Whether you are fresh out of beauty school, switching salons, launching a new beauty biz, or just starting something brand new, this episode is for you. Sarah gets personal in this solo episode, sharing the ups and downs of her own journey as a brand new stylist (complete with a few hilarious hair disasters), and powerful lessons she has learned along the way.

These insights aren’t just for hairstylists, they are for anyone reinventing themselves, trying something different, or feeling overwhelmed by the beginning of a new path.

Well hello and welcome to the Lessons from Your Hairstylist podcast. I'm your host and hairstylist friend, Sarah Cruz. I hope you're doing well today. I'm so excited that you've joined me here. I'm gonna do something a little bit different than what I normally do. Today we are talking about exploring something new. So if you've ever been new at something, whether you are younger and you're just starting out your career or you're reinventing yourself and you're starting into something new.

We're going to talk about that today and specifically I'm going to be talking mostly to younger people starting in the beauty industry. So that's why it's going to be a little bit different. But if you're not in the beauty industry or you've been in the beauty industry for quite some time and you don't feel like you're actually new at something, you might still want to hang out with us because it's going to be a good podcast episode. I'm going to share with you some of my stories from the past, some of the things that

You know, I've come through what it was like for me being new as a stylist and as I've coached other young stylists, seeing some of the struggles and the revelations that they have come to since they've been in the beauty industry.

Now, whether you're a fresh graduate or you're transitioning into a new salon or even starting your own beauty business, the journey can be both thrilling and intimidating. I wanna share with you not only just tips, but also stories and insights, like I said, from my own experiences and some of the amazing stylists that I've worked with and had the pleasure of mentoring over the years.

a lot of great things to work with. So we didn't really have the latest, the greatest tools or products to work with. It was actually pretty comical. Looking back now at some of the hair that I did in beauty school, it was absolutely atrocious and also hilarious. Some of the best times that I had were actually in beauty school though, making those mistakes, messing up my own hair, messing up my friend's hair.

having to go get an actual professional to fix the hair, and then getting out of school and feeling like I knew absolutely everything and also absolutely nothing all at the same time.

I do work with younger stylists, people just coming out of school. I mentor at schools. I've taught in salons across the country. So I do hear some of the struggles that today's new artists are going

through.

But

me, it was very intimidating. It was very overwhelming when I first started and there weren't a lot of prospects for jobs back then. I was in a very small town, like I said, and there was one new salon that had come into town and it was in the strip mall over by Walmart, I'll never forget, and it was called Custom Cuts. And it was some guy who did not even do hair that owned this salon. It was like a walk-in salon.

We did a lot of haircuts, but we also did colors and perms and things like that. I come from the days of perms, so I could do it all. And so when I started there, I was told, because it was brand new, that only the top stylists in the town would be invited to come there and work as like their first.

that started working at that salon as soon as it first opened. It was like the big new greatest thing in the small town where I was. And so I didn't even feel like I had a chance. I was already intimidated, I was already overwhelmed, and I'm looking at all these other seasoned stylists and I'm thinking, How am I ever gonna learn enough? How am I ever going to make it and be where they are? And it seemed like there was so much information that I...

just didn't know and I was so self-conscious and I had no confidence at all whatsoever. And so when I first started at this small salon, which was the latest and greatest in the town at the time, I was told that I could come and work one night a week. So I was just feeling lucky that I was even able to be there on one night a week, that I was given a chair.

for just that short period of time. And the rest of the time I worked at Walmart. So I worked at Walmart, I worked at the service desk, I did checkout, and I didn't wanna be there, but I took that one night a week and I went to the salon, which was really close by, right in that strip mall there, and I would work. And I started watching the other stylists. Still felt very intimidated, but I quickly started to, just through practice, ⁓

And so the instructors let us take a client. The client comes into the cosmetology school, wants a highlight, and we do a foil highlight. It took three of us working on the same head, and it took us well over four hours to foil this client. And of course, the result was terrible in the end, and we did not know what we were doing. And that was my first attempt at doing a foil. I also remember we had

an instructor in beauty school. Her name was Miss Mary. She had to be at least 85 years old. She was an old hairdresser and she was very old school. And I remember I had a highlight client one day and I had pulled this lady through the cap. This girl had said, I do not want my hair cut at all. I want to keep all my length. So I pulled this long hair through this cap.

and I put on the blue oil lightener, the dreaded cheap blue oil lightener that we had to work with back in the day, and I put a cap on her, a plastic cap, and I put her under the dryer. And when you're in school, you have to ask the instructor to come over and check your color to see if it's ready to rinse out. And so I call Miss Mary over, and Miss Mary said, nope, she's not ready yet, it's not light enough. And...

