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

Sophia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

My passion for hair has always been there, growing up I would get my little brother and sit him at my vanity and do his hair and make-up and dress him up, at least as long as he tolerated it. However I was always “different” growing up, I never fit in or had the desire to, especially living in a preppy, conservative town in Texas. I came out as bisexual in middle school and I definitely lost some friends due to that and was bullied for many reasons.
I always struggled with mental health and eventually developed a life-changing drug addiction my junior year of high school. Then, senior year I was sent away to rehab for 8 months, I was in a few different facilities including a Mormon residential center in Southern Utah, called Sunrise RTC. I witnessed discrimination against transgender and queer individuals. Staff weren’t “allowed” to use peoples’ preferred pronouns or names and would call them their dead names in a very malicious way. This always gutted me even as a non-transgender person.
When it came to starting my business and coming up with the initial idea, I knew I wanted to be a safe space and a trans-affirming hairstylist. I knew finding that in North Texas would be a struggle, and holy shit was it a ride. I started out at a salon in Dallas, everyone was LGBTQIA+ friendly and trans-affirming. But additionally the salon is low-tox, that was the first time I’d ever heard of this. Working there and learning more it became SUPER important to me to take the holistic approach, not only for my clients but also for myself.
I wanted to bring the gift of a safe space for the queer and trans community to my home town, so I tried a local salon for a little while. I aligned with them in the holistic approach, but unfortunately I started receiving feedback that they weren’t comfortable in the space. I sent out an anonymous survey to my clients and this quote directly from a client stuck with me, “I feel comfortable and safe with you but the environment didn’t feel that way, I don’t feel comfortable returning due to that”, so I made the decision to branch out on my own.
Being in a suite, I have full control over everything from my policies to the decorations on the walls. I recycle 100% of hair clippings, foils, empty product packaging, unused hair color, gloves, EVERYTHING thanks to SalonCycle, powered by Terracycle. I use clean products from OWay based in Italy, Original & Mineral based in Australia, Hairstory, Innersense and more! Using clean products is beneficial to the health and wellbeing of both my clients’ hair and body, as well as my own. It’s also super beneficial for the environment. It eliminates many harmful chemicals that can have long term effects on things like the immune, nervous, reproductive systems and more. I am partnered with Green Beauty Coalition and Holistic Hair Tribe, which helps people find me and I can expand my knowledge through these platforms.
I commit to being a safe space by having a gender-neutral service menu, gender-neutral products and much more. I knew that starting a business with these values could potentially cause backlash, but creating a safe space is so much more important to me. It’s rare to find LGBTQIA+ safe spaces of any profession in my town, so I work hard to support our city LGBTQIA+ Resource Center (Pride Frisco), as well as connecting with other queer small businesses to bring in their business cards so my clients have easy access to different resources. I am also registered with Strands for Trans, Everywhere is Queer and Hair Has No Gender to connect with more LGBTQIA+ individuals in my area.

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’m Sophia Cochran and I currently live just North of Dallas in a small town, however I was born right outside Detroit, Michigan. My boyfriend Chris and I have two of the craziest pups named Tonka and Carl. Outside of being a hairstylist, I love traveling, being outside and I love concerts and festivals, specifically EDM, punk and any alternative. I attended Cosmetology school at Toni & Guy Academy shortly before their closures.

Hair by Sophia James is a dynamic and eco-conscious salon that embraces sustainability and offers a low-tox experience. As a green specialist, prioritizing minimizing waste and promoting an eco-conscious approach is imperative. My commitment to sustainability is evident in partnerships with the Green Beauty Community and Holistic Hair Tribe. With approximately 95% of our services focused on sustainability, I exclusively use Original & Mineral, and I’m a certified CØR.colors specialist. This brand is free from ammonia, PPD, and resorcinol, ensuring a healthier hair experience. Additionally, I occasionally incorporate Iroiro for fashion shades, as well as other reputable brands like OWay, Hairstory, Innersense, and Cult + King for our products and treatments. At Hair by Sophia James, inclusivity is at the core of my values, and I proudly support Strands for Trans, Everywhere is Queer and Hair Has No Gender. I take pride in being one of VERY few affirming stylists in my area. My expertise lies in color corrections, including box color, as well as fantasy color, gender-affirming cuts, razor cuts, and clipper cuts.

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

I grew up as most social media platforms were coming out, so I’ve always been on social media. I rarely shed light on it but I did have a YouTube channel as a teenager, I was really into Musical.ly and TikTok and was always doing all the trends. When it came to starting my page as a hairstylist, I was so anxious and a little lost.

I posted all throughout cosmetology school, although it was all client pictures and I sucked at taking pictures. Then at the first salon I worked at, the owner pushed me really hard to post more, but not just clients. She had me posting on my story, creating content outside of just client pictures, at one point she did a 30-day story posting challenge and I really think that’s the point I broke down my wall.

Then I went to LA and I took a class from Lisa Giles, who is an AMAZING person and hairstylist. There will never be another educator that compares to her in my mind. She is so authentically herself both in person and online, and I admire that so much. I wanted to bring the same level of authenticity that she brings.

I started showing more of who I actually was, and I was getting pretty vulnerable. One of my top posts is where I told my rehab story, my followers LOVED hearing about that side of me and it helped me connect with many clients on a deeper level. I even had a wave of new clients following that post.

My biggest advice to someone starting to build their social media presence is, just be yourself. Don’t hold back because you never know what that 5 second reel might do for you. Also, consistency is KEY, do what works for you, I started out by posting every other day and then transitioned to every day once it became more natural. My biggest help in coming up with content ideas is to make a monthly calendar and map it out, I always plug in my client posts, product features, and celebrity spotlights first and then it makes it a lot less daunting. Don’t give up, the algorithm is ever-changing.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Besides social media the best source of new clients has been different platforms that align with my business values. Self-marketing can be rigorous at times so having other outlets for people to connect with you is so valuable.

Everywhere is Queer, is a worldwide map of queer-owned businesses, they have an app and a website. This platform is primarily used by queer and trans individuals who are searching for business’ of any kind, from hairstylists to photographers to therapists to stores. It an amazing platform and I have personally seen great success from using it.

Strands for Trans and Hair Has No Gender are platforms where transgender individuals can find affirming hairstylists. I’ve heard many horror stories from clients I’ve obtained from these platforms and I am so grateful to have an accessible platform for trans people to find a safe space to get their hair done.

Lastly, Green Beauty Coalition is a directory of holistic beauty providers and companies. I’ve learned a lot about sustainability on this platform and have connect with some amazing brands that I now use in salon or at home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mysite.vagaro.com/hairbysophiajames
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hairbysophiajames/

Image Credits

Photos by Adeline – DALLAS BASED

MadCasPhoto – OHIO BASED