WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BECOME A STYLIST THESE DAYS? FT OUR NEW EMPLOYEE TAYLOR CAPIZZI

The girls are joined today by their new stylist Taylor! They talk about what it is like to become a stylist nowadays, how Taylor is planning on growing her book switching salons, and just some overall chit chat!

Transcript

Every day starts in a typical way with retreat. Sometimes I can't understand all the things that I see. Ooh.
I need you, I need you, I need you, my blue sky. Well, now that we're done arguing about, um, the
testing. This is fake it til you make it a podcast. I'm Chloe and I'm Brittany, and it's been a little bit longer
than we intended. And I know we started off the last one by saying that it's hard. It's rough out in these
streets. I think my kids, my kid broke a bone in his foot. Yeah. And I know we said this last time, but I
really like there's been a lot of changes happening in the salon and a lot of things going on that like, now
I feel like we're both at a place where we're going to be able to take a little bit of a step back, just a little
bit, to try and give ourselves more time and more energy to do things like this, which we really enjoyed
doing. Yeah. Um, yeah. How have you been? I've been good. Yeah. Busy. The kids, you know, are
always something with one of them. Yeah. I mean, it's cold today, and that's kind of annoying. It's. It's
going to rain today and Memorial Day weekend too. So it sucks. It's supposed to be like 60. It's supposed
to be like 85. It's gonna be 70. It's gonna be 70 here. Oh, yeah, 75 maybe. I think I saw yesterday. Yeah,
it's changed, but, um, I think it's still gonna be cold at night because I'm camping Sunday night. Oh, you
camping Sunday night? Yeah. You didn't tell me that. Well, because you were gonna be away. You were
supposed to be wet. Why don't you guys go to French Creek with us for a night? That's gonna be chilly.
Tent camping. She's looking at the weather, everyone. She's gonna report 73 on Monday. But 69 and 60
on Sunday and 63 on Saturday. Yeah, that's not bad. That's chilly. Better than what it was, though,
because it was 50s and I don't know why it's 50 now. Of all frickin weekends, compared to the nights we
just had like 80, it was just, like, boiling. Like, had the air conditioning on. I know, I know. And now it's
cold, which I kind of like, like because then it cools off the house a little bit. Mhm. Like nighttime. I've
been sleeping better. I haven't been waking up sweating. Honestly I've had less of a headache to when I
wake up but. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. But we have a fun guest for you uh all of us today. Yeah. Can't think
this morning. Yeah. We actually have Taylor joining us. She's one of our new stylists here. Um. It's
crazy. We're going to be down to six people soon. Just like six girls that we have working for us. Mhm.
Um, we've been up and down, up and down like we've had six that we had nine that we had like oh it was
just crazy. So it feels good though. You know changing and yeah fresh stuff. We're going to miss some
people. Yeah definitely. It's always like sad and hard to see people move on. But we're always like
excited and want people. We want people to do what's best for them. In the end of the day, that's all we
care about is like you doing what's best for you. Yeah. Um, I have one question. What what do you think
is going to be your favorite summer like outfit this year? I don't know. I didn't think about that right now.
I don't know, I just ordered a newly, and I got two dresses for that wedding and I have to go to. And I
don't like either of them. One's too big, and the other one's just like it's like a Midi dress. And sometimes
I like that on me and sometimes I don't. Yeah, I. The two dresses I ordered from New Lake last time, I
didn't really love on me, so I might need to borrow a dress from you for this wedding. Yeah, because I
don't want to buy one. That was my whole idea with you. I'm like, okay, well, remember I had that one
that the beau one on top for my newly. And I really thought that would look fine, but, like, it's I don't
know, I really do prefer trying on clothes before I get them. Yeah, it's something I've realized, but what
do you think your go to outfit is going to be? I don't know, I've realized, like as the years go on, I don't
fucking like jean shorts. Like, I prefer, like, sweat shorts. Like, I don't know, something about jean
shorts. I just don't like jeans in general. It's not like real pants. No, in areas like stretchy jean shorts. So I
do wear those sometimes, which is nice. But like, I don't know, I like, like sweat pants. It's like I feel like
I get really bloated in the summer. Like I just get puffy from the humidity and probably being
dehydrated. So I prefer like a sweat short. So something like that maybe. Mhm. All right enough of this
banter and let's introduce you to Taylor. Yeah. We're so excited to have her on and we hope you enjoy
this episode. Um. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to become a stylist? Yeah,
so I'm Taylor, I am 19, about to turn 20in August. Um, I was never into the whole school high school
type of thing, but I was always the sibling that was like braiding my sister's hair and trying to cut their
hair and attempt to color it. And I grew up around it a lot, the industry. So I decided to try it out and I
ended up loving it. Yeah. Did you ever have any, like, crazy mishaps with, like, cutting your sister's hair?
