Boss Moves by Amber Hopson: What Beauty School Never Taught You

[00:00:00] Hey Paula, what are you working on there? A cloud bob. A fucking what? A cloud bob. Cloud bob? Bitch, that's an afro! Eh, I'm white. Real hairdressers telling real stories about their experiences from behind the salon chair. And we are now saying the quiet parts out loud.

[00:00:28] This is Sh!t I told my Hairdresser. Hello and welcome back to Shit I Told My Hairdresser. Nice to have everyone back. Paula, how are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Jason? I'm doing fantastic. Summer's here, so sun's out, buns out, my big old ass. We'll see about that.

[00:00:54] Anyhow, guys, thank you for going through and talking about us and getting us out there. Yes, I'm telling you, we're feeling, Paul and I are definitely feeling the love. You guys have been telling a lot of people, we are just like the hairdressing industry. We are a word of mouth podcast. Let everyone know about us. Get on TikTok, get on Instagram, get on our Apple podcast, get on Spotify, follow, subscribe, whatever you want to do. Write us a little love note or tell us how much you hate us, either which way.

[00:01:21] We definitely want to go through and make sure you tell at least 10 of your friends and 20 people that you hate. Because again, we're hurting little ears. You know what I mean? We're popping little eardrums. That's what we want to do. So, but today, Paula, what do we got today? We have someone interesting. I'm so excited to talk to her. I mean, I'm in Utah and we are so pale here and I need to give me all your flavor.

[00:01:45] Yeah, we have Amber. I talked to Amber on the phone a while ago. I was following her on, I was bugging you on TikTok. That's your main platform. And I started bothering Amber because I loved what she was saying. And we got on the phone and, oh my God, I was just kind of like, we talked for like, what, an hour, I think, or something like that? It was crazy. And you were mentioning all the things that majority of people are just not doing. And you're going to beauty schools and you're really going through and helping people out.

[00:02:14] So let's go through and talk about that. Let's talk about what you're doing and how you're helping out hairdressers, especially new hairdressers that really need to, I don't know if it's just new or sometimes, you know, people like us who have been around a long time, we need to hear this again. So I'm glad to have you on. Amber, how are you? I am doing great. Thank you so much, Jason and Paula, for having me. I've been, I just, I just want to give you guys your flowers.

[00:02:37] I love what you're doing, which is why I reached out to the podcast. I said, you know what? I need to be on here. This is, you got my type of people. Hell yeah. So I'm having a good time. Thank you for having me on. Absolutely. Thank you so much. So one of the things we wanted to bring you on for was because you're actually doing like the groundwork, man, for a lot of hairdressers, you know, and you're not only you're going to beauty schools,

[00:03:03] you're bringing people into your salons, you're doing classes on hair that we don't, I mean, I was watching your silk presses. I'm like, Oh Jesus Christ, these are beautiful. Oh, thank you so much. I need to come down to, you know, and do a class, you know, with you in Bontura Boulevard. I haven't been in Bontura Boulevard in years, you know what I mean? So I moved out of LA. But tell us about what you're doing and what's going on. Yeah. I'm doing what is called Build a Boss Academy.

[00:03:31] I've tried doing this for a number of years, but it always was, I'm going to say, I've been doing it for a long time as far as the people that are coming straight out of cosmetology school and working for my salon. And I do a rigorous, I have a rigorous training program. And so one of the girls, Jennifer, she actually just, she just got a suite. So that's what I'm saying.

[00:03:55] I built these girls up and they go on to have their own, their own dream of having a salon or beauty supply. I have another girl right down the street that has her, who used to work for him. He has her own beauty supply slash suites. So I said, you know what? It's time for me to really take this to a whole nother level. And for years, I've always gone to beauty schools and spoke with the students.

[00:04:25] Now, I was straight out of beauty school 2005, right? When my mentor Lolita Goods, who was the queen of sewing weaves in the valley. What we did is we created Hair Escapades. That's where the name came from. Hair Escapades, the ultimate hair extension workshop.

[00:04:47] And we went all around Southern California going to all these different beauty schools from Paul Mitchell to, I mean, we were just all over the place. And we were rent, you know, at the hotel, we were rent the little ballrooms and, you know, meeting rooms. And we would teach, we taught about maybe three or four different techniques, the keratin, the sew-ins and, you know, different things.

[00:05:15] So that's really how the name Hair Escapades was formed. And then later, of course, you know, we stopped doing them for a amount of years. And I really just kind of, because I was fresh out of cosmetology school. So I had to build my career. And as time went on, I worked for eight different salons, learned all the bad ways of how to run a salon. Right. Went from being a manager at a salon. Then I got a salon suite for four years.

[00:05:45] And now this boutique that I have now, Salon Boutique, Hair Escapade Salon, 12, this will be our 12th year. Congratulations. Oh, that's big deal. Thank you so much. So that's probably, I'm just kind of giving you a little bit of background story. Yeah. It just didn't come out of nowhere. It's just been going for years and years and years. And now that I kind of want to step back away from the chair some, I'm like, you know what, I really want to get back into the education realm.

