We were lucky to catch up with Kayla Macadaeg recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kayla , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes! I’m so thankful that for the past 6 years I’ve been able to make my living from doing hair, specifically coloring services. It didn’t start off this way that’s for sure, when I was in cosmetology school I had a part time job as a gymnastics coach, then immediately after graduation started as an assistant to a stylist in a small salon. After 4-6 month of assisting I started taking my own clients full time, it was hard at first paying my dues by taking anyone and everyone ( tons of walk ins , clipper cuts, blowouts), I hardly ever turned away a client. During this time (around 2017-2019) I was really focused on getting my work out there through Instagram so I’d share photos of my work, tips and tricks for at home styling etc. Slowly I started getting more and more clients from there that found me through local hashtags. Within my first 2 years I started becoming booked for 3 weeks out which felt like such a big mile stone for me, around that time was when I took the leap of opening my own suite through Sola Salons. 6 months after being in my studio is when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and my studio was closed for about 6 months, during that time I got to really hone in on the direction I wanted to go in with my career which was when I started to heavily market creative color and more alternative styles which is what I always wanted to do. So when we re-opened I had a huge influx of new clients that wanted these alternative types of coloring and cutting. When these amazing clients started coming in was when I could feel that this is what I was supposed to be doing, helping people express themselves with bright colors and patterns and placements. Those clients and many more have gotten me to where I am today which is booked 6 weeks out with a waitlist. I don’t think I could have or needed to speed up this process I think I needed to make all the changes and mistakes that I did in order to get to where I am .

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For starters my name is Kayla Macadaeg, I’m 25 years old, a Pisces (if you’re into astrology), and I’ve been in the hair industry for 7 years. Growing up I was always the friend that would help do peoples hair, whether that was styling it for a color guard competition, or frying my best friends hair off so she could have the perfect blue hair she always wanted. So when it came time to find something after highschool cosmetology school felt like a no brainer for me, and once I was there and learning I knew I was in the right place.

For my whole career in hair styling I’ve been a self proclaimed specialist in all things color , from color correction or painting a colorful abstract design on your hair. I’ve also been doing some work in special event type styling that I’m very excited to be doing nowadays.

A lot of the clients I see say that they’ve never felt completely comfortable asking for more alternative styles from more traditional stylists for fear of being judged or worries that they wouldn’t understand what they wanted and they’d leave dissatisfied, but after seeing me they feel completely comfortable and confident that I’ll understand them , and never judge them for wanting any type of color or cut . So I take pride in providing a comfortable, accepting environment for all types of people.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

When I was first starting using social media for my work was in cosmetology school. Back then it was very different then now most people including myself would only post the back of a clients head with a blurred background and a watermark with your @ stamped somewhere across the photo (the paranoia of your work getting stollen was weirdly high, especially for me a new stylist). Once I was actually working in a salon I started to look into what stylists I looked up to were posting and how they were building their platforms. The main thing I found was that they’re page offered more then just the hair, there was bit of their personal life, tips for styling hair at home, etc. So I started to incorporate those types of posts into my page starting with tips, story posts about my personal life , and more behind the scenes type of posts. I started to see a lot more engagement once I started doing this. Then in 2021 I started my TikTok account were I started posting hair transformations, mini vlogs , hair tutorials, and informational videos , I basically took the same principles I was using on my instagram and translated that to my tiktok. Now I get majority of my clients from tiktok and instagram.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I want to be able to help people fully express themselves through their hair. Your hair is a huge part of your external appearance, so finding a look that makes you feel like the best you is extremely important so being able to be a part of that journey with someone is what drives me to keep doing what I do.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kayla.hardcorehair
• Other: TikTok : @kayla.hardcore