Debora Routhe is a lifetime hair stylist and educator. After being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, she experienced significant hair loss and realized the lack of options for her to turn to.
After years of research and practice, she has perfected a technique that allowed her to stay open as an essential business during 2020 and earn a multiple six-figure income behind her chair.
Debora Routhe Full Strands Course https://fullstrands.teachable.com/?affcode=930134_yaae7kaj – Use the Code SHOPTALK15 for 15% off of your purchase.
The American Hair Loss Annual Conference 2021 – https://ahlc.org/annualconference
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Chris and John
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What a great episode that we have to bring to you all. This is one of those topics that maybe stays hidden from mainstream hairstylists a lot. There is this reality that we have all heard around the hair industry that 25% of our female clients specifically start to have thinning hair challenges, sometimes just into their twenties.
For a long time, there have been topical solutions out there. There are different brands that have tried to address this, but as far as more severe and progressive cases, we know that these can be hit and miss. Sometimes they work. Sometimes they don’t or maybe they are not enough. The person we have on in this episode, I have known on and off through my education career for quite a few years, but we have not seen each other in a long time, Ms. Debora Routhe.
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Debora, welcome. Thanks for being on with us.
Thank you so much for having me.
We talked previously that you saw this trend happening in the industry for a few years, then you took it upon yourself to make it your mission to help women. I am not going to share your story, but you also have had the need for this service yourself. I will let you share that when we get to that point in the conversation. You became a hair replacement specialist. Impressively enough, you are in California, in the Laguna Hills area. You are the owner of a salon called Full Strands. While everybody else was shut down during COVID, you were able to qualify as an essential business because there is a medical piece to it.
While salons were shut, you were thriving, possibly having your best year ever. I won’t tip your hand. If you decide to talk about those numbers, I will let you do that. You have done something which is incredibly admirable. You have taken your knowledge and realized that maybe there are more hairstylists out there because there are plenty of clients that do not have anybody to turn to when their hair starts to thin. The topical treatments have run out of their effectiveness. It is a hot topic. John, let’s get into this conversation with Debora.
My favorite place to start whenever we get on a show is to find out how people got into the industry. It is always a great story. Let’s know yours.
I have always been fascinated by hair. As a young girl, I was always cutting my doll’s hair. The other thing I was fascinated with was art. I loved the artwork, but I wasn’t very good at it. I learned that even though I loved art, I could not draw a straight line, but I could cut one. I could cut it with the shears. I have always loved design, color, and architecture. Hairdressing seemed like the natural fit for me. I am an empath. I love helping people and making them feel better. I went to beauty school and was blessed enough to work with one of the Intercoiffure members.
I do not think she is with us any longer. Her name was Rita Ambourn up in Minneapolis. She sparked everything for me on how far I could take hairdressing. It has been a great career. Seeing the smile on my clients’ faces when I help them with something that they have been struggling with has nothing more rewarding for me than I have ever done. I develop professional relationships with them. They look forward to seeing me and I look forward to seeing them. Every day is a great day. I feel so blessed to be able to do what I do.
How did you get from Minneapolis to California?
I met my husband when I was in Minnesota. He was transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, where we moved and raised our kids. I had a great career there as well. He got a transfer out to Southern California. We have been here for many years. I never looked back. I still visit Minnesota sometimes because I have family there, but I have no desire to go back to the cold.
Minnesota, St. Louis, and now California. You built three clientele bases. Talk about that a little bit. For a lot of folks, it is hard getting the first one under our belts, never mind three. What was that process like for you?
Luckily, I was able to find my way into some top salons. I had some great mentors along the way. I would recommend that everybody find a successful stylist if they are a new stylist. Start by assisting them and learning the ways that the salon works and the ways that they can make their clients happy. Secondly, to focus on their own growth and personal skills, personal growth, and hairdressing skills as well.
If you get five satisfied clients, you can build an entire clientele from them because they will tell their friends, and their friends will come. I always ask for referrals. I have been in some busy places where some of what I call clients from God landed in my lap, and I was able to make them happy. They tell their friends, and I tell them, “I am actively looking to build my clientele. If you have any friends, please send them by,” then, I reward referrals.
If you get five satisfied clients, you can build an entire clientele from them because they’ll tell their friends, and their friends will come.
You have had this career and three quite distant locations. I know that Chris had started off the show with you and worked with Redken as an educator for a while. How did that journey start? What was it about education that grabbed hold of you?