[00:06:15] And, you know, I'm doing a guerrilla marketing all over again. Yeah. I'm going back to school. That is one thing that these kids will never, ever have to do. Yeah. That human interaction is so different from when you're online. So I've gotten, I think I've gotten more, it's been more receptive just me actually going there and they could feel and touch and they, they, I'm signing my books. They're, you know, they're buying the books, boss moves, what they didn't teach you in beauty school, you know?

[00:06:45] So, so that, that's what I'm doing. That's what's going on right now. So do you think these kids are being a little bit more receptive to what you're saying? You know what I mean? Because a lot of them are like, well, you're part of the old guard. You're part of the old school and things are different now. And I'm kind of like, yeah, but I'm still making more money than you. You know what I mean? So. Yeah. Well, the reason why they're receptive is because as the kids would say, what does that term they use? Is it trolling?

[00:07:14] Like, I'm not, I'm not fake. You can go back. I mean, you know, I'm not, I'm not a fake figure. I did. I'm not just teaching and doing this and I don't, I don't have it. Like I have the salon. I have the product. Like, you know what I mean? So I think it's more or less like, okay, she's credible. We can look her up. You know, you can go back to my YouTube channel from 2006 and see when I was working at these different salons. Yeah.

[00:07:40] I've documented my whole, I've documented my whole career to tell you the truth. So y'all think it's more of a respect thing as opposed to me just popping up as a guru and I'm going to teach you how to do. Magic dusting, you know, they, they're like, you know, people, like I said, they do their diligent research. That's all to it. They do their research and they will call you out on it in the quick. Good. They should. They should. That's what we're telling them all to do is like, you want to what?

[00:08:10] Call people out on their shit and make sure they're actually teaching you what you're paying for. And that's why these cosmetology schools, that's why they, you see that what's going on with the, with the government trying to change it. But that's because these beauty schools, they're failing. A lot of them, you see it. Remember that whole fraud thing that happened some years ago and they, they, they, they had to get rid of all these cosmetology schools because these students was basically teaching themselves. People wouldn't, the teachers wouldn't show up. They're in the class just doing whatever.

[00:08:41] So yes, you need to be held accountable. That's crushing a lot of people's dreams too, though. I mean, as far as, as students really wanting a career and having a life. Yeah, it's crushing their dreams. And I'm going to regress a little bit. I'm going to ask you, we talked about guerrilla marketing. Will you define exactly what guerrilla marketing is to you? Okay. Oh, yeah.

[00:09:04] For me, guerrilla marketing is going out and touching the people, getting in the streets, getting business cards, flyers, literally going into the mall, walking up and down the escalator, passing them out. You're in the heat. You're sweating. You're putting them on, on cars. It's basically touching the people. Pounding the pavement. Yeah. Yeah. As opposed to online. Hey, you could just post online and just network online.

[00:09:33] But I mean, networking, you're getting out in the streets. Right. That, to me, is guerrilla marketing. That's what I used to have to do, especially when I first started off. Yeah. Exactly. Looking for models. And that's why we've been able to become successful because it was a type of work ethic that you had, a type of hustle, a type of grind, starting from not having anything. And it's a mindset as well. When I say guerrilla, it's a mindset.

[00:10:01] Because to me, my guerrilla marketing, now it's on a digital. Now it's digital. Yeah. You know what I mean? But I take that same hustle, that same drive, that same grind, and I implement it into the digital world. That's brilliant. You're melding the two together. That's brilliant. But that's what me and Jason was talking about, putting the old with the new. So you don't have to be stuck doing the same thing. You can still implement some stuff from the new. I'm constantly learning from these young people.

[00:10:30] I'm still, if you don't have a teachable spirit, you know. Tris. Tris. Get out. Tris. Get out. Mm-hmm. It's like when people, they're basically telling you, I don't need to learn anything more. I got this. You know what I mean? Yet they still live at home. You know what I mean? And they're in their 40s living off their mom, off the parent's payroll. You know? And so, yeah, that's the thing is that I get online. If you ever had those whole podcasts, I had to go online and kind of learn from the ground up.

[00:11:00] What do I do? How do we have microphones? How do I, what do I, what do I use? What are going to be my topics? I come to, in fact, I got a phone call from Meta because they started seeing how the, or shit, I told my hairdresser was growing on Instagram. And they started asking me questions. So now I have a dialogue with them to kind of grow our Instagram. And they're like, what, how do you use it? I'm like, I use Instagram for research. That's how I found you. That's how I found you. I use, I use social media for my research. I find topics. You know what I mean?