At this point, she had checked her a couple times and her hair was, there was smoke coming up, like was steam coming out from under the cap. And I was terrified because I thought, well this lady's hair is just gonna break right off. But Miss Mary, she knew. She was like, nope, it's fine, just keep it on there and I'll tell you when it's ready. So I call her back over, we pull the cap off of this lady and the hair is smoking.

like big time. I mean, it was just like, there was just like steam coming off and the hair felt so mushy and it was absolutely translucent. It was so white. And I went to rinse this girl's hair out in the shampoo bowl and it broke right off. So when I rinsed her hair out with the cap on, I pulled the cap off and half of her hair was literally missing.

And called over Miss Mary and Miss Mary just says to this girl, well, your hair's kinda dried out, we're gonna have to cut it. And we wound up having to cut her hair so short and this girl cried. This was my introduction to highlighting. So when I tell you, when you start, you're gonna have stressful experiences. This was even before I was in a salon. So there are going to be stressful experiences. Whether you're a new stylist or you are...

Somebody who is starting on a new service offering, maybe you're learning extensions or maybe you're learning how to do something different. Maybe you're not even in the beauty industry. Maybe you're starting over and you're having to get your legs under you. There are gonna be these mistakes. There's gonna be times where you are gonna walk through some kind of painful stuff in order to get mastery. And that's where you are when you're first starting something.

That's kinda how it is when you start out. Now, you have to love what you're doing, especially if you're in the beauty industry. If you're not dedicated to it, you'll never, never make it through. Because the love of that and the determination of wanting to have a career as a hairstylist has got to override the frustration that can come. And I don't wanna scare you, and if you're looking to go into the beauty industry or you're just starting out.

I want to tell you it is one of the best careers I think that anyone can possibly have and the sky is the limit. So I would not let that hold you back. You just want to take it day by day. So that's my story of

So I want to today in this episode give you six key points that can help you thrive if you're starting something new.

Point number one, it can feel overwhelming. We already talked about this a little bit, but I think we can all agree that walking into a new environment, a new situation, like a salon, can be an emotional roller coaster. You're actually stepping into a space filled new faces, techniques, expectations, and when I first joined that first salon, I distinctly remembered the chaos of the first week.

There were so many products to familiarize myself with because I hadn't used those products in beauty school. Not to mention the different personalities of your coworkers, you're feeling very intimidated, and then there's the clients that come in looking to you to do a good job on their hair, and you're not even feeling that confident yourself. So was very scary. I felt like I was definitely in over my head,

But here's what I learned. It is actually vital to acknowledge the feelings that you have of all of this overwhelm and this anxiety and things like that and just let it be there. Instead of pushing it aside, just try to embrace it and know that it's part of the process. One technique that helped me was actually creating a learning plan. So this helped me feel like I was actually in control of my process and of my progress.

So I would write down everything I felt overwhelmed by, and then I would just break it into smaller, actionable steps. So for example, if a color formulation felt like it was daunting and I didn't know how to do something, not only would I go to bed and dream about this at night and think about it in my head and

I actually dedicated time each week to study a specific type of color and practice it on a mannequin. You really need to take control of your own learning. That's the most important thing.

One thing I learned early on is, hustle beats talent when talent won't hustle. So you may not be the most talented, most naturally able person to do whatever this new thing is. Maybe it's something you really have to work at. So if you work consistently and you show up time and time again and you're putting in those reps the way that I did,

then you are going to succeed. It is all about your attitude. It is all about your willingness to learn. It's all about humbling yourself and knowing where you are and being dedicated to getting further ahead. You can't let it discourage you. You've gotta just take it day by day and that's where I was. So I was doing these little things, taking these small little steps that would help me to...

jump to the next little stepping stone and the next little stepping stone and that's how you have to look at it.

know you're moving forward but you just keep moving forward

and you shouldn't be worried about whether

You're not far enough along compared to this person over here or this person over here. You want to just be on your own path and taking control of what it is that you yourself need to learn to get there.

