with a little recap, because we have some exciting things coming up that we wanted to share with. Everybody announced and even following a little bit along with our blonde catalyst journey, so I thought we would share a little bit about you know what happened with that? We have a lot of updates with that actually.
Speaker 2:I know it's very exciting. It's kind of like on nuts. It's awesome, yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. So let's talk about that first. So you get it, you just spill the tea on that Okay.
Speaker 2:So just for anyone who maybe didn't catch, but since last fall we were working on this new class concept called the blonde catalyst and we did this blonde catalyst tour that we launched and essentially it was, is, is, a class about bringing together, um, both bonding techniques, techniques foiling and painting. The differences, the similarities, when to use one, when to use, when to not just to really elevate yourself, um, as a blonding stylist, to make yourself more efficient, more profitable and get get the results you want in a fraction of the time, right. So we developed that class in the fall, we launched it and taught that a couple times. We did our first one at Kelsey salon and we're actually going to be in New Jersey at the end of this month. But since we've done all of that, sunlight's came knocking at our door and said, hey, we like this. What are you doing over there? Let's, can we work together? So I'll let you tell the rest of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was really cool. So we had an opportunity to teach it in Orlando at the Orlando hair show, which, if anyone's been to that hair show, it is huge, it is a big deal. It was really exciting for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it was real exciting for us and it went great. We taught one like look and learn. Then each of us taught our own hands-on portion and we had great success in that and afterwards we decided it would be an awesome move to collaborate with Sunlight. So we're doing, we're taking this thing even bigger. So it's really cool. We're kind of like developing, taking what we already had and putting new eyes on it. So it's been cool to have Candy Shaw put some eyes on it and you know, with all her expertise in the industry and building out classes, for her to come in and really be like okay, we could do this, we can do enhancing what we already have, while continuing to teach the class. And, like abby said, we're in new jersey. What's the date? It's september.
Speaker 2:Very last 29th, yeah, but we'll be teaching um bond catalyst will be taught in um chicago, um gillette in illinois, um next this coming weekend, which we were gonna oh, is it? It? That's okay. Nope, it might still be happening, though I don't think. Oh, yeah, no it might still be happening.
Speaker 1:It might still be still happening. I just think that we're not. We're going to be there now.
Speaker 2:We were going to, but then like some scheduling conflict, so it'll be taught there by Candy herself. The next weekend we all three of us Candy, kelsey and myself will be teaching it at the Columbus premiere hair show and then we will be teaching it again as well in New Jersey for and so those tickets are still available. So we still have a couple weeks before we close ticket sales for New Jersey, so I'm excited about that one. Yes, right.
Speaker 1:So if you're anywhere near the New Jersey area and you want to check us out and check out that class or get a little more information, we'll put the details for that class in the show notes. Yeah, and we have another class in January as well. We do. That's a private one.
Speaker 2:No, that one is a private class, but I think that's a good thing to share, that we do have style salons that are reaching out to us, have style salons that are reaching out to us and either they want to host and it open it up for other um um stylists to purchase tickets to come to their salon, or, like this one in january, we have a private salon owner that is having us come in just for her team um, and that one is in maryland, baltimore. Yeah, I think so, yeah, um, and so we're doing that. So we're now booking into 2026. So, right, yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2:I think, like, what is the most exciting has been seeing like we developed this thing to just help hairstylists, seeing the struggles, and we you and I wanted to collaborate together and actually teach the things we talked about in this podcast in person, and so to have Sunlights's and Candy and Jamison get their eyes on it and be like, oh, this is something good here. And then to have Candy put her hand in it and she's Naha Educator of the Year, she knows how to develop a class. So, with our foundation of it and then some of the pieces that she's put in, it's just like I have to say we'll be teaching it this month for the first time for real, but just going through the class itself, it is like no other foiling slash, painting class you've ever taken. I will say that and I know that everyone's gonna walk away and be like, oh my God, how have I been foiling hair for 10, 15, 20 years and didn't really know these things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's really cool. I'm so proud of it. I know you are too and it's really really been exciting to watch the evolution. Yeah, I just like I love it, I love. I love Candy's perspective on it. I love that she took kind of like what we were already thinking but made it even bigger, and so you know, if you're a salon that's looking for education or you're a stylist looking for education, this would be a good one for you. Like Abby said, it's like nothing I've ever seen before.
Speaker 1:It's a really great, great way to marry the two concepts of painting hair and foiling hair.
Speaker 2:And you know, one of the things that it brings up is like one of the salon owners that we're going to in January. She has a staff and she has the experienced hairstylist of 20 years, then she has the ones that are like training and just out of school, and so she's got different struggle points with stylists, what they're dealing with and from like knowing how to do the modern ways of foiling or painting hair for maybe the experienced hairstylist but then for the younger ones where they're taking four hours to do a highlight Right and still not like liking the results. So I'm like this class covers everybody. It really does.