[00:11:30] And then I'm also seeing what people are doing on hair. Now you can get on and see what Orlando PETA, I can see what all these big Ted Gibson, what they're doing online and seeing what they're doing with their hair. You know, and then I can bring that home and make that or find courses for myself that work, you know? And then I'm, now I'm bringing it on to the show, you know? And so that way we can kind of pass it on to our listeners. So it's really important that we're learning and growing and using all these new platforms. Because I use AI every fucking day.

[00:11:59] Yeah, and the thing is that what you guys are doing is you're not keeping the information to yourself. You're learning, you're growing, your mind's blown, and you're sharing. That's a true educator, you guys. Seriously. Absolutely. Anyway. Are you finding that the people, are these new kids coming out of beauty school, are they doing the same things that we're doing? Are they being a little bit lazy about it?

[00:12:22] Because I don't see many people in my, even like where I'm at now, or, you know, some of them, when they're kind of building, they'll post every now and again. You know what I mean? But it's not a lot. They're not using all their tools to go through and grow their business. It's a few. And that's the thing. I'm collecting data as well when I go to these schools. So the first thing I ask is, raise their hands.

[00:12:52] How many, you know, people on social media are, and they'll raise their hands. But who's posting? Who's posting? Right. Yes. The thing. Like who's posting? Who's creating content? And then maybe two, three out of like 28 people. That's it. So to answer your question, no. They're being lazy about it. They're not. Yeah. See, the thing is what it is too. It's a confidence thing. Keep in mind they're in cosmetology school. Right.

[00:13:20] So they feel like, oh, they have to have the perfect lighting. They have to have, they have to know that they have to have the perfect skill to show their work. And I said, you don't. No. I said, just even if it's you and your doll head and, you know, people want to see the transparency. People want to see that. People want to, because people can relate to that that's in school. And you're, you know, you're constantly failing during the roller set. But then it shows you, you, you, you nailed it this time.

[00:13:49] You're progressing. You're showing it beginning of the grid. People want to see the journey. Yes. People want to see a real life person because the whole thing is, where that dang on fly came from. But people want to relate. You want to be relatable. Yes. I mean, you're not, but you're not, you're not perfect out of the womb. Right. So even if I say, and then you have those who are very shy. Guess what? You could do faceless content. Just show all your, your favorite tools.

[00:14:18] Show your favorite products. You don't have to necessarily show your face. It could just be a voiceover of you explaining what you're doing. You don't even have to show your face. You don't. You don't have to do that. You may even just want to film content. Maybe just of, of, of the student, of the other students or the teachers, you know, whatever the case. The ins and outs of a cosmetology school. You know, I don't know. But the thing is you need to post. You need to get your work out there.

[00:14:47] People need to see that you're a real live person. And if I can give a little bit of advice on top of that as well, too. Like one of the conversations I had with Meta is that you need to be posting at least four times a week and start using edits. Because that will go through and push your content even further. Because that's what they're doing. Because the things are changing nowadays. And Instagram is definitely taking notice. You know what I mean? So if you want to go through. Letta need to run that check. Yeah. They need to run you some money. Now, from here on out. Exactly. Yeah.

[00:15:17] I'm dead serious. They got the money. Hey, this is when you put together a proposal. And then you come to them and like, hey, this is, because see, you're an expert. And they need that data. Exactly. So they need to run you that check. Well, what they have been doing is pushing my account even further out. So that's what's actually going to do. And you're pushing your bank account further out. It is. Well, it is. That's the thing. So that's. You know, I need you to pay Jason.

[00:15:45] You have to go through and pay attention to what is going on out there. Because if you guys are not watching what's happening on social media right now or within the what's happening with Google's Google's changing the rules for everything right now. They're changing the way AI goes through and reads everything. They're changing now the way that you go through and people leave reviews. That is starting to change now. Because. Google Gemini. It's not just Google Gemini.

[00:16:11] They have their own AI system that's going through reading everything that people are posting now. And they're changing the way that Google is going to look, especially reviews. So, guys, if you're asking your clients to go through and use to give you reviews. Don't. Stop. Stop. Google now knows what you're doing and they're going to take you all your reviews off. They know if it's your cousin post. What can they tell? Like what. Google knows everything about you, man. They. You get on your phone. They know you're on your phone. They're hearing. They're listening.

[00:16:40] Google knows everything. Everything. You know. So, and the thing about those is that they know who you've been in contact with. They use all your social platforms. They all. They know. They're all connected. You know what I mean? So, they know if it's your cousin leaving you a review. They know if you're asking your clients, hey, leave a review and I'll give you a conditioning treatment for four years. They know it. So, guys, do your research and get on online and start figuring out how to go through and change this up because Google's going to go through and take your ass off.

[00:17:07] And you need, you need to go through and build up your presence on the internet if you're going to get busy. You know what I mean? Like how important is it to have a website? It still is. It is. It's now even more important to have a website. It is. Especially with the algorithm and updating it. And then, too, you have to, like once a week, I'm constantly posting. Videos or updates on like my Yelp and my Google business because they want to see that as well.

