Five Things EP03: Choosing a Hair Salon with Leda Goins
https://brandascentmedia.com/?page_id=126

00:06
hello I'm Brian Smith thanks for joining
00:08
us for today's podcast
00:10
five things you need to know when you're
00:12
selecting a hair salon and we're focused
00:15
right now on the podcast we're focused
00:17
on meeting with business owners and
00:18
seeing ways that we can add value to the
00:20
average consumer so thank you Lita for
00:23
joining me today and we're excited to
00:25
hear about a little bit about your story
00:27
and obviously you got a beautiful salon
00:29
here and very successful salon and once
00:32
you tell us a little bit about how you
00:33
got started in life how'd you start
00:36
coming up and make your way to owning
00:38
this great salon sure thing
00:40
thank you Brian thank you for having me
00:42
I was really excited when I got chosen
00:43
to do the podcast with Brian um so I am
00:47
from New York City originally I grew up
00:49
with five other brothers and sisters in
00:52
the city broke as a joke worked at my
00:56
dad's deli since like I was 10 years old
00:59
flipping burgers
01:01
just kind of worked my butt off
01:04
constantly throughout my life and I feel
01:07
like now is finally paying off for me
01:08
which is amazing but I moved down here
01:11
when I was about 16 or so with my family
01:15
around 17 18 I actually decided to run
01:20
away actually my dad was physically and
01:22
mentally abusive and I was just ready to
01:25
just grow my wings other places so I
01:29
went to Peace College which is now
01:32
called William peace in Raleigh North
01:33
Carolina and I got a communications
01:36
degree and that was in 99 to 2003
01:41
throughout I bar attended waited tables
01:44
always hustling always working it's just
01:46
what I knew I still that's what I know
01:49
like I've never been handed anything and
01:51
that's kind of the way I like to roll I
01:54
don't want anybody to give me anything I
01:56
like to work hard and do it myself
01:58
so absolutely a hundred percent a
02:02
hundred percent so obviously I didn't do
02:06
anything with my communications degree I
02:08
went right to Harris school went to
02:12
international Hair Design which is now
02:13
closed but that was ninety no no that
02:16
does make sense
02:19
2004 is when I graduated I was there for
02:22
a year
02:22
they shut it down once you went through
02:24
yes they said now we have the best
02:26
hairstylist in Raleigh we are good we
02:28
can shut down so after that I went I
02:33
worked for somebody in downtown Raleigh
02:35
for about two years and then I went out
02:38
on my own and I was in downtown Raleigh
02:39
for about 13 years moved up to North
02:43
Raleigh had a room by myself for about
02:45
two years and then um I opened up tone
02:50
and everything kind of just flowed and
02:53
it all made sense I you know I I never
02:57
imagined myself owning a salon I didn't
02:59
know that this would I would be owning a
03:03
salon I was I was fine by myself and you
03:06
know I love things to happen organically
03:08
and that's what it that's what happened
03:11
and now I have five amazing other
03:14
hairstylist in here and they are rocking
03:17
my world so it's a it's a very common
03:20
theme that that I hear from business
03:23
owners you you find a niche you grind
03:26
your way
03:26
you got to work like crazy but you built
03:29
your trade you've learned your craft you
03:31
mastered your craft and then you had a
03:33
larger vision and so you pay the price
03:36
you take the risk which a lot of people
03:38
won't do and then you you know you went
03:41
out on your own and in roll the dice but
03:43
you just do whatever it takes when
03:45
you're business owner I know you have
03:47
that absolutely and they - before social
03:50
media I was hustling and putting cards
03:54
out on cars and flyers and you know
03:58
that's that's the only way I was able to
03:59
grow my business that way I did a lot of
04:02
free hair like I did anything to get
04:05
referrals absolutely and I I can safely
04:09
say that I have a lot of my guests have
04:12
been with me for since the beginning 15
04:16
16 years now they are stayed with me
04:19
they love me they they they appreciate
04:22
my hustle and you know my kindness
04:26
towards them I'm you know I think in any
04:29
business it's all about the clients all
04:31
about the guests any good business
04:33
we customer-focused for certain so
04:36
jumping in de to what consumers want to
04:39
hear what are what are five things that
04:40
you think that a consumer should be
04:42
looking for when making this choice so
04:44
when you are choosing a stylist the
04:47
first thing is like when do you get a
04:49
haircut
04:50
most people don't know men kind of easy
04:52
right like you know okay my hair is
04:55
getting a little bushy in about three
04:56
weeks you're gonna need a trim but women
04:58
don't women don't know like when is a
05:00
proper time to be honest before I was
05:03