Speaker 1:It really does. Oh, it's really exciting. I know I'm really excited.
Speaker 2:I know I do too.
Speaker 1:I'm so excited about it, so yeah, so yeah, okay, well, we're obviously we're a little jazzed about that, so we're going to move on to something else. But we'll move on, we're going to move on.
Speaker 2:We're a little jazzed.
Speaker 1:That's my new word lately is jazzed. Are you jazzed?
Speaker 2:Okay All right, I'll get on board with that.
Speaker 1:Sylvie, my little, my little one. Her first day of preschool was today. Cutest thing, cutest thing ever. Oh, I can't even handle it. I can't even handle it. Oh, so sweet. I was like she's so jazzed to go to preschool, like that is my word. Sure she was, oh god, she was so cute, I can't even handle it, but so cute, okay. So, as we are rolling into fall season, it means a lot of things to me. It means Ohio State football.
Speaker 2:Um, yes, you know, we got a big year ahead of us, big win this weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now we're on the road for another championship, hopefully, but for us in the salon world, it also means one of the busiest times of the year. Yeah, and I am curious, abby, I've been noticing recently that I think that there and we've talked about this before there's been a big shift in the hair industry and busy times and slow times, but I have found that back to school is, hands down, unparalleled, the busiest time of the year for me, busier than holidays. Really, thousand percent, wow, what about you? Interesting? No, that's what I wanted to talk about today, okay, no, no, that's what I wanted to talk about today, okay.
Speaker 2:That's so funny. I mean it's busy, but not like crazy and it's like what kind of busy is it Like? Are you like some are more busy with? Like the kids haircuts, the teen haircuts I get busier with the college students before they go back to school, but it's no, it does not rival the holidays for me, so do tell.
Speaker 1:Well, we just had this conversation in our back room, in the salon, and you know we have, I have stylists who are all over the map in age. I mean we range from 18 is our youngest. And then we have a stylist. I believe she's either late 40s or early 50s, so we are all over the book. Believe she's either late forties or early fifties, so we are all over the book, um, all over the range, age range. And but that also means that our salon, the people who are coming into our salon, are also all over the age range, Um, and so we were in the back room talking like gosh, like we are, we're getting our butts kicked, like the like absolutely just destroyed.
Speaker 1:And we were like talking about like what is going on? Why, why are we so busy? This has been, this is busier than Christmas, this is busier than Thanksgiving time. And so we all started to kind of like brainstorm on like what was going on and like why this was happening. And what I figured out is that maybe it's just like hours long where it's located.
Speaker 1:So I'd be interested to like hear from other people, but you know, we're in a downtown area where we do get the kids that go back to college. Now you would think that would be our main target, but it's not. The amount of college students we see from the college on campus is very few, very few. But what we get a lot of are moms who bring in their kids, so you know they're bringing in their younger kids. It all moms who bring in their kids, so you know they're bringing in their younger kids that I'll go to some of our baby stylists or cutting all the younger kids hair. We will get the the girls who are now in high school, which I think that's one of the things that goes into this.
Speaker 1:Kids are getting their hair done so much younger, so I had kids six, seventh and eighth grade coming in and getting their hair done, you know, whereas before it was like okay. But I think that it also says something about the way that hair is being done these days, because you can paint in soft, sun-kissed highlights and it's not crazy and like, just looks like too much for a sixth grader. Yes, so we did a lot of that. And then you have your college students. The next wave, the next heat. They're coming in because they're getting ready to go back to school. Maybe their mom is a stylist in the salon, or maybe they've been or not a stylist. Maybe their mom is one of our clients and she's like hey, go get your hair done by them. Or they've been coming to us for a while, maybe since they were in sixth grade, and getting their sun kiss highlights. You never know.
Speaker 2:So then you get those kids, true, true.
Speaker 1:And then we get our teachers. They're getting ready to go back to school too. I don't know. We have so many teachers as clients in my salon and they all need to get their hair done before the first day of school. Okay, and so you got all your people before school, but then what happens after school goes back, is every single mom who just sent their kids to school yeah Is coming in to get their hair done?
Speaker 2:Yes, See, that's what I experience. That's what I experience is like once school, like August is just like normal, yeah, but once school gets in. So I'm expecting to see a different side of things this month, because at the time of recording, it's the September 2nd, so everyone's in school now.
Speaker 1:Yes, I've everyone's in school now. Yes, I've been back in school. I mean, for us, I think it's like a six-week butt kick of just constant.
