Dancing With Scissors

In this episode of Beautytainment, we sit down with Hector Perales, a professional dancer turned hairstylist, to explore the fascinating intersections of his journey. From his roots in the world of dance to his current role shaping trends and managing relationships in the salon, Hector offers valuable insights into the beauty industry.

Join us as we delve into the realm of hair trends, business strategies, and personal experiences with Hector. Gain a deeper understanding of the parallels between Hector's past as a dancer and his present as a hairstylist, and discover how his unique perspective influences his approach to both creativity and entrepreneurship.

Through our conversation, listeners will glean practical advice on navigating the ever-changing landscape of beauty trends, as well as insights into the challenges and rewards of building a successful career in the industry. Additionally, Hector shares thoughtful reflections on balancing professional aspirations with personal relationships, offering valuable wisdom for listeners at every stage of their journey.

Tune in to this enlightening episode of Beautytainment as we uncover the transformative power of passion, resilience, and adaptation with Hector Perales, a true exemplar of artistic evolution and entrepreneurial spirit.

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Transcript

0:08

hi everybody and welcome back to BeautyTainment podcast I am your host Claudia Aveves and my the other host is Round you can find me at leeboy Savage on Instagram and oh my god we have another guest a very special guest guest introduce yourself please hello my name is Hector Palace hello how are you it's my first time being on a call podcast so I'm like what do I look what do I say there's so many cameras what do I do just be ready bro cause we're gonna get crazy you can say some appropriate questions ever so I'm excited popping my cherry what about that bro podcast this is this is only PG thirteen I haven't had enough to drink yet bro so what do you do what do I do I'm a license cosmetologist here in the state of Texas well I call myself a hair designer cause I just don't style hair a designer oh I like that yeah I like that and so you've been doing it for how long uh this year will be 11 years so I started on my 24th birthday so yeah I'll be 20 wait it's Math yes that's why I do hair that's why you do hair in the rockets yeah tell them tell them 2014 is when I started so 10 years that's a good long good while shit so what's really cool guys is that Hector here works at Vanidosa beauty salon and um he's amazing amazing hair stylist he has a repertoire of clients that um and you and I talked about this before they follow your you've you've been doing this for 11 years and your clients have consistently followed you wherever it is that you decide to move or when you decide to stop but they they're constantly coming back to you yeah the mean I've started in back in the Loredo Texas where I'm from and I never thought when I first started doing here that I was and have people from all over the states and then I have people that when I moved to San Antonio they have military clients and then I guess military people have a Facebook page for I guess other people that are coming into the city for and so I remember 2017 and 18 is when I started getting people from like Germany Japan already booking for when they move over here that's crazy oh wow that's really cool hold up let me ask you a question for that page did you have to do something to get on it or they just posted you no it's just like I guess when mom mom new moms have pages and then I go what's the best Pampers what's the best milk um they have that for military for all kinds of things and so yeah but the sad part about that is I mean of course the last for 3 4 years and they leave so I always have a batch so it's always something new every other year alright so to all our military people put us on there Vanidosa Beauty Studios get us on that page by Hector the hair god right haha and so what is like your your favorite thing to do now cause I know earlier we spoken so you've kind of been all over the hair industry I don't know how you what how do you guys call it like I know every hair stylist has a specialty so what is yours and like what's your favorite thing that you've honed it down to I think my favorite thing in my go to thing that I didn't realize I had was you know my highlight was my highlights my my color my blondes are my that and redheads really that's so interesting I do see it like a bunch of blonde girls going in there yeah there's yeah right let's blondes and Mercedes's I have that specific kind yeah it's funny because I where the shops that I worked at they already know who's my clients cause of the car they drive yeah and how they are and they're like Hector they come in like girl and like what's up girl now tell me this oh my God like he said yeah so you know how the relationship with your clients and stuff that's very important for me so how did you kind of get start getting into hair cause like I know you and I were talking before and I feel like in aesthetics and hair in the beauty industry a lot of people don't think it's their passion I know saying all but a lot of people kind of just go into it like well let me see what this is about cause I can't find what my passion is so was it like your passion in the beginning or how did you get into it um it's kind of funny it's honestly cause of breakup um my breakup so I was a dancer for so many years like I was a little kid I wish I was those little kids I mean I grew up in the 90s so of course who is in Texas who is a big you start Selena so I was I was dancing in like in the carne asada on top of the tables are like that guy is gonna be either Jeffrey Dahmer or the next little dancer so I became a little dancer and then when I was in college I was really good at flamenco and then I was open my own dance studio at 20 20 one oh shit no one knows that about me yeah that's crazy so um I was one of the dancer and that did a lot of internet choreography all that stuff and then one day April 25th um my boyfriend after six years I get home and he packed up all the apartment and left me oh shit I don't know where else I was about to graduate and then later I found out that he just wasn't in love with me anymore cause I was always dancing and doing my thing that I thought I was so passion forced you know so throughout the whole year I was like what do I do I started working at the mall American Eagle um Jean expert then I worked at vans shoe store that's why I wear a lot of vans oh there you go so you guys wanted to know why he wears a lot of vans so after that I came here Fiesta and I went to a salon party and it was 2014 and that I do do here I'm like I ain't that gay I don't know how to blow dryer and then throughout the whole summer I went back to my hometown it was always meeting hairstylist and meaning this and nail text and then on my 24th birthday I started beauty school and that's how I went that's crazy that's a turn of events right there are from dancing to hair well I guess it's in the I guess I get I've always been creative I think that's why are you trying to are you being gayist little gay I can see I can see that transition is kind of gay how more gayer can you get I know I'll do hair slay queen but it's only