Intro: Do you feel like you were meant to have a kick-ass career as a hairstylist, like you got into this industry to make big things happen? Maybe you’re struggling to build a solid base and want some stability. Maybe you know social media is important, but it feels like a waste of time because you weren’t seeing any results. Maybe you’ve already had some amazing success but are craving more. Maybe you’re ready to truly enjoy the freedom and flexibility this industry has to offer. Cutting and coloring skills will only get you so far, but to build a lifelong career as a wealthy stylist, it takes business skills and a serious marketing strategy. When you’re ready to quit just working in your business and start working on it, join us here where we share real success stories from real stylists. I’m Britt Seva, social media and marketing strategist just for hairstylists, and this is the Thriving Stylist Podcast.
Britt: What is up? And welcome back to the Thriving Stylist Podcast. I’m your host, Britt Seva. And today, we’re talking about the trending specialties that are only getting bigger. So one of the things I’ve said since I started coaching way back in 2012 is, “Be special, have a specialty.” The other thing I say a lot is, “Let’s give them something to talk about.” So something that people in the industry are always sharing is challenges in retention, challenges in referrals, and challenges in growth. And it used to be more than enough to be a talented hairstylist. I do good hair, period, end of story. And that used to be good enough and it was like I live on my reputation, word of mouth is good. I agree with all of that. And word of mouth does still work. Referrals are still alive and well. All of that is still true.
The challenge is, I want you to remember, if you’re like me and you did hair in the years before social media, when a client found a stylist, they wanted to stay with them for years and years and years. Why? Because it was very challenging to find a stylist. And people say, “It’s hard to find a good stylist.” It’s not hard to find a good stylist anymore. It’s very easy to find a good stylist. The reason why it was hard to find a good stylist 15 years ago, 20 years ago, 25 years ago, whatever, is because there was no internet. I could say social media and there’s some truth to that. But even in 2007 when I joined the industry, a salon having a website was like, whoa. And then the other thing too was people weren’t carrying smartphones.
So now, we live our entire lives on the internet. It’s so fascinating. And 15 years ago, that wasn’t possible. You couldn’t do it. A lot of homes didn’t even have internet in them now. And now we’re like, “Where’s the wi-fi up in this place?” But 15 years ago it just wasn’t like that. And then longer ago it wasn’t like that either. So because the internet has connected all of us in a heartbeat, it is way too easy to find good hair. It’s also way too easy to find a good guest experience. I was in one of the, you all probably do this too, you go into the hair forums, meaning a Facebook group for stylists or you’re on one of the big industry Instagram pages and just looking at the comments section, just reading what people are saying. And one of the questions that came up, or I think the basis of this post I saw was what do you do that sets you apart as a hairstylist?
And I was reading through the answers and I was like, “Oh my gosh, this is literally why I was watching in real time why most of our industry struggles and cannot understand why.” The responses were, “I actually care about my clients. I give neck and shoulder massages. I really put my all into it. I have alcohol available for them to drink. I offer snacks. My salon is relaxing.” Yes. I should hope you do those things, with the exception of the alcohol. I am give or take on that. There’s some legalities around it. I don’t coach to what’s not legal. But also, just offering beer and wine is not even close to enough. And so I think that, for a lot of the industry, we are still thinking we can hang our hat on I’m a stylist who is nice, tries their best, gives head, neck, and shoulder massages, remembers details about you. And we think that’s enough. And in the eyes of today’s client, it’s simply not.
So combine that with the fact of, I’ve talked about this in other episodes before, but I think it’s important relating to this one, does everybody remember in 2020 where so many stylists and salon owners were screaming from the rooftops, “We are essential. Let us go back to work,” when there was all the salon closures coast to coast? Now, I know some states never experienced that, experienced it for a couple of weeks and then we’re right back to it. But for some states, stylists and salons were out of work for weeks, months, whatever. And we were saying, “We are essential,” because only essential businesses were allowed to stay open. And they decided hair salons were not essential. And so we went on this whole industry-wide, I mean, I’ve never seen the industry come together like it did during that time, industry-wide movement of we are essential, let us go back to work. We provide relief for people.