I have always been an education junkie. I can’t get enough. I always want to learn more. Even with my years of experience, I believe there is always something to learn. Sometimes, it is a little nugget of truth or a new way of looking at something that you have been doing in a different way all along, but I believe there is always something to learn. When my daughter went off to college, I decided I wanted a new challenge. She was my youngest. I applied for and became a Redken educator and went through that whole process. That is where I learned the other side of the business, which is how to teach people how to bring out their own inner brilliance.
Even with years of experience, there’s always something to learn, some little nugget of truth or a new way of looking at something that you’ve been doing a different way all along.
As you go through that process, there are always these a-ha moments because you move from one salon to another. You move from one part of the industry, which is serving guests and education. If you think back about, “I wish I knew this. This was one of those a-ha moments,” can you share some of those?
Learning the connection or how to connect with people on an educator level and a personal level was a huge thing for me. I left Redken only because of a personal issue that I had. I had a devastating accident and was laid out for about a year. I started back slowly and decided that education did not quite fit in with me anymore only because I could not lift and carry the things I needed to carry. Luckily, I am fully recovered, and I still am able to utilize those skills that I learned from Redken with both my clients and see, look and hear them and not think that I know everything.
Learning how to connect with people on an educator level and personal level is a huge thing.
I was able to rebuild my business that way. Also, follow your true north. That was one thing that I learned. It is for me to know what I am passionate about, follow that, and take it as far as I can. For me, it was finding a niche, but before that, it was hair color. I became an American board-certified hair colorist. I am always looking to reinvent myself and find new ways to keep my career interesting and fascinating.
How did you decide that alternative hair was a thing for you?
It came mostly from my own personal experience. I have an auto-immune disease. I have lost up to 2/3 of my hair three times in my adult life. I have worn wigs, toppers, clip-in hairpieces, and extensions over the years. Several years ago, I noticed that a lot of my clients were coming to me and expressing the same concerns that I had, that their hair was thinning. They did not know why.
Because I know how that feels, to think that everybody is staring at you and losing your confidence, I decided to make it my mission to help them. I had limited experience with what was available because of what I had purchased, but I wanted to find more education and options. By the time my clients get to me, they have tried everything, the vitamins, supplements, and topicals that sometimes work and sometimes do not.
They want hair, and I wanted to give it to them. As a hairdresser and a colorist, I am able to take those hairpieces and customize them and make them exactly what the client wants. At first, it was very difficult to find an education. I found one class in Minneapolis that I went to. I was somewhat satisfied with the results for a while, but I was frustrated with the limitations that the hair systems would give me.
Follow your true north. Know what you’re passionate about and just follow that and take it as far as you can.
My clients wanted longer hair or different colors and better hair quality. I reached out. I spent a lot of time looking for educators and found a wonderful mentor down in the San Diego area who was doing the non-surgical hair restoration. I went and took some of her classes, started using her techniques, and aligned myself then with some different manufacturers. Over the course of time, I figured out what works and what does not work.
Did it surprise you? It surprises me a little bit that it is difficult to journey as it appears. The reason I say that is because women make up 90% of the salon client. They are the ones that come in and spend money on a regular basis. We have always heard that a woman’s hair is her crown. It is her glory. Yet you would have thought that this would have been something that has progressed further or would have been more popular, for lack of a better way to put it.
It is because hair replacement professionals do not talk to hairdressers. It is a different business model. Hair replacement, a lot of times, is geared towards men instead of women. I hold a lot of hope for that because we are seeing more celebrities come out and talk about the hairpieces that they wear. I have seen it on some morning shows where they unclip their hair, take it out, and hold it.
Celebrities have been wearing them forever.
It is becoming more out of the shadows and into the mainstream. There is a huge need for it. Last research I did, over 40 million women in America alone are suffering from fine and thinning hair problems. Who better than their hairdresser to talk to them about it and help them find a solution?
You have a million hairstylists out there saying there is not enough business. It is like, “Here is this low-hanging fruit.” I was reflecting on John’s questions around being such a big opportunity and why we have not transitioned there. There is the piece behind the chair where somebody starts to lose their hair, and you are noticing it, but there is that weird, “Do I say anything or not say anything?” Did you experience that at all? I remember experiencing that. They would say, “It does not look bad.” Even talking about the topic, how do you bring that topic up? Maybe they are already coming to you for that purpose. What would you suggest?