doing hair I remember in college I got
05:06
my hair cut once a year once a year
05:09
because I didn't know and I I feel like
05:12
a lot of people still don't know so I
05:14
wanted to break it down a little bit if
05:17
you have a short cut and you love that
05:19
short style and you want to keep that
05:21
maintained every four to five weeks max
05:24
to keep that short cut going if you have
05:28
shoulder length hair and you like that
05:32
if you like your length in general if
05:33
you want to keep the length but it's it
05:36
is not a short cut anymore it's longer
05:39
then I would say every six weeks to
05:41
maintain because what you're gonna do is
05:43
the stylist is gonna cut off exactly
05:44
what grew out so you don't ever get to a
05:46
longer length that you don't want if
05:48
you're trying to grow your hair then I
05:50
would say at least every nine to twelve
05:53
weeks give a trim because your hair is
05:55
like if you look at your you don't have
05:58
pantyhose you probably don't know what
05:59
pantyhose is but if you did I'd be a
06:03
little bit worried so if you get a run
06:07
in your pantyhose and you don't stop it
06:09
what happens it goes all the way up it's
06:11
the same thing with your hair so if you
06:13
don't get that trimmed off it's gonna go
06:15
all the way up and then you're gonna end
06:17
up with long straggly ugly hair and
06:19
nobody wants that so I get if you're
06:21
trying to grow it out don't go to the
06:23
salon every six weeks because now you're
06:25
just you're never gonna get anywhere go
06:26
every 12 nine to twelve weeks and get a
06:29
little trim okay another thing I get a
06:34
lot of clients that ask well I don't
06:35
really want a haircut I just want to
06:37
trim they are the same exact thing good
06:40
because it doesn't matter how much we're
06:42
cutting we're doing the exact same
06:44
technique you know
06:47
with layers and the wash and the
06:50
blow-dry and all that stuff it's a
06:51
matter really of time so it's not so
06:54
much well I'm only getting this off it
06:56
does not matter mm-hmm and it's not your
06:59
hair styles is not being evil or mean
07:01
it's just that so that was number one
07:08
right yes number number two number two
07:12
color Corrections and I think I think a
07:16
lot of people probably don't have bright
07:18
maybe you've never heard the word color
07:20
correction there was what is a color
07:21
correction so a color correction is
07:24
basically any time you're changing your
07:26
hair color to a different hair color so
07:29
if you've got dark dark color on your
07:31
hair and you want to go lighter that is
07:33
a color correction and vice versa it is
07:36
always a color correction if you're
07:38
changing the color of your hair by at
07:42
least a level or two it is considered a
07:44
color correction it gets really hard in
07:47
our world when somebody comes in with a
07:49
box color or something they bought at
07:50
Sally's or Walmart and they're like well
07:54
I just I put this on my hair um four
07:56
months ago and I want to be platinum
07:58
blonde and they a lot of people don't
08:01
understand that when you put that box
08:02
color on your hair it is there for life
08:05
until it grows out so even if you have
08:09
you know your roots is natural you don't
08:11
have any color here but you did it four
08:14
months ago what we're gonna pull up is
08:16
that old color so it's pretty impossible
08:21
to get a platinum ashy blonde without
08:26
doing a few sessions it's gonna take a
08:28
few sessions because if you try to do it
08:30
in the one shot in the salon your hair
08:32
is not gonna be on your hair it is going
08:34
to be on the floor I can promise you
08:36
that it's all about patience when you're
08:38
trying to do a color change number three
08:46
what to look for when you are looking
08:48
for a new hairstylist and you know the
08:51
reasons of like why you want to leave
08:52
your current hair stylist or did they
08:56
have patience with you are they running
08:57
on time
08:59
do they actually give a crap about you
09:01
do they care about your hair those are
09:04
the reasons that people are going to
09:05
come straight from a stylist so you have
09:08
to ask yourself well it's my stylist
09:10
does my felis actually care about me
09:12
who's my stylist looking out for me is
09:15
she telling he telling all the
09:17
information that I need to know and if
09:19
they're not then you know if you want to
09:21
look for a new hair stylist obviously
09:22
come to town that's where you're gonna
09:24
get the best but if you're in another
09:27
area or you're just looking for a new
09:29
stylist in general Instagram Instagram
09:31
is a great place to go because that's
09:33
where you're gonna see your stylist
09:35
basically their online brochure so
09:37
they're gonna put out their best work
09:39
easy-peasy look at shots see what
09:41
they're doing
09:42
also don't be scared if there are new
09:45
hairstyles because it's not about the
