Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Courtois

Samantha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

As I was going through some storage items, I came across my 6th grade year book. I opened it up and inside, under my name was my future dream; “To be a hair stylist”.
I actually completely forgot about this, but my 6th grade self manifested my future. In high school I gained a large interest in hair and makeup, and I took 2 years of Cosmetology at the local tech school. After graduating high school, I took a little time off and my Aunt pushed me back into my dream. She convinced me to give Cosmetology a chance, and I went back to school and got my license. After that, it was a blur. Time flies when your’e having fun, and its been 15 years of having fun doing what I love.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Overall, I think the road was relatively smooth, but everyone faces obstacles daily. Struggles can vary from personal goals, family issues, money, procrastination, etc… It’s important to not sweat the little things. The small daily struggles, I try to push though with a smile. Each day is a fresh start, and you have to keep telling yourself that when you’re feeling defeated.
When you’re getting started, it can be daunting building a clientele. It takes many years to get the clients you want and get the confidence and knowledge to support your guests.
I would say one of the biggest struggles for me was building a clientele. This takes YEARS. Do not give up! At the beginning you take what you can get, and that is ok! But over time you need to set boundaries with guests and know your limits. It is ok to let people go. The energy Vampires are not worth it, and once you start understanding your worth & boundaries it will become easier to let those people go and focus on the people who bring you joy.
(Don’t confuse this with people who are “picky”. It’s ok to challenge yourself and aim to please those picky people.)

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

It is hard for me to separate myself from the salon. Over the years it’s grown to be a large part of me, as well as my team.
As a team, we specialize in weddings. I would not be where am without this group.
We do over 180 weddings a year, and we absolutely love it. We do full hair and makeup and enjoy working with Brides and being apart of one of the biggest days of their lives. The joy on a Brides face when she looks in the mirror after we finish working on her, is what keeps our hearts beating. It is such a special moment we get to share with different woman every day, there is nothing like it!
What sets up apart from others? A few things.. Since we have all worked together for several years, we have a flow together that you can’t teach. We help each other, and work together to create a nice harmony. Unfortunately salons have a stigma of having catty stylists who fight or have drama. We are the complete opposite, and truly enjoy being around each other and enjoy empowering each other.
We are also lucky enough to be able to work with different cultures, skin tones, & hair textures. Where some artists may fall into a rut working on the same looks, it’s wonderful to be able to work on so many different kinds of bridal looks.
Being in the Cosmetology field, we are lucky we get to exercise our imagination & creativity all the time. In downtime continuing education is very important. The trends and techniques change all the time. Continuing to learn helps keeps work fun and allows you to change up old tired habits and keep you and your guests on your toes. Although we are known for working with Brides and weddings, each member of the staff also thrives with different day to day salon services. From Precision cuts, to trendy fantasy hair color to custom extensions there really isn’t anything we can’t do!

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?

I think we can all agree the Covid-19 Crisis is a time we don’t want to go back too. Although it was a tough time, I think everyone learned some things durning that time. We learned the importance of self care. Needing to be quarantined after a life where going to work sick was normal, was a difficult adjustment, but I think it was an important adjustment. Making sure to care for ourselves, and take sick time to ensure our guests and fellow staff would not be sick is now a routine practice. If a staff member is sick, we stay home or wear a mask to keep others safe.

Pricing:

• Wedding Makeup $100 & up
• Airbrush Makeup $120 & up
• Wedding Hair $100 & up
• Balayage $200 & up
• Precision Cutting $50 & up

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.5diamondsalon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/5diamondsalon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/5diamondsalon

Image Credits
Alexsandra Wiciel
Hien Nguyen
LittleFang Photo