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

Sage, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

I needed a steady paycheck and I was no longer interested in setting my future in restaurant work. I applied to a massive hair services corporation, and I quickly realized that these “stop shops” were not my forte. Our haircuts were timed, there was unfair treatment to new stylists (me), and I had no creative freedom. I needed to stick it out though as I was a full-time stylist getting tips. It was income during the most uncertain times. For six months I worked my butt off to become a color specialist or even a manager, even though probation period to even apply to be a color specialist was only 90 days. A new, though 9 year seasoned, stylist came in and was offered the color class on her first month, and was also offered the management opening I was working for. All because she had 9 years of experience with blonding. I had a portfolio full of blondes, vivid, gray correcting, and naturals I showed during my follow-up interview. Close to the (unbeknownst at the time) end of my employment with this corporation, a very unruly boy came in my chair that was getting quite a lot of looks from fellow clients and stylists. My mom has always worked with children, and a few times I had volunteered at the school and worked alongside her. Right away, I knew he had special needs. I knew my time for his haircut was increasing, but he was terrified. I later found out it was his first haircut, yet he must have been at least 10. In no way was I servicing him until he knew he was safe. Not only for actual safety reasons, but I was not going to be his very first haircut and leave him even more traumatized, I put my comb down and I turned my body and his chair so we were face to face. I made sure he saw that even grazing the (flat) sides of the scissors over my palm, it didn’t hurt. I took a little piece from the bottom of my head and cut it to show him it doesn’t hurt. I held one of his hands while I kept eye contact and got to know him. He eventually calmed down, yet the mom was tearful. “No one has ever even given my son a chance like that,” she quietly told me. It was then that I knew I needed to work with kids and adults like him. I am currently working as a special education aide at one of my local elementary schools, while going to school for my bachelor’s in elementary and special education, while still keeping up with my license when I can. That means practicing and staying up with current trends, posting on social media to still attract traffic, and maintaining my license renewals. Eventually, I want to be a special needs specialist stylist where anyone can walk in and feel the no judgement zone. I want to be able to take the time to make sure my client is comfortable before the service starts without worrying about going over my 20 minutes and losing hours on the schedule. It is a long ways away, but the foundation is being built currently and that is so cool to think about.

Sage, 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?

I knew when I graduated high school, I wanted to go to school for beauty. This was because of doing my friends’ hair and makeup my last two years of high school for our dances. When I got to cosmetology school, it was so much more different than I expected. 1600 clocked hours, certain amount of in-classroom weeks with our heads in books and tests…I just wanted to be out on the floor! Makeup wasn’t really touched on in school, nails weren’t my friend (at the time), so I had to take to hair. It was not for the weak. I watched a couple girls drop out or just stop trying until they were kicked out, most said “I thought this was supposed to be easy!” and let me tell you; it’s NOT! The science behind everything is where it really gets to you. But I was determined; I moved out at 19 for this, I am going to make it work. I graduated 2nd in my class, and I received the 3rd highest grade overall. I was also contacted by my hairstylist to become an apprentice for her once I got my license, then COVID hit. As seen in my “How Did You Get the Idea,” big corporations weren’t it for me. I was timed on all services (2o minutes or less), and unless you hit that marker, you’re losing hours. I was listed a full-time (guaranteed 30 hours or more at the time) stylist, and I was getting 20 hour workweeks. There was no room for client connection in that strict timeframe, especially for me as a new stylist; I needed to perfect my craft before I could multitask. I decided to go back into food service while I figured out what I really wanted to do with my experiences. My food service job unfortunately put me on such a backwards schedule, it made it impossible to look at going back to school. I was also making leaps and strides at first, and didn’t want to sacrifice it. Looking back, I should’ve sacrificed it. My mental and physical health took a devastating turn before I realized I couldn’t keep up. My survival mode due to many factors of that job manifested a stomach ulcer, and I had lost 60 pounds in 9 months, no effort of my own. After almost 5 years of being out on my own, I needed to come back home to my parents. I am now 24 almost 25 and I feel like I am starting all over. When COVID hit, I lost out on my firsts. I didn’t get to celebrate retrieving my license, I didn’t get to go all out for my 21st, even when I travelled for work I still couldn’t fully enjoy my time there as I would be working 10 hour days. I was 4 hours away from NYC for three weeks on one trip, and I only had enough energy to do half a day. I had to go through all of that to be able to share this today, and I am relearning how to be grateful even for the setbacks. Throughout all of that, I never gave up completely. I wanted to see it through, I wanted a better lifestyle for myself and my future. And we are slowly working towards that! Currently I specialize in all-over color (permanents preferred, but willing to try vivid!), haircuts (men, women, children), gel-x nails (really any nails, except acrylic….yet), and makeup application. My core belief is that every client deserved to feel connected with their service provider. For sitting in a chair for at least an hour for your service and to leave feeling disconnected and misunderstood is just not it anymore. I’m not much of a talker, but if my experiences (trauma dumps, let’s be honest) can leave you feeling less alone then I will divulge that information. On the contrary, I also want to offer silent sessions to those who may need it. Those who have a chaotic home life and just want peace and quiet, those who had an overwhelming day/week/month, those whose only alone time is their appointment, I see you too and I want to cater to you too. Want some slow jams? Awesome. Hard rock. My favorite. Need to listen to some Adele and Olivia after that breakup? Let’s do it. I aim to ensure every client feels safe and enjoys their time getting serviced.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

In my journey throughout cosmetology school, anyone you asked knew I hated nails. Now it’s one of the things I specialize in. How? I always phrase it like this: my brain had reached its educational capacity. Hair was demanding as is, and to move onto nails without getting any concrete hands-on transfer of learned material, I couldn’t take in anymore. Due to my frustrating and devaluing experience at the major hair corporation, I had decided to put a pause on anything creative. I felt I wasn’t meant to be a stylist – and maybe I wasn’t! That’s okay because I am a cosmetologist, so realistically I could do hair, skin, or nails. I decided to dabble into nails again after a former coworker sold all of her old nail supplies to me. I first started picking up acrylic again, but I only had the forms at my disposal so it made it challenging. Then I started doing just gel manicures with some nail art here and there. Nail art was still really frustrating, so I put it down. Then I would do my partner’s moms nails. Then life got hectic, times changed, I moved back home, and because of moving in summer the heat damaged most of my products. I had to toss all acrylic, all liquids, and a couple of my really nice gel polishes. It was devastating enough to put me out of commission. I am still slowly working up my stock but I am in the slowest season for service-based industries: summer. My friend, in an effort to make some extra cash too, started doing gel-x nails on the side. I saw how simple it was and wanted to learn them for my mom since they’re way less damaging. I picked up a few supplies for it and have been only improving ever since.
If you feel like you can’t do something now, just put it down and come back to it when you feel ready. For me to feel ready, it took four and a half years. Don’t lose courage!

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

Being an artist allows me the opportunity to express myself in a way I find fulfilling while also bringing someone else’s vision to life. That is the most rewarding thing to me. I once had my mom map out on lined paper with words how she wanted her back to school nails to look, and I brought those penciled words to life. Seeing her amazement and hearing, “That’s exactly what I pictured,” is an amazing feeling.

Contact Info:

• Website: cosmobysage.glossgenius.com
• Instagram: cosmobysage