 Hey guys, this is Matt Beck from freesaloneducation.com finally two years later I get to talk to Charlie Price, so I'm pretty excited about this I have some things I want to catch up because I know you got a lot going on you've made some changes in your life So I want to talk about those and also just salon life in general because I know you have a lot to share So let's get started Charlie Price I don't really even think we need to talk too much about your past I think everybody knows where they know you from but if you want to get into that a bit my prison past or my hair dressing past Yeah, your prison past But yeah, so you started Well, I first saw you on sheer genius obviously and I think a lot of people did and then so let's talk about right after that What happened well right after that I got a lot of exposure obviously and I had been a platform artist for about 10 years before that or maybe even 15 and It was a really great thing because everybody wanted to know more about me But then some of the people who already knew me thought that it kind of perpetuated that I was the lightweight So I had to win hair stylist of the year to prove that I'm not right, you know Right completely a big piece of reality show fluff No, and I think you're the furthest thing from that and anybody that follows you on social knows that because you post a lot of Great images great content constantly. So let's get into that. You do a lot of photo shoots I go a lot of I'm a bit of a photo shoot addict Yeah, but I think right now we have to have material because the best way to reach Hairdressers and an engage in the industry is social media and you need constant content. Yeah, just like a cable news network Yeah, you know, I think what a lot of people don't realize and a lot of big companies don't realize right now is that you Like they're putting out things ever once every once in a while, but like you're forgettable That's right. So it's a bit like the fashion industry Everybody's trying to catch up with H&M because the minute a runway show happens They've got their team of people there to duplicate that look and get it out there to the masses right away That's what we're dealing with in the salon industry right like Napster. Yeah, exactly. So let's speaking of fashion Let's talk about fashion week. You do that quite often, right? Yeah, we do fashion week and I know there's a lot of companies that do New York fashion week and others I'm the European shows, but what we do is we bring everybody together Before and we practice the look on mannequins and everybody meets the team knows each other networks with people from around the country around the world Whatever whoever comes in and we actually let people finish the look So it's meant to look like it was all done with my hands, but it really is I let everybody finish the work unless I have to change it Yeah, so people really understand the process and they know exactly what they can take away from it and and how to kind of go forward from it because I did runway shows for like 15 years and and it's it's a very confusing Nebulous world. It's the worst. I did I did fashion week twice and it's the most confusing like those shows are kind of confusing backstage But but fashion week is like you don't really know what you're doing So that's really cool that you guys get together and you plan it all out We want people to fall in love with us and fall in love with fashion shows and fall in love with the idea of coming to New York City Every two months or every twice a year. Yeah, and so If they're upset confused and secure and have anxiety none of that happens They just shut down right and it leaves people with a very bad discouraged Effect and we want them to have to be happy and to understand why it's important and why it's useful for marketing for them Right, and you keep saying us so let's talk about who is us us is the beauty underground It's artists collective that I put together people from masters from different Manufacturers and we come together to do fashion week bespoke education hair shows and photo collection And it's kind of an offspring of my magazine beauty Underground which is really just a forum for people to show their work without ads without censorship and just total freedom to express themselves so we have like Ruth Roach start to stick director of Pureology Jill lights from Redkin Lisa van from Aveda and many many others Katie Nielsen from scruples and then my fashion week team Nikita and Serena that I've worked with for years, and then we just have our ebony team here Okay, Shirley Gordon from walla. You should bell for care therapy. It's just a whole it's a gang of hairdressers That's awesome. And so tell me how that started. What was your purpose behind? Well, we have the ebony team, which is the newest incarnation We started with a women's team because I was talking to all my really good girlfriends And I was like, you know, it's so weird that there's like a glass ceiling for gays and and the women in the industry get kind of lost They're not given maybe the quite the degree of revenants or that I think they should have So I'm like, let's start our own team, you know, we can all use our own products You know Ruth loves pure ology Jill is like lives and Breeze Redkin, right Lisa is totally in the cult of Ada She's it is a cult dangerous but anyway So We're having so much fun and we're also able to kind of just reach hairdressers without trying to sell them anything Right, it takes away that agenda and we can just have jam sessions together But also really teach hairdressers how they're responsible for their own careers You know, everybody relies on their salon owner or the person they're assisting or their manufacturer to do it all for them Really, we're not anti-manufacturer at all Right, we are trying to just empower hairdressers to realize they're responsible for their own thing So in the essence of it, we're really pro-manufacturer because we're helping them out right coaching their people to be like it's not there It's not their responsibility to make it happen for you. You have to make it happen for yourself Yeah, I think a lot of people get confused that it's like a damn the man situation. No, it's really it's not it's that's not what it is It's about not relying on a Product company to support your career Your career is yours. We love all these products. I worked with a beta years ago I still