We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jacob Dela Torre. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jacob below.

Alright, Jacob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I graduated from Arrojo Cosmetology in NYC in 2016. Shortly thereafter, I applied to five top salons in NYC, and was invited to join all of my prospects’ teams, but ultimately decided to do my apprenticeship at the well-known Marie Robinson salon in Flatiron.

It was there that my real in-depth training began. Having started my hair career a bit later than most, I wanted to gain as much knowledge as fast as possible. My hard work ethic, eagerness, and potential were quickly noticed; I assisted a handful of senior colorists and ultimately finished my apprenticeship under a year and a half.

While the goal is to always to be able to take clients yourself, looking back, I wished I had the opportunity to assist more colorists.

The truth is you never stop learning or atleast should never think you know everything.

Relocating two and a half years ago to Miami and having to learn an entirely new color line and using different type of lighteners took an adjustment. The reality is that the type of style of haircolor in Miami was just a different aesthetic to what I was used to doing.

I reached a low point during my first year in Miami; not only in my personal life but my professional one as well. But thankfully I didn’t give up; I buckled down and pushed myself to broaden my knowledge of haircolor even more.

I enrolled in a handful of online educational courses and feel and know that my skillset just keeps getting better and better. Always make it a priority to take atleast two educational classes a year; that’s a personal goal for myself moving forward.

Jacob, 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?

It took a while to figure out what kind of haircolorist I wanted to be. During my first years, I didn’t really have a specialty. As time went on, I found what I loved to do, and the type of hair that I’m proud of.

I specialize in custom lived-in blondes, brondes, and brunettes.

When a client comes in and shows me an inspiration picture, I break it down for them and customize it for their skin tone, texture, and also lifestyle. All in one look, I could be adding babylights mixed with textural highlights, elevating the color with lowlights, and finessing the look with either end highlights or a basin wet balayage.

What I’m most proud of is seeing my personal growth as a haircolorist as I continue to learn from other haircolorists.

So I appreciate the incredible talent that have gone to pursue an educational platform for other hairdressers to learn from. I’ve learned a greal deal from well-known colorists: Jaye Edwards, Daniel Mora, Kim Haberley, and Tia Lambourn.

And as I continue to grow, the quality of work I provide just keeps on getting better and better. And I can attribute that to further education. I’ll always strive to do my best whenever doing someone’s color because I know how impactful that can be to someone’s own outlook when looking at themselves in the mirror.

To some I might just do hair, but to me and countless other hairstylists, the work we do is transformative to someone’s self confidence and overall demeanor.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I’m actually in the process of growing my social media presence but in the short amount of time, I’ve put some real effort, my overall page has gained some traction.

Some pointers I’ve learned through various outlets are:

Posting consistently is key. And posting something that’ll garnish some interest as well.

For me, my following are other accounts in the hair industry as well as my clients; so posting something geared towards both audiences can help you grow.

And as a custom lived-in color specialist, I’ve tried to post my work that shows variations of that; so potential clients can see my work and get a feel for my general aesthetic.

Trying to figure out instagram’s algorithm can prove to be a headache, but what I’ve learned is to try to engage other accounts. So something I do is make sure to follow an account, like atleast five of their posts, and comment atleast twice on posts.

This type of engagement can help you gain followers in return.

And posting reels instead of typical photo posts have been helpful. The type of music I also post along with my reels I think helps people get a general sense of my personality, and instagram is after all a form
of story telling as well as our digital portfolio. People want to get to know you; so I try to show more of my personality.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being a haircolorist is the instant gratification from your clients when they first see the final result of your work. It’s like a chef’s kiss when you deliver and exceed expectations.

And being around like minded creatives provides such a great work environment to create. Being part of the House of Mane salon team has helped me hone in on my craft. I’m inspired by my fellow artists each and every day.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Jacobdoescolor
• Tiktok: jacobdoescolor