We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Adriana Anguiano. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Adriana below.
Hi Adriana , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
the standard for the hair industry has been the same for the last 100 years – flowing, shiny straight hair. length, color and style change based on the current trends, but always straight. That started to change about 15 years ago with the curly hair movement, which has really gotten stronger since the panny! I found that movement on YouTube in 2012, after 3 years of religiously straightening my hair ever since I received my first compliment from a boy in the 6th grade. at that point I hated the damage I caused to my hair and wanted to embrace my natural curls and dedicate time to it. After 3 years of biweekly washing, treatments and hours of practicing styling I finally achieved the hair of my dreams; thick, waist length, shiny curly hair. with it I attracted so much attention, 1st semester of senior year I had almost 30 people stop me. especially at target, I lived in a mostly white suburb of Columbus Ohio, so it was mostly white moms with their biracial kids coming up to me asking for advice and those stuck out the most to me, even back then I saw the potential in all of these people with very dry, damaged curls. I gave them hope by explaining step by step how to care for their hair, because if I could do it, anyone can! 11 years later I am living my dream of teaching hundreds of people every year how simple it can be to learn how to achieve their dream hair, and now teaching my fellow cosmetologists how to service the Coily, Curly and Wavy community
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was fortunate to not only know what I wanted to do before I graduated high school, but to have supportive parents. I went to the Aveda Institute of Cosmetology full time fresh out of high school. during my year at Aveda I learned many valuable lessons, how to give an exceptional salon experience along with great fundamentals for the rest of my career. I ddi not learn curly hair there, I spent the next 3 years honing my skills while working exclusively on coily, curly and wavy hair. once I thought I was ready to be on my own I talked with my parents and we decided the rest of my savings that they intended for college would go to converting a space in their Tax business into my beautiful Curly Top Studio <3 I opened in July of 2019, so my first full year of business was a doozy. 4 years later I am so proud of what I have created. my studio is a safe space where I get to meet hundreds of people a year and teach them that there is hope. so may people of all walks of life are in despair. they believe their hair is untamable, damaged beyond repair and they are stuck with troublesome hair forever. so many come with trauma of all types; bullying from loved ones/strangers on the appearance of their hair, trauma from the salon experience, hair stylists humiliating them because of their hair density, hygiene, hair stylists butchering the haircut -which can take up to 5 years to reverse- and people with sensory processing disorders not being able to enjoy their experience. I offer patience, I accommodate to everyone’s needs, whether it be teaching the fundamentals or going slow and explaining the process until the client is comfortable to proceed. and to some people, most importantly- i only cut however much hair you are comfortable cutting. I don’t bully or shame people if their routine isn’t perfect, I guide them to making small, sustainable changes towards a healthy routine.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I started posting in cosmetology school, even tho I didn’t receive many curly clients in school, I posted what I was proud of, and haven’t deleted it. I worked at a salon that at first allowed me to post my work, so for two years that’s what I did. due to their old fashioned way of thinking, they told me I was no longer allowed to post on my personal. hair account. I think too many people asked for Adriana instead of the salon and they hated that for me. 3 days before my 21st birthday I burned that bridge and got fired, (the first note I snuck that I was leaving got found…I regret, but I’m happy it forced me to leave, which I don’t think I would’ve done on my own) I decided to open up the studio, but had to delete every single picture I posted of my coily, curly, and wavy clients that I did in that salon. 5 client selfies remained on my page. that was one of the worst moments, I grew up with instagram so i was so attached to my feed and all the content. i also have a very hard name to remember, so my clients from those days couldnt find me, and I didn’t have access to their info. so I picked myself up and started doing hair at my parents house for pictures while the salon was being built. that took me form 15 clients to 50 by the time I opened. I was doing so good, posting and receiving lots of word of mouth clients. then march of 2020 came and remarkably, I blew up during lockdown without having to do a single head of hair. I didn’t cancel the 20 appts I had on my books during the lockdown, so they received a notification, which my clients would screenshot, then post on their stories. when I opened back up I was on a roll, servicing my growing clientele and posting semi regularly. by 2021 I had almost 500 clients registered on my. booking site. that showed me the importance of posting and how you can grow your numbers significantly
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
in 2021 I achieved what I thought was impossible, I had turned 15 clients to 500 in 2 years, with a pandemic sprinkled in the middle. but by 2022 i was in the worst mental state in my life. I realized I fumbled my bag, I bit of way more than I could chew and was loosing clients left and right. I had the clients but didn’t have a system in place to maintain them. I wasn’t using a booking link to streamline the booking process, I wasn’t keeping up with inventory of backbar or retail products. I wasn’t resting, eating healthy, sleeping enough, you name it. I hit rock bottom when I was constantly humiliated when I realized it was taking me 1-3 months to text clients and family members back. I would recive 80 messages a week and would only respond to a handful every week. I eventually had enough and boss babed my way to where I am now. my partner, Eddy, is a huge part of the salon, he made me realize I couldnt handle everything that running a busy salon entails. he helped me figure out the mess I created. I implemented a booking system with forms, raised my prices and figured out the best schedule for my success. one year later I am in shock at how happy I am and how balanced my life is
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vagaro.com/curlytopstudio
- Instagram: @adrianacurlytop
- Youtube: @adrianacurlytop
Image Credits
@alexisnicolephotos Alexis Rongo