Salty Stylists, Card Games & Behind-the-Chair Truths

 This episode of Hair It Ferst starts off a little salty—but turns into a real, relatable conversation about life behind the chair. From Euchre nights and competitive game talk to parenting perspectives and salon boundaries, the girls cover it all. Plus, a deep dive into how different stylists approach consultations, communication, and techniques (including some surprising methods you won’t expect). It’s unfiltered, honest, and a little all over the place—just how you like it. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hey, hey, hey, gorgeous people. Welcome to the Hair at First Podcast where great hair meets real life. We're your host, Tessa, Monica, and a job. Free stylists, moms, besties. We're keeping it real about beauty, business, and the chaos of motherhood.

SPEAKER_02 0:19

We're here to share stories, laugh way too loud, and maybe spoke a little shampoo along the way. Just a quick heads up. We're not making any medical claims or giving professional advice here, just sharing our own thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

So grab your coffee, your favorite blanket, and let's hair it first.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Good morning and welcome back to Hair It First. Glad to have everybody back. If you are returning, thanks for coming back and listening to us. If you're new here, we are a podcast of three women. We are all stylists, we are all uh part of the company Fermaglobe Fermented Products, the best products out there. I'm just gonna throw that one out there. But Monica McCafferty, Michelle Brocky, Tessa Mel, and glad to have you all here. Sometimes we don't know what the hell we're talking about. We just go in and start, or if we have a plan to talk about something, we never stick to it. We squirrel and we talk about whatever the hell we want. So if you are listening though, and you want to sometime give us a call-in, please let us know. We would love call-ins and call-in questions or uh call-ins with suggestions, or just call in and yell at us and cuss at us if we've said something that offended you, because I am certain that we have offended people out there and we will continue to 100%, not on purpose all the time. So anyway, missed you girls. No, I know yeah, it makes our days brighter when we get to see each other's faces.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Yeah, we literally we just spent an hour and a half just talking before this podcast, and we were all cranky before, and now we're better, so we just need each other.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

We were salty ass bitches this morning, is what we were.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Look, and I feel like it's that is a super relatable situation. Like, we are salty, like every person has a moment where they're just a little bit saltier than they probably should be. But you know what? It's it's how you get out of it really says a lot about the people you surround yourself with. Because if you could have seen the faces of the three people that logged on to this call um an hour and a half ago, you'd have been like, I 100% don't want to watch their podcast. They're mean. Yeah, they're mean, they not violent podcasts out there. No, we're gonna bring violent ones. Yeah, we're just gonna bring it up. Okay, we will do just this salty one, and it may be our best one yet. People may be like, all right, I'm tuning into these assholes. Everybody loves a good asshole. So this is kind of funny.

SPEAKER_02 3:15

So I was telling them in our hour and a half discussion, Monica, you're funny. And you're the serious one, busted the one.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Whatever, the last podcast, the last podcast, Michelle. You were talking about your meat of vagina. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah. So, anyways, anyways, I'm having a euchre party tonight, and I would love for all the listeners out there, if you would comment wherever you comment on this podcast, wherever you're watching it, let me know if you know what euchre is. Because it's definitely a Michigan thing, which is where I'm from, and it's a card game, and we have a tournament tonight at my house. Is it like strip poker? No, we all keep our clothes on. We all keep our clothes on, but we do lose money, we lose quarters. So, like I'm hosting, okay, and we have six couples, so we have three tables. So four people play, and you play with a partner, and you go to ten. And the jacks are high, depending on what the suit is called. It's so confusing, unless you grow up with that. Like, I tell people, if you don't know how to play, get the app on your phone before you even come to my house. Like, okay, so my um stepson instructed. Giving instructions. That's where I'm figuring out. Yeah, yeah, because you're gonna lose your money and I'm gonna win it. So my um stepson's girlfriend tore her AC out skiing, and uh he called and he's like, Yeah, um Liv said yes that we play Euchre, but I don't know if she can sit there that long. Like it's you know, you're there. We play till like 11, 12 o'clock at night. So um Mike's my husband's nephew just called. That's who I, you know, and while we were talking, that's who called it, and he's like, hey, you know, blah, blah, blah. I'm able to play tonight, so um Brogan doesn't have to. That's okay. And he's like gonna ask this other person. I said, Listen, listen, you need to tell them we play cards. Like you can have a little bit of a conversation, but there's no five-minute story. Because literally, when somebody gets to 10, we yell, game, and everybody gets one more time, and you're done.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Monica, you and I could never play this game at Michelle's house.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

