Hey, what's up, everybody?

How you doing?

I am Robert, your host of the Hairdresser Strong show.

And I am going live.

And we are going to go live with Janae.

She is one of our students.

Sorry, Rising stylist ambassadors.

And she has been going around and shadowing at different salons.

So she is going to join us live.

As soon as she jumps in here, then I will bring her on.

Hey, what's up, Mercedes?

Hey, what's up, Dari?

How you doing?

So today it is all about shadowing.

We have somebody that has shadowed at seven different salons in the dmv and she's going to talk about all of her experiences.

And so let's see.

I'm going to go ahead and, like, ask, invite her on right now.

Okay.

So let's see.

There we go.

Hey, what's going on?

How are you doing?

Hi.

I'm good.

How are you?

I'm good, thank you.

Well, welcome to the Live and thank you for coming and sharing your experience with us with your shadowing.

My pleasure.

Today we're going to be the questions that we are asking our.

Are people nervous to shadow?

Were you nervous to shadow?

I have all the questions.

We'll go and I'm just going to give the audience, like, a bunch of the questions so they know was it worth it if someone's not sure to begin, where to begin, how should they do it?

And we want everyone to know that they're not alone if they want to go and visit some salons or some shops.

So first off, why don't you introduce yourself to the audience, Your name, where you're from, and, like, your current status and everything like that.

All right.

I'm Jay.

I'm actually currently living in Suitland, Maryland.

I just graduated from Aveda Arts in February.

Still trying to get my license.

I have my licensing exam coming up for the practical is next month, and theory is actually next week, so that's a little bit cool.

Wow.

So, yeah.

So are you nervous about the test?

I'm extremely nervous, yeah.

Are you a good test taker or.

Some people just are not good at taking tests.

They get nervous.

I'm fairly good taking, like, the theory portion.

I'm still kind of nervous about it, but that's a little more easy for me.

Okay.

The practical is where I start to get the jitters and the nerves and everything else.

So that's what has me nervous.

Yeah.

Does and Arlington or, sorry, Aveda, they do, they do, like, mocks, right.

Where you can go and, like, do like a Mock exam?

Yeah, definitely.

Cool.

Definitely make sure we're prepared on the theory and the practical aspect of it all.

Nice.

Awesome.

Cool.

All right, well, so let's start by saying, tell us about the first shadow session you weren't on.

Were you nervous?

You know, that's which we think is completely normal, but, like, what were your vibes and going in?

I was extremely nervous.

I was extremely nervous.

I didn't know what to expect.

I had no clue how things were going to flow, if they were going to go smoothly or not.

I ended up getting there, I think, about 15 minutes early.

And I expected to wait.

Didn't really have to wait too long.

Jumped right in, Got a lot of amazing information on the very first shadow session.

If I'm not mistaken, it wasn't just about being in a salon that I got information and advice on.

I also got a little bit more product or tool knowledge as well.

So I got to see that it's not just solely just what's going on with the salon that we're going to get information on.

It can be very, very well rounded depending on where you go.

Okay, so where, where.

What was your first.

The first salon that you went to, do you remember?

It was George Salon for Four Seasons.

I'm not gonna forget that.

I am not gonna forget that.

Awesome.

That's awesome.

Okay, so tell us, what are some of the things that you learned shadowing that you didn't learn at school?

Like, was there anything that you didn't know that you didn't know, or things you picked up that you know, didn't weren't really something that you.

You learned at school?

Everyone's going to fall into their own style.

I kind of figured that that would kind of happen, especially being on the floor, but I figured out a little bit better work shadowing in the salons that everyone has their own distinct way of doing things, how they interact with their clients, how they prefer to do color or highlighting and things like that.

Just figured everyone just kind of flows and finds their thing, which made things a lot easier for me because having to think very strict because of state board, it kind of made me a little bit nervous.

But that was a pretty well rounded vertical view of what to expect when I actually get out into salons and stuff.

Nice.

Cool.

And how about.

Do you.

You want to share some of the vibes of, like, the different salons that you went to?

You can name them by name and, like, tell us, like, some of, like, what I'm looking for.

Sorry, what I'm looking for.

Is to showcase.

Like, was there diversity?

I mean, you kind of just alluded to that everybody was a little different.

Could you talk about some of the vibe differences or things that you remember distinctly?

It could be like something you learned, the way you felt, how the team was interacting with you.

And maybe like if you can remember all seven, if not, just maybe the ones that stick out in your mind.

Definitely.

I went to a lot of the boxes, but completely, completely different color bar.

I think I mentioned before, like, they.

The setup is completely just friendly.

Whether it is client friendly, stylist friendly.

Like, everything in there is very much made to be.

What's the word?

