The rules have changed.

But what is scaling? Scaling a business means setting the stage to enable and support growth in your company. It means having the ability to grow without being hampered. It requires planning, some funding and the right systems, staff, processes, technology and partners.

Hustling is over. We can't outwork Rona.

It’s insulting to our talent and a lazy attempt at diversity.

Black stylists are cutting specialists, color geniuses, curl artists, natural hair gurus, chemical +thermal rearranging experts, pioneering educators, and far more than token representation.

The beauty industry is currently being pushed into a place that is long overdue. The industry as a whole has a responsibility to recognize the full depth and breadth of the talent + contributions of black stylists.

Pay black educators

Pay texture educators

Travel for texture education

Prioritize texture education

Everything you learned in the first few months of cosmetology school prepared you for a solid career working on all hair in the cosmetology industry

Why is this topic near and dear to us? For the last 4 years we have been engaging digitally with thousands of tight curl folks around the globe in our #30DHD and Black curl magic programs. As those participants worked through our content they wanted to find curl artists near them to have their serviced. We started recommending curl artists we knew and knew about through our professional networks. The result was less than stellar.

Most of the stylists we've encountered that specialize in curly hair are not black, do not have tight curls, and don't have experience working with tight curls. Which often means there is no reference point for a service standard that includes tight curls in their business. This is what we are here to address today.

1. Timing

2. Pricing

3. Service methods

4. Product selection

5. Aesthetic

This is a new normal because we get to decide for ourselves what normal is. Normal doesn't mean being exhausted, resentful, exploitative. We chat about designing business that revolve around how we want to live, not around how the industry has always operated.

There are a ton of misconceptions that curly cuts aren't precision cuts, that you can’t see the ends of the hair, that damage is left after the cut.

We chat the most popular methods that we're familiar with and explain why we felt the need to create Cut It Kinky specifically to address tighter, kinkier curls.

We haven't shared much about our hair because we don't center our hair in the work we do. Everything has always been about leading our clients digital and IRL to their own curl goals.

We keep hair care simple by simply cleansing, conditioning, and styling.

In this episode we chat about what we're feeling about out hair right now and what 2020 holds for the fate of our curls.

*This session was recorded at Hazel O. Salon in Alexandria, VA www.hazelosalon.com.

Hazel O. is a dope loft salon with facilities to host professional technical classes and workshops.

Your client is your boss but you get to set the terms and conditions of how your work partnership operates

In this episode we address the how the employee mindset around the metrics of pricing, scheduling and marketing is holding you back.

In 2017 we'd wrote a book, created a course, and helmed a FB group for natural hair and we were sending community members to Curl stylists we knew about through other stylist networks.

Those naturals were coming back to us with scathing reviews. In this episode we explore why.

Within 30 days of following our recommendations many participants not only saw a shift in their hair but they also had a whole shifting of their minds. Whatever natural hair issue our participants faced from dryness, to failed styles, to all day wash days, to trying to figure this natural hair thing out...we got it covered!