like what made you give up your like your passion for dancing it again into hair you know like what I because of the breakup but were you kind of just like Man this is what kind of created like our breakup or this is what kind of broke us apart I think it was that to be honest cause like it's I think it's my only passion in life is dance it still is like I'm I watched and I didn't I was in the cracker for like seven years straight and like it's a big thing dance is a huge thing for me so my heart but I'm a kind of person now that like I'll see dance and I just see for a little bit because then I get kind of like hurt you know and I just turn away I'm like okay yeah and I fake it you know but it was honestly money um I didn't realize that like I was at that stage you know everyone has a that awkward stage like what do I do like everyone has you know this career and I'm like I'm already in school but I don't know what I wanna do I was at that stage and I'm like either I work at McDonald's which is not a bad thing or I you know so then I started doing highlights I quit my job at express when I was working before I went to B school and I was doing haircuts for $10 so I got out of school and I would have ever had 20 bucks I'm like hell yes that's weekend money now I'm like I spend that like in less than like a second like literally on the way over here literally I think you had told me before that you were you went on tour dancing with I think you said something yeah a flamingo yeah so I didn't want to I signed a flamingo contract to go over there Spain because I was in love with this guy and it just so happened it's weird because how I talk about this I don't know how it works world is weird but two weeks ago um I was on TikTok and I was just you know live Wednesday and Wednesday like today I was like hmm right and then I get on TikTok and I see a live video that post up and guess who is on my live video your ex boyfriend my first ever boyfriend that I haven't seen since the whole break literally you haven't seen I haven't seen him since it's been like more than 10 years so did you guys reconnect no hell no so he was on the live like you know how you click the live on TikTok right so I clicked it I mean I didn't click it I was like oh my god cause I saw and he only had like in the live he only had his hand showing so I was like I heard the corny joke I'm like a little chunky hands and I heard the corny jokes and I'm like oh my God but it said which I guess he does I guess some crafting stuff and I say you need craft here's this handle yeah no no no no no no no no no no but it's so weird okay so then it's okay hold on it gets interesting so I see him whatever and I didn't click the live because you know it could live you see yeah yeah yeah I was like he's not ever know whatever so I figure out he lives here you know they have the comments of he's like yeah someone asked I didn't see but someone asked oh we know how to get into it he was like well I moved to San Antonio to have two and a half years ago and I'm like sounds like you guys are gonna meet up also so you so you guys were together in Laredo in Laredo oh is that the valley no it's okay both of those consider the valley no don't don't ever say that to Laredo is it south or is it north they're both south but Laredo is an hour and a half away and the valley is four and and 1/2 okay okay four hours so it's completely different this is same area code I don't know it's weird that is weird anyway anyway so then I was like what so I found out through the live that he's been here for two and a half years and then they said oh like you know like who's your favorite artist or what happened or what he's like well my favorite artist is Bad Bunny and I'm like oh that's so funny because I have a tattoo of that body like I'm like that we still have a lot of things in common so like some soulmate shit right there oh hell don't you start it he's not my type he's not my type no more not anymore didn't you hear him chubby hands chubby hands he doesn't like chubby hands not anymore not anymore not anymore that's it crazy so are you gonna like Lowkey buy a craft from him hell no see what it looks like so for his business and then you can bring it over to the studio and we just laugh so what's this guy's or not I'm not gonna ask you already said his last name tell me off camera that he might get a suggestion in TikTok just start getting random messages from you huh just starting up shit cause that's what you do I stirr up shit a little bit he does he does so you started doing your hair journey correct and then um I I you and I talked and so you started uh learning from a lot of like reputable people in the industry yeah it was I got really lucky cause once I got a beauty school I started working for them the high end salon in my hometown so I was doing all these big pageants and doing these huge weddings for like million Dollar Weddings and I didn't even know I was like I'm from the barrio like I don't even like what the hell and so I was like I my first paycheck I bought a car and I was like I never in my life had that with your first paycheck yeah you made enough to buy a car or like a used car I didn't want to you know I'm back then you know early 20s like oops like I'm not gonna buy a brand new Mercedes so I was like cool and then I yeah I started you know and then I started going to Vegas for the first time for work and I'm like oh my God I'm getting flown to Vegas for work and stayed at the vadada that's like really fast it happened really fast so then you know I started going to these huge like shows were you know starting with Chris Appleton and all these celebrity stylists and it was only my first four years wow so by the time like Covid happened I already did been there and done that and I met some people from all over the world and so then when when artists like um an old coworker of mine that just left the salon that I work at now um haha she would that person would ask me oh you wanna go to the hair show and I'm like no and then they will be sure like why and I'm like just because I don't you know I don't need it but I just like to go see and I just want to say it because people think I'm like a stuck up person but I'm not but that's not where it's coming from it's that you check that list off and once honestly like you know how it is especially now the hair shows and all these things are like they're just like sell sell sell back in the day back in the day it was like oh education and this and that and I feel like now it's just like sell sell sell so you go to one you've been to the mall yeah I mean the one that I wanted to go to was called behind the chair and I went I think 2018 I went and oh my god it was like the Grammys Oscars of hair that that one is good that sound familiar it's it's the behind the chair has been around for like ever yeah I can work in a I shouldn't know this shit I shouldn't know this shit you should you should but they've been around forever and there they have all like the celebrities of the beauty industry yeah I didn't realize how big it was like I mean I remember I saw this girl that I followed on Instagram since the beginning of time and she I was like can I take a picture with you she's like yeah I have my assistant this girl had like a whole like entourage team and I'm like what like we could do that like we're that famous like what