They are coming to me for it because I have become known for it. I do remember that fear of telling the client. It was because I was afraid that I was going to lose them as a customer. We all try to build our clientele and hold onto those clients. Now, people are coming to me for it because I have built a reputation in the area. It is an open discussion. In fact, if a client does not have fine and thinning hair concerns at this point, they are not my client. I can send them to another hairdresser, which is great.
If people had a few simple solutions that they could offer them, be it as a topical treatment, there are some fantastic treatments on the market that are working. I have seen results with my own clients who are still wearing hair and are offering them something as simple as a small hairpiece, like a park closer, that could give them that extra fullness and body in their hair. That could be a new revenue source for hairdressers and also makes the client more locked into you for client building because the client needs you to help them with these hairpieces. There are no hairpieces that come out of the box that is ready to wear.
You said locked in. I know you just met loyal, but it is a sacred conversation to see somebody. Maybe they come in and have a bad top or something, but they are still wearing it because a bad topper is better than my thinning hair that I am self-conscious about that I will put a bad wig on to cover that up. When you guys have that relationship, there is also the, “You have seen me at my most vulnerable time.” It is different than getting a haircut.
It is completely different. One of the things that your client is going to want is some privacy to discuss this. In my new space, I built out three separate private rooms where I can talk to my clients, and nobody can see what is going on. It is intimidating for a client with fine and thinning hair to go into a big salon. Some clients are open and do not even care, but a lot of them do not want anybody to know and see what is happening.
We have private rooms. They all have windows so they can see out, but no one can see in. It is a nice comforting environment. If you do not have a private room available and you are going to talk to a client about their fine and thinning hair, my advice would be, you can find a little private area or a far back station in the salon. That would be best for them because it takes that pressure off.
One of the things you said was this disconnect between the hairdresser and hair restoration experts. I want to talk a little bit about how a hair restoration expert sees things differently from a hairdresser.
It is on the hairdresser’s side more than the hair restoration because they are doing hair like we are, but the hairdressers, a lot of them, do not think about this as an option. They just think about color, cutting, up dues, and styling for weddings, special events, and photoshoots. They do not consider this an option, so they do not look for it.
I found that it was difficult to find information, but once I got onto it, I joined a professional association called the American Hair Loss Council. They have a symposium every year, not the last few years because of COVID, but there is one coming up in September 2022 that I will be attending. I am excited because it is pure education. People are sharing how they are doing the types of work they are doing and some hands-on classes.
It opens your eyes as to what is available. The disconnect is from the hairdresser side of it. There is nothing wrong with that. If you are passionate about hair color or cutting, by all means, do that. If you are noticing that your clients are coming in and having these concerns, it might be something that you would want to consider. I used to own a big salon until a few years ago. We had 26 stylists. Out of the 26 stylists, we had 4 people who were interested in what I was doing. That is okay. It is not for everyone. I am all right with that.
The great thing about it is while there may be a lack of education, it is something we do not cover well in beauty school. I do not think there is that exposure to it but it is as important for those who want to go down that road. It can be quite lucrative. You can make a great living at this if you decide to either specialize in it as you do or even add it to your spectrum.
That is how I first started. I added it to my list of services. When somebody would purchase a small hairpiece or topper, I would bring in maybe 1 or 2 additional pieces so that I would have something to show people. That is key because if people can see what it is, they can capture the vision for what it is for themselves. It is very lucrative. When California shut down, I shut down for three months because everybody was shut down. Nobody knew what was happening. Nobody had any clue.
They were opening essential businesses. Because I do medical hair loss now, I do a lot of chemotherapy patients and alopecia patients. That is considered an essential business. Even being shut down, I made multiple six figures doing what I do. I was only seeing the medical hair loss clients, not just my regular people who have fine and thinning hair, heredity or hormonal, or nobody was going out. My cancer patients needed their wigs. My alopecia patients needed some small bonding pieces if they had alopecia in one area, that sort of thing.
Let me ask you about that. I know it is like a sidetrack, but that is one of the things that a lot of hairdressers come in contact with. We do not know enough about it. We get confused by it. Is Alopecia areata in a spot?
Yes.
Why does it happen?
We wish we knew. The Alopecia association is still studying. It is an auto-immune condition. A lot of people who have it have other auto-immune illnesses besides. I have a client who is two years old with alopecia totalis. She has no hair on her whole body. The mother brought her in for a consultation. I have six-year-olds and people in their teens.