Some people truly need hair services. It builds confidence. All these things. We need to feed our families. All this stuff. We are essential. We went on this huge movement about it, got salons back open. Fast-forward four years and I am seeing post after post after post after post from stylists saying, “Hair is not essential. Hair is a luxury.” Oh, okay. So we’re completely changing our perspective on what we are. We’re now calling ourselves a luxury industry. Okay. I can get on board with that. But if we’re a luxury industry, when you say the word luxury, oh, I expect you to operate like a Ritz-Carlton or a Four Seasons. You can’t be a Marriott. That won’t work as a hairstylist and as a salon. We cannot have it both ways.
We cannot say, “We are a luxury,” and then just give good head, neck, and shoulder massages, great conversations, and do good hair. That’s not going to work. On the flip side of that, there is this pushback from clients of, “I feel like stylists are getting too expensive.” I don’t believe the whole narrative of stylists are too expensive is because we’re actually too expensive. I believe it’s a perceived value issue, which I talk about over and over and over. I do think some stylists overprice themselves because cost of goods increased and did not do a perceived value increase on the flip side. I guarantee that that’s what happened for a lot of people, and that’s why they’re getting the pushback they’re getting. It’s not because they’re actually too expensive or they’ve priced themselves out of the market. They’re just not at all properly positioned. And for anybody who’s paying money for anything, the value has to add up.
Has anybody ever bought a bottle of water at the airport? How much do you pay for that bottle of water, seven bucks or something like that? Versus if you buy a generic bottle of water from a grocery store, it’s less than a dollar. You can buy a generic brand, like house brand bottle of water for 79 cents. Still, when I was a kid, you could buy it for 10 cents, that says how old I am, but 79 cents, less than a buck. So we pay 700 times more to get the bottle of water in the airport because we need it. We are essential. The water is essential. And my friends, if you want to grow as a stylist or salon owner, you have to be essential. You have to be so dang good that the cost makes sense. Now, I’m going to get into another episode. Actually, this will probably hit at the end of 2024 my predictions forward.
You know how I’ve been talking about the great divide since 2022? It’s turning into a fault, a fault line. I live here in California. If you know what a fault line is, it’s where an earthquake happens, happens on a fault line. I see it developing and I see where we’re headed. And for some of you, it’s going to be amazing. And for some of you, it could force you out of the industry, which is unfortunate. What I want is for as many people as possible to stay deeply successful in the industry. And in order to do that, we either need to say, “We are essential,” or, “We are luxury.” I’m okay with either message. And some of you can choose one, some of you can choose the other. I’m fine with it. You can choose I am essential or I am luxury. I’m fine with it.
Whichever you choose, all-in, baby. And if you’re going to choose essential, you got to go hard on I’m a critical part of your life, this is why, messaging around it. Go for it. If you’re going to go luxury, then go luxury, but you can’t half-ass it. You’re all-in on luxury. So what I wanted to lean into today is, like I said, trendy specialties that are only going to get bigger because I do believe that my whole message, and it’s not just my message, plenty of other coaches say this too, of be special, have a specialty. I think that is going to be more and more and more important over the next few years. Now, caveat to this, if you’ve been in the industry three years or less and or you’ve not built a clientele in full, meaning you are still trying to build that initial base clientele, you’re still honing in on your skills, please just learn everything to the best of your abilities.
Expose yourself to as many services as you possibly can, working with a variety of clients, going to a variety of classes, experiencing a variety of education opportunities. Be a novice for a minute and just stay curious, please, please. Once you’ve crossed that point of you know how to do some stuff, you’re pretty well-versed in what are your natural talents, where you want to focus as a stylist, these are some of the specialties that are blowing up right now that I think any stylist or salon could and should consider. The marketability and the growth on all of these is pretty tremendous. So the first and probably one of the most obvious, one that you probably thought I was going to say, is curl and texture specialists. We have seen a real interest and demand in people who are looking to just embrace their natural texture.
