 Good morning. Well, welcome back to another vlog. This is going to be a couple days in my life sharing like behind the scenes of being a hairdresser. It's currently 7 a.m., which is why I look this way. I am not a morning person. Never have been. What's nice about doing hair is usually you have flexibility with your schedule and you can set your own hours. So if you're like me and you're not a morning person, you don't have to get up super early if you don't want to. So the days when I take clients, I start at 10 a.m. That's more my speed. But at the moment, I also work the front desk. So I need to be there at 8 o'clock. The salon opens at 9. But there's a lot of things that need to be done each morning before the first client gets there. So that's why whoever is opening starts at 8 o'clock. And today that is me. But I'm just doing some really light makeup. This early in the morning, I just can't be bothered doing like a full face. So I did a little spot concealing with the NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer. Then I just applied the Illia Super Serum Skin Tint. That stuff has SPF in it as well, which is nice. Like a multi-purpose product, which we love. And now I'm going to brighten under my eyes with the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. Now I'm taking the Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Beauty Light Wand. It's really pretty and glowy though. So again, another like multi-purpose product. Kind of like a highlighter and blush in one. Just add some color and glow to my face. I'm going to put some of that on my lids too. Just add a little color. And then I'm going to take the Got To Be Clear Brow Gel. And just fluff up my brows. I tint my brows every few weeks, which is so nice because then I don't have to worry about like filling them in and all that. It makes getting ready so much faster. There we go. I'm going to put like a little bit of lip gloss or lip balm or something on my lips. But I am done. That's my super fast makeup. Popping in some earrings. And then for my hair, it's greasy. It's been like almost a full week since I last washed it. So it's past the point of saving with dry shampoo. So I'm going to just slick it back. And then I'll probably just wash it later tonight. I like pull it back into a low ponytail and then I twist it and then flip it down kind of in half like that. Take my claw clip. There's a few different ways that you can do this. But that's usually my go-to with the fastest, easiest thing. Nice and simple. I'm going to check this espresso. And then head out the door. I'll see you in the car. Guess what? I got a new car. I literally got this yesterday. It's a lease. But the car I had before was also a lease and my lease was up. So I got a brand new Honda Civic hatchback. Black on black, black rims. It looks so good. My favorite part is that it's just as good on gas as my last car. But it's a little bit bigger and I have more space in the back seat and in the trunk. So yeah, I am working front desk today. Obviously as I mentioned. But the reason why I do that, because I have been doing hair, if you're new here, for, oh my god, almost six years now. So I'm not like super new to the game or anything. But I lived in Pennsylvania for the majority of my career. And then I moved down to North Carolina about a year and a half ago. And I took a break from hair for like almost a year. I think it was like 10 or 11 months. So I really have only been like back at it and in a totally new state for the past five or six months, I guess. So I am kind of in a weird spot where I still don't know because I do YouTube full time. So I still don't know like how full time I want to be if I want to be full time at all doing hair again. I kind of like saying part time because then it prevents me from getting burnt out. And I also am still working on building my clientele anyway. So like I just don't have enough clients to be full time and fully booked anyway. But when I started working at the salon, I didn't really want to do hair or I didn't think I did. Like I was still kind of on my break, but I just missed like being out in the world and socializing with people. So I started there just part time working the front desk because I thought it would be fun and it is. I really enjoy doing that to be honest. But then I, you know, being around it all the time, I was like, I kind of miss taking clients and doing hair. So I started taking hair clients on Saturdays and then during the week, I'll just work, you know, a couple front desk shifts here and there. So it's been kind of nice because I get a little variety throughout my week. So I think that if you also are like moving to a new area and you're starting from scratch, rebuilding your clientele, or maybe you're like just coming out of beauty school, you know, finding a salon that's like really popular in your area that's in high demand and is like well known, that's going to be number one. And then number two, when you go to apply there, see if there's other positions they can offer you part time so that you can still make some extra money while you're still trying to grow and build up your book. And also doing front desk, it's allowed me when clients call, I can book my own appointments, which is nice because I get to talk to the client directly and filter out like, okay, who sounds like they might be a good fit for me based on what they're looking for. And I can kind of prioritize myself a little bit, you know what I'm saying? So that's why I do the front desk in addition to also doing clients. So today's a front desk day, tomorrow will be clients. So stay tuned for that later. I have a full day tomorrow, so that'll be fun. Anyway, I got to go now. We'll see how crazy today gets. It's a Friday, so it shouldn't be too bad. I'm going to try to get as much footage as I can and just kind of, you know, show you the salon and some of the stuff that I do. Give you a little tour of the outside. This is where you walk in. This used to be a house, so it's very homey and cozy. It's currently four o'clock. I left the salon around three, I had to run an errand on my way home, and then I was responding to some emails, just getting like some little last-minute Friday things handled before the weekend. But I am about to cook dinner. I'm starving. I had a bagel, like an egg sandwich on a bagel earlier today, but that's literally all I've eaten so far. And that's on me because I didn't prepare accordingly, but that's the reality when you are working in a salon, especially if you're taking clients, unless you purposely block out time for a lunch break. You just don't even really have time to actually sit down and eat a full meal and that's not good. I'm really craving something that's going