[00:17:36] Like I can't even tell you how many pictures is on my Yelp and Google business. Just constantly post. Yeah, absolutely. And then what I've done is I've taken my photos. I posted them onto the salon's Yelp, the salon's Google reviews. So, when people look it up, they also see my work on there even though it's like it posted from the salon. Yeah. You know, so if you're a new hairdresser, I mean, take some of your work. Put it onto the salon's, you know, website. Put it onto their Google reviews and their Yelp reviews.

[00:18:06] Put it on there. It's easy. You can find you. It is easy. Easy cross marketing. So. The new, this is the new gorilla marketing. And I understood in our pre-interview that you wrote a book. I would love to hear about this. Jason knew about it. How did you know about it? Was he researched? He was researching? He was researching. I did. On social media. I don't know about this though. I don't know. I don't want to buy your book.

[00:18:34] I might mail it to you and have you sign it and send it back. That'll be so dope. I could just, I'll just, I'll just have to mail it. I'll just mail it to you. But the name of the book is called Boss Moves. What they didn't teach you in beauty school. This is the business aspect. The marketing strategies. How to, it's a survival guide on how to navigate through this hair industry. What type of salon? It's about how to even find the right type of salon for you.

[00:19:04] First impressions is everything. So you want to dress the part. Cause let me tell you, hey, when I was out there looking for a salon, I pulled up, I had on a suit, you know, I was suited and booted. And I remember I used to carry, I still got this silver briefcase. Okay. And I would pop it open and get on my resume. I was so, I was over the top, but it was just, you know, I just wanted to present myself as I'm that, I'm that one. I'm that, you know, I'm that HNIC.

[00:19:34] Now I'm going to have you look at it if you don't know what HNIC is. Because I call myself the HMFIC in my salon. I am the HMFIC in the end. Oh, I get it. HNIC. I love it. I guess I don't know shit about fuck. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you on the acronyms later, Jason. Yeah. I definitely don't know shit about fuck on that. Okay. I thought Paula was the one that didn't know. That's why I, that's why I, that's why I didn't know.

[00:20:02] No, my done brings me right, honey. But anywho, so yeah, it's basically a survival guide. And it's not only for cosmetology students. That's who I had in mind, but also other beauty professionals who might've, you know, some people, they, they fall out of the career and they may go work another full-time job or do something else. And it's just like a little reminder as well, how to save your money, time management, all

[00:20:31] these important things that you need to put in your arsenal, you know, to be successful and what helped me become successful. So I implemented those tools for, you know, for my beauty professionals and cosmetology students. And it's a really short read. You can read it within probably like an hour. It's a really short read, but it's no fluff. And that was the thing. I didn't want to write a book where I'm talking and just blabber and blabber and blabber, you

[00:21:00] know, and plus I'm ADHD, you know, I get to the point. Even when I'm doing these talks and I'm a guest speaker, I can go ramble on and on about my achievements and what I did, but what I do instead, I get right to it. It's I want to make it all about the students. Now they can ask me questions as we go, but my whole plight, that's not the main thing for me to just. And then I've done this.

[00:21:26] And then in 1975, you know, I didn't get into my whole music career. But when they get the book and they're reading it, they'll say something like, oh, can you bust a rap? You know, and I may, but I'm not going to sit there and just talk all about myself. No. And then that, yeah, I know. Cause there's a lot, I mean, crack open a magazine. You know what I mean? That's how I quit reading a lot of the stuff because there's so much fluff. Yeah.

[00:21:51] And the reason that they're doing it, I understand is because Google likes to read and they like all the keywords and it pushes it, the algorithm even more. But if I'm going to read something, man, knock it off with all these keywords and fluff and shit. You know what I mean? Just give it to me fucking straight. Yes. Let's get to the point. And that's why I love your show because it's so raw. I love your show because the guests that you have on there, they're not afraid to hold back. I love this show. That's why I had to get on here. Hell yeah.

[00:22:21] Cause I said, these are my people. Yeah. And that's the thing is like, you want, you want, we piss a lot of people off. I love it. I love it. On Instagram. I'm telling you we're, we're pissed. And that's okay. We all need, hopefully if you do get pissed off enough, you write something down and I change your perspective or someone on the show, change your, like Amber, you hopefully change your perspective for somebody and get them thinking about something because later on you might write something hateful down. Go ahead, write something that you fucking hate about me.

[00:22:50] I don't give a shit. Cause two months down the road, you might change your mind and it could, it could have taken all that rage out of you to change your mind about it. So that's okay. You know why you can do that? What? You know why? The reason why you're able to do that because no company owns you. Now, if you were with one of these big companies, like the, I'm not going to even put out the names, but we know who they are. You know where I'm going.