We went through a whole season of keratin straightening, keratin smoothing. And it’s not to say people don’t still get texture adjusting services. They do, right? I want to remove my texture, I want to be smooth and sleek and all the chemicals for that, and that’s fine. There’s still totally a market for that. But we have seen this really beautiful surge back to I want to embrace the hair I have, but I’ve never been taught how to do that. I don’t know how to work with it. I don’t know what products to use. I don’t know how to wash it properly. How do I style it in the morning? How do I maintain it? All of these things. There is a huge surge in that market. I do think that’s going to continue. If you have a passion for it, absolutely explore it all the way. Please educate yourself in full with any of these things, but certainly there. Make sure that you’re not just dabbling, you’re truly educating and understanding, okay?
Next, the other probably obvious one is those specializing in helping women transition to gray. I think that is going to have a huge pick-me-up. So it’s not that it’s not been popular, it’s almost like an emerging thing. So here’s what we have to keep in mind. In our industry, we’re seeing things through the lens of somebody who’s in it. We are in the industry, right? So we see the Instagram posts, we see all the stylists who are specializing in it. We’re like, “Oh yeah, going gray. A lot of people help women to go gray.” And by going gray, I mean I’m going to stop coloring my hair and let my natural gray be my dimension, right? That salt and pepper kind of look.
Because we’re in it, we think it’s common and normal. When I talk to friends, family, they have no idea that stylists can help clients do that. Still today they have no idea because not enough people are marketing it or specializing in it. For a lot of people it’s like, yeah, this thing I can definitely do, but they’re not all-in on it. I think going all-in on that has a huge potential in nearly any market. Now, the thing that people get nervous about is, well, if I help women to transition to go gray, they’re not going to color their hair anymore. Oh, but you know what? If a woman is at a place or anybody is at a place where they’re like, “I think I’m ready to transition out of doing the high maintenance hair color,” they’re ready to transition. Regardless of you helping them or not, they’ve made the emotional decision that that’s where they’re at.
So you hoping that they make a different choice is kind of irrational behavior versus you being the person who’s like, “I’m going to support you through this shift in your life.” Now you’re a part of the solution. And the word of mouth virality on that is huge. There’s never going to be a shortage of people whose hair does turn gray. So I just think it’s a really incredible opportunity. And by the way, generally speaking, that’s not a one and done. There’s still a whole process involved. It takes several visits, all these things. So I think that’s another thing that’s going to continue to be extremely lucrative, popular over the next few years. Next, we have hair replacement. Hair replacement is having a real moment. And here’s what I love is we’re talking about more taboo things, like women aging gracefully is so having a moment right now. Hair replacement being sexy is having a moment right now. And for so long it was like, oh, you have thinning hair, thinning hair, your hair’s thinning. And it was like this thing we’re not supposed to talk about like, oh, thin. Your hair’s so thin.
It was like we weren’t supposed to talk about it because it was shameful. Do you see that man over there? He’s balding. B-A-L-D, bald. It was like this secret. And now it’s like, yep, you are. You’re balding. Let’s talk about it. And we’re not afraid to just have the conversation because people have been dealing with thinning and receding hair forever. So instead of it being taboo, we’re just leaning in. Huge pick-me-up there. Anybody follow Emily Cheney, Toupee Queen? I’m just obsessed. She’s my guiltiest pleasure obsession right now. I love the way that she navigates her clients. I love the way she shows up on social. I love how she has really dove into this specialty in full. Her content is repetitive. She’s clearly showing up as an expert. Love, love, love.