and it all it just changed my whole aspect of the whole hair industry I'm like something big yeah what I think and I think too well so you've been around uh like almost as long as I haven't so you know back in the day it was like everybody did ten dollar haircuts correct seven dollar haircut I've seen uh five 99 not six dollars okay you can save that penny but like five 99 dollar haircuts and all this stuff and then I feel like we've definitely had a shift where you can become and I of course I think it's social media celebrity celebrity you can become a celebrity at what you do in charge like insane amount of well there's tons of beauty people that are fucking like little celebrities beautypreneurs they get eagles oh man they think they're fucking and then that's what fucking kills you cause you can't control can you think of anybody like if just just like somebody that pops in your head somebody that was really famous like in our industry like six years ago and now they're gone you know what I mean there's a yeah there's a there's a fucking ego and it's like not trying to like oh all I'm gonna do is teach courses and teach courses or whatever but our industry developed so quickly that whatever you're teaching now is not fucking relevant in five years for their clients they start treating their clients like shit well they stopped seeing clients yeah and I got into it because like that's why I call myself a hair designer because I'm going back to the dancing so when I was in beauty school I did Dancing With the stars for Laredo so that that yeah I was with Miss Belleza latina Texas and so I was like the dancer that she chose anyways that photographer he was a hair person he was like don't call yourself a hairstylist cause my hair designer because you design hair it's like fashion and I thought about it and I was like wait a minute it is like fashion cause you're not gonna go to Versace or Versace or whatever that any brand and be like oh I want this dress you're gonna repeat the same dress over every season right so you have to the clients are gonna come to you from 20 years so you can't do the same highlights the same hair haircut change it up a little bit to get and all these hair stylist that I've noticed yes they stick with the same aesthetic and I'm like this is why you're never gonna make and all the money you're gonna be working to your timers you're still 75 and so and you know and and that's the thing too like you if if you never progress you can't ever get new clients cause you you're gonna keep the same clients and I who was I talking to I was talking to another hair person and so they've had the same clients for like years and years but okay so what's next yeah nothing is next because you haven't Learned any any new um new tricks any new tricks or tips you haven't in our beauty industry changes and I think the people in our industry you have to be one of those people that changes with it or your fucking stuck what's that saying the thing that got you here is not gonna get you there tomorrow yeah that's how it goes well it's true though but that's what anything like social media is always changing you can't keep doing the same shit the hair same thing it's constantly changes always always changing it's a fad you know yeah but do you guys okay pause like sorry like but do you guys ever think okay you know how TikTok is so big yeah right like do you think in the couple of years is gonna change to another like platform it it it it it's gonna go back and forth there's ebbs and flows so what's popular now is not gonna be popular tomorrow you know what I mean and I know you and I were talking you're more into this stuff than I am but you were saying uh Tweeter X is trying to be like the new YouTube I to be honest I think X is gonna be the biggest platform going forward what is that um Twitter the whole Twitter oh say I never had to that I'm too old I didn't know how to work it I didn't know how to work that's for old people but Elon Musk Elon Musk bought it and he's doing all kinds of crazy like they're gonna do a payment processing videos all kinds of stuff oh so I think they're gonna elevate it you know what I mean and TikTok like um it's a Chinese company so there's there's there always might be some regulation coming down the road that shuts them down you know what I mean yeah yeah remember when they wanted to close it down and all the all the tik tokers were like going crazy going crazy I mean that's your income you know yeah exactly so like I think it it's gonna change you know before when I started you know of course it was like well I didn't start in the my MySpace hater era but Facebook and then it was Instagram and now Instagram is trying to copy um TikTok and yeah Instagram is losing a lot of viewerships per day but TikTok is growing but there's also like all these things behind it so I think yeah and I think you know what that's that's the thing about as artists we are artists I think that thing as artists like we have to either create the change sure or go with the change or get leave behind speaking speaking to of the social media I don't think you should stay on one platform because if you put all your business in this one and something happens your shit out of luck our Facebook got hacked we lost we had like 13,000 followers on Facebook got hacked had to start it over Instagram is kind of scary you know to have all your business wrapped up into one into one thing it's funny my Instagram got hacked twenty 21 over the beginning right yeah and I had remember I told you I went to the behind the chair awards yeah so I met some people from Brazil Australia and they were cool right but also since I followed all people those people followed me I followed them I would get messages non stop yeah so when my my Instagram got hacked I had like 15,000 followers and it was all these messages and I couldn't get it back but it was kind of also relief because I just went back to my regular clients on my regular little life so it was just more of a relieving kind of like okay I don't have all these random messages and yeah it was just more like I could actually work work I don't know just yeah it's a pleasure I know you and I um we've talked about this but like how do you you went through the awards you went through um you you basically checked off your all your boxes like you wanted to pretty early on and so like what is the thing that you found passionate cause I know that you like you're very exclusive about how you how you who you take as clients so like you've created that purposefuly and so why why did you do that why are you why did you choose to be so inclusive exclusive inclusive inclusive I think because I'm in general I'm a nice person and it was the beginning oh my god I remember the beginning I would go to a bar I forgot to work and I would go to a bar and I had all my my cards and I'm like oh my god you're so pretty even they weren't pretty and I was just oh Kidding

can you be there at 3: 17:59