Oh my God, there's so many stories. I tried to bleach her hair once. She ended up going for, like, a full
color correction at the salon. Um, yeah, there's a lot. Yeah, I used to do people's hair before I had my
license. Yeah, I had no idea what I was doing, but I would always do, like, friends, hair and worry. Most
of the time it went well, but sometimes not so well. Those are just, um. What inspired you to take the
leap into the beauty industry? I always had a feeling that I wanted to do it. Um, my dad's a lot of people
on my dad's side of the family do hair, so I grew up around that, and it was really my senior year when
everyone was like, picking out their colleges. And I was like, this is so not for me. And I found a good
school in Harrisburg, and I just decided to go for it. Yeah, that's a pretty new school right where you
went. Yeah. Walk with scissors. I think it's like two years old. Yeah. How did, like, how was your
experience there? It was good. Yeah, it was good. I feel like it's like any cosmetology school experience.
Some days it sucks, but. Yeah. What, um, do you feel like they really, like, help you? Like the school I
went to? I feel like it was really geared towards, like, hair, like color and cutting. Like they didn't really.
They taught us everything we needed to know with, like, facials and nails and stuff, but it was really
more like cutting in color. Okay. Yeah, I feel like he went over a lot. We went over everything, but he
was also cool. Like he didn't pressure me into doing a facial because I am so not into that stuff. but and
it's very trendy there. So we learned like the new highlighting trends. We were always able to try it all
out. So it was good. Yeah, that's I think that's really big and important with like educating because I feel
like a lot of other schools like the curriculum is outdated. Mhm. Yeah. So yeah that's awesome. Um, do
you have any memorable moments from school like things that stuck out like that scared you or like
things that were like, I don't know, like, yeah, aha moments or just anything that's memorable. Oh, I feel
like the first thing that comes to mind when you said scared was perms. I did the worst perm on this girl.
But that's also school, like, you messed up and I feel like that's the best learning. Like when you mess up,
it's like when you learn well. And what's annoying about perms is I feel like schools wouldn't even teach
them anymore if they weren't part of the test so much. Right? Because like, a big part of our test is perms.
And I feel like people don't talk about that. Like it's so annoying. Like they need to get that out of the
test. Yeah, I feel like I don't remember anything about perms. And you didn't have. No. You don't have to
do like a hands on, right. Like yours was just the written. Yeah. I didn't have to do hands on either either.
Yeah, I just I was one of the first ones. Yeah. Um, did you have someone that you looked up to early on?
Um, or do you have, like, a favorite hairstylist that you follow on Instagram that inspires the work that
you do? I follow Hair by Lexi. Oh, yeah, I love her. I think she's funny. Yeah. Um, I followed her a while
ago, and I always watch her videos, and she's been fun. Um, someone I look up to that's, like, close is my
dad's aunt. She's a very old school, like, stylist from Jersey, so I don't let her touch my hair anymore. But
I always looked up to her. Like to her. She's always helped me out. She's got some some crazy advice,
but sometimes. Jersey, I feel like that's all you gotta say. You have the hair still? Yes. Probably doing a
lot of black hair color. Right. Um, is there a skill or a technique that you found the hardest to do at first or
something that maybe scared you at first, but now you feel like it's like your favorite thing to do? I feel
like balayage is because in school he was very trendy, but also we learned the basics. So the balayage as
we learned, were like hand-painted on a board. And now it's I feel like it's so different. Like I don't have
free like free paint or whatever, I, I put everything in a foil. Yeah. So once that clicked, I love doing it.
Um. Yeah, I do feel like cam painting can be very also like intimate. It depends on the approach that
someone takes with it. Like it can be really pretty, but then when the wrong person can also be weird,
right? Yeah. No. And I feel like too. It depends like how you were taught with hand painting. Do you
remember your first client and how did that go? Oh, God. I feel like my first early on ones. If you don't.
Yeah, yeah, I always like it was always my family at first. Yeah. Until I was, like, cool and ready to do it.