You would yell at us all the time. I would talk through the whole thing. Yes. Well, since I thought it was an app that said where that whether things were clean or dirty, I don't want to play it anyway. You it's fun! It's so fun. You know what?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

I'm going to teach you at some point. We will do that.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Do not bring it to Dallas. I'm telling you right now. You make us play yucca at butt them down. Yucca! That's the app. It's euchre. Monica, you come to my hotel room. That's how you go. Wait, I want you guys guess spell euchre. Y U C K-O-L. It's definitely way more screwed up than that. Uh-huh. Euchre. Euchre. U. U. K. E-R-C-H-P-L-M-N-O-Q.

SPEAKER_04 6:19

It's E-U-C-H-R-E.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

What?

SPEAKER_04 6:23

E U C H R E. Euchre.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

Eureka. Eurethra.

unknown 6:30

Eureka.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Got it. You're named. But I will say, it kind of sounds like, so we play marbles. Okay. Which is like which marbles? Essentially. We played marbles. If there's a table and it's got like a board, essentially it is trouble. But you play it with cards and marbles, and we get like real into it. I would love it. I love games. I get super into it. Like I show no mercy. I don't either. Like, if you're in my way, I'm a hundred percent sending your ass back home. Yep. Like, I would too. You guys ever better hope? What? You guys ever just heard of fucking Monopoly? For that is the most serious game ever. Oh, I've cleared it. You can't win money. How do you bring money?

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Let's talk about time as money. No. Monopoly takes way too long to make money.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Okay. Have you ever played, oh my god, I forget what it's called. Draidle.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

No.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

I'm writing this down. No. You get it? You get it right online. It's a dreidel and you spin it. And it says P1, P2, T A for take all. You have dollar bills. And everybody puts in a dollar to start. Then you spin the dreidel. And if it says P1, you pass one. If it says P two, you have to pass two dollars. Kind of like left, right, center. Kind of. Except you have to spin a dreidel. More fun. Yeah. Yeah, it was way more fun. And you only have two opportunities to try to spin the dreidel before you're out.

unknown 8:20

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

And if you hit, if you get the TA, you can take all the money that's in the center.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Oh, fun.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

Like that.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

T A has another meaning.

SPEAKER_03 8:31

Tips and S. Well, that's me and Adam's initials, T A. And when we're on meetings, it says T and A.

unknown 8:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

And it all makes sense. Yep. All of it. It all makes sense. Also, if you're new here, we're not clean. We're not. Our products are clean. We live. Our products are clean. Our mouths aren't clean. We need to start product blowing our mouths. We gotta start firmoglowing our mouths. It won't help. Yeah, but it's not gonna help. Yeah, I don't think so. You know, hey mom, if you're listening, maybe you should have washed my mouth out with cleaner products than freaking Dawn or Caress. I never had that done to me. I have my mom never would ever, she never has me, but my older sister, she's an asshole. If you're listening, Shauna, she's made me freaking eat soap before. She's the bossiest, meanest.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Yeah, I was a bossy older sister too. Like I tell people, I'm sorry for the way my brother is because I think I contributed to it. I was mean. Yeah. I could give him a dirty look and he'd cry. And I did it a lot. So I've apologized. I've apologized.

SPEAKER_05 9:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:51

I'm sorry, little brother.