33 at on Thursday so I'll always be there right and that was doing things I shouldn't be doing as an artist and I wasn't really liking the job because it was actually a job so now it's cool because I have my clients and they it's like I don't even work like you know what I mean and that's what and as an artist you wanna just be more and then I have a lot of clients which thank god that will come in and they'll drive from Dallas Houston Laredo wherever and the sit down I'm like oh my God and they'll start talking to me and I'm like okay what do you want oh just make me do whatever you want and little and I'm like oh that's what I want that's what I've been wanting since the beginning you get to experiment do this I get to what it is I'm like just do any color just not blue and purple okay so I could do green whatever what's what's the craziest she ever did on your own like that you did on here whatever like that I liked or did not like no that the craziest thing that you did like the most wildest thing you did like you like I don't know you see those shows where they do like crazy fucking shit I have a hair one story it's kind of like sad but so it was after Covid 2021 early 2021 right and I'm always at the I don't know if you guys noticed but I'm always there early and I'm always sitting down I'm always waiting on my luck yeah had that situation happen 2021 and my client my coworker at the time wasn't there and she had a detangle a detangle service and I'm like okay so this lady walks in she's in her 60s and she has like a big afro but she's a white lady and it's like a jungle like a you know ponytail and it's I'm like there's no way and I told Sandra I called my my coworker and I was like hey like I'm gonna take it so they take it I'm already running late with this girl was in the shelter for two and a half years with a ponytail all the way and she just left it like that and she left it like that and she wanted to comb it out and I was like little girl like there's no way so I took a picture of it and I didn't post her face but I told I told I'm basically told people like look what is what happened so everyone wanted the after and I didn't want to post that you know the after well this girl comes in like two months later and she gave her a nice pixie cut but stuff like that you don't I didn't realize I was gonna see that yeah or die jobs this girl wanted like red red red red bright red like roots in like a super blonde blonde like ends and I'm like that doesn't work but I had to do it it just depends on the person I don't know I'm like it doesn't I know but why yeah just just yeah I also have to do with people's personality and their attitude so I'm like I don't have the energy for that sometimes and I'm like it is too right I'm like I don't I don't I mean yeah people are just weird do you feel like as you get older to like you have just like less patience for that type of for the type of shit you don't wanna see yeah like you like I have um I go to a bar somewhere I go just oh Hector I want you and I'm like it's a Sunday afternoon and I'm here with all my friends you're talking to her about me I know but you realize I don't do that all the time like I have is that when you have your entourage step in yeah I'm like or like when I walk in somewhere like turn them like like I just came here to get shit faced yeah please don't talk to me I don't talk to you but yeah well yeah and you know like again I like I get it it's I think when you start making money so you start off like any of us I think we all kind of start like oh man I hope like I love this I hope we can make some money and then you make money and then you may continuously the same amount of money but then you specialize in the even the specialization is always the same because you're specializing at it so it's always the same and then then you get to do cool stuff that you like but then you do get to do school stuff that you like so like there's definitely like a step to um what we do and oh yeah you know so what's what do you feel like is like your next step after this are you are you like so comfortable here you're gonna like write it out for a bit I'm really comfortable to be honest like I when I moved to the city I thought I was gonna be here forever but I feel like I don't know when artists I don't know they probably feel when you like there's still something you're dismissing like a drive that I feel like I'm missing something that's why I felt dance and I'm doing hair and I'm feel like the same way doing hair yeah okay so I'm like I don't know what is I love helping people and I go back and I'm like what was the one thing that really really really like I was like I feel so good so when my grandma was alive she was always in her late 80s or 90s when you know we're she was alive and we're hanging out together but I was I would always go to nursing homes and I would be like let's go let's cut my friends hair so I would go cut their hair but just to hear their stories and just you know this and they appreciate you just going there just for that and it wasn't it wasn't about the money but those memories or when I told you you know earlier today when I went um told back to my old beauty school that's now closed and I would go back to donate some stuff for like the students there and they're like and now they're all dead but like to hear their stories like well of course they're older ladies but like okay okay just like the stories that they would tell me and that's what I can like maybe something like that in that kind of different kind of field that's kind of corn but I bet you there's there's a space for that you know I mean for a business within that and old people have the best fucking stories they do they like to talk to yeah they have the best stories dude yeah so somebody's I don't know something like even today coming here I was sitting down I was like I feel like I'm before Covid like I feel like wow like I'm a real artist like I'm going to you know talk about my job that is cool something like this or like that that I just said makes me makes me want to keep going okay like I said I think like you're hitting that point you know where I think a lot of us hit where there has to be some it's like an inflection point something different has to happen yeah I mean I don't work out but if I did I heard like you plateau so you have to like change like what is it like she's a muscle memory whatever I don't know I'm not sure but I know you guys stagnant in anything yeah yeah yeah for sure so it's like what's the next thing to keep me going and it's funny because I see these brand new artists like hair designers or hairstylist whatever you want to be called and I'm like post that when I just started like I wonder how they're gonna be in five years or they're still gonna do it because I'm still gonna do it I remember my freshman class it was 26 of us and only two of us do hair that's usually how it goes yeah you get a bunch of people that come through but only only if you tough it out and get through that hard yeah hard part and then keep going you know yeah it's true well dude and then you have to see too like if you honestly if you wanna work with people we work with people and deal with people directly one on one some people don't have the fucking the personality to deal with people they know how to talk with people they don't know how to communicate and it's you gotta have a personality to deal with people I mean that's where it goes to be exclusive because I remember before Covid I had this one lady and I used to work at this real nice area here in the city and I would get these these ladies man they would come in at 10 in the morning with like their lunches and they they wanted a certain air type and I'm like I don't have any more patience for