FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #73 From Private Suites to Community: How Kat’s Beauty Lounge Redefines Hair Care in Fredericksburg
A quiet salon suite can change everything. We sat down with Kat Halstead of Kat’s Beauty Lounge to explore how a private, judgment-free space helps clients feel seen, stylists work with clarity, and the end result lasts longer than a single good-hair day. Kat’s journey—from a post-divorce restart to a purpose-led beauty studio—reveals why craft and calm belong together, and how a small room can hold big transformation.
We dig into the craft of corrective color and blonding, where chemistry, timing, and tonality matter as much as taste. Kat shares why fundamentals beat trend-chasing, how she stays current through her work with global color brand Keune and Hair Cosmetics, and the “hair math” she uses to design plans that fit real lives and budgets. She also takes a stand on a common salon shortcut: adding heat to chemical services. Her take is clear—follow the manufacturer’s directions, protect the canvas, and stop trying to rush what science says to respect.
Beyond the chair, we talk accessibility and mental health, turning slow seasons into prep time, and the discipline that keeps a small business steady. Kat’s collaborative Chatham Heights project offers independent stylists a supportive home base—no double-booking, no chaos, just focused service and shared growth. Local flavor runs through it all, from Fredericksburg food spots to the simple joy of a post-shift coffee.
If you’re a client craving a calmer experience with serious color expertise, or a stylist ready to elevate inside a supportive suite model, this conversation offers a roadmap. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves thoughtful beauty, and leave a review to help more neighbors find us.
Kat Halstead
Kat's Beauty Lounge
katsbeautylounge.glossgenius.com
katsbeautylounge@gmail.com
+1 410-322-7692
74 Chatham Heights rd, Fredericksburg, VA, United States, Virginia
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I'm excited to introduce you to my guest today. We have Kat Halstead with Kat's Beauty Lounge. Kat, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi. Good morning, everyone.
Speaker 1:I am so excited to have you on the show and share your story and share all about your business. So let's start there. Share with us a little bit about Kat's Beauty Lounge.
Speaker 2:Oh, thanks for having me, Dory. Kat's Beauty Lounge was really uh a project that I started after my divorce. And I think it was just me really sharing like my voice. I wanted to create a safe space for myself and my clients to feel seen and heard. And I get overstimulated in an uh open concept salon. And so the private suite life has really been an elevated version of what I was doing before. And so it's been um a labor of love for sure. And then it's evolved into the Chatham Heights project where now we're trying to share the same um safety with other stylists and more clients.
Speaker 1:So I love that. And I am one of your clients, so I have been to your suite several times, and it is a wonderful, comfortable space. And I also I don't love being in a crowded salon. And so it's really nice to be able to connect with you and be in a super relaxing atmosphere where there's no judgment, right? Right?
Speaker 2:No, zero judgment. And then I feel like because it's uh a little bit more private, it gives us more room to really zoom in on like your personal concerns as a client, and then I can zoom on them as a stylist because I don't double book. So then it really is a private experience for both of us.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. And so you have a space and in and you are sharing it with um another stylist, and now you're looking for a third stylist so that they can also offer the same type of experience for their clients. So tell us, share what with us a little bit more about that opportunity because you do have space for for one more.
Speaker 2:I do, I do. I have one available suite left. Um looking for another uh independent stylist that is motivated and ready to elevate their business. Uh, we like to collab around here. So I want to uh encourage other stylists to do the same, to really reach for their own personal dreams in their business because there's there's plenty of clients out here for everybody. We don't have to necessarily be doing the same thing. We can really customize and um pick what we want to do also, uh, because then we can really zoom in on making it super perfect for for each person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So share with me a little bit about your specialty and your your services and and you know, the services that you really um you know specialize in for your clients.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the one I think I take pride in the most is my like corrective coloring, blonding services. Uh, I really like flexing my my technical skills, the color services is my happy place, my wheelhouse. I do work for a global hair color company, Keune and Hair Cosmetics, where I get to share those um or share that education that they've given me. And so I really like to gift that to other stylists as well because it's really changed my whole life. Um, not just the business and not just the clients, but literally just I don't know, the ripple effect is real. Um, and so I'm grateful to have the space um to share.
Speaker 1:I love that, I love that. And um you uh did wonders on my own hair because I needed a blonction. And I one of the things that I really appreciate about you is the education piece that you just talked about. So talk to me a little bit about that and how you are staying up with trends in your education.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the industry is always evolving, trends are always changing. Um, and it happens, it feels like faster and faster as things progress. So I'm grateful for the brand that they help kind of keep me on the forefront of things. And then I just that ripple effect thing, I get to share it with everyone. Um, a lot of it is fundamentals though, that once you get those fundamentals nailed down, you're just kind of like mixed mixing and matching like an outfit, you know, you have this belt and you have this blazer, and now maybe you're gonna wear these this together, where maybe this person wouldn't style it that way, but this person does. And um, depending on your lifestyle and you know, budget, maybe, or whatever variables are going on in your hair math equation. Um I have a lot of experience in that and that gifting thing. Um, before hair school, I beat my hair up a lot. I've had a lot of different clients, and um, I get I'm grateful that I get a lot of exposure with the education. So it just I don't know, I guess I'm grateful for the brand um taking me on because it's really that's really where I get it from.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I love that. And so you mentioned um accessibility, and so something that um I've noticed is that not only are you um you know in an elite status with your education and your experience, but you also still try to make it accessible to everyone. So talk to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um I hate feeling like hair has gotten to be so much of a luxury that people feel like it's unattainable. Um I think we underestimate how much it is linked to our mental health or how we feel about ourselves and that talk about a game changer when we feel good. I think we feel like we can share that. I don't know. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but it just it's really I want to share what I've learned with people, and that's just I don't know. I feel better when I look better. And when my clients are there, I can see them. You are a different person from the arrival of your appointment through your consultation, through I watch them relax and they they turn into the person they're supposed to be instead of this the person. I don't know, I don't even know how to explain it, but I think um people get people people get what I'm trying to say right now.