The school I went to was in Harrisburg, so we got all like funky people like, yeah, fun, interesting. So
there's so many stories of, like, the wacky haircuts I had to do or like the experiences. But my first ones
that I remember were like my sister coming in for a gloss or a little trim. I definitely feel like people who
go to hair schools like to get their hair done, are a very interesting crowd. Yes. I also feel like if you have
a sister, because I do too. I have two sisters and they went to me when I was in hair school, and I feel like
their expectations were so much higher than they should have been. Yes. Yeah. So like that was one of
the scariest things. It is intimidating. Yeah. Um. What is? Do you feel like there's something you learned
early on from doing people that just like, I don't know. Like, as you're becoming less afraid, I think. Or
just like, I don't know. Yeah. I feel like. Especially with color. Ask for pictures. Yeah. Ask for inspo
pictures. Cause your perception can be so different. Different? Right. I do feel like too, like, early on in
your career, if you can really, like, nail your consult, like, your consult is like the most important thing.
Like you have to, like, be on the same page as your client. So if you can like master that in the beginning,
I feel like that makes such a big difference. And yeah, definitely need pictures. Yeah. I think it's like
scary how like someone will be like, oh, I'm thinking of just a few highlights. And then they show you a
picture of like a really beachy blonde balayage and you're like, that's not a few highlights. Yeah. Or like,
they're staying darker, but like, they could mean like broad. They couldn't necessarily mean like actually
go darker with it. So yeah, I also feel like you get a mix of people who like, know too much then and
they're like, oh, I want a foil lodge. Like, I want to like, they like come in and kind of try to like, tell you
what to do or like they're like, oh, I got this formula. And you're like, great. But like, if your hair's not
exactly like that person's like, that formula might not be for you. Yeah. Did you have any, um. Oh,
moments so far. And how did you handle them? I've had a few. I want to say it happened. It happened to
everybody. Like pretending like it doesn't. Yeah, it does. Right. I play it, fried some hair off at one point.
Yes. Um, I feel like most of the time, like, the, uh. Oh is when the hair is not lifting. When, like, how
they want it to. How I need it to. And it's really just like, okay, well, it's not going to be blonde. Well, and
a lot of the times I feel like people don't tell you what's on their hair because they're like, oh, I got colored
three years ago, three years ago, thinking like, that's out of their hair. And you're like, actually like, that's
not out of your ends. It's still right in there. Now we got a band, right? Yeah. I think what's so annoying is
a lot of your moments end up being like someone's hair and, like, beating that expectation with the client
is so hard because I feel like they blame us. Not all the time, but, like, um. That is such a stressful
situation. Yeah. Do you feel like your anxiety can get the best of you at those times, or do you feel like
you're pretty chill and you keep cool? I feel like I have gotten to a point where I can stay calm with it and
just explain to them, like, I'm really good at being like, all right. Like, since your hair as dark as it is, it's
not lifting. Yeah. How it needs to be. Which helps. I feel like learning how to explain to them what's
going on in a good way calms them down, too. So as long as I know I like, chilled out their expectations,
then I feel like I can stay pretty, pretty calm. Yeah, I feel like just like again, clear communication is
always key in situations like that. How would you describe your personal style as a stylist? So. What do
you mean, like. Like, what's your vibe? Like what? Like if somebody. Like if you were selling yourself
to somebody. Like, how would you describe, like for them to come get your hair. Yeah. Describe
yourself. I feel like I'm. I mean, I'm not gonna be like, oh, my God, I'm so fun, but I, I'm pretty easy to
talk to. I feel like, like, I can't tell you how many crazy stories and conversations I have with people. And
I get into it, I love it. I feel like as long as, like, I don't know, we can both talk and hang out. It's pretty
fun. I'm. I'm pretty chill. I want to say, what type of, like, color would you say is, like, your vibe of doing
color? Yeah, I love blondes. Anything with blondes? Um, but I also love to do, like, dimensional
brunettes and lived in. So really, what's trendy right now? I feel like that's all super trendy. But blondes
have always been something I just love to do. What's been the most exciting part of starting your career
in hair? What'd you say? I feel like seeing myself grow and watching. I mean, I have photos of my work
from school and seeing the progress I've made. It's awesome. It's cool to see that, like, oh, that was my
highlight when I first started. And now. Yeah. Something that like, definitely stuck out to us is like, I feel
like you definitely have like the eye for it. And we always say to people like, you can't really teach
someone to have like the eye. You either like are like, you know what looks good or you don't. Yeah.
