We recently connected with Livi Poppleton-Pitcher and have shared our conversation below.
Livi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. 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?
Hi! I am Livi, pronouns She/They. I’ve been so lucky that my job is literally giving people beautiful, angelic, fun, alternative hair. However it’s taken me almost 4 years to get to the point where I get to do alternative hair full time. In the beginning of hair school I didn’t even know that something like what I am doing now was even attainable. Once I was in hair school & I started venturing on social media, I found people that did alternative hair full time & I was inspired to one day be like them. I would take any fun colors that came into the school & begged my loved ones to let me give them alternative hair. From there I grew my clientele, tried to only post stuff on social media that I wanted to be doing but was still taking a lot of clients that didn’t want the stuff I wanted to do & it always gave me so much anxiety. I’ve always struggled with anxiety & depression and began worrying that this industry might not be for me but during this time of graduating school, building my own business & navigating my mental health, i started to realize the lack of queer representation behind the chair and a safe space for queer people in the chair. i became super passionate about providing a safe space for queer people to express themselves. Embracing my queerness and other peoples queerness thru their hair helped me realize that I could do whatever I wanted, so I closed my books & only started taking new clients that wanted alternative hair. That was about two years ago when I decided to flip my whole business model around & center it around a safe alternative environment for queer folk & like minded people, i left the salon i had been working at & moved to a new one, The Parlor, from there i worked on building up my alternative hair clientele & also during that time fell in love with cutting hair. After about a year at the Parlor i made the big leap to my own studio space with my best friend who is a nail tech. Together we have created our dream safe space in our suite called Apex Creative Studio. I think looking back I don’t think I would have been able to speed up the process of where I am at now but if I could have given younger Livi any advice, i would remind them that their hard work pays off & she deserves to be happy & fulfilled with their job.
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 got into this industry because my mom believed in me. At 19 years old I had little to no ambition & had no interest in a traditional college route. My mom reminded me that as a kid it was always my dream to be a Hair Artist. She set up an interview at my local hair school & the rest is history. I knew immediately after graduating that I wanted to be my own boss so I went straight into booth renting at local salons until i was able to open my own suite. It took a lot of discipline, late nights, sacrifice & a lot of mental health work to get here. The services I provide are called Creative Coloring & Creative Haircutting. I specialize in creating a clients dream alternative hair, that matches their lifestyle. I pride myself in being & using products that are sustainable, cruelty-free, & ethically sourced. I love to help my clients feel more like themselves. I pride myself on being judgement free & making clients feel safe & comfortable in my chair. One of my favorite services to perform are gender affirming haircuts & hair coloring services. I am very proud to have an alternative route to traditional hair salon/stylists, i want anyone that sits in my chair to leave feeling happy, confident in managing their hair at home & like they left with a new friend.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
I read the book “The Mountain is You” by Brianna Wiest. I genuinely believe everyone should read that book, it’s life changing!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that my art gets to be on peoples heads lol! I love that a haircut or a new color can transform someone’s self confidence or make them feel more like themselves & they get to wear it everyday proudly for everyone to see & it’s so beautiful to be a part of that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://livithehairwitch.glossgenius.com/
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/Livithehairwitch
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@livithehairwitch?_t=8cmTiUtfz9W&_r=1
Image Credits
for the photo of myself (first one) the photographer is Shelby Hansen IG: @shelbannhan.photo