Toppers for women is really having a moment. If you don’t know what a topper is, it’s not a wig. It’s a piece that just goes on the very top, covers the hairline. But for women who are thinning through the part and on the top, my gosh, if it’s not a game changer. I myself have worn toppers before and they’re incredible. So this is having a moment, and then thinning hair treatments. Light therapies, chemical or non-chemical therapies, I should probably say, learning to style thinning hair. Again, it’s something that’s not going anywhere and I really think hair replacement’s having a moment is a specialty to get into if it’s of curiosity to you. Next, I think that head spas are really having a moment. A lot of you have probably seen this. So scalp analysis, detox, misting treatments, hair mask treatments, descaling, all of these things. Again, it’s taboo things that we weren’t supposed to talk about.
Hi, by the way, people have dandruff. Hi, by the way, people have dryness in their scalp based on changes in the climate. I have a really good friend who moved to California, which is naturally, depending on where you are, a fairly dry climate. And she was moving from the island of Maui. Maui is incredibly humid. So when she got here, within a few months she’s like, “My scalp comes off in sheets.” And it’s because, she went to the dermatologist, of course, and they said it’s because of the change in humidity. For years she’s been going through this. And it’s like if there was… And the doctor gives or whatever they give her, but she’s struggled to manage this for years. If there was somebody who was literally leaning into scalp health, head spas, treat yourself, I think that’s incredible. Now, for so long, how many of you have had an aversion to selling in-salon conditioning treatments?
Too scary. They’re too expensive. People don’t want that. It’s so interesting to me because you think about the luxury skincare market and how much people will pay for a… Hundreds of dollars for a teeny, tiny moisturizer, hundreds of dollars. But we’re like, “Oh, I can’t sell them a $50 hair mask.” You can, you’re just not doing it properly. And when you look at how many people go in and get facials, that’s a deep cleansing and hydration of the skin.
If we lean that way with hair and make it very clear why this is so beneficial, there’s a huge pick-me-up there. And the way I see that these head spa truly specializing salons are leaning in is brilliant. When I say, “Head spa-type salons,” I don’t mean offer in-salon conditioning treatments at the back bar, which we should all be doing all the time. They’re certainly beneficial. But have you seen the steam treatments, the additional tools and resources you can bring in, the pieces that you mount on top of the bowl? That’s what I’m talking about. And I think there’s a huge interest in the clientele base for that as well.
Next, luxury salons. I think that luxury salons are really about to have a moment because, as we know, the economy is changing a lot. And we’re in this kind of period of is the economy softening? Are we in a recession? Depends on who you ask, for sure. I believe that we are. So we’re kind of living in this narrative of everything is too expensive, nobody can afford anything. Well, that’s not true, though. And again, going back to the idea of do you want to claim yourself as luxury or do you want to claim yourself as essential? If you’re going to claim as luxury, then are you going all-in on luxury? Or are you just saying, “My services are the same, they’ve gotten more expensive. My environment is the same, pay me more money.”?
That’s a pretty tough sell. But if you say, “You know what? Let’s be honest. Getting hair done in the salon isn’t for everybody anymore,” which by the way, I don’t believe that. I wouldn’t lead this direction, but I’m just giving you an idea if you want to. If you’re going to lean in the direction of hair services in the salon are not for everybody, it really truly is a luxury to be able to get your hair done, then make it a luxury experience through and through. Communication, the decor of your salon, the products that you use, the way that you communicate, the music that is playing. If you’re going to go luxury, go luxury. And I do think that those who truly go all-in, highest perceived value possible, are going to have a massive pick-me-up, a huge heyday. I think they’re going to do super-duper well.
Next, transparency and vlogging. So those in the industry who are leaning into this is who I am, good, better, and indifferent, this is how I spend my days are doing really well because we’ve been talking about this for a couple of years now. Leaning into authenticity and who you are is the way to grow your business today. Coming out of 2020, it’s when the age of the influencer died where trying to look cool on social media didn’t really work anymore. And now it’s like, yeah, but who are you, though? Who are you really? How do you move? How do you operate? What are your values? That’s what today’s consumer is interested in. And so when we see stylists and salon owners who are leaning into transparency and vlogging, it works really well.