If it is alopecia areata, we can custom make a small polyurethane. I call it a skin graft. It is not a graft, but we graft it with medical-grade adhesives to the area where they are experiencing hair loss. It blends and goes right in with their own hair, and you would never know it. They have to come back to have that maintained because our bodies will reduce the efficacy of the adhesives. It will meltdown. It is perfectly seamless and totally flat. No one would ever know. You can swim and do everything.
Let’s talk about the different types of options because when we were in the warm-up conversation, you mentioned that there were some things that you had tried. They gave you some answers, but not all. Take us through the categories of that. What does that look like?
I want to build on that journey that Chris talked about. What happens is you start off with all things you learn, like a bicycle. You start with training wheels, and then you get the two-wheel bike. The next thing you know, mine has an engine on it. You move up that scale for hair replacement and hair restoration. Walk us through that journey, “I started here, then this happened.” How does that process go for those who are like, “I want to go down that road and learn?” What does that look like?
First, I started by looking at some clip-on toppers. Some of my favorite companies get clip-on toppers from our genre and a company called Dimples. I believe they have the most natural and best-looking toppers out there. Most toppers that I see on people have way too much hair on them, and they do not look natural. When somebody does not have enough hair to clip a topper on, the first course that I found out about, and it was the first course that was actually being marketed to hairdressers, was called Evolve Hair Systems. It is a beading system where you use little tiny microbeads to attach the hairpiece to the client’s own biological hair.
Is that similar to the way they do a beaded weft except for a smaller bead?
It is much smaller. With a beaded weft, a lot of times, they will do a track. There are no tracks with the type of method that I use. Speaking about things that I do not feel work is the kind with the track where they put a track in and that they bead or so the hairpiece on. They are bumpy and do not look natural. It is simply my opinion. I like the hair to lay flat and look like it is growing out of the scalp. When it is too thick or bumpy, it does not look natural.
The beading is wonderful for people who have some of their biological hair and do not want to wear a wig. We do a lot of the beading process. I started having clients who were having trouble with fibrosing alopecia, which starts here in the front and starts going back and lose all their hair in the front all the way back where there is nothing to bead to.
I started learning about medical bonding. We use medical-grade adhesives that attach the hairpiece to the skin of the scalp over the hair. We never shaved the biological hair because my clients do not want to lose a single strand. We bond that onto their scalp. That is a completely flat installation. People can put their hands through their hair and never feel anything. They wear that for about eight weeks, and they have to come back. We adjust that, take it off, clean everything and do it.
They can swim with it, shower, sleep, everything. Those are for people who have a situation like fibrosing alopecia but do not want to wear a wig because wigs can be hot, uncomfortable, and heavy. They want to get up in the morning and look beautiful. They do not want to have their hair off and have to put it on to answer the door.
That was my question that was firing off as you were sharing. You answered it, but I want to ask, being in Florida. Here I am, I am in Florida, Johnson, Georgia, a hot, muggy state with humidity. I am curious about the weight of the toppers that you are talking about if a person’s lifestyle is active.
I like to use toppers that do not have a ton of hair on them because it does not look natural to me. Some people like a lot of hair. I do a few of those. We are talking about grams in weight. They are light and airy. I brought one out to show what a base might look like. It is pretty small. This thing weighs like a feather. The hair moves naturally.
This one would be a candidate for a beading or a clip-on type of hairpiece. The ones with a little wider polyurethane edge are the ones that we can do the bonding with. They are very light. Because their own biological hair is part of the style, it becomes truly seamless. People do not even know. If it is hot or humid, it is not a problem. Whereas, with a wig, it is a problem.
Tell me a little bit more about this medical-grade adhesive because when I hear medical-grade adhesive, I hear glue. There is more to it than that. What I mean by that is one of the things you would say is that we do not shave the head. What little hair is still there, we want to hold on to. I would think that medical-grade adhesive might pull some of that off. How does it stick to the head? Is it sweaty? I know one of the things we are talking about is humid weather. Tell me a little bit more about that. That is interesting.
First of all, there are about 25 different kinds of adhesives. Sometimes, it is an experiment to find out what works best with a person’s own body chemistry. The adhesives typically are a soft bond, which means when they go on, they will firm up, but they never get particularly dry or stiff. It does not work like that. When their body heat keeps the adhesive nice and malleable or pliable, they will press the edges down, and it keeps it on to their skin instead of the hair because the adhesive does not have a brain.