It's made to be.

That's what easy, like as possible.

Everything is supposed to be comfortable, which I absolutely love.

From the bowls to how they have the setup for the stations, everything is ease, thrive, very.

Again, it's comfort oriented, but it's different.

The vibe and the energy is different.

It's not.

It's.

These are two of the most.

The more strict salons that I was in.

What do you mean everything is very organized.

What do you mean by.

Organization wise and how everything's in its place?

It's like kind of just like everything is here.

You need to do everything this way.

It's very structured.

Okay, got it.

And individually, they're.

I saw some individuality going on through it, but also saw the structure, which is amazing, which is great.

And it's perfect for someone who will require more structure as opposed to maybe a salon suite that's the one that's on their own.

Like at Hermes art.

With artis the salon suite, she had to do everything solo and herself, which really worked out.

Seeing how the differences were.

George Salah at the Four Seasons.

It was a little interesting with their flow because while they.

Obviously there's still structure.

It's a little bit more.

The energy's more laid back.

How they interact with you is a little bit more laid back.

And.

It'S.

The flow is just different.

Like, all of them had like different flows.

It was just.

Everything was just different in each one.

I don't think I've been to one that's been like another.

I don't think there is.

I don't think it's possible for one to be like another because of course, different people running each salon or a salon suite.

So it's just different.

Nice.

Cool.

And so tell us, like, I don't know, like, what.

I have my note, my talking points that I wrote down beforehand.

I have.

Do you feel like you.

It was a Confidence building thing.

Like, do you feel better prepared as you go out and kind of figure out what, what salon you work at or what your net, whatever your next step is?

Do you feel like it's like, how has it changed?

What if it has changed?

Like, how has it impacted like your book from the first time, like before you went in shadow, how you were thinking about the future till now.

It developed how I looked at the future because when I went into it, I was kind of a blank slate.

I had no clue what I was going to do.

I knew I wanted to work in a salon.

I didn't want to jump straight into a suite because I didn't feel like even I knew once I graduated, I still wasn't going to know what I felt like I needed to know.

So I wanted to find out if there were places where I could grow.

But this definitely solidified that.

Any place that any salon I want to go, I would definitely need to be somewhere where training is included, where they focus really on development.

And I've seen that cuddler salons really do that.

And I love that.

It taught me a lot of the questions to ask when it comes to how the salons are structured.

So it gave me a lot of confidence on how to move forward, especially after graduation, after I get licensed.

Nice.

Cool.

So I just had a question.

We were talking about structure and strict structure.

Um, did you have a feeling about that before shadowing and did that like, you know, some people, I talked to a lot of people who say that like a very structured space is not something that they're interested in.

Would you say that you were that person or, and still are or has that?

Is there anything about that that you could talk, say about your own personal feelings for yourself?

Personally, I could probably benefit from the structure or from a structured aspect, but I am more free flowing.

So the fact that I was able to see instead of just being like, hey, I want to apply here and it's very structured.

Right, right, right.

I can deal with a little bit of being rigid and very structured and going with that.

But at the same time I kind of, I'm more of like a loose, free spirited kind of person.

Okay, cool.

So could you give us like a pick up, pick up, pick us, pick one of the shadow sessions that you did and tell us like what, play by play, what that experience was like.

Let me see whichever one that pops to your head that you can remember.

Thrive.

Thrive Bar.

And I walked in, I was greeted by the receptionist.

Unfortunately, I do remember her name.

I do Apologize.

She was so sweet, though.

I took a tour of the salon, which included going through the stations to the shampoo area and then down to where their break area is.

Excuse me.

They paired me with Nyo, and I got to see how she did a flat twist set, which was actually really helpful because I had taken on a client who wanted nothing but flat twists.

So I got some advice and some help with how to basically make them last longer, make them look neater, and actually really see how the style would turn out.

I did get to ask a lot of questions about what it would look like being in that salon, and now I kind of ran out of time and had to leave out.

Okay, and then I got a question here from, from the salon.

Before you shadowed, what did you think you would do after graduation?

And how has that changed since you shadowed at these salons?

I feel like we kind of asked.

You kind of answered that question already.

But do you have a.

Do you have an answer?

I thought I'd be flailing, going into different salons and just applying and hoping and praying for the best.

Now I kind of have a better understanding about the questions that I need to ask if I do take that route, how to do a little bit more research.

So I still plan on going into a salon.

I still plan on spending at least a few years in a salon before I even would attempt to do anything and say, like a suite or anything.

Originally, I did go into cosmetology school because I'm a photographer and I wanted to kind of pair those two together.

I don't think I'm going to pair those two together right out the gate.

Okay.

I don't think it will be beneficial for me just starting out in cosmetology.