this I'm like you want this is you want me to kick out everyone and then just for you which I get your pain but you're not even paying that much like you're lucky that I'm touching you this is because you're a little bit older and you want me to do all this for you and I like my I like my mojitas yeah I like my mojitas I like another one from the Variro than the ones over here so yeah so um do you have any advice for like up and coming hairstylist that are just starting out like to help them go further in their career that's hard um no pressure bro I know right bone I don't know like I think I would honestly tell them to look look into like the older people that are doing here because I remember when I mean also that everything could be kind of mean but just look at like old stylist and see how they revolve their whole like I guess image and their whole salon yeah and see what they could get out of from them like learning wise aspect wise and put into there like I guess and take as many classes as you can at the first four years it's all about the education because I would take so many and but I would take a very little minimum from this person and this person making my own so just be more just more educated it's more it continue education you know you know there's one thing going into a salon cause we're not from the hair industry whatever but it seems really catty now that we're like oh very fucking catty bro I remember my first ever place doing hair I had was next to the lead hairstylist and I mean like I said I would get out of work and of course I was hungry I wanted clients so I would meet Claudia one night Wednesday night and then she would be at this chair Friday and then I'll boom boom so I literally my books for as much as the lead stylist yeah so one time I didn't really if we had a new hair dye line and I was like hey how do you mix this she gave me the wrong on purpose too wow and so it was a highlight so it went darker and so I had a she stole my client's status that girl that I messed up on but yeah they could be really good we didn't we didn't know that going into it no and then you know as an aesthetician and permanent makeup artist we work with one person at a time so we don't like even if we do work with somebody else it's not like a bunch of somebody else's correct yeah you know and we're all in our own space with one client at a time you guys and I don't know like I'm sure they have I I'm sure this has to do with the type of stylist that you are but some of you guys are working with like four people at a time and then there's other stylist working with three and there's other stylist working with like six I don't know and so it's a whole different dynamic than what we do where we work with just one person at a time so I can see it like being completely different and that's what like brown said we were I I knew there was cattiness but I didn't know like some petty shit but a little bit of petty well I mean people are petty anyway you know but I feel like the I don't wanna say that that that's how the older salons used to work more so yeah I mean me coming from a school starting wise from 120 students I was the only guy you could imagine Hector don't talk to her why you talking to her and then I got to the actual hair industry it was even worse you like wait and then but then I was like wait a minute like there were starts like saying certain things about me cause I was always ahead one and I'm like wait a minute no no no I could talk shit because I do my shit right and I make the money and everyone come and look at my reviews yeah who has the most reviews who has this because I did it so I could talk shit try it come to me yeah so you fight yeah I already know that I had a spicy one right here no I'm real like but when it comes don't mess with my money and the rest of my friends or my family that's it yeah when you kind of have to like stay like that especially like I said like when you're working with a bunch of other women like man it's hard it's hard especially well especially you and I will both work with like pride Pride dump predominantly women yeah mostly mostly girls I'm in the background so I don't deal deal with that other than the girls that work in the studio and they're in our studio everybody kind of gets along and it's pretty good yeah I don't have any of that issues yeah but I think to like with my personality like as soon as somebody comes in and I'm like oh no not gonna work yeah actually like right away from people oh yeah and I'm like hmm I've had the issue where like I'll like my old salon to were all salons I've worked at except except for this one in my other private one that I worked at like I would be always busy and then they would come in just they would just sit next to me and my client just like hmm and I'm like we're talking about like her dead husband can you just move or like I'll be like doing highlights and they're like what are you doing and I'm like are you gonna tell Picasso like what are you doing like no like let me just do my thing like do his thing give her some space like damn people well I know you had it like that with one of the frosty eye blue eyeshadow gals at the salon yeah eating up all your donuts when your client was there for her yeah what it was yeah oh my God like people have no barriers but also has to do with also the aged okay that the whole way everything worked and so do you think too like that that the industry has changed obviously because of social media but like now you are your own brand you know what I mean and I feel like back they back in the day in the hairstylist it was a salon brand and then people happen to rent or work in there but now it's like you create your own brand so when you have um clients coming in they're just there for you and then that could be all the other hair stylist where when it's not competitive inside I would think that would create more competitiveness see I would think like like I my own brand yeah these people know me for me they're coming in cause they're going strictly there for you not for the salon that's what I mean yeah like I said yeah it's just change I mean since I've been in like it's been 10 years but like from the beginning to now even the color lines like I've noticed everything's been like super especially after Covid like extension lines everything's been like in a little going down yeah I'm just I don't even know what to like color wise like what to buy what you know is good or not anymore because I can buy the most expensive one and don't give me the same as it was cheaper one like it just it just depends on that but also so long wise brand wise like it has changed yeah yeah because I remember going as a kid going to Mexico with my mom and it was like let's go with the jotos it's okay there that okay so we will call it the jotos I just go to the jotos which I love because it was like in front of there was a parque I was like you're gonna get canceled bro no no no hey I'm one of those part of the community so I could say that no but like guy was like the pink salon it was like that you know let's go there with those guys oh my God those girls whatever right and now it's like oh it's all about the that person yeah it's all about that person and it wasn't like that even when I first started now it's that brand and I think that I think that's so great cause you get to work on yourself