[00:23:15] If you were to be with these big companies, you won't be able to do that. You have to hold back and know you have, you know, you can't curse and you can't, you're representing our company. So that's why you could do whatever the hell you want to do. And that's why I came out with boss moves as well, because when you own your own stuff, when you are a boss, you control the narrative. Absolutely. You don't have anybody coming in. You can't, you can't do that. No.

[00:23:45] Well, you're your own boss. You can have anybody else I want on. I can say whatever you want. That's why I love your show because you could tell that it's just, you can, you just do what you want to do. Yeah. That's like what we do. And I love the underdogs. So keep pissing people off. Oh, we do. Now, speaking of pissing, pissing shit, here's one thing that pisses me off, though. I got to ask you, what the fuck is a 4C curl? Yeah.

[00:24:15] A 2C curl and an XYZ shit curl over here. 2-8-9-N-5-6-7-8-9-2-0-0-0. I thought someone said, I got the first email about that. I thought someone was asking me for a color formula. I'm like, what? I don't do color. Right. Right. What? What are you talking about? So what is this? What the fuck is this? I want you to know. I'm going to break it down, Jason. Uh-huh. So this was early 2000 when I read this book.

[00:24:45] You know how at the library, how they sell books that they just sell outside. Yeah. On a little shelf. So I saw this book by Andre. He was Oprah Winfrey's hairstylist. Oh. Okay. Yeah. And that's when I first heard. He the one that made this up, to tell you the truth. From what I know. You can probably Google it, but his name was Ivo. He wrote this book. He just put Oprah Winfrey's hairstylist. Anyway.

[00:25:12] And that's when I first started seeing the numbers. And what he used it for was to try to identify your curl pattern. So if someone has wavy hair, that's a number and then with a letter. Four is supposed to be, I guess, like really coarse hair. And see, anyway, it's confusing. It can be really confusing for people. The reason why I don't use it, because hair is not just a number.

[00:25:41] To me, you have to go by the porosity, the density, the curl pattern. There's so many different things that go. And guess what? Not one person has the same hair texture in their head. No, they don't. I may have a client, it may, the wave, the curl pattern may be wavy. And then right here in the middle, it's very coarse and tight. It's tightly coiled. So you can't, and it's also a way to market.

[00:26:11] So the big companies, they're the ones that took that and said, ha ha, this is a way we're going to sell the texture hair. This is the way we're going to sell some mixed hair. And, you know, and I can't just say black people because I get a lot of Jewish women in here with that curly hair. And they don't, you know. Oh, yeah. I get a lot of other nationalities. The Jewel is a real thing. Yeah. Yeah. I live in LA. Black people.

[00:26:38] But they're trying to sell to the textured hair community. Yes. Oh, okay. For them to sell. That's why they use these numbers. And it's a way to sell. It's a whole marketing tactic. Yes, it is. That they just went through and made up. They're kind of like, oh, here's something new. We'll do this. But we'll sell this one. Andre, the one that that's the first time I saw it. And he is black. He is a black man. Look it up when you get a chance. Yeah.

[00:27:08] I know this topic is going to piss a lot of people off. You know what I mean? Because there are certain people that swear by the whole texture hair. It's a four C's this. And you don't know what you're talking about. If you don't know this. It started confusing clients. So that's why I don't use it. Right. But the only time I really do use it. If a client says, oh, I have four C's hair. I know what they're talking about. But I just. That gives me time to educate them. And make it more specific. Like, okay.

[00:27:37] Your hair is not. I understand what you mean by four C's. But look right here. Look. Look with the porosity. You have low porosity hair. Right. That's why we have to do this type of treatment. You see how your hair is not holding. The water. The water is just slipping right out. Like no moisture is. Is not. Yeah. Because of this. So like I said. It's more to it than the number and the letter. It's almost like these marketing companies. Or these big product companies.

[00:28:06] Are trying to pigeonhole people. Yeah. And believe in the fact that they are. They fall into this one little teeny tiny category. When they really don't. And that's the great thing. What you're doing is educating them. Saying. Look. This. Your hair on this area. Has this porosity. This texture. Because I have. Family members that are half Japanese. And when I do their hair. Oh my gosh. We're talking four different textures on one head. And I have to teach them that. And so these marketing companies.

[00:28:36] The hair companies. They're just pigeonholing. And it's just not fair to clients. That's all. Anything to sell. Anything to sell. Anything to get content. You know what I mean? That's the thing. Speaking of content. Can we get a little racist with you? Let's bring it. What the fuck. Did Vogue do with this fucking cloud bob? What the fuck is that? Did you. Okay. They went through. And they took a picture of Ellis Ross. Diana Ross's daughter. And posted on Vogue. And said she had a cloud bob.

[00:29:06] And I'm looking at it going like. That's a fucking afro. An afro. It does. And they called it a cloud bob. I'm like. Okay. How fucking white do you have to be to call it a cloud bob? Like what the fuck was. Who thought. It's an afro. I don't know. I don't know what the hotel a cloud bob is. But maybe that's their way of describing it. Because if you look at a cloud. It does have a. Look like an afro. So I don't know. They were being invented. But I don't know who made that up. I don't know where that's coming from. Like. I don't know.