I would rather focus on actually working in a salon and focus.

Put my focus towards that.

So that did change quite a bit.

Nice.

Cool.

Awesome.

So what.

What type of advice would you give to somebody else who wanted to shadow.

And if anybody on the call wants to ask a question, please ask a question.

So.

And if you're just joining us, we're.

Janae just has shadowed at seven different salons in the D.C.

metro area.

And she is.

She's one of our.

Our shadow, we call them shadow captains, our ambassadors for shadowing, going through and, you know, checking out the different salons and try trying out the program.

So if you have any questions for her, please just type them in the chat.

Or.

Or if you really want to get on air and get on this live, you can jump on this live.

Okay.

In the meantime, do you have any.

If there are any other students out there for like say I'm going to.

We're about to actually go to.

I don't remember the date off of the top of my head, but we'll be at Aveda Arlington coming up.

And, and so what type of.

What, what are.

What's some advice that you would give me to talk to people to like, what advice would you give me to talk.

Talking to other students?

Also what, what advice would you give to another student or.

Or rising stylist to before when they're thinking.

Thinking about their future and.

Or thinking about going to shadow?

The biggest thing with shadowing while you're in school, I would probably say try to reach the people in phase one and phase two first because once we get onto the floor, all of our time is basically done.

The days that are available and open to shadow, we would end up having to take off and it kind of clashes in mom's heads for anybody that's interested in shadow.

If you are serious about your cosmetology career, you're serious about doing hair.

It's your passion.

You love it.

Shadow as many places as you can.

Shadow.

Learn from the places you go.

Have as many experiences as you can.

Make as many connections as you can because it helps, it helps with boosting the confidence.

It helps knowledge like with whether it's products or tools.

Especially if you are in a school that only has one line.

It definitely helps when.

If you are working with just your school's line and you want to learn more about color, there's different color lines and they are willing to help you.

Like these people that work in the salons, they are willing to actually give you that advice, give you that knowledge.

And even beyond just the basic stuff of just working, whether it becomes kind of like easing into yourself, like the philosophical aspect of hairdresser, they are there and they have amazing advice.

Like even if it's just life advice when it is a.

Ties into the career.

So go to as many places as possible.

I'm so happy to hear you say that.

You know, when we, when we started down this journey, it was a theory that if, if we can like create this space where, you know, students and salon owners or even like graduates and even licensed, you know, like looking for, looking for a salon, create that space where they can kind of just kind of freely go in and, and, and meet the, meet the team and kind of have a chance to check out what the vibe is like, then I was hoping that it would have an Impact similar to what you're saying.

And I'm so happy to hear that all of this.

What type of what tips would you do you have?

One, how could we make the shadow program better?

And two, what tips would you have for anybody to set them up for success?

So like tips for us to improve it.

And us could be the royal.

We like all the salons or it could be like specifically the programming or something like that.

So that I'm interested in what your feedback is and also what, what tips would you give to another student or graduate who's looking to like go and shadow to so that they set them up for success and have the best experience possible as a whole.

Salons, people who are doing the shadowing, check your messages.

Constantly checking messages because a salon may reach out to you as someone that's going to shadow or vice versa.

If something may change or if they're interested in a specific service that you're offering, they want to see how you do that or even if it's just a slight reminder that hey, I'm coming in such and such day, so you're prepared, you know, and everything just runs smoothly.

Make sure you're checking your messages.

That's.

That's a really big one.

Reminders.

So I know we get reminders.

I don't know if the salons get reminders.

So they.

So just for the audience.

There was a couple of situations where the, the message wasn't.

Didn't get.

Get through and.

Yeah, so.

So that you ended up not being able to shadow at a salon one time, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So.

So that was, that was definitely.

We definitely have implemented extra notifications.

People do get notifications but we implemented more, more messaging to the salon so that we make sure.

And we implemented a rule that says that like a four day rule.

So we're like just in case there's like a long weekend or something.

So like we're.

And I don't know if you think this is a good idea.

So I'm curious to know but like if, if, if you were to go and wanted to shadow, if you couldn't shadow that day or the next day, you had a four day waiting period.

Like, like you could only book a shadow session four days in advance.

We were thinking of implementing that.

We've implemented that one.

I want to know if you think that's a good idea.

And the reason why we did it is because that ensures that we know that the salon owner or the shop owner, if they don't get back to us within that period Then we will notify the student not to go or the graduate, the prospective, the shadower, let's say the shadower not to go because we haven't been able to confirm with that salon to save you the trip.

That happened.

That happened less.

Not that often though, right?

How many times, twice or once did that happen?

For me it only happened once.

Okay, all right, cool.