and your own brand and whoever you bring in you deserve you know and like very few and of course there's still salons that way but very few salons do like walk ins and I love that cause our fucking like our industry and our culture has gone to the point where we ourselves are a brand yeah you know somewhere it's like you're saying earlier wherever you go like your clients are gonna follow because they're yours and it's your brand I think social media opened the door for that in every industry you know what I mean and I'm so thankful that we started the same time like that um like Instagram was barely booming so and then baliage and highlighted when you're like hardcore at that time so I sweet I started right there and I didn't even realize I have one girl she's always she's been with me since day one I did her hair when I first started doing hair professionally yeah I know who she was so she comes in and she was a Saturday and I was hungover and I was like oh god damn it I was like where is she oh she had long dark hair and she's like hi Hector I saw you on Facebook someone tagged you and I'm like okay okay sit down so she basically I cut her hair off and made it like nice brown with highlights on purpose and I was like back then I was like tag me on Facebook and you get 10% off well she tagged you she booked I was booked 3 months out thanks to that one girl she still comes that's the power of social media yeah and that's when I realized I like like I'm always on people usually utilize social media like my one of my sons he sells cars right he's supposed to have dealerships on cars and I always tell them dude I'm always telling them bro get on social media and have the clients come to you create yourself a brand and you have clients come to you but they don't listen dude there's so many people out there so scared to get on social media and they don't listen to you I'm a shy boy he thinks he's fucking God's gift to women apparently have you ever had a situation with the client that you like on your chair like they're like okay I can't do this like oh yeah it's usually me like I really oh yeah like I kick people out all the time if they if they start getting iffy and like yeah a million questions like just like about pricing like they're not sure they're not sure no it's just like they want you to convince them to do it yeah well then by the time you come to me and I'm sure you feel like this would like I should not convince you of anything yeah like you should already know what you want more or less cause you know we still have like creative um outlet yeah for for it but by the time they come to me like I'm not gonna convince you of anything the only thing we're gonna discuss is what I think is best you either take it or you leave it dude I come as my pet peeve like yeah they're coming like okay so what kind of haircut do you want well I don't know I'm like I want this appointment a month ago I'm like what what do you wanna what do you think I'm like I know what I think but I'm asking you if I could tell you what I think about that and then I'm not me are you kidding me like are you kidding me but yeah compared to a tattoo on your face oh that me yeah that's true like if you're gonna go get your brows done you need to know that you want that on your face for sure I don't know cause one time I try to go blond so I went to one of these salons that was like 5 99 haircuts like walking like you can't even breathe in there and it's so small you know what I'm saying yeah and so I walk in and I was there for like 6 7 hours trying to be blonde I know and I ended up being orange when was this oh this is before so you had white lipstick no this is not when I had what I was Gothic whatever anyway um it was Gothic and then I I fucking that ruined my fucking hair for years cause I had long hair like not as long as I had now what if I can ruin my hair for like years and years yeah so it's not a tattoo per se but God damn they like you guys can ruin hair for a long time over here walking around like like the paisa Trump or what haha I was with my orange hair yeah some sizes I don't necessarily think I've noticed too that's why I actually moved to the city because when I was in beauty school I would come here to party okay okay and I'm like me and my best friend at the time we worked together or in school together as I look at that girl with the weird hair let's go ask where she goes hey babe what do you go to get your hair done oh I go to the salon and that's super expensive it was like five something every time I go and I'm like okay my friend are like girl it's everything for 50 bucks back home like you're like I'm gonna tell my community we're gonna make some money y'all coming to San Antonio yeah and I did yeah but it's true though like I feel like San Antonio is one of those places like where where the high end um services is is coming up right now yeah as more people I think more people are moving into the city and of course growing cause it's growing but the high end services like it's so uh it's so unfulfilled there's like so much room for the high end services high end hairstylist high end aestheticians and but a lot of people wanna compete with price yeah and I know you don't compete with price no you kind of just go off referrals and stuff like that to to build your name yeah honestly too like I don't accept new clients it's just uh oh I'm friend with Clalia okay fine that's cool because I know I like you then I'm like her cause you're friends for a reason so that's how it goes yeah and then when that when that happens I do the whole friend group so then it's all yeah so and then it's weird because I've noticed recently like that friend groups and then I'm like wait a minute I'm doing her wedding I see her at the bar all the time and then I'm I'm doing the other what like so they're all connected so they're all connected you gotta be VIP to get on your books yeah yeah but it's true like all these little circles always hang out and so um well you and I talk about that like well yeah like we'll see somebody that we know and then we'll see them at this other event but it's because like within circles you keep within each other yeah you know what I mean yeah so like the fonts each of us are always together oh yeah the family gals how has it been for you like being in a salon like full of women like do you hate it do you love it are you used to the cattiness I it's a love and hate I heard I heard the Cosmo chicks are crazy like party crazy and shit dude haha I I had oh I can tell you story uh I had one that wouldn't give up trying to be my girlfriend I'm like do you realize what I just told you about in the lunchroom about my weekend like you don't she's trying to turn you out dude yeah that mean they're real catty real real catty but also like the real lovable Hector what other bring me I'm like oh I have all this breakfast but I guess these girls are just an emotional creatures yeah they like we are well that's like a thing we like to nurture yeah so there's always like once you have kids I think like you especially after you have kids like you always try to feed everybody yeah I had a friend dude and he was like a like a ladies man type okay I mean yeah I would say the craziest chicks are if I want crazy I'll get a stripper or a hairstylist yeah lies I swear to God yeah I've heard that before really yeah yeah hairstylist