to be good comfort food, but I need something that's going to also be really quick and fast because I'm hungry and I just want something quick. So I'm going to be making a HelloFresh meal, and they are sponsoring this portion of the video. For a while there, I was really on a roll with cooking all of my meals at home, but I would just always make the same things over and over and over, and I'm starting to get to a point recently where I'm getting kind of sick of those things, and I was just sort of in a recipe rut. I thought doing HelloFresh this week would be a perfect way to kind of like break it up and maybe try out some new recipes. So I'm going to be making this Tuscan pork tenderloin over garlicky, tomato spaghetti, and roasted zucchini. Just sounds so good. So we have all of our three portion ingredients, and then you have your recipe card that shows you the finished meal, all of the ingredients you're going to be using, and then it tells you the prep time, the cook time, and how many calories it is. They break it down on the back here step by step, and like look how cute this is, these little cream cheese packets. The thing about experimenting with new recipes that I hate and the reason I tend to just make the same things over and over is because sometimes the recipe will call for something, but you just need a small amount of it, but the grocery store only offers a large amount. So you're spending this extra money on something that you don't really need, and then you end up having all this food waste. So I love that you get the exact portions that you need. I especially love HelloFresh on days like today when I'm in a pinch, I'm super hungry, but I don't have any other meals already prepared. Not only does it save me so much time, but it also saves money. It's a lot cheaper than takeout and faster than delivery. It's also a healthier option because with HelloFresh, you're able to customize your meal to fit your health needs and your dietary preferences. Whether you are a vegetarian or you want calorie smart options, they have a wide range of wholesome options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you'd like to try out HelloFresh for yourself, you can get 16 free meals and free shipping by going to HelloFresh.com and entering my code SAMVA16. I wish that you could smell this right now. It smells so good. On camera taste test, of course. Oh my God. This is so good. It really tastes like something that I would get at a restaurant. It's exactly the kind of comfort food that I was craving right now. So I'm going to go enjoy my dinner and sit on the couch and watch some Netflix. Good morning. It's Saturday. I washed my hair last night. I just kind of like rough dried it to get most of the moisture out. And then I wrapped it around in a robe belt. I think it wasn't dry enough when I did it because it still feels kind of damp. So I'm just going to try to blow dry it and get it dry. So cute. I love doing this hairstyle. I've shown how I do it before in vlogs and I know this is like a really popular thing that a lot of people know how to do at this point. But I've never done like a full standalone tutorial on it. So if you would like to see that, let me know. My hair is naturally pretty curly. But natural curls can be so unpredictable and it's really hard when you're going to sleep because they just never look as nice when you wake up in the morning. This makes the curls a little bit more controlled and uniform. But it still looks natural and pretty. But anyway, it is Saturday. I have three clients today, which isn't that much, I guess. But I don't like to work longer than like six hour shifts. I'm going to be honest. It just takes a toll on you physically. Some days I do end up working a little bit longer than that depending on like what I'm doing. But generally it's a six hour day. And pretty much all of the clients that I've been doing have been color clients. I haven't really been doing many like standalone haircuts and short services like that. Everything's been like bonding services, color corrections. So longer appointments that are like minimum two and a half hours generally. And I don't work with an assistant at the moment. It's just me by myself. I try to not double book myself, especially because I am still growing in this area. So 99% of the clients that I have are all new first time clients. It's my first time doing their hair. So I don't feel comfortable double booking unless it's people that like I'm totally familiar with their hair. I know exactly what we're doing, how long it's going to take me, all of that. That's just how I like to work now anyway. Who knows, you know, like that could change. Keeping it real right now. Like I said, I usually on Saturdays start at 10. My first client a couple days ago asked me if she could come in earlier than that. And if you're in this industry or interested in being in this industry, you probably can relate to being a little bit of a people pleaser. And I've really been working on that the past few years. And I think I've gotten pretty good. Like I've gotten a lot better, but I still have moments where I'm like, Oh, yeah, that's fine. I can do that. But then I end up regretting it. And anyway, now I'm running a little bit late and I'm kind of overwhelmed. And I don't really have time to do any makeup or anything. I just put a little under eye concealer and SPF on. And I threw some more makeup in this bag and I'm just going to bring it with me. And while my first client is processing, I just sneak to the bathroom and throw a little bit on. I normally like to do a little bit of makeup on Saturdays, but here is my outfit. The skirt and the top are both super old. The top I want to say is from cotton on maybe. And the skirt I think is forever 21. It's like a midi length body con skirt. This cropped denim jacket is from Zara. And then I'm wearing new balance sneakers. Ugh, I hate rushing. I was trying to do this video and be like behind the scenes of a hairdresser a couple of days in my life. And I'm making it seem so chaotic. Some days really are obviously like this where it's chaotic and I'm like running behind and stuff. But most days I'm pretty good. Like what I'm sticking to my usual schedule, I'm pretty good about getting to the salon early. I always like to be at least 15 minutes early before my first client's supposed to get there. So I have time to set up and I am not like rushing around. I don't want them to get there before me or the same time as me. I want to be ready for them when they get there. This is just how my whole week has been really. So, you know, it's no surprise. Let's hope once I get there everything will get better and it will be a good day. So in all the chaos I forgot to get a before clip of