love their product and I and I have all my friends from there I worked with Redkin. They host us for fashion week a rojo. Just host this for fact. I'm not anti-manufacturer, right? I'm anti dogma and I'm anti complacency and I'm anti apathy Right what I think happens and it's and it's a problem for manufacturers is you get a tribe of people And they just feel like they can just kind of coast. Yeah And so you get you get sort of this like river of mediocrity and we're trying to kind of pierce through that Yeah, that's awesome. So in Gordon from American salon You know he came in and did an intervention with me and I put me through social media Rehab I thought that's what you're talking about when you're talking about changes in my life No, that's what that is kind of what I'm talking about. Yeah, I'm a new woman. You're a new woman Yeah, well, I'm half woman. Okay. I don't know it's all the rage, you know You caught me off guard, but I do that. Yeah, that's good. So we but changes For me personally watching you. I don't study you But I see your work and I've seen you go through a lot of changes. You look very healthy. Thank you Which is something I'm working on at this point in my life So tell me tell me about like just getting a whole refresh restart on on that aspect. Yeah Well, I when sure genius happened I created this very profane crazy party animal person and It was me, but it was an amplified version of me. And so now I'm getting close to 50 I want to feel good. Yeah, I'm 47. I want to feel good. I want to look good And I love, you know drinking and having fun. I don't do drugs, but I Just would rather feel better, right? So I have a little bit of corona instead of four gallons of wine Plus I I just feel like I have such a message that I want to give and if my my message is obscured by stuff that really doesn't matter or that's Attention-getting and provocative in the wrong way. It's just not working. So I don't I don't cuss on Facebook anymore I cuss in person but not in Facebook. You do have some good rants on Facebook though But they are softer than they are softer and they're to the point because I feel like sometimes my delivery was so Abrasive that people just shut off and they weren't even hearing what I was actually trying to say, right? So I've kind of tried to clarify my message and and get a little more concise and it's like a new album You know, I always wear black and I'm wearing color. There's I'm not wearing the giant glasses anymore You know, it's just time for a change for you. Yeah, I think that that's great. And so tell me I guess to kind of Sum this all up you have the Southwest Yeah, we're doing the Southwest hairstyling awards because I'm on the Naha committee and I just always thought we need to get more people Grassroots to know about the industry know about the traditions of hairdressing and know about awards And why they're important for marketing and for longevity and to develop your eye and all that stuff And I really believe in that so we decided to start regional ones We did the Southwest with my a 303 magazine in Denver and we did one every year in Northwest Hairstyling Awards with Lisa Vann in Seattle And then it's branched out off of a hair show that we just started 10 years ago so we have Ted Gibson coming to get Celebrity of the year our celebrity hairstyles of the award tab of the coffee is getting lifetime achievement DJ Muldoon is getting independent platform artist of the year and then we have one open category and Tabitha and Ted We'll give that out Also, I'm working a lot with Eden Sassoon and she's kind of linked into that because Sean Dawson her creative director of Even by Eden Sassoon Salon is a judge as well Okay, and she's such a proponent of this the traditions of hair and why it's important to remember who her dad was Trevor Sorby if obviously he's not dead, but people don't even know who Trevor Sorby is, right? So weird to me. Yeah, you know what's funny? I am in that generation of I don't think I know who that is either Yeah, it is no we got it. We got to have People like myself at my age make sure that it doesn't get forgotten Exactly, and that's that is what it's all about and that's why I enjoy it was kind of why I do this interview thing because This allows me to meet people and to dig deeper into What because now people are being brought up in the industry not learning any of that like and you can see the Frustration and they're lost and they're diffused and there's such a rich history and there's so much Information and knowledge and talent out there. Yeah, I mean, we don't want it to get lost and we don't want them to all become flight attendant Right. I want to keep them in the industry. That's so true. All right. Cool. So tell me last thing would be What are you excited about for the future? What what do you have? I just am excited about the revolution and I think you know, I always thought the revolution was gonna be New manufacturers and new artists like, you know kind of the second coming of like the Anthony muskelos and the horse and the Nicholas French Vivian McKinder type people Ruth Roach, whatever and they're obviously still around There's tons of artists around tons of great products that are coming out all the time But I think the revolution is social media Everybody has a voice to go directly to speak to whoever they want Yeah, and so it could be a gift or a curse depending on what you do with it Right, and I was kind of freaked out by it by all the mermaid crunch curls and the crazy apps and the bad Photography and the horrible models and the tackiness right, but it's like well, then I can it just Makes a more point of difference for those people that actually yeah Yeah, it makes you you stand out in your way, and it's and it's real, you know It also gives me something to teach right. Yeah, let's let's consider something else You know because everybody's doing the same thing. Yeah, and if everybody's doing the same thing Nobody gets noticed like lemmings going off the cliff together. Yeah, so true. Don't be a lemming well There you go. Thank you so much for sitting down. I know it's I've been hoping for this interview for a while Thank you to American Salon magazine my favorite magazine in the industry. It's a reason that we're here And then I get to talk to people like Charlie Price. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you guys We'll see you on the next video