Welcome to the Home for Wayward Hairdressers

I’ve always been a hairdresser. Some of the very first memories I have are of spending Saturday mornings at the hair salon with my Grandma as she had her hair set in tiny pink rollers all over her head. I remember handing the square pieces of tissue to the stylist and disentangling the plastic rollers with rubber fasteners while Grandma and the other ladies gossiped about anything and everything. They sat under giant whirring dryers and discussed the town, their families, and the world and formed a community. The work of those hairdressers was important, and frazzled clients of all ages came in with slumped shoulders and tired eyes but strutted out at the end of their appointment with confidence and style. I honestly can’t remember a time when I didn’t know I wanted to be a hairdresser, open my own shop, and forge that community with the people around me through cut and color and style.

I then spent years perfecting my craft, first in beauty school and then as a stylist in various salons around the country. Actually working in the field and having the opportunity to make people feel like the best versions of themselves was even more reinforcement that I had discovered my path at a very early age, but when the 2008 financial crisis hit, clients stopped booking. It was unfortunately a very common problem amongst the beauty service community, when it comes down to eating or the best highlights in town, the choice is easy.

That’s how the dream for a Home for Wayward Hairdressers came to be. Just over a year ago, after rebuilding my life and career, that dream came true. On a friendly street in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, I opened the doors of my very own salon, The Wayward Hairdresser. I found a place with great windows and a sweet backyard, that could be a refuge for the struggling stylists I saw around me. Over the past year, my stylists and I have started to build the most amazing community of clients, neighbors and friends at The Wayward Hairdresser. Just  like my Grandma and her friends at the salon, our clients have found that they can walk through the doors feeling run down and depleted, and leave with confidence in a fresh cut, or new bold color but also having forged a bond within these walls.

Though I have always known I wanted to cut hair and apply unique color, I didn’t realize until recently, through the gauntlet that has been Covid-19, how important this shop would be to not just me but also the stylists I am lucky enough to work with, the clients we have cultivated, and the neighborhood we inhabit. Just like that tiny salon I spent so many Saturdays in, a community has formed within the walls of The Wayward Hairdresser where anyone is welcome, confidence is built, and occasionally there is a little good gossip.

So now, my hope is to extend that feeling beyond the walls of the salon with this little blog. I want to talk about the great stylists and people who now work in the salon. We all want to share the incredible transformations that are being made every day through a great curly cut or the perfectly placed copper highlights or even the best shade of pink to make a client truly stand out. I am Kelly Shine, I own The Wayward Hairdresser, and you are welcome into my salon.