Speaker 1:And yeah, absolutely. I mean it is a trans, it is a transformation inside and out, right? So you are working on the outside, but in turn it it it also transform the inside. It's more than a hair appointment. It is. You're like part part psychologist, part scientist, part, I call you magician.
Speaker 2:Hey, it's it might be it looks like a wand sometimes, right? Smoke and mirrors sometimes, you know.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Um so let me ask you this: do you find that there are any misconceptions when it comes to the industry?
Speaker 2:Um, I think considering myself a chemical specialist, the the heat on the chemicals, um I think, you know, um to each their own, but I don't know any manufacturers' directions that say to do that. And so then I just I feel like we're creating this unstable environment and we're justifying um doing that because we want it to work faster, and I think that we're doing ourselves and our clients a disservice with that. I think that's my I think that's my least favorite one, and maybe maybe I shouldn't, I don't know. Maybe the hairdressers are gonna want to cancel me for that, but um that's probably that's probably a good one.
Speaker 1:I think so. Yeah. So let me switch gears a little bit. Um, being a business owner, you're working very hard. So when you're not working, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 2:Oh man, hopefully a lot of nothing. A lot of a lot of relaxing, drinking of the coffee. Um, I like to eat. I don't know if you if you're following me. You find that it's a lot of hair and a lot of food. I like to work hard and then we're hungry after work. So we need to we need to eat something nice. So a new restaurant, a little food adventure, and a cute outfit, brand new outfit. Um, take myself on a date, take my friends on a date, um, my daughter on a date. I love that. Any local favorites? Um, let's see. Pastiglias is a go-to. We like Benny's. We like, I'm trying to think all the aspects. Fahrenheit. I haven't made it to Chop House yet. I'd like to check that place out. I've heard good things. Localvor. I want to try that new place. I've heard good things about that. Um, Casey's Cheeky's.
Speaker 1:I always like their espresso martini. I love that we've gotten some some good new restaurants in downtown, Fredericksburg. Yeah, it's always a good time going down there.
Speaker 2:No, that's right. Well, when the weather's nice, right? You take a little stroll. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Love that. And so let me ask you, is there a challenge or a hardship that you have gone through? And now that you're on the other side of it, you feel like you're better and stronger for it, whether it's uh, you know, in business or in life?
Speaker 2:I think the hardest part is just like staying self-motivated. Um, it gets heavy, it gets hard to carry sometimes, and you just want to throw it away or put it down. Um, but you can't for right, you gotta pick it back up. Um yeah. It's a roller coaster, right? It can be, it can be. Um, and so I think we have to remember that the downtime is prep time. I learned a long time ago that don't look at that as like a deficit. This is the calm before the storm, clean, order stuff, do inventory, get your mind right. I don't know, take a break, take a break, you know what? Take a break. Yeah, yeah. So you can be ready for when it gets popping again.
Speaker 1:That's that's really good advice. And if someone came to you and maybe they were thinking about opening a salon or they're looking at starting a business, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:Um that's a tricky one because I'm like, I would one, I would want to say don't overthink it, but then at the same time, you got to be really calculated. Um you want to be smart about your decisions because you don't want to be spinning your wheels. You can really go far when you are disciplined in the right areas, and it makes it can make a huge difference. I think we underestimate that. Just like good maintenance on your yard, good maintenance on your hair, good maintenance on your business is the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. It's important, uh, you know, the planning stage is is huge, and then it's execution, but just dive in and and get started.
Speaker 2:But yes, putting out something is better than being scared to put out nothing. Absolutely. Then you at least you have it'll evolve. It does that doesn't have to be it can be edited forever, is kind of what I've also learned. Yeah, so it doesn't have to be like all done in one swoop either, but the snowball thing, the ripple, right? It's one little thing at a time, and it gets to be this big, beautiful thing. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that. I like the the snowball analogy. Each level that you scale your business, you get better and you learn it as you go, and you're not expected to have it all figured out.
Speaker 2:That's right. And if you've ever actually built a snowman, you take breaks. That gets heavy to roll around to get it together, right?
Speaker 1:I love that. So, what is something that you wish the listeners knew about Kat's Beauty Lounge?
Speaker 2:Um, I wish they knew I was here. I hope that everybody knows I'm here. I think as a small business owner, that's one of your biggest concerns is people can find you. Yeah. Um I worked really hard to be something good for everyone. Um, and so if they could just find if they find me, then it should work, right? Yeah.
Speaker 1:And if they want to find you and connect with you, where can they find you?
Speaker 2:Okay, so it's Kat's Beauty Lounge underscore on Instagram. It's it's just Kat's Beauty Lounge with a K, like everywhere on Google. Um, I have a Facebook. Trying to think what else is there? We have the link tree. I try to keep it simple too. Um, but nice. Any suggestions maybe from the audience, I'll take too.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Awesome. Well, Kat, it has been so nice having you on the podcast today. Thank you for sharing Kat's Beauty Lounge with us. Tash, thanks for having me, Dori. It was really nice.
Speaker:You're welcome. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.