[00:29:36] I have no idea. Okay. If you haven't seen it. Go look at it. It's an afro. Go look at it. It's an afro. It's an afro. It's an afro. It is. So you're saying. You're saying. Why are they trying to change the name? Like. It is what it is. It's an afro. Right. It's an afro. Why you guys are not trying to. Why you don't want to say. Why you don't want to say afro. And that's one reason why. I think they came up with this number system too. Because people don't like to hear nappy or kinky. Ooh. Oh.

[00:30:06] That may be it. I just thought of that right now. Like maybe that's why they say it. If you say kinky or nappy. And it has a negative connotation to it. If you think about it. Yeah. Maybe that's why. You got bad hair. Okay. Give yourself something to think about. Yeah. Totally. It does. Yeah. Yeah. Well there used to be a salon in LA called Oh My Nappy Hair. I don't even remember that place. I remember that. I do remember that. Remember that place? Yeah. They were in business for a long time.

[00:30:35] Didn't they do like natural hairstyles? Like. Oh nappy. Yeah. Kiss and braids. And yeah. I stopped in one time. They were cool as fuck though. They were so cool. I'm like. I love your name. I had to stop and say hi. But you want to know what though? Maybe you're. Maybe they're trying to change it to where they're taking some of those words out. You know what I mean? But most of my friends. I mean. My hair's nappy. It's just that. That's just the way that it is. You know what I mean? So. But you see. They don't say that. Or maybe. Maybe. You'll see. Maybe. You'll see coiled. Or tightly coiled.

[00:31:05] You don't hear. You know. You don't hear that. Now in my product. I have a product called Curly Kinky Cool. Uh huh. I did put kinky in there baby. Because. That's fine. It is what it is. I'm not finna say. Forcy. Curly. Cool. No. No. No. It sounds stupid. You know what I mean? But. But that's the thing. You know what I mean? Maybe they're just making it so it's like. You know. Us white people feel more comfortable saying these words. Maybe that's what it is. I'm just saying. It's a thought. We don't. I don't know. You never know. You know what I mean? So.

[00:31:34] I could be wrong. Let me tell you. I'm going to piss a lot of people off with this episode. That's for sure. Curly Kinky. Who doesn't like a little bit of kink in our life? Right. Right. So you have. You have a book. Now you have a product line. Yeah. Tell us about this. What's going on with that? Yeah. Yeah. So the product line. Well the main product is the Curly Kinky Cool. And it's cream based. And it has like coconut oil in it. Organ oil.

[00:32:03] And when I first came out. I was making it from home. At first. And then trying it on clients. Because. I just started seeing that some of these curl products. They're either drying out the hair. Or they'll coat it to. They'll make it to where the water can't even penetrate into the hair. Yeah. Because. It makes it dehydrated. Because of the. You know. It's. Are they making. It's not broken down. It's not broken down to parts per million. And when it's not broken down.

[00:32:32] Where it can't penetrate the hair shaft. It'll sit on top. I work for. A hair. Like a hair care company. So. That's what they were saying. It's like. A lot of people will go through. And like. Oh I'm going to put this. The coconut oil. And I'm going to put avocado. And this in my hair. And an egg white. And they put that in their hair. And it doesn't do anything. Except for make their hair. Like. Rock hard. And. Yeah. So. And that's what. That's what made me come out. I have that. And then I have. The luxurious scalp oil. And that's really good. It has like peppermint. Lavender.

[00:33:03] Eucalyptus. So it has all these different. Essential oils. That's really good for. Like. Even. Because I like to do those. Those. Relax the client. But you know. It stimulates the scalp. It helps promote hair growth. Yeah. And then you know. I like to use the. Luxurious scalp oil. For. For braids. You know. Putting the. This oil on the scalp. And it also has.

[00:33:33] Anti. Anti. Fungus. Tea tree and eucalyptus. Are antifungal. Antifungal. Antifungal. Yeah. Yeah. I have clients that have seborrhea. I use almond oil. As a carrier. With. Tea tree and eucalyptus. And I go and. Stretch out the scalp like crazy. See. Yeah. No. She know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. Fall up. You know. Bone it. Is that also good for like. Psoriasis. And things like that. With the scalp issues.

[00:34:03] Is that. Now. When we get into. Psoriasis. It. I. I. I like for them to go to a dermatologist. But let me tell you something. About psoriasis. That. That I have found. To be true. You have to. It's the eating habits. Nine times out of ten. Is what the clients are putting in their system. That. Is it. Certain scalp. Scalp. Uh. Ailments. Um. Like seborrhe. What's the one called? Seborrhe. Yeah. There's seborrhea. And there's. There's. Well there's dandruff.