It does not know not to grow out with the hair. When it is warm, they will press their edges. It holds it back down onto the scalp. By the time they come back in for their servicing, their hair has melted down, or their own body oils and acids have disintegrated a lot of that adhesive. We call it a meltdown because it starts to liquefy.
I use orange oil, or you can even use olive oil. We massage it gently in and go very slowly. We comb out the adhesive. I have bond-breaking shampoos that will break that adhesive down. Most of my clients find that their own biological hair improves because they are not stressing it out and trying to blow it. It is protected. They are not doing so much to it. There will be shedding when they take that off because our hair sheds up to 200 hairs a day.
Sometimes, when you are combing through, you will get a little bit in the comb, but I assure the client that this is what they naturally shed. It was trapped in between the hairpiece and the adhesive. It is a gentle process. There is virtually no pain. It is quick if they wait long enough to take it off. If they try to do it too soon, it is a little more difficult. I have ways of getting that off too.
That meltdown is almost part of the process, where eight weeks later, your body is going to take this down a little bit with the oils and the perspiration that your scalp develops. It is like, “I have been in here eight weeks. It is going to start falling apart now, which is perfect because it is time to be replaced anyway.” You are using nature to your advantage at that point.
To assure people, it does not ever fall off. I still have to remove it. They are not going to be walking down the street, and it is going to slide off their head. That does not happen.
I am sure there is a reason for it. Why would a person choose a wig over a topper? I know that the topper is primarily the top. That is why we say that. I am wondering if there are other people who choose not to have a topper and go for a wig instead. What would be the reason for that?
Some people want to change their look every day. I have clients that have entire hair wardrobes. “Today, I will be a brunette. I want to be a redhead tomorrow.” That would be one of the reasons they would want to change it. Some people feel that wigs are easier to care for only because they have to shampoo them after about ten wearings. It is like your hair. You have to shampoo it every day or every three days. I typically tell them to do it every three days.
They have to blow it and style it. I have a lot of people that bring me their wigs and drop them off. I style them. They come and pick them up. That is another revenue source for me. I do that in between customers. Some people cannot do a topper if their hair loss is medical, especially chemotherapy-induced. That skin is so sensitive that there is no way that we can put anything on that. Even in some cases with the fibrosing alopecia, it is the same thing. Their skin is sensitive.
There are wigs that are formulated more for that sensitive skin.
I recommend the hand-tied wigs. They have a soft base. It is stretchy. It has a silk top. This is gentle on their skin. It has a little silicone here so that it won’t slip. They have some tape tabs that could be used, but it is fully stretchy and breathable. Something like this, a hand-tied wig, whether it is a synthetic wig or a human hair wig, is what I recommend for people that are having sensitive skin issues due to chemotherapy or a medical condition. One thing I wanted to point out is with the toppers, it has to be human hair. You cannot sleep in a synthetic topper because synthetic is a fiber. When it rubs against something, it becomes frayed. It will get frizzy. If they are going to sleep in the hair, it has to be human hair.
There are toppers where somebody would do synthetic versus human hair.
A lot of the toppers come in synthetic or human hair. That is for whether they just want good hair every day.
It is funny that you mentioned how people might have different wigs for different looks. I remember growing up as a kid, my mom had two wigs in the house. She had names for them. One was a brunette, and one was a blonde. I can remember my mom growing up going out with my dad. If it was a night out, she had the blonde wig. I forgot the name of it, but I am going to have to do some research. It had a name, and it went out with my dad on the weekend.
A popular show, Schitt’s Creek, was a cable show. Moira wore wigs every single day. I thought that was great for my industry.
As far as you call it an industry, you mentioned in our warm-up conversation that there are not many people who even do what you do in the State of California, much less. You gave me some statistics around that. I can’t remember what they were.
I did some research in Southern California. In Orange County, which is where I am located, there are over 3 million people who live here. Of all of those people, there are three people who do what I do. I am one of them. Roughly, maybe half if we are looking at the female. This is a lucrative industry if you take on male clients as well. I have always done more female hair, so I am better at it. I stick with my strengths.
Let’s be honest. Guys are a pain in the butt.
I have a coworker. She does more for men than women.
