We were lucky to catch up with Karina Jimenez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Karina, thanks for joining us today. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

As a stylist my career is very physically and emotionally draining. Knowing that Now, I would tell my younger self to better prepare for that. I would take work life balance more seriously. As a young stylist I would work insane hours and take every new client that was thrown my way in order to build my clientele. In hindsight, I would invest in more education to better understand my trade, which would allow me to concentrate, thrive and master skills, in order to build the niche clientele I have today a lot more rapidly. I would also take care of my physical health and emphasize that function is greater than fashion. My body is my tool, proper footwear and body position would ensure less ware and tear on myself. And finally, I would have advised to learn mor about mental health and proper boundaries. As a stylist, we are not only physically close but also emotionally close to our clients. Learning how to create emotional boundaries would have helped younger me to leave the job at the salon and allowed me to be present behind the chair when I returned to work. Which would then help me be present and give outstanding service.

Karina, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve worked in salon and behind the chair for about 20 years now. As long as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for styling hair. One of my earliest memories was being about five years old and teaching myself to braid on the tail of a my little pony. My grandmother recognized my talent and encouraged me to follow this dream. I would style friend’s and family members hair any chance I got, even styling for a whole quinceñera when I was 15. After graduating high school I attended cosmetology at a local community college full time during the day and was an assistant at my first salon in the evenings. Being able to work alongside true masters, while I was in school is partially what motivated me and truly helped me see the business and life I would be able to create for myself in the future. I worked long hours, asked questions, and took as many classes as possible to help cultivate my skills. When I finally became a stylist myself I worked 6 days a week, took every client that walked in the door and did a lot of work for free in order to make connections and grow my portfolio. There was about a decade of work I put in before I finally saw the fruits of my labor, a more flexible schedule and a solid clientele, which lead to a more steady income. Now, Thanks to social media I am able to attract and connect with my ideal client.
I market myself as a “lightening specialist” not a blonde specialist. I use the term lightening rather than blonding because everyone can be lighter, but not everyone can be blonde.This is the niche market I am. thriving in. I work with a variety of hair textures and colors, but mostly women of color. As a woc myself I personally understand and can empathize with the struggle of unflattering hair color, especially when going lighter. I pride myself in truly understanding color theory, and staying up to date on the latest trends to ensure my clients leave looking modern and trendy, but also feeling like themselves.

To me being a hairstylist isn’t just a job, it really is something I love. I’m grateful every day that I’m able to make a living doing something that fulfills me. I care about my relationships with my clients, the integrity of their hair and their trust. I have no problem telling someone no, when I don’t think a look or process would be right for them. Online reviews, are always great, but what truly makes me proud is when my client says they have never loved their hair more, when that thank me with a hug, a text and especially a referral.
My chair is a safe space for everyone and my goal is to help people fall in love with their hair.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Instagram is my social media platform of choice. It’s a free space to showcase your work and share immediately with new friends and clients anywhere. I ask every new client to follow my on IG and follow them right back. This helped me stay In direct contact with them. I would mostly share hair photos and a lot of before and after shots, which was getting a little monotonous. I was unsure of what else to showcase. But during 2020 when we were all out of work I began sharing a little more of myself and my life. That truly helped me connect more on a personal level with my clients. They got to know my life outside of the salon and were truly interested in me. Sharing some of my lifestyle really attributed to growing a clientele that not only liked my work behind the chair but also liked me as a person. I have learned to showcase only work that I love doing, not styles I don’t feel confident achieving.. I won’t share a purple and pink pixie haircut because it’s not something I specialize in and don’t want to attract that project to my chair. Advice I have for a new stylist would be: Not every stylist is great at every style and that’s ok. Find the niche you love and do it well.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most gratifying aspect of having a career as a creative is getting to see my artistic vision come to fruition daily. I have a canvas to work on in my chair and I am solely responsible for creating wearable art in 2.5 hours. My work isn’t in a museum, it’s on the streets of Los Angeles, a return client is so rewarding. To me, a referral is the highest form of praise I can receive. But to have an absolute stranger find me because they have seen my work somewhere online, trust me because they love what they saw and leave my chair in love with the look I have created for them is truly one of the most fulfilling parts of this job.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.Karinajhair.com
• Instagram: @karinaj.hair