Leaving the Salon
The end of a chapter.
This was the last image taken of me working at a salon.
As introductions generally go, Hi! I’m Shands legally Ashly, yes no E, it’s a spanish pronunciation thing, anyway.
I have to give you the back story on how I was forced to create Ashly’s Hands aka Shands. This whole post will be about what made me make the decision to leave the “traditional beauty salon,” open my own studio and ensue my freelancing adventure.
Here we go, 23 year old Shands, does her taxes… ya girl clocked in a whopping $2800! Yes, you read that correctly. $2,800 for eight months of driving 25 minutes to and from work, eating out, just being an a**h*** kid with talent and ZERO discipline. But, with a dream to make people happy and never be broke again!
So there were more factors that came into play. I'm going to keep it realer than a snitch getting caught… this is MY perspective to life.
I always adored doing hair, and not in the, “Ken and Barbie” kind of way. More like the art of it. My Barbies were all naked sitting in a straight line with every single one of their hair perfecting combed. I was always hung out on the more couscous side, i.e I never dared cut my own hair, as I knew I didn't know how. Mind of an “overthinker”....one time for the people in the back…! Making the decisions to jump out of my comfort zone and out of the salon was a big moment.
I decided after many variables, and that last tax season, that ya!(cuban accent) I needed to make a solid decision, I didn't realize HOW SOLID IT WAS. My career was at a stand still, I had not advanced, my clientele was not growing, and I felt stifled in the salon. Waking up to sit in a space that did not reflect me as an artist. With ideals that differed from my own. I knew there had to be more to this whole adulting thing. I had a pretty dope job, I made people happy, i did good (ish) hair, but was super unhappy. So i finally did it
When I left the salon, I had two clients. In this industry it was common, I'm not sure if it still is, (I left the salon a long time ago), to hear old school salon owners screwing employees out of their clientele list. Well, this was one of these circumstances… two clients need I remind you.
Honestly, I was so young and naive at the time, I had no idea the severity of the situation, I said, “Ok now what Ashly? You said you would do this, now you have to do this.” So my brain went on overdrive, went to FaceBook (back then in 2011, that was all that was available in terms of free advertisement, and let's face it, I was a struggling artist without realizing it). I made advertising myself, which I later realized was precisely what I should have been doing. My main priority became continuously reminding everyone I was available to them. If I was not with clients, you would find me pounding away at the keyboard. I still get facebook memories and reminders of my old flyers and posts, in the early days of the hustle.
Before I had my own images to share and work to upload, I would create content from stock images I would find on Tumblr. I would come up with some wordy, catchy caption, and proceed to repost it on EVERY SINGLE PERSON on my friends list page, over and over every week, I would sit and post. I created countless referral systems, and at the end of the day, I cared, that was the method that worked the best. Giving a S**T. And guess what, I still do care, the end result and you being happy is truly my reason for it all. One of my favorite moments in the salon is when I'm with a new or existing client, and I see them catch that first glimpse of themselves in the mirror, post Glow Up, the smile, uncontrollable. They now feel invincible for that moment and my job is finally complete. I gain nothing by you coming to me once and never seeing you again. At “The Hands Loft”, I created a vibe, a vibe where we exchange conversation, knowledge and energy. I love speaking with you about your life and getting to know what feeds your soul, what you need as a human, and consequently give you hair, curated specifically to your lifestyle. In 12 years it hasn't failed me yet.
Ok love you bye.
-Shands
