It was 3:30 pm on the Saturday before the holidays. I had one more client to go and I was itching to get my vacation started.

I had some festivities with my friends planned for right after this full-head appointment.

I took a look at my schedule to see who was coming in….

A new client.

That always stressed me out a little bit, I immediately started praying that they had “easy hair”. (Ya know that saying “don’t jump the gun”…? Yeah… that might have been good advice for me).

You’re in for double the fun this episode!

I’ve got two special guests with me, Nina Tulio and J Ladner. These two are so much fun, you definitely are gonna wanna listen in to this one.

J is a self-described “unicorn magician”, digital creative director for Oligo Professional, a stylist/salon suite owner in LA and an independent educator.

Nina is now a business consultant and the Business Education Ambassador for Oligo Professional. She’s been in the biz for 24 years, owned her salon for 11 of those and was a stylist for 20 years. She now travels and educates other salon owners on how to build their biz. Her teaching focuses on personal growth and development and business building.

Together, Nina and J host an incredibly honest and vulnerable podcast, No Stylist Left Behind. You might recognize one of their guests… (it’s me).

When I first discovered open-air hair painting it was like I had just been given the secret to natural balayage. It was incredible!

No more painstakingly placing foils, only to spend time taking them out one by one at the sink? Hells yes!

However, there are a lot of misconceptions about open air balayage and a lot of stylists think that you can’t get much lift with this process.

The #1 question that I get asked is how to do hair painting with a root retouch. And I’m so freakin’ stoked to be answering that question with a video tutorial.

There’s technically two different ways to approach this type of balayage. But I’m showing you the easiest (and least expensive) way to do it.

All in one single step. No rinsing and then coming back to highlight. Everything gets done at the same time.

I’ve been in this industry for a while (two decades under my belt counts as “awhile” right?). Although you may know me as a 6-figure salon owner, I wasn’t always in the “flashy” position that I am now.

When I first got into hair I started out, as most stylists do, as an assistant in a salon. And I gotta be honest…

I hated having to be the assistant.

I’ve got another amazing episode of the Anxious Creative for ya, with special guest Anatalie Nicole.

This incredible woman is making huge changes in the industry and the way salons are run and I’m pretty pumped that she’s joining us today.

We’ve been friends for several years now and it’s been such an immense pleasure to see how much she’s grown in the short time we’ve known each other.