SPEAKER_03 9:55

My little sister is 11, so she doesn't count. Yeah. You couldn't count. I had my children before. Yes, I could. She's hateful.

unknown 10:08

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

Like hateful. Sorry if you're listening. Sis.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Look out, little 11. She is 11. If she's listening to this podcast, there's problems.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Like 11 if she does.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

Don't let children listen. It's crazy to me because my so we have the same dad, but different moms, obviously. My dad is so different with her. So different. And I'm like, I looked at him one time and I was like, okay, I need to understand something. I said if I would have spoken to you the way she just spoke to you, um read between the lines on that one.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

And I was like, she literally like it got to the point one day she it was this was probably four years ago. We were all out at the pool and she got ignorant with him. And I got I couldn't help it. I try really hard to not say anything because I don't want I wouldn't want to like her to parent my kids or you know if the situation were reversed. And I looked at her and I was like, if you ever, and I mean ever speak to my father the way you just spoke to him, I said, I would bust your ass. Now I ain't ever busted my own kid's ass, but the threat sometimes is all you need, right? And he was like, Monica, and I'm like, no, she's not gonna sit in my home and disrespect you. Like that, that is the problem. And she ain't done it since, but or at least around me.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

I had to do that with a client's daughter. The daughter was being so disrespectful. I was doing the mom's hair. I looked at her and I said, I'm gonna need you to quit talking to your mom that way, or you're gonna have to go sit in the waiting room.

SPEAKER_05 12:03

I've done it.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

And she just looked at me. I was like, I can't, you are making me so uncomfortable, and you're so mean to your mom right now. Like, yeah, I I can't.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

I've done that before too. Yeah, like stop it. I'm not not doing that here in my salon. That's just and that's the problem with these with kids these days. They think they can do anything, there's no repercussions, nope nobody can do anything. It's they don't have to respect anybody at school, it's a whole different world, but I do feel like you have to step in and make up for the difference in the world right now and make them be respectful. So Courtney and I were having this conversation this morning, she had an Orthodonist appointment. So we had a 45-minute ride to her orthodontist. Yes, that's how in the middle of nowhere. That's fun. Yeah, yeah, I hear that. So um we were talking about it because uh we kind of our school made made some waves in the community. We had a teacher that went on social media, was not speaking very well, made some comments, it was a big thing. So she had said the conversation started because she had said, Oh, yeah, she got ended up getting fired. And I was like, Oh, well, that's good. Like, nobody ever heard what transpired from it. And I said, you know, a lot of what she said was very wrong, and she should have never said. I said, but her point wasn't wrong. Kids are disrespectful, and I was like, you don't even know. I remember if I got in trouble at school, holy hell, I was dust if I got home. Like if I got an in-school detention or anything, you my parents were like, you're grounded for two months. Yeah, you have no computer, no landline phone, because we didn't have cell phones, like you didn't have and kids these days, there that doesn't, that's not how it works. And I said, and I told her, I was like, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. And I was like, but children aren't feared by their parents anymore. And she was like, Well, I don't fear you, and I was like, No, you don't, but you know what is allowed and what is not allowed. Yeah, you know how you are to behave and how you are not to behave, and you know that if you do something that you know you're not supposed to do or you get in trouble at school, it will be worse when you get home. And she was like, Oh, okay, I know that. And I said, The problem is parents these days want to be their kids' friends. And I was like, I don't want to be your friend. I have enough friends, I want to be your parent, and then when you get to be a grown-up, you and I are gonna be best friends. But right now, my job is to make sure, as your parent, that you are being respectful, you are doing the things that you're supposed to do, and I'm sorry, I was raised this way, so I raised my children this way. You are a direct reflection of me. As your mother, you are a direct reflection of me. You are not going to school looking like a hobo, you are not going to act like you don't have the sense that the good lord gave you. Like these are things you are going to do because other people are gonna look at you and be like, that's Monica's daughter. They're not gonna look at you as just Courtney, they're gonna look at you as my child, and I know that I've raised you better than that. Yes, but I don't feel like a lot of parents have that, they don't do that. You know, their kid gets in trouble at school and they're like, Well, what did you do to help the situation? Nothing, like what yeah, like you do not get in trouble at school, or you are 10 times more in trouble when you get home. Have respect for anybody, anything when you're outside of this house. But, you know, and there's that fine line of being friends with them, not be a friend, but you also don't want your kids completely scared, terrified to death that you're gonna be shit out of them when they get home. It there's a fine line, and kids will respect that, they're gonna respect you more for that and not act out when they're out of the house, but at the same time, they gotta know you're not jacking around either. Don't don't go out there being silly. Well, boundaries. That's exactly what I said.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