are or something else and that's why I can't date because I'm a hairstylist I could tell you stories about like boyfriends and like since they're always see me working all this guy has money and I'm like okay cool whatever and I'm like what how did I become the daddy what the fuck like this is not what I say no no no no I really just work haha that's so crazy um and then where at every salon do you that that you go like do you find yourself um having to restart and redo or you you've had your brands you kinda just take it with you like what do you mean like every salon well every salon is gonna be different right everybody every salon has like a different culture they have a different vibe oh yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean when I first moved here I got really depressed because I worked at out of a salon that was um near Brackenridge Park down by the zoo basically okay okay and it was in the summer and I just went through my I was about to get married and I didn't get married so it's another guy and I know I should learn my lesson and so anyways I was there was just very very calm and very like just very just then there was no noise and I was in it was a lot of like Anglo people which I wasn't used to anglos there was anglos I've never used anybody say it was white so yeah white and so anyways so um yeah I was just I was kind of depressed then I went to the salon after that and they were just money hungry after hey they fired all the silence there I just had me and the two owners that were dating so you could imagine oh god for a whole year just like they were fighting so we were all fighting drama or what and there were gay guys so you can imagine oh yeah so would you prefer to work in a salon with gay guys or women women okay yeah really we were just talking about this yeah yeah we were talking about that whether gays are more drama or lesbians yeah oh oh well you know what I I would think the gay guys would get along fucking good so he was like bros that bros that fucking to be honest I think they're lesbians lesbians I've seen yeah I've seen people who get stabbed for my god fuck my girlfriend my girlfriend my girlfriend I'm like what what the hell well I just I just saw that remember we saw that thing the study that um 70% of lesbian couples get divorced yeah it's the highest rate of divorce oh yeah I can tell you how many lesbians that I know that other I might give it three months and that's crazy yeah I guess I told you women are emotional creatures so they just seems like San Antonio is the capital of lesbians right like I've never seen so many lesbians in my life but then also have a lot of lesbian friends and family members are lesbians and they still single but they're just always like yeah some drama like are you serious do all you guys know each other um oh my God it's answer yes it's a small community what it's I don't know how small it is cause I don't know since was not like a you city and you still have that small town but I know it's big babe it's a no but you still have that small the communities yes no yes and no to be honest yeah like yeah it's kind of weird it's hard to explain that but yeah I'm sure there's only a degree of separation between yeah that's why I say I steer away from the gay bars I'm like no the gay bars are fucking fun dude I don't give a shit I used to go there every day I used to go there every day for like a good five years and then I stopped myself and I'm like what am I doing here like I remember me and my friends were in front of the older gays like older gays like an 80s and they will be at the bar on a Sunday funding and I'm like I don't wanna be that and then I started realizing I'm gonna be that if I come here every day and I get it it's like but it's also very deadly because I remember uh the drinks they would you know it's a huge drink and it's like $2 yeah wherever right but wait is where it gets and you realize like wait a minute so then you go to another bar if you're used to that bar you go to another bar and you get a regular drink and it tastes just like like coke because there's you feel like there's some yeah there's alcohol in there so that's my oh my God I'm becoming an alcoholic because you're so used to that much alcohol they they they're fucking drinks are cheap on like $4 for a fucking yeah and they're gold yeah you go back and then you go to regular bar it's fine don't get me wrong it's fine you go to regular bars 12 bucks yeah yeah it's like oh wait wait for my birthday we'll go to the gay club I'm down okay if we do and you guys are gay I want I need my ego pumped up so give me some drinks they will do that trust me I've had friends that you just fuck it I'll take some free drinks there you go I'll show you around what's been your favorite part of like being a hairstylist oh is it the designing and the creativity in you or is it like talking to people in different lives to isn't it sound weird or like a beauty pageant answer but it was a all the friends that I made throughout the year you do right like I've I've had like girls that they were with me in high school now I went I went to their weddings I've done their weddings and I do their weddings for free to be honest I don't try like my clients just me all those people like I mean I've gone to the those clients weddings and like you know parties and I meet other potential friends and clients and they do become my friends and yeah so I think it's me just meeting people all around like I would have never met you guys if I didn't do hair just you know so it's at some like I've there's been times where like I had a flat tire and I'm like oh wait or actually I was stranded in Austin after I was stranded in Austin it's a long story it's a long story and I literally was like what do I do so I just put on Facebook anyone going from Austin to San Antonio had three clients hey I'm on shut up yeah and they picked me up and was that on Tinder or what no that was on Facebook and shit no that was on Facebook and and that client is still my client that picked me up that's so crazy and that's crazy yeah she knows who she is so thank you so if you guys want to get on the books the VIP books message us and we'll see we'll get you on this we'll see if you are approved apparently we do take bribes just throwing that out there what bribes or bottles or bottles that's true yes San Antonio's been your home for how long seven years next month you feel like this is it hmm I thought you've been here longer no 7 years yeah I would honestly wanted to get out of here after Covid but the same time San Antonio was easiest I guess place to live in big city and like all well rounded compared to like Houston or Austin or Dallas cause it gets kind of pricey up there yeah no I know Austin's fucking you think you're staying here in San Antonio yeah you think so yeah I mean it's not a bad thing but yeah this is home now yeah I feel like it I feel like there's so many different areas in San Antonio that you could live in so like if you feel more country you can go to what to Lotus Lotus right yeah it's it's yeah you could be in the fucking city and still feel like you're in like in a rural area yeah it's crazy and honestly like the furthest you could even like an Uber ride or a driver's like 30 minutes and you hit the river you hit like the Helotes you hit it everywhere you know yeah I think I think