Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayleigh Trickey.
Hi Kayleigh, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Kayleigh Trickey. I am a Hair Extension and Color specialist inside of Seven Salon in Oakwood/downtown Raleigh. I have been an independent stylist since I started my career in 2017. I am originally from Roxboro but moved to Raleigh in 2012 to attend Meredith College. I graduated from Meredith in 2016 with a bachelors degree in Fashion Merchandising. After I graduated from Meredith, I attended Paul Mitchell cosmetology school and graduated in 2017. When I graduated from Paul Mitchell, I opened my business in a salon loft on Lake Boone. I stayed in my first loft for about a year before upgrading to a larger loft where I stayed until 2022 when I moved into my room at Seven.
I have always had an interest in fashion, makeup and hair. In high school I was practicing different hair styles on my friends and even took a few clients for prom! My love for hair started at a very young age. My mom is a saint and blessed me with my very first color appointment when I was in the eighth grade. From that appointment on, I was obsessed with getting my hair done and just being in the salon in general. I got my hair done incredibly often especially for a kid! I know this is where my dream of being a hairstylist began. I was obsessed with the transformations and wanted my hair to look drastically different after each appointment. This came around to bite me later on because I ended up really damaging my hair. Not only did I love the art aspect of being a hairstylist, I loved watching the girls in the salon interact with each other and their clients. They always seemed to be having so much fun and I thought, how could this be considered work??? Whatever it was, I knew I wanted to have that much fun everyday! It fills my heart with a lot of joy to know that I’ve made it in that aspect. I truly love what I do. I love my clients and I love the girls I am blessed to work with. Everyday is different and everyday is fun. Not only am I spending everyday doing something I love, I’m also getting to know a lot of different people from a lot of different walks of life. I have met some incredibly awesome people. I am incredibly thankful for each client who has ever trusted me with their hair. There are so many talented stylists in Raleigh so I’m always honored to be chosen. It’s truly an honor and not one I take lightly. I truly love what I do and believe when you love what you do, you’ll never “work” a day in your life. I have worked hard to get where I am and am excited for what the future holds for me and my career.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have certainly been some struggles along the way and to this day still run into challenges. This is the kind of industry that no matter how long you’ve been in it or how much experience you have, you will run into challenges. I think a very common misconception is that a hairstylist job is just easy and fun because we are playing with hair all day. While doing the hair is the fun part, there is so much that goes into work behind the scenes as a hairstylist. Being a business owner, is not for the faint of heart. I love being my own boss and I wouldn’t have it any other way, but it has come with a lot of challenges. As a business owner and independent stylist, I am in charge of everything. I’m the hairstylist and I am also in charge of my inventory, I’m in charge of ordering products, color, hair extensions and tools. I am in charge of scheduling clients and responding to clients. I am in charge of my pricing and knowing how much my business brings in daily, weekly and monthly. I am in charge of figuring out what is working in my business and which areas I need to improve in and then implement those improvements. I am in charge of cleaning up at the end of the day everyday. And on top of all of that, I’m also the entertainment and sometimes a therapist! If you want to open your own business as a hairstylist, whether it’s opening a suite or a full on salon, it’s important to know what is happening behind the scenes.
When I graduated from Paul Mitchell, the plan was to go work as an assistant in a salon in Raleigh. My parents are business owners themselves and while they are in a completely different industry, they see the value (and challenges) of owning your own business and being your own boss. After hearing their advice, I opened my salon loft.
My biggest struggle starting out without a doubt was getting clients. Because I went straight from cosmetology school to my loft, I didn’t have any clients and because I was in a loft on my own, I didn’t have more established stylists referring their clients to me and I very seldom had walk-in clients. I had to pay my rent weekly and with no clients, I had to hustle and hustle hard to make it work. I worked just about everyday and took color, cut, extension and lash extension clients. Offering lash extensions helped me build my business because I was listed on the lash brand’s website as a certified, trained stylist. Clients in the Raleigh area found my information there and reached out to book. This helped get my business going and opened the door for me to turn these clients into lash clients and hair color/extension clients! This helped a ton but because I was in a loft completely on my own, I had to work twice as hard to market myself to let the community know I even existed and what I had to offer.
I used social media, mainly Instagram, to get my name out there. I did a lot of color clients for free and a lot of extension clients for free just to be able to get some photos to put out there and attract actual paying clients. It took a while for me to actually make a profit.
In order to get clients who trusted me and respected me, I started shadowing and learning from the best in the industry. While I wasn’t trained inside a traditional salon, I was trained by stylists who had made a name for themselves in the industry. When potential clients saw me in California shadowing a celebrity stylist, they were interested in what I was doing.
Once I started hustling, learning from some of the best in the business, and marketing myself on social media, I got more clients than I could take. I went from 0 clients to being completely booked and busy. It took some time but once I got the ball rolling, it just kept on going. It’s a blessing. I believe I have been given back what I put in at the beginning. I think stylist learn pretty quickly if they want to run their own business independently or if they want to work inside a commission based salon where someone else takes care of the scheduling, inventory, etc. I’ve never worked inside a traditional salon setting so I can’t speak much for that experience but I can say I have really loved being my own boss and the challenges help me grow so much as an individual throughout the years.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in hair extensions and color. 90% of my clients wear extensions and the other 10% are color only clients. I think I am most known in Raleigh as a hair extension stylist. Most of my client requests are potential clients wanting extensions.