And remember, it's okay to ask questions. The beauty industry, for one, thrives on collaboration. So your colleagues, when you get started in a salon, you know they were all once beginners as well. And most of them are happy to help and navigate those overwhelming moments.

You'll find your people who are willing to lend a helping hand who are there to support you, and it's good to lean on those people. So building a support network can definitely make a huge difference. So don't hesitate to lean on others. Now point number two. Like I said, you've gotta be good with where you are. being okay with where you are on your journey is imperative.

This is a fundamental aspect that many new stylists struggle with. like I said, sometimes we feel like we know everything and then you turn right around and feel like you don't know anything at all. But we live in a world where social media now actually showcases everybody's highlights. And that actually can lead to feelings of inadequacy and comparison. We all know.

And I've actually had mentees come to me feeling totally defeated because they see other people their age, comparing themselves to others.

They see them achieving these accolades or working at these new cool salons or getting these opportunities. And here's the truth, every single stylist and every single one of us, no matter what path we're on, has our own unique path. So it's all gonna unfold totally different for everybody. You're not meant to walk somebody else's path, so be where you are. What really helped me with this was practicing mindfulness.

So not only did I create these like little baby steps for myself in the learning, but I was also really mindful and I started keeping a journal. And in the journal, I would reflect on my experiences and my progress. So I would write down my actual progress. Like I learned this today or I figured this out about this. And I felt like I was making small strides. So I could go back into the journal then and look to see how far I had come because sometimes,

We forget about all those little things that happen along the way day to day that is constantly moving us forward. And if you even look over like the course of a week, you're gonna look back and think, my gosh, I'm actually so much further ahead this Friday than I was last Friday. And we forget that we are making strides all the time.

So anyway, each week I'd write down what I learned, what went well, and actually what didn't go well. And this practice not only helped me to see my growth over time, but also allowed me to appreciate the journey. It helps you appreciate the journey. Additionally, set realistic expectations. Your first few months might involve a lot of learning and less earning. That's the thing when lot of ⁓ folks get out of beauty school.

We have these ideas that we're gonna launch right into doing this great hair and making money for it. We love doing hair. Now we're gonna do hair and make money. This sounds like a dream. And what happens so often is new stylists get out of cosmetology school and they realize this is a lot of work, this is a lot of stress, and I'm still broke. This is the hardest time of all and you have to give yourself grace in this period of time.

This is where it is so important to remember to celebrate those small wins. Like, if you get a haircut just right, or you receive positive feedback from a client, take that, like grab onto that, because if you can look at all those small wins, you're gonna start to feel like you're growing and you're getting somewhere. And these moments are your stepping stones to ultimate success.

Okay, so

moving on to point number three. How you think about this whole thing really determines how you feel. So how you think is how you feel. You are in control of that. So let's discuss how your mindset actually plays a critical role in your experience. How you think about your new position will significantly change how you feel about it.

Now when I was starting out, I noticed that my mindset was all over the place because it's just, it's a lot of anxiety and it's new. It's crazy. And I would swing wildly based on the day's events. I would just kinda let my mind get carried away with me. If I had a bad haircut, I would wonder why it was I ever decided to even go into being a hairstylist. Obviously I sucked. This was not for me. I was not gonna cut it. It was just, I would spiral on something like that.

And this was really where I first started actively working on my mindset, and it was out of necessity. I knew I was not gonna survive if I could not control the story that my brain was telling me.

And once I did this, I actually saw a shift in the experience I was having even during this growth phase.

Now yes, I did use positive affirmations. I know everybody kind of makes fun of it sometimes, like looking in the mirror, like you are capable, you are strong. But I actually did have to repeat these affirmations to myself almost daily because it kind of kept me going. These mantras were what allowed me to believe.