You have to like, learn at some point. Like that work I did before is actually really ugly. Right, right. We
also like, come across where, um, we've had clients that actually like, like our old vibe and like, when
you're, like, switching and, like, learning and growing and, like, evolving and getting better, they're like,
yeah, it's just different. It's not the same as what it used to be. And you're like, yeah, but it's better. But
they still like the old version and it's like, that's tricky. Yeah. When you're not like you're better than you
used to be. And they like when you weren't good. Yeah. Is there anything that you find super challenging
with like. I would say just in the industry in general or like with your day to day, not even just like, um,
like not even service wise. Yeah. Like, how do you feel about social media? Like, I feel like social media
is so important, but I hate it. Like. Right. I don't have the energy for it. I'm trying to get better at it
because it is really important, especially now. And like trying to grow my books and get people in. You
have to post, but I have this thing like I don't. I feel like I always watch like day in my life and I'm like, I
could never do that. Like I'm not videotaping myself at the gym. You know what I mean? Like, and it
sucks because that is what people want. Like, people don't just want, like, pretty hair pictures. Like they
want to get to know you. Yeah. And, like, you almost need to be, like, a micro influencer. It's just a lot.
Yeah. Yeah, I definitely feel like the pictures or videos that involve you do better than, like, hair pictures,
which is really annoying. Yeah. How are you planning on finding and building your clientele? I think
that's a good question for people. Honestly, my plan is to just get get better on social media. I mean, start
posting a lot more. I have to get over my weird, like I don't want my face on my social media. I have to
get over that because that's what people want, and that's how people are going to see you. So that and I
mean, I feel like once people start coming in, I can start posting more. People will see me. So it really is
social media, which it is definitely. But like you can always do like models and have really take videos
and pictures of it. I feel like that helps because then it's not all on you to do the social media. Yeah, which
is nice. Um, is there anything you wish someone had told you like about the hair industry before you
started? I would say it takes a lot of patience. It definitely does. And. You know, starting over is okay as
well. I was just at a salon for like a year, and I feel like like when I was there, I just started to get booked,
but it wasn't for me. I was not happy. So I wouldn't yeah, I wouldn't say I'm like, starting over, but I also
have to, like you have to make sure you're happy too. Yeah. I think it's important to find your home in,
like, your community, because you could be doing, like, a lot of hair you love. But if it's not the vibe or
like, the space you want to be in, right? You're going to be challenging. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Was that your
first salon out of school. It was. Yeah. I assisted at a salon in school but I was really just like cleaning up
and really cleaning up. So I didn't get much salon experience there. But that was my first one. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's always hard too because like, you have to just like, get comfortable in your first salon. I
feel like. And then like then you can like know what you want and what you don't want. I feel like we
always tell people to like doing everything at first is kind of good, because then you can learn very well.
Yeah, in the real world versus like school, because I feel like school clients are so different than, like
actual salon clients, for sure. Um, do you have any advice that you'd give to someone that's thinking
about becoming a hairstylist? I would say do it. It's honestly the best decision I've made. And. Yeah.
Yeah. So now some, like, fun. Just like, little personal questions if you could, like, do anybody's hair,
like, what would it be? Oh, honestly, I'm gonna say Hailey Bieber because first of all, all the drama. I'm a
big Bieber girl since I was little. I'm like a Justin Bieber, Stan. So getting into that little whole, like, the
Bieber's. I would do it. Yeah, that'd be fun. What's your favorite product or tool right now? Oh, the bionic
curling iron. That's my favorite. Curling iron. Yeah. Yeah, I got everyone started on that. Yep. Like that
guy. Are you a coffee or tea girl? I'm a tea girl. I do not like the taste of coffee. What, like, kind of drink
is like your go to drink if you get Starbucks or, like, from a coffee shop. I'm boring. Like a green tea with
honey. Yeah, that's. That's what I do. Is there anything else you want to ask? I don't think so. So, yeah,
we are super excited for you to join us. And Taylor's books are open. So yeah, make sure you book with
her. Yeah. Um, I don't know if there's anything else to add to that. Yeah, yeah. Taylor, anything you want
to add? I don't think so. Scheduled. Yeah. So we're gonna let her go, and then I guess we'll go to. Yeah.
Yeah. Later. Go away with retreat. Sometimes I can't understand all the things that I see. Ooh! I need
you, I need you, I need you, my blue sky. I need you, I need you, I need you. By blue skies. When you
blue skies go.