My daughter goes global. Cool!

[DWB1960]

Most recent blog entry from my daughter's website. I'm obviously partial, but I think this is pretty damn cool!

I absolutely love being a hairstylist. Every single day I have clients sit in my chair, with the expectation of me making their hair more beautiful than how it was when they came in to the salon. They put faith in me, let me touch their heads (sounds funny, but it’s a vulnerable thing), and let me and my vision take over. The trust between a client and a hairstylist is a huge deal, and I don’t take it lightly. At this point in my career, I’ve grown to a point where people learn about me through the internet. I’ve been fortunate enough to do a bit of on camera hair styling and have been written up for hair stories, and when people are searching around for new hairstyles, or looking to try a new hairstylist in Los Angeles, my name will pop up in the searches. I receive emails daily asking about my hair services, hair advice, even emails from students in beauty school wanting my tips on how to make it in Hollywood.. so cute!
Recently a girl contacted me all the way from Iraq. She was working and living in Baghdad and was planning to travel overseas to Los Angeles for a little vacation and hoped to get a full hair makeover with me while she was here. When I received the email, I didn’t know how serious she was, but I treated it as I always do and started emailing back and forth with her. By makeovershe was talking hair extensions, highlights, color, haircut, THE WORKS! Living in Baghdad doesn’t really enable her to go to nice salons anytime she pleases! I was all about this makeover, but truth be told, the amount of money and time all these services take, I was uncertain if she REALLY was going to come! To mark off 5 hours in my schedule, and purchase hair extensions to have on hand, is quite the investment on my end, and I just won’t take that risk. She understood completely, and gave me her credit card information, and had me charge her in full for the services (I won’t say how how much exactly, but think thousands). This girl trusted me, from across the world, with her credit card information, and to give her amazing hair while she was in LA! I was touched, honored, and so excited to meet her and find out what her story was…
They day of her appointment, she literally came straight from the airport in a cab to the salon. Over 25 hours of traveling, and suddenly she is sitting in my chair! She’s this cute girl from Virginia and I couldn’t believe she currently lives in Iraq. She had about 3 inches of brown roots, and the rest of her hair was bleached out, dry, and damaged at the ends. You can imagine she has been in need of hair services, but she just doesn’t have the ability to do so with her lifestyle. While doing her makeover, I had a chance to get to know her and find out what her story was.
I had wondered if she was in the military, and she isn’t. She lives on a military base for safety, but she is actually a Senior Subcontracts Administrator and has been over seas for 4 years. After graduating from college and moving to the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. Metro, she was bored by the rat race and intrigued by stories of a friend’s travel and experiences while working overseas. She felt her friend had learned more about life through this experience than she did while trapped within her little college bubble. So she picked up, moved to Iraq, and started this new journey. She told me stories of her trips to Dubai to go shopping. Apparently Dubai is only a 2.5 hour flight away from Iraq. It has incredible malls, beaches, weather, 7 star hotels, and it’s the perfect get way for her for a little adventure and fun. She has gotten her hair done there before, but with a not so desirable outcome (like my sugarcoating?). After getting to know her, I was really curious how she chose me. How did she find me, and what made her trust me with her credit card, her hair, and a big part of her reasonings to travel to LA in the first place. So I asked her and this is what she said:
“I was researching hair extensions in L.A. using Google. I think I came across your website first and then I googled your name and the salon you work at. I found many positive reviews by others on yelp, and the pictures and tutorials you posted online made it easy to see what kind of work you did. You also responded quickly and positively to my emails, which can be a deciding factor when dealing with people online from overseas. Good customer service and a caring attitude are highly important to me.” Super cool hair makeover and client experience to say the least!


Before:





After:

[JamesT]

WOW!

[Jim S]

Donnie, you look smokin' hot in that last photo.