Hearing the words in my brain allowed me to actually believe that I could do it and that I could be successful. So I would say I'm capable, I'm learning, I'm growing. And I know it sounds simple, but it actually did set the tone for my day.

The other thing I started learning how to do kind of on my own before I knew it was a thing was this technique of reframing negative thoughts. So instead of I can't do this or I don't have the experience for this or I'm not sure,

if you could just shift that a little bit to something more like, okay, I'm learning how to do this. I can learn how to do this. Those small shifts, those subtle shifts can make such a difference and can significantly alter your emotional response and how you feel about the entire situation. Again, surround yourself with positive influences. Like you want good people around you, people who are supporting you, people who are lifting you up, people that are mentoring you.

It is the energy of those around you that truly can have the most powerful effect on your mindset. So choose to engage with supportive colleagues.

So point number four, finding a mentor. So speaking of supportive colleagues and mentors who encourage you along your path, it is so important to actually find a mentor. So I've had so many mentors in my career and they have each grown me in a different stage of my career.

get to the next level, to the next stage.

And my very first mentor, I can think back, her name was Martha. This was at the salon, the custom cut salon in the strip mall. Her name was Martha and she was like the best of the best in the town. So Martha had been doing hair for a long time. Everybody would go to her. She was probably the highest paid, the most experienced, and she was super confident. And I was actually even a little bit intimidated by Martha.

It was so funny because she was somebody with a big personality and she was really funny, but the confidence she had and also her very direct personality just made me feel so, I think, unsure. And I was not quite certain how to go about interacting with Martha.

I think to me I may have felt like she wouldn't want to engage with me because I wasn't where she was. And as I got to know her, that was actually not true at all. And if you remember, I said, they really didn't teach us how to do any sort of foil highlighting in school.

So I really wanted to learn. And one thing that Martha did all day every day was she was throwing in those foils and she did it well. She foiled all of her customers. Now this is, gosh, over 30 years ago. And so this was a brand new technique that she was doing. This was something that people hadn't been doing and most people didn't know how to do, but I knew I wanted to know how to do it. And so...

I asked Martha one day if she would teach me how to foil. I didn't learn how to foil hair until I was out of cosmetology school.

that she needed her hair done and we carved out some time in the salon and she said, you're gonna foil my hair. I was terrified. I first of all didn't want to...

even work on a real person to start with. I'm thinking maybe we're going to grab a mannequin head somewhere or I'm going to get some practice out somewhere besides a real person. But then I'm also going to be working on Martha who was like the best and I knew nothing. And now I'm going to be doing her hair. I was shaking in my boots and it was so funny because she wasn't having any of that.

She slapped that bowl down on the station. She slapped a cape around her neck and she said, all right, here's what you're gonna do. And she started instructing me on how to foil. And she gave me a step-by-step technique and she walked me through every step of the way. And with my hands shaking, I did that foil. I will never forget, I was so timid by it. I would dip the color brush in the bowl just a little bit and I would brush just a little bit onto the hair.

and then I would go back and I would get some more on the brush and I would, and it would take me like five or six times to even paint all the color on one foil and I was so slow and I will never forget

She said, don't let me see you dipping back in that bowl again. She said, you put color on that brush one time and you slapped that on there and fold that thing up. And so I was not going back in the bowl for another bit of color. I got it all on the brush at one time and I put that on and I folded that foil up and I crossed my fingers.

It was so funny, And that taught me so much. That set the tone for me becoming an actual highlight specialist, a blonding specialist.

I cannot be more grateful to Martha. I don't even know where she is these days,

But that was what set me on the path to specializing in blondes.

So what I say is find yourself a Martha in the salon when you first get out, ask them to take you under their wing. If you can work in an associateship or an assistantship like we have at our salon, that's beautiful too because if you can work one-on-one with somebody who can show you the ropes, it will help you so much in your career. It is an invaluable thing to have.

Now, finding a mentor is not just a one-way street, it's a two-way street. Don't forget, if you're asking someone to take the time out to invest their energy into you and give you their knowledge, you need to show up in the best way possible. You need to be grateful, you need to do your homework, you need to be prepared, and you need to honor their time. Be sure.

that you're doing all of those things because while so many of us in the industry are happy to mentor and take someone under our wing, we want to know that that person is invested too. So you've got to show up 110%. If you want someone to help you, you definitely need to be putting in the work and helping yourself to make it worth their while, make it worth their investment and time in you. They want to do it. Most people want to help.

and they want to feel good about it, if you're not gonna show up, don't waste somebody's time. You've got to put in your part.