[00:34:33] And there's seborrhea. And dandruff is actually a fungus. Yeah. And seborrhea. Is a lack of moisture to the scalp. And then the sebaceous glands go overactive. Uh huh. And it's kind of like. Like a cradle cap with children. And it's. It's a real. Yeah. Yeah. But what you have to do is you have to exfoliate the scalp. Um. The skin on the scalp. To let it breathe. And so when I have clients that have seborrhea. I have them in once a month. And do the treatments. And usually. They.

[00:35:03] I can get rid of it within six months. And I had one client that came from New York to Utah. And Utah is the second dry state in the U.S. And she started developing seborrhea in her early 30s. She went to a dermatologist. He prescribed her a prescription that was $150. Right. And it was one month. And then he wanted her back in one month. To check the integrity of her liver. Because it would destroy her liver. And I said. Oh. Yeah. I said. Let's start these scalp treatments. It's. Almond oil is my. As my carrier.

[00:35:33] Uh. And if. If you. If I have clients that are allergic to nuts. Then I use peach oil. And then I use just basic tea tree. And eucalyptus. And you can. You get it from Whole Foods. Or any other kind of. Mm-hmm. Mix it together. And then go through. And divide out the scalp. And then with. You need to. You need to go ahead. And come out with that. And sell it. So you need. Yeah. No. For real. Because. You know. I'm always trying to market. Market something. But. You're right. And like I said.

[00:36:03] It's certain ailments. That clients may have. That's due to. What they're putting in their system. Not only that. Certain medications as well. Yes. I've been learning a lot. Just with. Thank God. For chat GPT. Yeah. Because if it's something I don't know. Instead of me telling them a client. Well I don't know. I'll look it up right there. Or have my assistant look it up. And it'll break it down. Like okay. This is the cause. Stop eating this. Stop you know. Eating all these fried foods. Drink more water. Do you know. All these different things.

[00:36:33] And it's certain ailments. That are causing thinning. It's not just what you're putting in your head. It could be the medication. It's certain blood pressure medication. That you know. Stress. If your iron is low. If you got low iron. That makes your hair shit. You know. It's just. We can go on and on. But anyway. Because we can do this all day. But this is not it. I know. I know. I know. I know. Let's get back here. Let's get back to your product a little bit. Let's get back to your product. You're my people.

[00:37:03] So. Not only that. Then you also have courses that you teach. Tell us about that. Okay. So I came out with Build a Boss Academy. And actually what I was doing. Like I said. I've been going out to the cosmetology schools. And speaking. You know. More or less just speaking about. You know. Business strategies. Marketing strategies. How to gain a clientele. All of these things. So I do have a digital.

[00:37:33] I have digital courses. And that's Build a Boss Academy. I have digital courses. I have PDFs that they can download. I have one called. The 100K Hairstylist Blueprint. And that really gets into the nitty gritty. On how to price. Because it's all about price. Yeah. Prices. Speed and skill. Yep. So when you. So I. Basically. You know. I'm not going to get too deep into it. But. And it's worksheets.

[00:38:02] That come with that as well. So they can actually. Down. Down. How much. You can make. Within. You know. How to. You know. So you can really see. Realistically. How to do this. Your menu. The menu is so important. Thank you. So it's a. It's a whole thing. With the menu baby. That is a whole nother dynamic. The menu. Yeah. It is. I'll go try and find someone's menu. Online. I'm like. How much you charge? What the fuck's going on? I want. You know. I want to know. Yeah. So.

[00:38:31] I found that it's better to do packages. Than a bunch of a la carte. So that's a whole nother. That's a whole nother thing. But that's just part of what I'm. What I have. That's in there. That's in there. Yeah. Yeah. And then I'm doing one on one. I have a class coming up on June 7th. It's the Silk Press. It's called. I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's called. Press to perfection. The Silk Press Intensive. So I get into. What products to use.

[00:39:01] Identifying textures. The technique. Tension control. All of these. Elements. Elements. To getting a flawless silk press. All the way down to. Even at the shampoo bowl. A lot of us are still lazy. Are not properly washing. Shampooing and conditioning. You know. People here on scalp. And that's the first thing to having. Not just. If you're going to wear your naturally. Curly hair. But even with the silk press.

[00:39:30] It all starts at that shampoo bowl. Yeah. That is so true. How long have you been teaching all of this? I've been. Okay. If you want to take it back. I was. Take me back. Take me back baby. Yeah. So. Okay. So just to. I'm going to make. I'm going to try to make it really brief. Not so long. You know. I'm like. Sorry. You know. These heat flashes girl.

[00:40:00] Mm-hmm. So. I had the pleasure of working with Lolita Goods. Before I went to cosmetology school. I worked at a salon. And it was the hippest. Hottest salon. On Ventura. Um. And that's what. That's what actually. Uh. Inspired me to. Be. A hairstylist. Because I was just a braider at the time. And it was just something to do. As. Remember I was telling you. I was an artist.