Speaker 2:Love that, yeah, does anybody do perms on the teenage boys?
Speaker 1:We have done a few perms, including myself, because I've done them on Lincoln. In fact, lincoln texted me three days ago and said Mom, I think I'm going to go back to the perm. I'm like, okay, it's still going strong, it is, it is still happening, and I don't want to do it, but we're going to bust out those purple rollers and get them in there, but yeah, so we have a few perms, but not a ton. I just think we are seeing a lot of younger girls coming in and getting their hair done.
Speaker 1:I agree with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2:Throughout the year, like I, will get more of those like around the holidays as a Christmas present for like the sixth, seventh, eighth grade girls. And it's interesting because, like earlier in my career, it really was like I never, I never felt comfortable doing highlights on those ages, but that's when it was more old school. Like you have highlights, like screaming at you with regrowth and all of that. I don't know if I've told the story on here, but I remember I was maybe just a year into doing hair and I had a client bring in her daughter, who was probably 12 at the time, to get highlights and back then I didn't feel good about that and I just I just back then I didn't feel good about that and I did make them very subtle to then find out that the next day my boss said that the mom called in and was so mad because her daughter was sobbing the whole way home and hated it because she couldn't see them, so she had to bring her back in and I had to highlight them very blonde.
Speaker 2:So lesson learned Got to do what the client wants yes, what the mom wants. Got to do what the mom wants.
Speaker 1:I got in trouble recently listening to the mom, though, and she told me yes, the mom. Well, this is. You know, this is an interesting one. The mom said she, her daughter, wanted like highlights. But I don't want them to want, I don't want them blonde, like her hair, too dark for that. So I listened to her, I listened to the mom. It was quite the opposite. Then the child cried the whole way home because her mom ruined it for her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's a real thing to navigate.
Speaker 1:It really is, but I went with the mom because of course she's the adult, but then they came back in and she got it redone, but they paid for it, like I.
Speaker 2:I wasn't your fault, yeah it wasn't my fault.
Speaker 1:I was instructed to do that way.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's like you have to navigate you have to read through the lines, you have to, like, listen to what the kid in the chair is wanting, and then you have to listen to the mom, and then I just try and read like who should I try and like navigate their want? For do you know what I mean? Like, is this, like, should I be pushing with mom or should I be talking mom into doing a little more, a little less? Yeah, it's hard.
Speaker 1:we gotta, gotta read the room we gotta.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you don't read yes.
Speaker 1:So you know, when I was thinking about this I thought it'd be really good food for thought, for maybe anyone who's like wanting to needs a little bit after the summer you know, when the summer is a little bit slower, I know, for us it gets a little quiet. It might be something to think about for next year. You know, to bring back some back to school advertising. Yeah, know, to bring back some back to school advertising, some specials for the younger kids, you know, like little mother, daughter, things like where you can they could come in together, or like a I don't know.
Speaker 1:We were thinking for next year doing like a, like a besties day, you know, or like you two girls are high school or getting ready to go into middle school, come in together and they do like a little joint thing. So for thought for next year, if you guys want to get on the back to school butt, kick, um, maybe. Maybe start thinking about advertising that mid-summer I like that.
Speaker 2:It's perfect for anybody that is building or new. Um, specials and promos are not a bad thing at all. No, no, and it doesn't even have to in this time. No, never, and it doesn't even have to in this time.
Speaker 1:Do you agree, though, that it doesn't necessarily have to be a special or a promotion?
Speaker 2:Like a discount.
Speaker 1:No, right. No, it could just be a marketing scheme. It could be as simple as as you need like a catchphrase, something that just throws it out there that maybe a mom never even thought about, like, oh wait, younger kids are like getting their hair done, like, and it'd be really cool idea for me to do this for my daughter, cause it'd be special for her and she could take her friend.
Speaker 2:Well, and the daughters are already always asking can I get highlights? Can I get highlights? They're already, they're in the mom's ear. We know that Well, and you're right. It's a great point, because do we give discounts during the holidays? No, we just say it's holiday time make your appointment and that helps get awareness to booking appointments. So you're right, Same thing for back to school. That's great yeah.
Speaker 1:Just some ideas Just some ideas.
Speaker 2:Well, I know we wanted to keep this one. Oh, I have it, you've been percolating.
Speaker 1:All summer I have been percolating. I have got so many things. You know I sent Abby a little note spreadsheet of like okay, these are the topics. I've got all the topics. I've been thinking about them nonstop, so I am ready to get back to business. I know we wanted to keep this one a short one because we got a lot packed in here and a lot to catch up on. So I think it's a good time to close and we'll catch you guys next week.