I have always known I wanted to specialize in extensions. Like I said earlier, I experienced some damage from my constant need to switch my hair color every month in middle and high school. I discovered clip in extensions in high school at Sally Beauty. I brought a pack that didn’t match my hair at all but I clipped them in and was obsessed!!! This is where my love for extensions started. I had a lot of damage to my own hair so the extensions helped give me some length and thickness that my hair was missing. Not only did they give me length and thickness, they gave me confidence – and this was before they even blended properly! I knew going into my career that I wanted to help clients who struggled with their natural hair. I wanted to help clients who had damaged hair like my own. I wanted clients to experience everything good extensions have done for not only my hair, but my confidence.
Since my clip in days, I have worn just about any extension method you can think of. I have tried them all and have finally found some methods that work for me and my hair type! My hair has come a long long way thanks to properly installed extensions.
I think my social media and the way I got started in my career sets me apart a little from other stylists. I only use my personal Instagram page to market myself and my business. I never really had a hair page other than when I was in cosmetology school – which I hardly ever posted on. I had a Instagram with a small following so instead of trying to build another page, I focused on one page. When I wasn’t taking clients, I was taking videos showing my followers how easy to is to style hair with extensions. I was posting on my Instagram like I was FaceTiming a friend talking about extensions and how they changed my life. I tried to post answers to questions that I usually get about extensions. The more information I was giving about extensions and what I had to offer as an extension specialist, I got more and more interest from clients. The more I shared my life, the more interest I had. When I wasn’t talking about hair, I was showing my followers my life. Clients and potential clients got to see my routines, my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my dog, my travels, everything. I think this set me apart because it’s almost like I was selling a lifestyle. This is what my life looks like and this is what life is like with extensions and yours could look like this too. I posted as genuine, authentic, unapologetically myself. Clients were able to use my Instagram to see which products they should be using, how they should care for their hair and how they should style it. Potential clients were able to learn about extensions and also learn more about me and if I was the kind of stylist they would want to spend several hours with every couple weeks/months.
My advice when it comes to social media is to not take yourself too seriously. Don’t try to post exactly like someone else. Be 100% yourself. In order to be remembered, you have to set yourself apart from others. Don’t over think it. If you want to post, post. Don’t think for a second that no one is interested because they actually are – more than you’d think. We all have value to bring to the table.
I think clients see me because they trust me. I relate to my clients and their struggles with their hair because I have struggled with my hair. My clients feel free to express themselves with me without worrying about being judged. I am very proud of the environment I have created for my clients.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I think this is the kind of industry where it’s really important to have a mentor and a good network of stylists to call on for advice.
When finding a mentor, I’ve always looked for stylists who inspire me. I’ve always wanted a mentor who was not just successful but also someone who was a bright light in the industry. What good is it to learn from someone who just overall isn’t a happy, joyful person?
My best advice is to figure out what you which areas you want to focus on. For me I always knew I wanted to specialize in hair extensions and color. I found other stylists who were more established in their careers and stylists who specialized in hair extensions and color. If these stylists were hosting classes, I signed up. If these stylists were offering shadowing, I signed up. Find someone you admire, follow them, and learn from them. Reach out and ask about potentially shadowing or assisting.
Find someone who can bring great value to you and your career but don’t copy your mentor. Learn from them, take their advice but don’t market yourself the exact same way as other stylists. We can all learn from each other but you have to be able to stand out on your own.
I’ve found stylists from all over the country that I admire and respect their work and work ethic but I don’t want to copy what they’ve done. This is an artistic, creative industry and if you are just copying someone else, you won’t make it.
There are so many talented stylists in Raleigh. Clients have so many amazing choices so you have to stand out. Being authentic, genuine, and just a good person will help attract and retain clients. You could be the most talented person in the room but if you don’t have a good personality, chances are you’ll lose clients. Clients don’t want to spend several hours and invest their hard earned money with an unhappy hairstylist.
As far as finding a good network goes, my advice as an independent stylist is to follow a few local stylist that you admire and reach out. Let them know you admire their work and would love to pick their brain. If you are in a salon suite/loft setting, find stylists in your building who you align with in terms specialities. I think it’s important to have a good network of stylists to reach out to for advice when you are stumped on how to approach a situation or how to formulate – especially in a loft or suite setting. I work with 4 insanely talented girls. We each own our own business inside of the salon and specialize in different areas. We all have different techniques and methods and timing even but we all bounce ideas off each other often. We can ask each other for advice when needed but we never try to copy each other.
I’ve learned a lot from shadowing/assisting mentors and I’ve learned a lot from just being in the salon with my co workers. I also enroll myself in online trainings to continue my education. This is an ever revolving and changing industry’s so it’s important to learn as much as you can and never stop learning.
Pricing:
- First time extension clients: $1,800-$5,000
- Extension maintenance: $230-$950+
- Full blonding highlight: $475
- Partial highlight: $365
- Styling: $150+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kayleighdoesmyhair.com/
- Instagram: @kayleightrickey
