Daily Inspiration: Meet Nitzia Torres

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nitzia Torres. 

Hi Nitzia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I’ve always been curious about hair. I’d say it all started in middle school, one afternoon in the middle of a social study class when my then best friend and I run to the restroom with the rustiest pair of scissors you can imagine, with the excitement to have bangs. I cut my bangs, then I cut hers. That instant feeling after seeing how that crooked bang framed her face was the spark that lit the flame for my love of hair. My parents weren’t that strict with me doing all sorts of shit to my hair, so when I started high school, I gave myself the coolest emo/scene haircut with a shaving razor and dyed my hair different vivid colors.

Hair school wasn’t my plan A. I took a break after high school to think what I wanted to do with my life, so my plan was either study forensics or anesthesiology. As I was starting to enroll in college, I backed out because I thought, do I really want to spend years doing something I don’t actually like, but “pays good”, or do I want to do something I know I love and are passionate about and be serious about it? That’s when I enrolled in Modern Hairstyling Institute in Fajardo, Puerto Rico and studied cosmetology and to be honest it was the best decision I made.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

As soon as I graduated, I worked at a small salon close to the beauty school I went to. There wasn’t that much traffic, so I mostly was doing haircuts and eyebrow waxing to my coworkers clients. I started taking classes of color and haircut, but since there wasn’t much traffic, I couldn’t practice what I had just learned. And like anywhere, looking for and retaining clients was and still is the hardest part of this.

A year later, Puerto Rico got hit by hurricane Maria and destroyed a big portion of the island, and of course, people had other priorities than getting their hair done. Five months after the hurricane, we decided to move to Dallas, TX. It was exciting, but scary since my English wasn’t as fluid as I thought it was and was starting from scratch in a totally different place, so that was my biggest challenge.

I worked a few months at retail to get familiar with the city, then started to look for salon apprenticeship programs and found this awesome salon full of talented hairstylists. Went in for an interview, not knowing how to speak English, got hired as an assistant, and now working full time behind the chair and it has been a massive learning experience I’m beyond grateful to be part of.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a hairstylist at Blush Dallas Salon, located near Downtown Dallas. I specialize in custom, natural dimensional, vivid colors and hair cutting. I consider my approach to hair an intuitive one. I prefer to work with what your hair wants to do rather than going against it. Not only that, I prioritize my clients’ hair integrity, meaning, I’m not going to push their hair past its limit. I’m also passionate about education and keeping up with the latest trends and techniques to better serve my clients… And I think that’s what sets me apart from others. To be able to enhance people’s personality and make them feel their best just by doing their hair.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Look for someone who’s really passionate about doing hair and have them mentor you. Invest in education. Assist at a salon and be a sponge. Collect as much information as you can and PRACTICE what you’re learning. Comparison and impostor syndrome can be a b****, but remember that you have your own journey. Be your own competitor, be better than what YOU were yesterday, every day.

Pricing:

• Haircuts: $80
• Full Head Highlights: $295+
• Vivid / Fashion color: $350+

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nitziahair
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/nitziahair