Remember to write a thank you letter, take them to dinner, take them to lunch, do something that shows gratitude to them and always value their time. It will go so far.

Showing appreciation for your mentors' time and knowledge fosters the positive relationship going forward.

Number five, very important to remember, you are in charge of how fast you succeed. I know it may not seem like it. I know it may seem like everything's against you and you're kind of at the mercy of the industry or whatever it is that you're starting that's new. But I can tell you.

that you are in charge of how fast you succeed.

Now this realization, if you can just come to that, is incredibly empowering. I mean, it's easy to feel like your success is dictated by external factors, like the salon you work in or the clients you attract, but the truth is actually that you have more control over your journey than you might think. So start setting your own goals. Your salon might have goals for you. There may be certain...

frameworks that you're going by in your place in your place of business or where it is that you work but set your own goals like know where you want to go and set your own little benchmarks for yourself. Instead of measuring success by someone else's standards define what success is actually going to look like for you like what do you want? so for some it might mean building a loyal clientele for others it could be mastering a specific technique

It could be launching their own brand. It could be teaching as an educator later on down the road. It could be working in film or TV. Whatever it is that you're looking to do, set your own little goals and benchmarks on what would make sense for you to achieve to get to the next step in that process. And don't forget to hold yourself accountable.

regularly check in with your goals and don't be afraid to adjust them over time. Sometimes our goals change and that's okay. It doesn't mean that you're failing or you're quitting or anything like that. Sometimes those things will change and that's okay, but just be about your business and heading in the direction that you want to go and you will find that the right things unfold for you.

And remember again, this is your journey. It's perfectly okay to take your time and progress at your own pace. Everybody's life is different.

Now finally, point number six, learn the art of communication and connection. This might be the most important thing to know. Did you know that connection is the number one thing that's gonna grow your business? Knowing how to communicate with someone effectively, being authentic, knowing how to make them feel comfortable with you and enjoy coming to see you, that is a skill.

that you really need to invest in if it isn't something that comes naturally for you.

Communication is an art. Building relationships is at the heart of our industry. Clients want more than just a haircut. Everybody can do a haircut. a service, a hair service,

And you don't have to be perfect at it. You don't even have to be one of the best. If you know how to connect with clients, you'll go further than everybody else. It doesn't matter if somebody's got all the technical skill in the world. If they don't make somebody feel comfortable, if they're not warm, if they don't know how to build relationships, they won't get as far as someone who's over here being a mediocre hairstylist technically, but knows how to connect with the clients and treat them well and make them want to come back. That's the skill. That's where it is.

So focus on developing your communication skills. Practice active listening. This is a skill. When you active listen, you're not talking. So many times we want to seem like the expert. We wanna seem like we've got the answers and we wanna fill that silent space. Start to get very comfortable with silence. The more you're silent, the more you listen.

the more you're gonna learn about the client and the better you're gonna be able to serve them. Don't be so quick to talk all the time. Get really, really good at listening. And when you're listening, ask follow-up questions. Continue to ask the client, explain that to me. Ask open-ended questions.

that's a part of active listening. You want to learn all you can about that person so that you can customize a plan for them and that is what's gonna make them come back. so be a little quieter, listen a little more, talk a little bit less.

it's also gonna get them to trust you, and that is everything. now, you might have software in your salon that keeps a client profile where you can enter the data in, but make sure that you're taking notes on each one of your clients. know something about them personally. Make sure that you,

know something about their story on a personal level. their likes or their dislikes. Certain things about them that set them apart. That stuff is very special and very important.

This is also going to help you to remember information about future visits as well. I have one client that comes into the salon and she likes to have her hair rinsed in cold water. And it took me several times to actually remember that. But once I remembered that, I knew that she could trust that I was always going to remember that and that was an important thing to her. And she had to tell me to do it the first few times.

