Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Stacey Zayas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Stacey, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

In the salon industry there is no standard in hair smoothing safety standards. When I first started doing Brazilian Keratin Treatments (smoothing treatments) I really had to learn as I went because I was one of the first stylist in the southern CA doing them.
When BKT first came out they produced a lot of fumes and smoke. As time has gone on they have gotten a little better but some still produce toxins into the air.
Because we wanted to provided the safest and most comfortable atmosphere for our staff and clients we designed our central fume extractor system. The Smoothbar is the only salon that has this proprietary extraction system.
Unfortunately there is no standard set by the industry as to what is best practice as far as safety is concerned . OSHA has a standard: The permissible exposure limit (PEL) for
formaldehyde in the workplace is 0.75 parts
formaldehyde per million parts of air (0.75 ppm)
measured as an 8-hour time-weighted average.
Our extraction system allows us to preform up-to 6 treatments at a time and still be below the 0.75 ppm exposure limit set by OSHA with complete comfort and safety for our staff and clients.
Most traditional salon only offer one or two types of smoothing treatments, and also do not have the correct extracting system in place.
We are the only salon to specialize in these types of treatments, this is all we do ,we do not offer any other salon services.
Smoothbar offers over 10 treatments that provided everything from smooth frizz free hair to amazing shine and manageability. We also have a treatment that will enhance your existing curls and make them more defined and bouncy.
We are in the business of enhancing your hair by making it healthier and more manageable.
That will look a little different to everyone.

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 started doing hair right out of high school. I attended San Diego City Collage and received my cosmetology license in 1989 I have always had a drive to learn new things. When I was just starting out and actually for my whole carrier I have strived to keep up with the latests trends and the next big thing.
In 2008 I was introduced to my first BKT ( Brazilian Keratin Treatment) at a hair show in Miami Florida.
I was so impressed with the results that I brought that product home with me to San Diego CA.
I first started offering the BKT treatment to my existing clients stating if you didn’t like it they didn’t have to pay me.
In the beginning the treatments were taking me about 4-5 hours and I was charging $450-$600 and needless to say my clients loved it and everyone paid.
As word spread ,I began to get calls from people in Los Angles, San Fransisco and Arizona all wanting to get an appointment for the BKT.
Because I was one of only a very few stylist that offered this treatment in Southern CA I was so busy that I had to turn away clients and I hated to do that. I talked a few of my co-workers into letting me teach them how to do these treatments so I could start referring them the clients I had to turn away.

After several years of doing that I decided there had to be a better way. Some clients that were in the salon and not receiving the BKT treatments did not want to be around them and were complaining of the fumes along with some
stylist.
At that point I realized that there had to be a better way.
The small retail space next door to my salon Ritual Salon became available and I decided to convert it to a space for the Smoothing treatments only. That way the stylist and clients that did not want to be around it did not have to be but could still receive their other salon services.
When designing the new space I wanted to do something to help with the fumes from the treatments. I came up with the idea of a central fume extracting system and was able to get help designing it to work in our space.
With the extraction system and a few hairstylist that I had trained to only do these treatments we opened the Smoothbar 2014 in Hillcrest.
With the growing stream of clients that the Smoothbar was servicing I quickly realized I was onto something. 2018 about 4 years after opening our first location I opened our second location about 15 miles north of Hillcrest .
In 2019 I decided to step away from doing hair and focus on building the Smoothbar brand.
I ended up merging the two locations in June 2019 so that I could work on quality and customer service.
Fall of 2022 we will be expanding and opening a new location in the Dallas Texas area .

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

As the owner and founder of the Smoothbar I strive to bring the highest quality service and products to our customers. I am always working on finding the best products that we can used and offer. I am planing by 2024 the Smoothbar will develop our own products that are not only the highest quality but safe and affordable.

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

Word of mouth is either your best resource or your worst enemy. We have built our brand mostly through referrals of our happy loyal clients. We pride ourselves in setting our clients expectation properly before we beginning any treatment.
Our stylist go through a in depth consolation with all new clients to understand what their biggest hair concerns are and what the are hopping to achieve with a treatment.
Even know our treatments can solve a lot of concerns, they can not do everything for everyone. We believe that setting realistic exceptions is key to happy clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thesmoothbar.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesmoothbar/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesmoothbarCMR/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-smoothbar
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSmoothBar