We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Veronica Mattar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Veronica, appreciate you joining us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?
I have been a hairdresser for the last 17 years, I started when I was in high school. I would say back then paying attention to my health and my impact on the world wasn’t my top priority. Knowing what I know now I would’ve definitely made some changes from day one. The first thing I would’ve paid attention to is researching color and product lines that were made more natural ingredients. There are product lines out there made with clean colour technology, clean from ammonia that still deliver the same results as other color lines that have stronger chemicals in them. These cleaner lines also pay attention to their impact on the earth by making their tubes recyclable. Being surrounded by chemicals all day for many years, I really pay attention now to lessening the amount of chemicals I use. The hair industry creates a lot of toxic waste and I wish I paid attention from the start. Implementing little eco friendly changes from the beginning, creating a more sustainable environment. At Mane Fixation we try our hardest to create an eco friendly space by collecting hair clippings and recycling it to a company that uses the hair to create products for humanitarian efforts. We use Eco Head for our shampoo bowls that reduces water usage up to 65% and ensures you are using clean water. We use cleaner hair products that are vegan and cruelty free with clean ingredients which are also refillable. Changing these things in the salon were such a breathe of fresh air for us, slowly doing any changes we can do to insure our health and the health of the planet.
Veronica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have been a hairdresser since my senior year of high school. I remember the day I fell in love with hair like it was yesterday. I went to my friend Shereen’s house junior year and at that time I didn’t pay attention to my frizzy hair or my looks. She straightened my frizzy curls and put make up on me for the first time. I remember looking in the mirror and feeling confident for the first time. I was in awe that all it took was a flat iron and some eyeliner. After that I was hooked. After hearing my high school offered taking cosmetology school as an option I signed up right away. Graduating after my senior year, I started working for Toni&Guy as a color specialist for 5 years. After that I went to Israel and worked at a salon in Tel Aviv for 5 months to get more experience, and also wanted to get back into cutting hair. I moved to LA solo and started working in Downtown LA. At the time the owner owned 2 salons, one in the ritz Carlton and one close by, we got the privilege to work at both. It was such a change for me coming from Arizona to being in the city and working all the award shows that happened at the staples center. From MTV awards to the Grammys there was always something exciting going on. After 3 years I knew I wanted to open up my own place, but before I did I wanted to get inspiration from different countries. I quit my job gave up my apartment and traveled Europe, working in various salons in different countries. I would just walk into random salons and ask if I could apprentice for a few days, and the answer was usually yes. I got to work in Rome, Switzerland, Sweden, and also back in Israel. I knew I wanted to create a salon that felt different than other salons in LA. When I came back I met my business partner Cinthia and after sharing my vision she also had a very similar vision so we decided to partner up. We wanted to create an environment where people wanted to come hang out, feel relaxed, listen to great music, and let artists be free and creative. Thanks to my partner Cinthia we also brought in a spiritual twist to the space, offering crystals, lots of plants, essential oils and our fresh burning incense. The mix of her energy and mine definitely created a unique space in studio city, Mane fixation that just has a vibe, a little piece of magic.
Can you talk to us about your experience with selling businesses?
At one point, we opened a second Mane Fixation in downtown LA in 2021. We had a salon owner reach out to us and offer to sell their salon. It seemed like a dream come true, it was in the arts district, had the same look as our salon, even with the same brick walls and plants. We got so excited and decided to go for it. Despite so many red flags, our excitement got the best of us. One thing I definitely learned from this experience is to listen to your gut instinct. As much as my mind wanted the second the salon, my body felt very nervous. I remember from day 1 of opening something didn’t feel right. The salon never flourished the same way the first one did. Our first location just felt right and everything moved smoothly from day 1, but the second one not so much. Shortly after covid happened and we were stuck with a lease that we no longer wanted. We realized Mane Fixation is more of a vibe and experience and it was very hard to replicate. Thankfully we finally got out of the lease but I learned a lot of lessons from that space. It wasn’t definitely a growing experience of how to listen to the intuition and guidance because they are usually always right.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Creating a space with talented hairstylists and great customer service. We have always had such amazing stylists with great energy and I know our clients feel that. We very quickly built a great reputation on yelp from the beginning of our venture. I also believe knowing your niche and your specialties and staying authentic to that. After many years of doing hair, I realized what I was good at and what brought me joy and also what didn’t make me feel excited or energized to do. A few years ago I stopped doing services that no longer aligned with me which was a game changer for me. I really enjoy enhancing peoples natural beauty, creating sun kissed looks and lived in hair colors, enhancing peoples natural texture, and using more gentle ways of lifting and brightening each hair strand. There are many stylists at Mane Fixation that are so talented and specialize in Unicorn hair or bleach and tones, its beautiful to see their art! But for me, I love the more natural looks. I realized growing up, I was always changing my hair colors and trying to find what looked good on me. Not until recent years, I let my hair be more of a natural look and enhancing my curls, I realized that less was more and wanted to show my clients that they don’t need to fry, damage, or change their all over look to feel more beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.manefixation.com
- Instagram: @manesbyveronica
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mane-fixation-studio-city
- Other: www.veronicallyspeaking.com