I shouldn't have been so slow to actually absorb that information and remember to do it. It did take me a few times, but now I know that I'm always gonna rinse her hair in cold water and she's not gonna have to tell me. So she's gonna feel like I know her. I'm doing something for her that I know she likes, which is different from everybody else. And it's the tiniest little things like that that make all the difference.

Now the one thing you can do to be authentic and be a little bit warm is to share things about yourself, but you want to be very careful with that. You want to talk more about the client than yourself, but it's okay to share stories if you have some common interests or you can relate on a certain level.

I mean, honestly, building a relationship and a connection is a two-way street. So you are going to talk some about yourself. You're going to reveal some things about yourself. For example, I share stories about things that are happening in my life. It's more of like a storytelling session. So it isn't just me going on talking about myself. I can turn it into a story where there's a premise. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. And it becomes a little more entertaining. They get to know something about you.

while at the same time, you're not just rambling on about yourself, talking about yourself. If it's in a story format, it's a good tip to do it that way because it's more engaging for the client. I have several stories that come up over time. If I've had a client for several years, they've probably heard several of these stories. And then I have other stories too that just come up in life.

And but one of them is kind of a hilarious story about a spa experience that we had when we went out to Napa Valley.

And it's funny because we had one of the members of our group that went out to Napa coordinate this spa experience and it was a mud spa experience and there were four of us going and to save money, it was booked as a couples experience. so without going into all of the awkwardness that came about because of that spa experience, that has been one of the most hilarious stories that

I can actually tell about myself, get the client to feel like they know me a little bit more, but also make them laugh and entertain them. If you're gonna talk about yourself, I would suggest that you learn to be a storyteller.

It just humanizes you and it also encourages the clients to open up as well, which is obviously what you want because you want to get to know more about them. Also, it's great to share your favorite products, things like that. That's a given. Selling retail is many times something that is gonna be important to your growth in the salon as well. So learning how to almost use story in talking about your products and how to use those.

That can be very effective way of selling when you feel like you're somebody that doesn't want to sell. If you don't enjoy selling, Story is a great way to do that. So wrap up what you're doing in a story. For example, you could open it up with a question like, hey, you use a heat protector on your hair? Whatever their answer is, is...

just a gateway for you to be able to say, okay, great, well, I'm gonna use this on your hair and here's what it does and here's how you use it So if you're someone who is trying to grow in your career, you're brand new and you feel awkward with selling retail and you feel awkward with that communication, then that's a great way to do it. It's a little bit of storytelling because you're just telling, you're just telling, you're not selling.

And it makes it easier and it breaks the ice and it allows you to have a more natural conversation.

Now past that, I will say, do not underestimate the power of a follow-up. So a simple text message or keeping in touch with your clients in between times to keep them coming back so that they feel like you're truly connected and invested with them, that is so important. That personal touch is everything. So you might follow up and just ask how they like their haircut, if you know that they're going through a rough time or...

somebody's sick in their family or something new is coming up in their career, things like that. Text them and check on them and see how that's going for them because that goes a long way. Connection and communication are probably the biggest things that you can do when you're first starting something new to move forward and to make progress. The more you can connect with someone, the more that you can have people's support around you.

the better off you're gonna be.

and the quicker you're gonna grow.

and the quicker you're gonna succeed.

So that concludes the six points that I had for navigating starting something new. It's really hard, it is overwhelming, but we all do it at some point. And I know that this has been very much about the beauty industry and about new stylists, but I am very passionate about that avenue. I do enjoy

Connecting with and helping new stylists to find their way So this is a little bit of a different podcast episode if you're not in the industry. I hope you still enjoyed it

But in any case, no matter who you are or what you do for a living or what new thing you're starting, make sure that you just embrace those overwhelming feelings. Be okay with where you are. Cultivate a positive mindset. Seek mentorship. Take charge of your own success and master the art of communication.

Now these insights come from my heart and my own personal experience. I hope that they have resonated with you and they have helped you in some way. Just remember that you're not alone in this journey. Everybody's new at some point and you have everything you need to succeed. Thank you so much for tuning in and I can't wait to chat with you on the next episode of the Lessons From Your Hairstylist podcast.