You gave us the option of taking a peek at your online course. In there, you said you are a heart-based business, meaning you are doing this because this is near and dear to you. There is the money part. There is also the fact that you get to help people out. John has a story about a chemotherapy patient that did not choose. He had this person in his chair. She looked great with short hair, and he kept saying, “You should grow it out,” but she said, “John, I did not choose this.” They did not choose it, and now they need to cover up. I imagine the bond there is a strong one between the two of you.
It is incredible. When I can help people look like they did years ago and see themselves in the mirror, about 90% of them cry the first time. They become overwhelmed. We like to put on this veneer of toughness and, “It does not bother me,” but the reality is this is deep inside of them. It bothers them. They see themselves looking like they did before, and they can’t help it, but they shed a tear. I turned people around. They are watching most of the time. Sometimes, I will have them turned a little with the blow-dry. They see themselves, and I see them see themselves. I get goosebumps all over my body. I call them my God bumps because I know it is good.
Chris, to share with you the story of the client that I had when I was behind the chair, her name was Alison. I had five clients who went through that hair loss challenge with cancer. Those five clients are the people I have the strongest bond. To your point, there was such an emotional connection because you go through the whole journey, the hair loss, complete balding, the grow back period, and then sometime in the future, it gets back to normal.
For a lot of people, that is years. They go through that and go on that journey with people. Even Chris remembers the story. I had that relationship with 4 or 5 clients. I wonder what that is like when all of your clients are going through that. Not necessarily cancer, but that challenge of hair loss, and you made me feel like myself again.
It is amazing. The most rewarding thing that I have ever done in my career is to help these people. My heart is right there for them. They know that I care.
With all of this heart being the top of mind, I want to talk about money because this is a business venture for you, and you have turned it into a course. We are going to get there. Generally speaking, can you give us a little bit of guidance on pricing and what that looks like?
Service-wise, I have done my census, and I know I am right in there with all the servicing. I am talking about the service cost. For me, to do a bonding hairpiece is $225. If they get a color service or anything else at the same time, that is additional on top of that. If they do the beading, I am fast at it. My pricing model is more about how much time things take me, coupled with my expertise. My beading service is $95. They are coming in for that about every six weeks. Anything else is à la carte, like if they get a color, weave, or a haircut. That is all à la carte on top of that. For a pretty nice human hair topper, it is around $500 to $600 for the hairpiece.
For wigs, the sky is the limit. I sell some wigs that are upwards of $4,000, but the average topper that people buy for bonding is around $1,200 to $1,400. I have accounts with people. My cost is not that. The general markup on hair is 2 to 2.5 times the cost. The reason for that is because sometimes, a hairpiece will go bad, and you might need to eat it. The manufacturers may not stand behind you.
Fortunately, I have pretty much weeded out all of those manufacturers at this point. I only work with people who will stand behind me. They know that I know what I am talking about when I say this hair has an issue or the cuticles are wrong. On the average ticket, let’s say somebody just came into me, bought a topper, and we did the bonding service. It was around $2,000.
The first thing you said was $225. That is for the bonding service. How did we get to the $2,000? Are we talking about the hair?
They are buying the hair at around $1,500 to $1,600. They will buy some products to maintain it at home. They may get their hair colored in the process. It was around $2,000.
How long do you typically spend with a full-service client like that?
Two and a half hours. My cost of the hair system would be around $600 or $700. The markup is on that.
I am going through the math. If I buy it for $600, you are selling it for $1,200, maybe $1,500. When you come back in about eight weeks, does the topper have to be completely replaced? How long does it last?
No. Most people have a topper for about six months and then get a new one.
That is two a year.
Some people have three. Most of my clients have multiple hairpieces. They are always buying one ahead, so they always have one in reserve. We are rotating two, and then there is one ahead. I also have found a ventilator who can repair hairpieces for me. We can send them in, and they can repair them, add hair to them and bring them back so they can get another three months’ wear out of them.
I know this is going to sound silly, but what does the ventilator do?
A ventilator adds hair to hairpieces. They tie hair onto hairpieces by hand.
That is a craft in itself.
Prior to this conversation, you sent John and me a couple of teaser videos of what to expect in your online course. We both were super impressed. Tell us a little bit about your course.
