We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Yancey a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Rachel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What can you share with us about the story behind how you found your key vendors?
So as some people may or may not know I have been trying to start my own stylist exclusive hair extension line for quite some time. While I spoke about my ideas I realized I was allowing others to take this and run with it, and that’s okay! But I didn’t want to just buy some random hair and that was the end. I took my time with finding honest vendors selling reliable and consistent products.
It HAD to be 100% Remy Human Hair 100% of the time. There were some vendors I bought samples from and lost out on because this qualification was not met. So I kept searching until I found someone that not only gave me a great price but that consistently gave me the same quality product. THIS TAKES TIME!
I also wanted to offer blends and colors that other suppliers may not offer. I have been a certified hair extensionist for some time now and have certified with various companies, not only to maintain and grow my education but also to have access to their hair. So as not to create more competition within the community of hair suppliers but to add to it, I created my own blends.
I have invested a lot of time (and money) into creating my very own brand of Hand-Tied weft hair extensions, Bold City Hair Extensions. I would search high and low on the internet and Instagram and other social media platforms and find someone with a possible product I think I would like, I would place sample orders, and quality test them. This would include a few different tests to see if it is in fact 100% human hair and also models to test them as well. Sometimes the process was difficult to work through language barriers, etc. but it has been a great learning experience.
Rachel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Rachel Yancey, owner of Bold City Hair and creator of Bold City Hair Extensions. I originally got into this industry following the footsteps of my father who has been a barber for over 50 years. I knew cutting mens hair was not enough excitement for me so I ventured into doing womens hair. I noticed a common theme, most women desired more hair than they had naturally. So I got into providing hair extensions as a service. This started over 13 years ago. I learned and was trained by a local salon and even went on to perform as a platform artist at the Orlando Hair Show for this salon and hair extensions supplier. I then continued perfecting my craft over the years learning new types of installation methods for hair extensions with various companies and eventually Invisible Bead Extensions came around and changed the game. The method has been great for my clients and I, and the education, team, and community has been wonderful. My business has been thriving with the use of IBE and having my own extension line has only been an added plus.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to learn to not let others views get in the way of my journey. I have had a few fellow industry stylists speak ill of me and what I had to offer. I now realize it was only out of jealousy or desire to have the same as I did. People dont realize someone else’s journey and they look in with envious eyes. But you have to rise above or even block out all of the gossip. There are even those people that will talk about you to your face pretending to talk about someone else and its just sad that someone would even go to the extent to be so ‘unreal’ if you will. If you want answers, speak plainly. I worked hard to get to where I am. I remember times when I would work all week and only make $250 and work a waitress job to help pay my bills while I worked on building my clientele. Now, I am turning clients away and starting waitlists for clients waiting to get in to see me. The key to success is education and persistence. Never give up on your dreams and never compare yourself to others.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I have a background in graphic design and went to University of North Florida to achieve this degree. That’s right! I once was going to be a graphic designer and not a hairstylist. But I am so glad I had this experience and knowledge under my belt because it has only helped me create and do these things for myself. I manage my own website (https://boldcityhair.com/) as well as (https://boldcityhairextensions.com/)
I had a bad experience trying to hire someone to do these things for me to take the load off. Unfortunately they were caught up in the drama with another client, and because that particular client referred me, this designer thought that I was also taking part in whatever they had going on which couldn’t have been further from the truth. So this designer while she was paid to do a certain job, did nothing and took the money and ran. Eventually she changed the name of her business and everything. Lesson learned the hard wya on my part. There were a lot of hard lessons along the way to building what I have today and I’m sure I will continue to learn a lot of valuable lessons.
Instagram and Facebook have also been an essential part in growing my business. Consistency was key. Daily pictures and use of hashtags helped get my info out there if someone searched for those items. Using relevant hashtags was also key to this marketing tool.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/boldcityhair
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/boldcityhair
- Facebook: https://linktr.ee/boldcityhair
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/boldcityhair
- Twitter: https://linktr.ee/boldcityhair
- Other: https://boldcityhairextensions.com/
Image Credits
Rachel Yancey, Bold City Hair