Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyson Lupo.
Hi Alyson, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I think the older you get the more varied your story becomes. My story is no different. I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with my work life, so when I graduated from the university of Texas at Austin with a degree in magazine journalism, I had planned to become a writer.
But then ended up working at Starbucks after September 11 2001, and learned customer service and made amazing connections. A customer there recruited me to his company, and so I ended up in the government sector of all places! Had a top-secret clearance, then moved across the country to Virginia Beach to work for another government contractor, and then found my way to a cement and concrete company. Finally out of the government realm! After a few years in concrete, I did a stint in financial services, as a communications and PR manager.
The lesson is, you never really know where your career and life will take you. Be open to it all.
A few years after that, I married the love of my life and had my first child, and then another after that. Having children really made me evaluate what I wanted out of life, and out of having this wonderful little family.
And that thoughtful break is how I found my life’s calling—helping women feel beautiful the way they were made, via their textured hair. They say the way you feel about your hair influences your self-esteem so strongly, it’s second only to body image. Isn’t that fascinating? So, it took me a while to get here, but when I look back all of the puzzle pieces of my work life and my personal life, it all makes so much sense now, to have put me exactly where I am. When you’re an entrepreneur, you have to do it all, and all those past experiences have given me the tools to create a successful business.
But I certainly didn’t get here by myself. I created social media accounts back in 2016, when I was at home with my children and finding my way in life, and a little lonely, sharing my own wavy hair trials and tribulations along the way. I made a lot of really beautiful connections in the wavy and curly hair world that way.
So when my audience had grown to about 130,000 people, and they started asking me to do their hair, the idea of trying to get my cosmetology license at the ripe old age of 38 years was not something that was ever on my radar! Which is funny and full circle, because my first job—ever—was booking appointments and taking out perm rods in my hometown hair salon.
So I reached out to my precious social media contacts, the wavy/curly hair professionals I looked up to, and the time they gifted me to counsel me on my future was more than I ever could’ve asked for. I can’t leave out my cosmetology school instructors. They challenged me in ways I didn’t know I needed. And of course, the first people to ever sit in my chair! One of my best friends in the world flew here from California, with a fake name on my schedule, just to surprise me and volunteer as tribute. It really does take a village when you decide to change your life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I can’t help but almost laugh at this question, there’s so much to share. But I’ll say this: The struggles along the way have certainly made me a lot tougher. I think that’s something people need at every age to get through difficult times: Toughness. Grit. Un-flappability. Know what I mean?
I graduated from college just a few months after 9/11. What a disaster. There was just no professional-level work available, anywhere, let alone for a new grad. Then when I moved across the country several years later to work in Virginia Beach, the company I moved there for was bought out by a competitor just a few months into starting my new job, and they laid off their entire marketing department, which included me. And then, 16 years later, I graduated from 18-months of hard-earned cosmetology night school in March 2020— at the very start of the Covid pandemic shutdown. I was barely able to graduate, take my final state exams, but of course stylists weren’t allowed to work during that time anyway. Everything was on hold.
The timing of all of these experiences could not have been worse! But I’m not a unique snowflake. Difficulties like these affect everyone, all the time.
And any one of these things could’ve killed my career at the time, but I got curious and creative about other ways I could stay employed and connected and independent, and I think that sort of scrappiness is what has helped me to live a life of really digging in and seeking to eke out professional undertakings, life experiences, and ways of giving back that are meaningful in this little life I get to have.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a professional hairstylist, specializing in wavy, and curly naturally textured hair. It’s a micro specialization to be sure, but it’s intensely rewarding, and it serves a larger group of the population than you’d probably ever guess!
Truly, I specialize in dry hair-cutting. That’s what it comes down to. Considering the unique curl patterns that might be present on just one client’s head. It can be upwards of two to four on a single head of hair. Straight bits, waves here and there, curls underneath. The secret is to create the illusion of a symmetrical, balanced shape. It’s a totally custom haircut on every guest, every time.
One of the things I also really consider is where cowlicks push the hair. So when I’m cutting, I pay special attention to where the ends of the hair actually sit. At the shoulder? Over the ear? A criss-cross from one side of the crown to the other? This is not something you can do in a wet cut and what makes it so great is that people can for the most part, get up in the morning, push their hair into place, use the tiniest amount of product to refresh it if it is a non-wash day, and be out the door looking polished.
So many of us with textured hair always laugh about how we look like we stuck our finger in a light socket if we don’t put eleventy-billion products on our hair, but you really don’t need to do that if you’ve got a haircut that works with your natural texture.
I teach this in my studio to other stylists on a one-one-one or small group basis, and the basics to guests in virtual classes on my website, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook as well. I can’t be everywhere all at once, but it means a lot to me to be able to share this knowledge far and wide, to anyone who wants to have it.
My goal for my clients is to be able to do their hair better than I can. They’re the ones who get to live with it day-in and day-out. So I want them to truly understand, appreciate, and love their hair. If that can do that, they’ll love themselves even more. That’s the whole point. The whole reason for doing any of it.
And, of course, the latest thing I’m dipping my toes into is color analysis. It’s been a fascination of mine since, honestly, the 1990s. Isn’t that insane? My mom brought home this ‘Color Me Beautiful’ book that captivated me at 12 years old. So I recently decided to take the plunge to get trained to learn to hone my eye for the wardrobe colors that make my clients absolutely come to life. It’s incredible. And it keeps me inspired. Truly a life-changing thing to put on your best colors every day and watch yourself glow, in minimal makeup. I do this in my hair studio, one-on-one, or in group sessions. Both are phenomenal experiences. And the crossover into hair color has really been a natural fit as well.
Are you sensing a theme here? Easy hair, easy wardrobe, minimum effort, for an every day maximum payoff. It’s the dream, I think. The lazy girl’s ultimate dream!
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’ll be honest, the word risk makes me feel a little icky in the stomach. And it’s not that I’m not a risk-taker, I think it’s a necessary thing in life, but I think you really always have to have a backup plan in your mind for the worst.
If worse comes to worst, what are you going to do? Can you sell the assets of the business? Can you find another opportunity within a reasonable period of time? Can you leverage connections to help your business thrive? Or do you have enough capital and patience to wait out the natural ebbs and flows of the world until things swing back into your favor?
No one has a crystal ball to show them the future. I always wanted one of those. So sometimes staying the safe path has its merits. But a little risk-taking on the side for the sake of adventure, filling one’s cup, and seeing what you’re capable of can really pay off. And it may even turn into something more.
For me, turning a 180 from corporate America to content creator to entrepreneurial hairstylist and educator felt like a big risk. But it happened in safe, small steps that allowed me to build something stable and safe, gradually.
Pricing:
- $305 – New Wavy/Curly Client Experience & Education
- $180 – Starts at, for return client 1-hour haircuts
- $270 – Starting at, for wavy/curly highlights
- $225 – Color Analysis, one-on-one
- $175 – Mini Color Analysis, on-site group setting
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alysonlupo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alysonlupo_reallifecurlygirl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reallifecurlygirl/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/reallifecurlygirl
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/alysonlupo/?actingBusinessId=753649456301270968
Image Credits
Image credits to:
Claire Jackson
Katie Schmidt
Shaun McAlister