09:48
length of time in the industry anymore I
09:50
would say about ten years ago everybody
09:52
was looking okay well how long have you
09:54
been doing hair where did you go to
09:56
school
09:56
how many heads of hair have you done but
09:59
to be honest nowadays there are people
10:02
coming out of school that are phenomenal
10:05
phenomenal in the new techniques that
10:07
some old hairdressers that have been
10:09
doing here for a long time don't keep
10:14
absolutely yes continuing education is
10:17
huge huge as a stylist I mean we spend
10:22
thousands of dollars a year on education
10:25
also it is mandatory for most stylist
10:27
unless you're grandfathered in for over
10:30
I think 20-something years then you
10:31
don't have to do the education but then
10:33
I'm like a why we have a certain amount
10:35
of hours that we have to do as a stylist
10:37
but here especially we go above and
10:40
beyond on that I mean that we love
10:42
taking classes but you know our
10:45
expertise on what we've learned does
10:48
reflect in the price when you are
10:50
looking for a stylist so you know if
10:52
they spent thousands and thousands of
10:54
dollars to learn their technique you're
10:55
gonna want to trust them and if it's a
10:57
little bit higher I'm telling you it's
10:59
worth the price yeah I can tell you that
11:01
and again we spoke about this a little
11:03
bit before we started that I would
11:05
150 bucks not to have a bad haircut you
11:08
know so I'm willing to spend a little
11:10
bit more to know that you know I'm
11:12
getting a professional that has that
11:14
track record that has that expertise for
11:17
sure hair is just too important you
11:21
can't mess up a hair yeah hair hair
11:23
thing
11:24
so what are we on number four so
11:29
products and why to buy them in the
11:32
salon it's not for corporate greed it is
11:36
because if you go on Amazon or you go to
11:39
Rite Aid or you go to you know Ulta even
11:42
you don't know if somebody actually
11:45
bought those products and then returned
11:47
them and put junk in it you know like
11:49
you're like oh well that's a great deal
11:52
on Amazon or that's a great deal at Ulta
11:54
Walmart whatever it is a lot of the
11:57
times that product is expired there is a
12:00
way to check the dates on the barcodes
12:02
but a lot of people don't know that they
12:04
can't see it I do it I wish that there
12:07
were safety seals on products I don't
12:09
understand it I do not understand why
12:11
there is safety seal on like milk and
12:13
all your other goods medicines I get
12:16
again that is it like shampoo
12:18
conditioners I don't understand why
12:19
there's no like safety cap or just to
12:22
see if something's been opened you can't
12:25
do that so when you buy from a salon you
12:28
know that it's coming right from the
12:30
distributor so if anybody were to ever
12:33
return anything here I would dump it
12:36
return it or to the to the place to the
12:39
company or I take it home for myself I
12:44
doubt they did that we don't have that
12:46
happen a lot so all right number five I
12:49
think there's another word in the salon
12:52
that people don't know about and that's
12:53
called a toner or gloss when you get a
12:57
highlight done most of the time what's
13:00
happening is you're you're pulling up a
13:02
hair that is now been exposed to the
13:07
environment with the heat and and
13:09
everything that we needed you to pull up
13:10
the highlight from your natural color or
13:13
from like a box color or whatever it is
13:15
from but you typically do need a toner
13:18
or a gloss it's kind of like when you
13:21
get your nails done and they put that
13:22
clear coat on the top 99% of the time
13:26
you're going to need that so I think
13:27
some people are like why did I get a
13:29
toner well why didn't I get a toner that
13:31
time or you know of another word port is
13:34
gloss and that is why that is why I also
13:39
like if the color comes up a little bit
13:41
warm you can change you can alter the
13:44
color a little bit and make it a little
13:45
more cooler everybody loves that ashy
13:46
blonde right now the real white white
13:49
blonde and it's pretty nearly impossible
13:51
to do without a toner so I think some
13:55
people think oh she put a toner on my
13:57
hair it must be a mistake and that's not
13:59
the case so I wanted to kind of clear
14:01
that up your hair stylist is not has
14:04
that made a mistake it is literally for
14:06
perfection just to make it even more
14:09
perfect you want to write yeah that's
14:12
awesome those are great tips and lastly
14:15
I just want to say thank you you enjoy
14:16
you and Joe I watched security customers
14:19
for a long time known Joe for a couple
14:21
decades now and you guys have always
14:22
been great assets and and great referral
14:25
partners and great friends too so thank
14:28
you so much for your time today and I
14:30
hope this added some value to everybody
14:32
and see you next time