So watching my granddaughter, and like, you know, I may be like, no, no, don't do that, and then a couple of seconds later, you know, I'll watch her out of the corner of my eye and she'll do it again, but she's peeking at me to see what I'm going to do, and that's just she's testing my boundaries on what I will allow and what I won't. And I feel like it starts when they're young. You have to do it when they're young, so then they know that you do have a limit, you know. Yeah, yeah. Something that I'm gonna push it. Oh, god, yeah. They're gonna, and they want you to stop them. I mean, yeah, they do, they want the boundary, they know that is love right there, too. Yeah, yeah. So I was just scrolling through social media. I don't know why this popped into my head, but I think it's all about communication. And this hairdresser basically her post was um, I have a salon in my house. Um I do not answer the phone because in between my clients, I'm too busy posting on social media, um, you know, cleaning up, restocking, yada yada yada, all the things we all know as hairdressers, you don't have a lot of time in between clients, right? Her question was, is it okay if I don't answer the phone? And I was floored. This just shows my age. I was floored at the responses from other hairstylists. Really? Most of them agreed with her that she doesn't have to answer the phone and that her message should be, I am a text-only salon. I will text you. One person, now granted, I didn't go through the whole thing because I was getting so fired up. One person said, if you are full and fully booked and you have the clientele that you want, do whatever you want. But if you need new clients, you I mean, what in what world do we not answer the phone as a business, guys? What is happening? I'm flooring.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

Are you talking about when you are in the midst of a back-to-back day, you're not answering, or you mean you're not returning?

SPEAKER_02 19:00

She's not doing any of it, she doesn't want to do any of it, she wants to text them back, not physically call them back. So she wants no interaction on the phone. And I feel so much gets lost through texting, you guys.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

First of all, I feel like then you need to have an online scheduling system and you don't have to worry about text messages or phone calls. I will say I use a lot of texting because I am 24-7, either back to back to back or working and on a call. But are these new clients no? And that's that's where I was going with. Right. New clients, no, they're gonna hear my voice. No, they're gonna, you know, but all of my clientele that I've had for a zillion years, they know they'll text, and that way, whenever I can, that is right there for me. But new ones, yes, I I will always call, you know, but see, and I typically don't. Most of my new clients, I I they'll either send me a text message or a DM or something like that. So, like, we don't have that form of communication via on the phone. I hate being on the phone. Yeah, I can't I and that's far. I don't think I do not like it.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

I don't love it either, but I don't want to surprise with a client sitting in my chair, like she told me this through text, but this is really what's going on.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

So, but see, I kind of feel the opposite way about that. When they send me a text message, I have proof.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