So hope, let's say that if anybody who's going to use the program, if they, they should not have that issue in the future because we've implemented like a protocol will where the salon, if they go unresponsive, we'll just cancel the shadow session and then we'll kind of make their account scheduler inactive until they come back to us and say, hey, this is what happened.

We're ready to reactivate our account.

So that way we prevent that kind of stuff happening.

So I appreciate that.

So what about, is there anything else and do you have thought about that four day rule?

That's actually brilliant.

Okay, good.

That, that's, that, that's brilliant because it basically covers everybody at that point.

So that, that, that.

Okay, perfect.

Okay.

And what about.

Okay, so now moving on to setting people up for success.

What can, what can a shadower do?

If it's their first time, what should they, what do they need to know?

Like anything, Anything that comes to your mind that they should know.

Be prepared, do to prepare themselves.

Focus a lot on professionalism.

First impressions mean a lot.

Like a lot a lot.

Make sure you're dressed presentably.

I'm not gonna sit there and be like, oh yeah, no, never wear like a hoodie or anything like that.

I think I did wear a hoodie but it was clean, it didn't have any stains on it.

Like just make sure you make sure you're presentable and open minded.

Ask a lot of questions.

Try to prepare questions beforehand.

Research the salon you go into too.

Like research like before you go into it, step foot into it, go to their website.

If they have an Instagram, go look at their Instagram.

It will show you a lot about how they do their styling and it also gives you a little bit more of their vibe as well if you can pick up on it.

Nice.

Awesome, awesome.

And you said something that I wanted to ask you about.

I forget it was something about professionalism.

I can't remember.

Anyway, so, all right, so the tips are think about professionalism.

Maybe, maybe.

Would you say so like we're talking over the salon owners and asking them to send a message to the student letting them know what they expect for them, how to dress.

Because that you.

Like you mentioned like, you know, each salon has a different vibe.

Some salons want everybody to dress up and some salons are like, you know, like be comfortable but not in your gym clothes kind of vibe, you know, So I think that's a really good one.

So we're talking to the salon owners like, hey, could you just shoot them a message and if.

Or we have like the insert, the little picture thing I gave you.

Yeah.

Was that helpful?

It's very helpful.

It's extremely helpful what I did do beforehand because like you said like each salon has different vibe.

That's part of the reason why I said check out their website because it'll show you how they dress as well.

So.

So between the insert, if they're sending something as well, all of those things can combine so you can set yourself up for success and make a good impression at that first meeting as well.

Would it be helpful if you had like a list of questions to just ideas of things that you should to ask and maybe even.

I mean, I don't you didn't have this experience, but we have.

There was some concern that one time someone was watching someone do hair and they were like, is her hair supposed to be that color?

So do you think it would be beneficial to.

To sit, to like give you like a list of questions to ask and questions to not ask?

Do you think that would you think someone would actually read it?

I think that someone would.

It would definitely be helpful.

I would hope that they would read it especially if it's attached to like, hey, attire wise is what you should wear.

But that would definitely be extremely, extremely.

Helpful and anything else that would be.

Now that we've had this whole conversation, I think I've already asked this question, but just kind of like as we kind of wrap it up here, is there any sort of thing that the this that you would like to see in the.

As part of the program in addition and whether there is or there isn't, do you have any like kind of last words or last things to say about shadowing?

I don't think so.

Aside from the fact that it's been an amazing experience and extremely helpful?

Yeah.

No.

Okay.

We have one question before I let you go.

How did you decide which salons to visit in shadow at?

I actually went through the list.

I looked at the distance from where I live, how it would affect my commute if it was metro accessible.

And then I started going to services and then looking at either the websites or instagram and the descriptions.

Okay, cool.

Awesome.

Awesome.

Well, I thank you so much for your time.

It's been a pleasure working with you, and I can't wait for you to.

When do you take your.

When do you take your state board?

I take my theory next week and the practical next month.

Theory and practical next month.

The theory is next week.

The practical is next month.

Okay, awesome.

Cool.

Awesome.

And then Ashley Taylor said, thanks for the combo.

Yes, I do think the salon should set expectations for dress attire during pre shadow conversations.

Yeah, totally.

So.

All right, cool.

Well, we've learned some things from you.

It sounds like you got the chance to learn some things from the.

From the program, all the salons.

Thank you to all the salons for your participation.

And thank you, Janae, so much for your time.

And are you.

Are you.

Are you.

Have you shadowed at all the salons you want to shadow at, or do you think you'll be doing anymore?

No.

Okay.

I will still be us.

We'll still be shadowing somewhere.

Awesome.

Awesome.

All right, well, thank you so much, and you have a wonderful weekend.

Thank you.

You too.

All right, bye.