my first client's hair. But she just gets a root retouch and a gloss basically. Nothing crazy. And she honestly only has a few strands of gray throughout her head. So I just take a permanent 4N color and just tap over only the areas where she has gray. And then I just wet down her mids to ends and apply her gloss. For her gloss, I do Red Conche DQ 4NCH and I just let everything process all together. That way it saves me time. We did end up doing a haircut, just a little bit of a trim, refreshed her layers. She does have naturally very curly hair, but she asked for a blowout this time. So this is what her final hair looked like. It looked so shiny and healthy and beautiful. I feel like these clips just don't even do it justice because I recorded them on my phone. But yeah, that was client number one. Client number two was brand new to the area and it had been several months since she last had her hair done. So she was in desperate need for a touch up and a haircut. So I just did a full head of foils, a combination of TZ lights and baby lights. I also dragged the lightener down onto her ends just for like the last few minutes at the bowl because she did say that she wanted her blonde to be brighter and more of like a white blonde. Again, I feel like my phone didn't do the color justice here but her hair came out so beautiful. It's a few hours later. I needed a second when I got home to just finally eat my first meal of the day and just sit down and sit in silence for a bit. I changed it to some comfy clothes. I'm laying in bed now. I am so exhausted. This has just been like kind of a weird off week for me. I got thrown off of my regular routine and I've just felt like so tired and really struggling to feel like caught up with everything. But now that I am done with work for the week, tomorrow I have off. So that can kind of be my day to like recharge, reset. But anyway, I just wanted to tell you like how my day went and what I did. So my first client is one of my regulars. The color I use on her is the exact same color I use on myself for NCH. I love it. It's like the most beautiful dark rich chocolatey brown. She had been going to someone else and they were literally just doing black permanent color all over. Because like I said, she has a few strands of gray. I mean, percentage wise we're talking she's like 5% max. You know, like she barely has any grays. It's enough that like it bothers her when she sees them because they're mostly around her face and like up top. But I guess whoever she was going to before would just do an all over route to end black permanent color every time she would go in. And her hair had just felt very, very dry, very heavy. Her hair is naturally really curly and her curls just weren't really bouncing up. There wasn't really any shine to it. She just didn't like it. She said it just made her feel older and it just felt very harsh. So the first time she came into me, I just did kind of like a bleach wash to lift out some of that black color. And I've just been doing four and permanent and I only tap it over the grays that she has. I don't apply it all over to her roots because why would I do that? Doesn't make any sense. It's just a total waste of product and it's like putting her hair through more than it needs to because she's happy with her natural hair color. And then I just kind of gloss over the ends with like I said four NCH just to richen everything up. And we've just been doing trims, keeping her hair nice and healthy. And she's been doing a really good job of taking care of it at home and it has just come such a long way. And then my second client was brand new. She just recently moved to the area. So I was the first person that she was trying out down here and I think that we really hit it off and it always feels really good when you have like that good human connection you just have a good experience with the client and you can tell by the end of it that like they really trust you and you really like made a connection with them because when she first came in and we first started talking I could tell she seemed a little hesitant and a little bit reserved but then by the end her personality just seemed so different like she just seemed like more outgoing and then my last client I didn't get any pictures or video of her hair but she had been going to someone else for a really long time and she just felt like every time she would ask for something different she just kept ending up with the same thing anyway and she just wanted to change it up and try someone new so she found me online she has naturally very very dark like black hair and she had some gray around her hairline in the front and she was getting I guess like a partial highlight the highlights were just kind of like on the top part of her hair she said she felt like her stylist was just like making the highlights too light because then the toner would just fade so fast and then once it would she just didn't like that like you know brassy raw lift kind of color which I don't blame her so the old highlights in as best as I could and then I brought them up a little bit higher made sure not to lift her super light and then I just toned everything down so it just added like some really pretty subtle dimension throughout her hair and we did a haircut added some layers she was loving it her hair looked amazing and it just looked so much healthier and it was so shiny and she really really loved it I wish I would have remembered to take pictures because it was just like it wasn't a crazy transformation but it just imagine gold highlights on jet black hair and now imagine chocolatey medium brown highlights on jet black hair like it just looked a lot classier and it was just like you know a nice upgrade way more flattering too I feel like her hair before was just like more hard it wasn't bad but it was just like a lot more harsh everybody pre-booked their next appointment and that is always such a good feeling because it shows that like they really truly were happy with their hair and they want to come back and it was really nice to hear that the two new clients had found me online so it just reassures me like everything I'm doing to promote myself and rebuild and all of that is working you know it can be a little intimidating and scary having to start over from scratch I'll link one of my videos down below where I share how to grow your clientele and social media everything that I do but anyway I am going to end this video here just gonna have a chill night and go to bed early thank you guys so much for watching if you liked this video and you want to see more behind the scenes please give it a thumbs up helps out my channel a lot subscribe if you aren't already and I'll see you in my next video bye