So I was at City & Shore Studios in Chicago in May, an incredible salon and salon team. I was talking to Caitlin, who’s the owner of the salon, and she was sharing with the entire group. We were talking about this transparency thing and she was like, “You know what? Of all the content I post right now, what people are obsessing over is we got these baby chicks.” You know how backyard raising chickens is having a moment too as we’re talking about what’s trending? She’s like, “We got these baby chicks and we’ve been…” She’s like, “I just did it for fun to start.” Daily update on what’s going on with the chicks and she’s got kids, right? So the kids are doing cute stuff. The chick is in the dollhouse. We lost a chick today. This is what the chicks are eating today. They slept through the night. Whatever’s happening with the chicks. I don’t have chicks, so I’m making it up.
She was like, “I have never gotten more DMs, more engagement.” People come into the salon, “How are the chicks doing?” It’s not about the chicks, it’s about they feel like they are getting to know Caitlin more as a human. It’s creating a conversation point. Have you ever gone into, this has even happened to me before, have you ever gone into a business and maybe it’s somebody that you’ve seen for years, you’ve seen this person for a long time, but you’re like, “How’s your summer been? What are the kids up to?” And you immediately just kind of to that very generic, clunky, awkward conversation. Versus if somebody watches what you’ve been doing, they feel like they’re up-to-date with what’s going on in the salon, outside the salon, it feels like the connection is deeper. The more emotionally connected a client is to you, the more likely they are to stay a part of your business.
If all they get from you is good hair, good luck. That’s a really tough sell today. I’ve gotten in the last few months more and more and more stylists and salon owners than ever asking me, “Britt, do you really think social media is important?” Oh, I think it’s critical. I think it’s absolutely critical. I think those who are not embracing social media, leaning into it, understanding it’s not going to get any easier, it’s only going to get harder. Those who are having an aversion to it, are taking a break, or are not really going all-in with good practice, you may be doing okay right now. I’m worried in a few years you’re going to be in a bind. So what I would strongly advise to anybody who’s listening to this episode, you do not have to choose any of these specialties.
But I really encourage you in this season to think about what is it that I specialize in? What is it I’m good at? What is it that I’m better at than anybody else? And before anybody listening to this says, “I’m not better at anything than anybody else,” you bite your tongue. Of course you are. You just haven’t found it yet. And for some people it’s service-based, meaning I do really great root touch ups. It could be simple like that. For some of you, it is the way that you show up. Some stylists are characters and the way they show up is a character. Okay, are you leaning into that? Is that a part of your marketing? Is that a part of your brand message? Does everybody understand that? Or is that something they get to know once they come in to see you? Because if it’s once they come in to see you, it’s way too late.
So what I want you to think about when we look at all of these trending specialties is, are any of these things things you’re dabbling in that you could go all the way in on? Are any of these things things that make you curious that you want to educate yourself more on? One of the other things that I always advocate for too is, as you’re leaning into a specialty, don’t do it because you think it’s going to make a ton of cash. Do it because you absolutely love it. I watched so many stylists in the last decade as extensions was having its real moment, which extensions are still popular, we’re just seeing new specialties emerge kind of in a deeper, harder way. As extensions was having a moment, countless stylists were telling me, “I think I’m going to take this extension certification. I could make a lot of money.” And then they go in and do it and they hate it. It’s just not for them. It’s not the type of work they enjoy doing, or for whatever reason it’s just not their thing.
If you go into it like, “I need to do this thing because it’s going to make me a ton of cash,” you’re going in for the wrong reason. I want you to think about these specialties and any other specialty out there and ask you, is your heart in that? Is that something you feel like you’d love to serve your community doing? If you’re already in any of these specialties, congratulations, lean in. I think we’re going to see a huge surge in all of these things over the next few years. As I always like to say, so much love, happy business building, and I’ll see you on the next one.
