We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Henderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. Let’s go back in time a bit – can you share a story of a time when you learned an important lesson during your education?

Well, starting off I’d say going to Cosmetology school was a great plan, in theory. I never understood the phrase “you get what you pay for” until I went to the only school I could afford. The year I was in school was one of the most stressful of my life! During my cosmetology school we learned to do a lot of things including but not limited to all things hair, skin and nails. We also learned how to keep a building dry. Sweep water out of the building, hide issues when the building was being inspected for being condemned and we went through instructors like most people change their clothes. Our color was never even in the English language (we learned to color swatch them so we knew what we were learning) and we learned as soon as we graduated that we knew nothing from beauty school! This led me to seek out all the education I could find in my industry and then turned into working for the amazing brand JOICO. For this I say the phrase “you get what you pay for!” has always stuck with me. Each time I have grown and evolved and eventually opened my own salon I knew I wanted to give that to my clients as well! I want them to love what they get and it wouldn’t be possible if I hadn’t used that motto to grow and learn myself!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I’d love to introduce myself! For those who don’t know me my name is Michelle Henderson but I go by Miki, it’s what I’ve been called my whole life, so much so I have looked confused when they call me Michelle!
I’m a wife to the best husband around, mother to 3 amazing children(19,17,16), salon owner, brand educator as well as I stand behind the chair full time creating magic for my clients! I specifically live for all things related to color. To me it doesn’t matter if I’m creating the perfect blonde, that stunning red hair or my personal favorite painting in rainbow as long as I’m creating I find joy in the task!

A little on my journey and back story, I have always wanted to be in the cosmetology field, from a young age it intrigued me, after high school I learned my dreams would take a while to achieve. I was expecting my first child and starting school once and not finishing, I felt like my dream would never be achieved. Fast forward 5 years and my second child I met my husband and he pushed me to reach for my goals! Always being my biggest fan! After a wild ride in school I finished and started working for a chain, which wasn’t fun or what I wanted at all.
After 6 months I opened my own salon and have been pushing for the sky since! I’ve now owned my own space for 9 years. I currently have a 3 chair, one lash tech salon! It’s truly my dream space with a dream team of stylists!

I think for my clients who have been with me they have seen the growth in my abilities and I’m so thankful for them.
With each client we give them a full service space! We use JOICO and MalibuC for each of our guests and we create a service that fits them best. To do this I have taken so many extra courses specializing in blonde, color correction and intensity color as well as cuts and styles! I think that’s what sets me and my salon apart from others. Going back to the motto “you get what you pay for” I couldn’t offer a variety of services without the education I have paid for!

Lastly I’d say for future guests! We welcome you with open arms! We truly believe that everyone who walks into our space is treated equally and with nothing but the best respect out there! I want every single guest to feel invited and welcomed and when they leave they want to return!

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I love this question because it’s so relevant in my career! In the Hair industry you truly build personal relationships with each guest who chooses you. For me being a brand educator I do travel a lot, between teaching for the brand or taking education to stay up to date myself. All of this goes hand in hand. For me personally I refuse to double book, this is controversial to some stylists, but I feel like you stay connected. I enjoy that one on one with each of my guests and because of that it helps me stay connected to them! I’ve built so many amazing friendships from clients this way and it also goes into the brand loyalty aspect because each guest knows if I share a brand I love it is because I truly have learned the brand and it stands out for me to share with them! I could have picked other brands to educate for but I chose JOICO because I stand with their look on hair, it’s called the healthy hair company for a reason! They definitely co-exist with me!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

100% word of mouth is our biggest way to bring new guests into the salon! When your clients love their experience and hair as much as we do they tell everyone who did it for them! I love my clients using my hashtag as well #mikididit because that draws them to my social media as well. I have had clients come from other spaces and the reason for leaving is they feel unheard. We strive to never have that in our space!

Secondly I’d definitely say social media! We live in a digital world, it’s a part of our everyday life from tiktok to Instagram and even Facebook or Pinterest without social media you are missing a huge market of potential guests!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sugarandspice.pro/
• Instagram: @mikiatsugarandspicesalon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikiHendersonStylist
• Other: Tiktok-mikiatsugarandspice