Over the years, I have incorporated a lot of the techniques I have learned. I have learned what works for me and what works for my clients. In my course, I am sharing three different techniques that I use. One is the beading technique. The bonding technique is the second. The third is a hybrid technique where the hair is bonded in the front and the bead in the back. That is for people with the fibrosing alopecia who do not necessarily want a full bonded piece but want to lay perfectly flat in the front. I also discuss wigs and toppers and tell you how to bring that into your business.
There is a manual to follow along, and there are some fill-ins. It is interactive. During the course, you see it from two perspectives. You will watch it from the front. My videographer shot most everything right over my shoulder. You see the hairdresser’s perspective, which is important. I discuss marketing your product, how to be good on social media, and how to find clients, which is the hardest thing at first, but now, they find me, so it is easy. The course consists of ten lessons and an introduction. I have to look at it again. It is about to launch.
I had the chance to watch the introduction. It is better than good. It made me understand what I was getting myself into and your expertise around it. There are a lot of online courses out there. It made me go like, “Debora is the specialist in this.” One of a very few people in this country who do what you do.
The hybrid method I was talking about is something that I created myself out of need. That is my own creation. These are things that work successfully and consistently in my business. I use them day in and day out. If somebody were interested in the course, they would also get some coaching calls directly with me because there will be questions. I tried my best to put everything in there. There will be questions that will come up. They will get to Zoom calls with me, and then additional coaching is available as well.
My plan is to expand upon this and go into a deep dive into some of the other aspects of what I do, like how you color a hairpiece. It is completely different than coloring a regular hair because the hair has been processed and some of the cuticles are gone, and there are porosity issues and other things that you have to determine.
Even cutting is different than how you cut regular hair. You have to do everything soft and gentle and how to do custom molds of people’s heads because sometimes a standard piece is not going to fit them, and I do custom ordering things like that. I plan to expand the course. I have learned over the years who I like to work with and who supports me in my business. That is part of the course as well. People would have everything they would need to start incorporating this into their business.
This has been a strong conversation. I love that we approached a topic that we never get to talk about. To Debora’s point at the beginning of the conversation, maybe we do not know how to talk about, or we do not even know where to look for solutions because we have been kept away from the solutions, or we have kept ourselves away from the industry education. I am pulling away a ton. John, there is a ton here. What are you pulling away from this episode?
I learned a whole bunch of stuff. I love that whenever we do a show, I walk away with, “I learned some stuff.” If I go through the list, I will end up repeating the entire episode. I love the fact that there are these options for lots of our clients who need our support and need that help. I learned a lot about the technical stuff, which I liked learning about the medical-grade adhesive and the science and the chemistry a little bit. In the end, the fact that we, as an industry, can offer this to our clients, the folks who need that opportunity to feel like themselves again, is awesome. I would love to see what we can do within our own company to help facilitate.
The need is huge, and the amount of people who do it is very small.
Debora, thank you for your time.
Debora, knowing we have got everybody from cosmetology school students on up that read, is there anything you think we left on the table, or do you want to leave us with some words?
I would encourage everybody to check it out, do their own research, look at what is available out there, and see how this is changing people’s lives. If you want to be involved, there is education that is available.
What is the course called, by the way?
It is called the FullStrands Method Non-Surgical Hair Restoration.
Everybody, please check it out.
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Every time we have one of these conversations, I walk away with a little bit more than I knew before I came in. I loved that about these episodes.
We also walk away with a lot of gratitude to our readers. We were watching those listings go up. We hate to ask, but we know there are a few things we need to ask for.
For those of you who have not heard me ask for more five-star reviews, you got the phone in your hand and it is done on your lap. I do not care where it is, but it is not that far away from you. You know you want to do it, and you love this show. Share it with the world because every time you create a five-star review, an angel gets its wings.
While that angel is getting his wings, it helps us move up and become more noticed in the podcast world. Help share the message. If you are being served by this, which we hope you are, we would love for you to share that with some other salon owners. The other thing we are going to ask you to do is to follow us on Instagram @124.Go, as well as on Facebook. We are going to get more active on our Facebook page. If you are a Facebooker, then follow us on Facebook @124GO. If you are a Grammer, please tag us in your Stories, and we will do the same in ours. Thanks again for reading, everybody. We will see you on the next episode.
I help women recover their dignity and self esteem by addressing their fine and thinning hair challenges.
I specialize in top of the head hair systems and offer many attachment methods.
I also hold classes for other stylist to teach the art of alternative hair so they may help their clients who suffer from thinning hair.
Specialties: Expert color formulation, Corrective color, Educator.