I have proof. I they I when I talk to a client in the very first time via text message, I'm like, we go through the whole thing. I do like a mini consultation over the phone, I ask for pictures of their hair and their currency, their inspiration pictures. I inform them nine times out of ten that the inspiration picture that they have chosen is AI uh and not real. Or, you know, and I let them know, yeah, whether that's gonna work or not. And then I have all the information and it's written down. There's no he said, she said. So that way when they come, they sit in my chair and they say, Well, that's that I didn't tell you that. Yes, you did. I have the receipt. And I think that's because I was burned so much that I'm like, I have a very specific way that I talk to people to make sure I have all the information that I need, so that that way when they come in my chair and they sent me a picture of their hair being like a level seven blonde and they want to be a white blonde, and I tell them that I can do that, and then they come in my pair and they have a level six or a level five because they just box colored it. I can be like, hey, I know we had a consultation and I know that I said I could do this, but the circumstances have changed since we last spoke. Yeah, you know, and then I have it all proof. I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

I want them to send me a picture of their hair now. I want them to send me a picture of what they have. And it is all on text. I do the same thing with my consultations because it is because I have been burned in the past as well. Nope. I want this information right here.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

And if somebody comes in and they just schedule for a haircut and a brow wax wax and they come in and they're like, no, I wanted highlights and this and that too. Well, uh, no, you didn't because and I don't have that type. I got somebody coming in right after you, right? You know, but that's where we have to be able to have some sort of stand our ground and proof to stand our ground these days because people are different than when I started or when you started Michelle when you started Monica.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Because I'm not taking new clients right now, so I don't deal with any of that. I'm not. I just I want to work less, not more.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

Yeah, I only take new clients if it's a direct referral.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

From a client that I currently have. And I am very um, I don't want to say picky because I don't feel like that's a good word. I'm very selective about you know, I we have this thing, so there's in my salon, there's uh five of us, and we have such a different range of stylists. So it's so funny, but the owner of the salon has dictated us based on coffee, so she's like so. Um her name is Gina. She says, I am Dunkin' Donuts, just basic coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, nothing extra, regular black coffee, cream and sugar. Then you have Lauren, she's a Dunkin' Donuts latte. She's gonna go a little bit extra, be a little bit bougie, not super bougie, but she's there. Then we have Marianna. She's a mix between Duncan and Starbucks, kind of somewhere floating in the middle. Then you have Lisa. Lisa is our diner. She is black coffee. That's it. And then I am I am Starbucks bougie. I can see that. I think she said you are the person that goes to Starbucks and has like not just off the menu, the secret menu, that there's all the things. Because my clients are, I do a ton of extension clients. Like these girls have no desire. They they stick to what they know, and all of us have been in the industry for at least 10 years or more. Lisa's been in it for 35 years. She is the way she does stuff reminds me of Utah. So she's like, uh-uh, nope. We're putting it on, we're packing it in. I'm sticking her under the dryer. I'll see you in 20 minutes. Hello. And I'm like, okay, level seven, we're gonna do a seven volume, seven-volume developer. We're doing baby lights. I'm gonna watch it, I'm gonna pull in between. You're gonna be the perfect. And she's like, uh-uh. No, no. So they all get on me and they're like, you are extra. And I'm like, girls, I'm extra in every single facet of my life. What would possibly make you think that the way I do hair would be different? That is why we love you. Because you're the extra sauce. Okay, so now I need to know this. Do you use a board when you're foiling? Huh? No. No. No. Okay, thank God. Because I know stylists who use a board, and I'm like, how are you getting it close to the scalp? The board is in the way. Thank you. And I would spend more time trying to load the board. Exactly. And then I'm trying to hold it and it's tilt. Yeah. Like, absolutely. I do not there's no way. I uh I don't know how people do it. And I mean each start, I'm an absolute idiot. No, I am not a board. I am none of the new stuff user. I am not, I don't use any of the newest, latest, greatest. I am uh I'm you do teasy lights or foliage? No, I do foilage, yes, but I do not the hair for teasy lights. Nope. Nope. I feel I have a system to get the exact same result, but no, I do not do that. But you guys know I'm a little different too. I do not, you will not walk in my salon and find a brush. You're not going to find a hairbrush in my home. You're not gonna find one in my salon. I don't use them, I do not like them. Nope. What I was taught you. A hairbrush? Yep. What do you use? A comb? Yep. And if I need to do brush-out curls, I do a white, big white tooth comb. I do not like it. I do not blow dry with a brush. I do not nope. I learned a long time ago how to do a full blowout with a freaking blow dryer and my hands. I will not use a brush.