[00:40:29] Our album was on hiatus. And I needed to make money. I had a son. I was. You know. Single parents. Yeah. I had to figure things out. Uh. So Lolita Goods. I ended up going. So I was working at a salon first. And then I ended up. Going to cosmetology school. After cosmetology school. Me and Lolita Goods. We partnered up. And we created. Hair Escapades. The ultimate. Hair extension workshop. We taught about. Three or four different techniques.

[00:41:00] Right. The keratin. And all these different. Sewing techniques. The french lacing. Which I showed on my. That video. That went viral. Yep. Very old technique. But anywho. Um. So that's. How I first started. We did. Guerrilla marketing. We. Went to all the different. Cosmetology schools. In Southern California. Um. And. We were enlisting. You know. These. These students.

[00:41:29] They were hungry for the knowledge. At that time. It was charging like. $900. Uh. Renting out these hotels. Sales. You know. The meeting rooms. And we. And we didn't know the first thing. About it. We just figured. We. It was so crazy. Because. We didn't even know what we were doing. But we did. We just. Call. I just said. Let's just do it. Let's see what happens. And then we just kept doing it. We did it for probably about two years. Do you know who fails? The people who stop. You know who fail? The people who stop. Yeah.

[00:41:58] That's why you didn't fail. You kept going. Kept going. Yeah. Yeah. And then I. You know. I started getting into working at different salons. And that sort of thing. Um. And then. Even with now. Because now I'm 51 years old. Um. I said. You know what? I want to start doing more education. Rather it's in business. But also skill. Um. And like I said. One of the girls used to work for me. She kind of. She told me. She said. Amber. You need to teach this. You need to.

[00:42:28] Not just with the people that work in a salon. Because I just don't get people off the street. From the salon. Like. You have to learn the hair escapades way. Right. I'm teaching you what we do at the shampoo bowl. Because I want it to be consistent. You know. It's not a booth rental situation. It's a commission based salon. So. Um. It's where you. You're not just having your own brand. We're all working collectively. And the reputation of the salon too.

[00:42:56] So you're going to learn how to. Uh. How to. How to. How to blow dry primarily. How to shampoo. You know. Do curly cuts. Uh. Trims. Haircuts. You're going to learn all these different things up under hair escapades. Yeah. So now I'm taking everything that I learned. All the experiences. And now I'm making it more broad. Exactly. So now we got the digital form. Build a boss academy. And now. That. My videos have been going viral. Showing me at these schools.

[00:43:26] Now some of these. Um. Schools. There was a school in Tennessee. They just hit me up. They want me to do a virtual. Like a monthly virtual class. With their students. You know. Um. So. You know. So now I'm part. Now that's another thing I can do. I'm like. Oh wow. I can now. I could partner up. With these schools. Yeah. So that's. That's basically what's going on. That's awesome. That's what makes this industry fantastic. I mean.

[00:43:54] There are so many ways you can expand in this industry. Yeah. And you're taking advantage of all of them. Honey. You're doing great. Yeah. I'm. You know. And like I said. It's an everyday grind. Don't get me wrong. I don't have it all figured out. And it's okay. Yeah. I don't have it figured out. It's like how first you didn't have it. You still. You know. You're still learning. You still. You know. Oh. Every day. Every day. I'm always researching. Constantly. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the thing. Guys. Take advantage of this.

[00:44:23] Learn from our mistakes. We're kind of going through and giving you a blueprint of all the shit we fucked up. So that way you don't have to fuck it up. Or if you do. Fuck it up. Learn from our mistakes. Learn from your own mistakes. Take courses. I'm going to go through and put. Amber's. All of your details into the show notes. If you want to go through and check out her book. Her courses. Her salon. Anything that she's doing. Please do. Follow her on TikTok. Everybody has her stuff. Amber. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

[00:44:53] We really appreciate you. That's awesome. That's such a good time. I had a good time. I'm Jason. Y'all rock. Thank you. Thank you. So great to have you on. Peace and blessings. Peace and blessings. Let's get slapped with some shit. With some shitology. Hey Jason. You've been in the industries for such a long time.

[00:45:17] Do you ever consider continuing education broadening your skill set and horizons? Bitch, I'm broad already. I got this shit dialed in. I'm a master hairstylist. I'm making fucking money like hand over. I'm good. I don't need any education. I've already done everything. I've done everything that I can. I think maybe you need education. And you're still living in your mom's basement. Fuck you. And with that, stay shitty.

[00:45:46] And see you next time. Hey listener persons. If you're enjoying this podcast, please give us a rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or Amazon Prime Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shit. It definitely helps out our algorithm. Also, check out our shitty posts on Instagram at Shit I Told My Hairdresser where you can give us a follow and like some of our content. If you'd like to get your story on our podcast, go to our website at ShitI ToldMyHairdresser.com.

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