we're setting roots here now and this is home our kids are coming home saying y'all so over here and there here and there so it's over the little one would you guys ever go back no you know what when we go back California is pretty and the weather and just like the vibe and our food and our culture you know what I mean yeah but for business they they they make you not wanna be there like if you wanna really yeah yeah and you can see the shit is our life like everything that we do so revolve around the business and what we do so like I don't wanna fucking be over there and have to jump through hoops to do the same shit your quality of your life is better here cause you guys are more Southern California right yeah we're Southern California yes yes we're Southern California so like 20 minutes north of Malibu yeah just outside of LA it's on north of valley yeah like we're than county over from LA yeah LA County I've heard like northern and California sounds other completely different like two different states like two different states like El Paso in Houston oh yeah it's completely two different yeah two different things it's crazy cause El Paso people you're originally from Texas right yeah so it's like it's so crazy to have so many like El Paso people are so different from like um like the south the other part of the border yeah yeah yeah like it's weird because them they eat stuff with like bread and us we stuff with tortillas so like like had I was dating this person that he was from El Paso and so we're at this Mexican restaurant and he asked for bread and I'm like for what he's like to eat my my carne I'm like yeah I do that when I was growing up I used to eat beans and shit with bread and see we eat we was always tortilla yeah so I'm like what Mexican are you we were too poor for we were too poor for too poor for tortillas we had no no we just used to you know what I mean I mean yeah so flour or corn flower flower sure yeah it also has more like a West Coast feel than it does yes I agree yeah yeah yeah I didn't know they're eating bread with their carne that's weird I used to do it I still do it so yeah but you you grew up real Po yeah you lived in the shack lived in the shack so did I so did I so did I yeah yeah for everybody that used to live in shack haha let me check the knee possums I used to I used to dry spaghetti oh my God oh with ketchup and cereal with water anchovies no you don't cause that's all there was so a few times there was all there was so I ate it anchovies it was fucking gross but I ate it it almost seems like a joke no it's true like it's true hundred percent true so what's your favorite memory from being a hairstylist oh that's hard like you you've been everywhere you've done a bunch of things and a bunch of clients oh that's really hard hmm I'll get back to you in that one for sure cause that like dude like I know I really have to think about that what has been like I don't wanna offend anybody but it wasn't no it was been like I've never actually thought of that oh um I mean there's I'm sure there's a like a bunch of little ones I can't remember one central thing that's my favorite moment in my career but I know like a bunch of little ones you know like um and it's usually like people interactions you know well yeah I mean I think so when I was growing up back home like they have like a Washington's birthday Celebration and basically the what Washington's birthday Celebration Washington Washington do you like the president George Washington the first president is weird it's the most Mexican city in the freaking states and they celebrate Washington's birthday where they only they're the only city in the states that does that that's that's oh shit oh they put on wigs and shit wait hold on yeah so then growing up you they have a the Marthas so Marthas are basically part of the Martha Society so they have the big colonial dresses and that is that the one for his wife that was the lady that made the first flag right no that's his wife no his no his wife had something to do with the flag but it's George Washington and Martha Washington right so the they pick they pick the George and Washington so they're basically the like one of the riches Richie people up there and then they have the Marthas which is the debutantes which is like the yeah oh my God it sounds so Texas okay yeah and then they have Pocahontas so they have Pocahontas Girls and the Pocahontas you know tribe but they all do that because they do the big abraso so you know what's right Mexico so the Mexican side brings their Mexican people and we bring no they do the big abraso right that's crazy so I've been a part of that since I was a kid since I was born right to see the parade so I remember as a kid oh my God show me your shoes and seeing the big wigs when I started doing here where did I work at the biggest salon the big best salon so all of a sudden going in I'm like I'm the Martha so then I started doing the Martha and I'm like no wonder all these girls look drunk they're they're high schoolers and they party the night before before the parade and they're drinking like LaCrosse you know and they coming back or you know and so I'm there at 5 in the morning doing the hair and I'm like oh my god I never thought in my life I'm gonna do these girls hair and I'm doing the and then I just I'm in the parade and I'm like official and I'm like oh my God I never thought as a kid I'll be doing this that was when you were and I was like oh my God I did the Martha's I was like yeah it was cool that was my first big like oh my God we just pray we gotta go fast we gotta see this shit just passed some uh the birthday or the whole Monday it was Monday so they did it yeah just make sure you're gonna have to take us a show session and they have the I gotta see the shit they have the jalapeno festival they have what's your favorite one actually no yeah they have all these things over there but yeah they have so many you know what um what's the name I have another friend named Hector and he has sent me a a a meme or not of meme a video uh huh from a restaurant in laredo on this it fucking look bomb as shit which one there's I can't remember I have to pull it up and look but but we gotta do a road trip just to go eat that yeah it's it's fine honestly it's not that it's not that bad like it's an hour and 15 now we're 30 most oh I thought it was frozen everyone thinks that like from my house from here like from I around the salon it's like an hour and 30 minutes also next year president is Day we're yeah I got to see that shit yeah you want to go see the Marthas I got to see some weird shit like that in the Washington I got to see some Texas shit like that there's that there's weird that's where there's debutantes okay guys well thank you for being on the podcast let everybody know how they can find you uh so my Instagram name is Hector Hairgod um and yeah that's my mean like I said if you guys wanna get on the VIP list hit us up and we'll try to get you on that list we'll take snacks and bottles right this was fun it was fun yeah well I hope you guys enjoyed it and thank you all for coming of course and make sure you guys like and subscribe leave us some comments share the the podcast so other people come on and you know we hope we're delivering something you guys like and some value out of us yeah talk to you guys next time doodle noodle bye