SPEAKER_02 27:40

I'm gonna need a video of this. I need to see this in action, right?

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Um, I'm so confused. Everybody was kung fu fight. I had a a barber that worked for me one time and he had worked at these big fancy salons and stuff um in the big city, we call the big city because we're in the sticks, and he was watching me one day, and he said, You could give a whole class on giving a blowout with just your blow dryer and hands. He said, Because I ain't never seen it, but you do it, and I'm like, I want to see it. But so when I learned that also when I first did my first apprenticeship, when I did my apprenticeship way back in 2001, 2000, 2001. And then in 2011, when things had gotten different, and I decided I'm gonna go back to school and do a refresh refresher course. The woman that owned my the that school, Irma, she was, I don't know, close to 90s, but she would still come in there with the biggest, fanciest hats. And she back in her day, they just razor cup. She's like, I don't even use scissors for nothing. I said, I want to know. So she I would do private classes with her. So nine times out of ten, you're seeing me do a complete haircut with a razor.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

She also said, No blow drying with a brush. I said, I don't either. So I got some of her tips from that too. You will not see a blow dryer. Ask, or I mean a brush.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Lindsay Remart freaks her out. We just had a wash event at her place. I said, when I get there, I'm burning all of your brushes. But she's like, What? But she watched me that day. I will not use a brush.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

That's interesting. Very interesting. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Sorry, I went on a rant for I don't know how long about a damn brush. Sorry, listeners. Well, I'm sitting, I'm sitting here trying to Google so I can see what it looks like. What are you finding? Nothing. Everybody's using a brush. I'm very upset. You can do whatever you want, you can blow dry the hair in what however you want to style it with just by blow drying it with your hands. I I I have a I won't say why I hate brushes because there are stylists on here that I know feel differently, and I don't want it to sound like the reasons I'm doing it is putting anyone down, right? That I don't do it that is putting anyone down because we all do hair differently.

SPEAKER_00 30:23

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 30:24

I've just taught it breaks your hair, and I don't I don't touch a brush. I never have. Not going to. My my clients know. Not gonna well, I love that for you, and I can't wait to witness it. That's probably why my hands are broken. Could be well, this was an interesting episode today. This was a very chill episode. I feel like sometimes our listeners need that. I agree. We weren't as we weren't as um rambunctious as we normally are. Well, we have I think it's because I yeah. Catch us a couple hours ago, it wouldn't have been a different story. We would have been like, oh, in today's episode of Who Did We Kill? Yeah. We should have one of those. Not that we've killed anybody, but we should go over some type of murder.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

We could do like one of those crime, you know how people do the the crime podcasts.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

I listen to them. I love those. Me too. I love them. I we could solve a murder. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

Because we don't have to follow the police rules, you know. No, no, okay, they have to have a warrant.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

Adian just ever in your favor. All right, we've crossed a line. Okay, well, thank you all for tuning in today to hear it first. Uh, can't wait to have you all back on the next one. This one was fun, it was chill, it was relaxed, and you learned a little bit about our different, our differences behind the chair for sure. Yeah. All right, guys, love you so much. Love you. Love you.

SPEAKER_00 32:10

Bye. And that's a wrap on this episode of Hair First. Thanks for hanging out with us. We hope you laughed, learned, and maybe felt a little more seated through all the good hair days and the hot mess ones too.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Remember, we're just sharing our own thoughts and experiences. No medical plans or professional advice here. Just real talk from stylists and moms who get it.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

Don't forget to follow, subscribe, and share hair first with your fellow beauty lovers and boss moms. We will catch you next time with more stories, laughs, and probably a little conditioner in our hair.