Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Castner.
Hi Julia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I wanted to be a hairstylist my entire life. Growing up I frequently accompanied my mom to the salon while she would get her hair or her nails done. I love sitting and watching all the stylists work as well as looking through all the hair look books. I completely fell in love with the idea of doing hair for the living. Growing up I was always playing with hair when I could and braiding my friends and my Barbies hair. When I got older, I started doing my friend’s hair for homecoming and prom, helping out with the dance team or with show choir to do the hair. I just absolutely loved it. I was always a great student and wanted to pursue 4-year university. I decided that I would go to college after high school and study business management and entrepreneurship. then if I still wanted to be a Hairstylist when I graduated, I would go to cosmetology school. That is exactly what I did. I went to Mizzou. I studied business management and entrepreneurship and when I graduated, I went right into cosmetology school. when I went to cosmetology school it was like for the first time in my life that school was fun and interesting and not just work that I had to do. I breezed through cosmetology school in 11 months and got licensed by the state and started working at a salon in St. Louis County. I received an excellent continuing education at that salon and it was a great place to start building my business. I worked there for seven years and once I got pregnant with my first child, I decided that it was time to start thinking about the future and what I wanted. I worked there for the remainder of my pregnancy and while I was on maternity leave with my daughter Isabelle, I decided to start working for myself at Salon Lofts. Where I could run my own businessof one. ever since it’s been the perfect solution for me. I am running a Salon, but I don’t have to worry about managing anyone but myself. it’s the most perfect and flexible job for being a mom and I still get to do what I love for work every day.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
To be perfectly honest, I have had a really smooth road. I’ve been lucky enough to have a very supportive family and supportive friends through every step of my career. I think like any working parent, the transition to parenthood and the transition to running my own business from working for a large salon. I’ve been two of the greatest challenges of mine, but also the most rewarding.
We’ve been impressed with Julia Castner Hair LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I am a Hairstylist and I own my own small business where I am the soul provider. I take care of all different types of hair curly straight, long short men women, but I would say I specialize in two services. The first is customized dimensional color. This is basically any client who is looking for some sort of natural looking highlighting service whether they are brunette or already blonde and want to add a pop-up freight, but also keep it custom to what their lifestyle needs are. the other service I do a lot our smoothie treatments. Smoothie treatments are long-term chemical treatments that help to treat naturally curly frizzy hair, making it a lot more easy to manage. As somebody who naturally has curly/wavy frizzy hair it’s a treatment that has been life-changing for me, especially in the humid months of the year! I love seeing my clients lifestyle change when their hair isn’t a worry for anymore.
I’d like to think that one of the things that sets me apart brand wise is my relationship with clients and focus on customer service I try to truly be so accommodating to whatever my guest needs or wants when possible I believe that this is their time in the chair more than it’s mine and I want them to have a top-notch experience from start to finish and beyond. So many of us I’ve been working with for over 10 years and it’s been so incredible to live through their milestones with them. I look forward to catching up with each of my guests every time I see them!
If there’s one thing I wanted people to know about me before they come in it’s not to be nervous about anything! There’s always a way to achieve your goals and there are no stupid questions so always ask if you’re curious!
Who else deserves credit in your story?
Career wise, one of my biggest supporters and mentors has been my former colleague, current suitemate, and most importantly, my former cosmetology instructor, Heidi. I have worked with her from the beginning and we instantly had a connection. She taught me everything useful There is to know about color and haircutting. She was my teacher in cosmetology school and my colleague at the salon we used to work for and now it’s so fun to share an and haircutting. She was my teacher in cosmetology school and my colleague at the salon we used to work for. now it’s so fun to share a working space together while we get to run our businesses separately side-by-side. and she and I complement each other strengths and weaknesses so well!
Pricing:
- Full custom color $300+
- Partial custom color $220+
- Haircut with style $72
- Smoothing treatment $350
- Single process color $82+
Contact Info:
- Website: https://salonlofts.com/julia_castner
- Instagram: @julia_Castner
