Meet Brittany Baxter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Baxter.

Brittany, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
At the age of three, my mom knew I would be a hairstylist. She would always catch me in the bathroom cutting off my sister’s ponytails. Growing up, I always had an itch for fashion and hair. My mom would take me to salons at a young age and oddly I always loved the smell of the chemicals. Just the smell of a salon. The feel of it. Then, at the age of ten, my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and lupus. Like most people who struggle with those diseases, she didn’t feel pretty. Her hair got thinner, she lost the drive to want to get up and get ready. Just the everyday routine became really hard on her due to the pain. I can remember her crying like it was yesterday about her pain and not feeling pretty. So, I went into her room picked up a bottle of nail polish and painted her nails. It was like she forgot her pain and just watched me work. Then, I grabbed a brush and a hair tie and started braiding what little hair she did have left.

Then, it became a weekly beauty routine for her. After that, she would take me on weekly trips to Sally’s to pick her out a new brush, new hair dye and a new bottle of nail polish. I at ten years old became her one-stop beauty shop. With all that being said, for two hours a week, I would help her forget her pain, help her forget how her illness changed her appearance and help her feel beautiful even if it was just for a little while. She loved looking in the mirror after I was done and looking at her sparkly green nail polish or purple people eater nail polish I found her that week. At that young age, I loved making people feel beautiful. Just felt right. She passed away a few years later sadly but my beauty quest didn’t stop there. In middle school and high school, while most were getting ready for homecoming or prom I had a line of girls at my door who got makeup and hair for 10 dollars a head, lol.

Once I was done, I went to the dance myself; my parents were going through a divorce and I needed to be able to buy the cool clothes, lol, so I hustled! After doing that, all through my high school years, I got out of school and just felt lost. Wondered where do I go from here? What do I do? I’m 19 and have no clue. I can remember asking my mom what is my purpose? She looked at me and said “Brittany Alexandra, are you serious? Since you were three years old, I’ve known you were supposed to be a hair stylist. Find a beauty school, you weren’t meant for this!!” So, on the hunt my mom and I went; my mom is my biggest supporter! I found ogle beauty school. I loved my classmates and the school (class of 2007). After beauty school, I got sidetracked for a few months. But fortunately, I met my fiancé (been together 11 years now), I got a job as a waitress did that for seven years. I served because back in that time social media wasn’t a platform for us hairstylists to use and showcase our art. I had to go to the mall to pass out business cards and hope people would hear me out, I carried a portfolio of my before and after pictures just in case they did want to see my work.

Building clients were really hard at that time. So, serving as a side job just to help pay the bills. My fiancé (my second biggest supporter) told me: babe, you can’t serve forever cause I would come home at 2 am, exhausted from a long shift of serving, he said why don’t you look for a salon to work at and do what you really love, we need to try for a family and I don’t want you working nights anymore. It’s dangerous driving home that late especially weekends when people were leaving bars/clubs intoxicated, he always told me that I was so good at hair that maybe I should go full time in a salon even if we struggle, that we will be ok. He said: We have a roof over our heads and food in our stomach. He would always assure me he had me and we would be ok.

So, that’s what I did I quit serving and went full force on hair again. Boy, did we struggle. But those are the golden years that made me who I am today. I worked at two salons making pennies. That taught me the ugly side of the industry. So, I could appreciate my struggle to help other people. I made 1000 or less a month. Then, I thought you know what? I’m going to start marketing myself on social media. Instagram played a big role. It has been a huge platform for me. I posted before and after pictures, hashtagged #dallasbalayage and other big name hashtags. Within a year, my clientele and money grew bigger, the next year bigger.

Then, within six years of being in the industry full time, no part-time jobs. I am a business owner in the north Dallas area serving more than 1,000 clients per year. I see about five-ten people a day doing colors, cuts, extensions, straightening treatments and specializing in Balayage/root melts. I am who I am today because my mom and my fiancé believed in me! through my blood, sweat, and tears. Told me, I could do it even when at the hardest times I didn’t think I could. Now, when aspiring hairstylists come to me for advice I give it and I tell them to work hard. Work harder than you ever have before and it will pay off. Never give up. No dream is too big. I worked seven days a week when I first opened my business for about six months. People asked me how did you do it? How did you not lose your mind? I say: well, I kinda would, but then I thought about my two little boys who look up at me and see what a hard worker mommy is, I think of my fiancé who told me I could do it even when I thought I couldn’t and I would think of my mom, my biggest fan, who saw at three years old what I was going to be before I ever knew! And I think of my Mama G (my grandma) who was my first client ever who showed me what it was like to help a person feel beautiful even when they forget how beautiful they really were. I love this industry, I love to work, and to all of the hairstylists out there reading this – never give up, love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No, it has not been a smooth road.
Financial struggles.
Questioning myself.

Please tell us about Hair by Brittany Baxter.
Balayage/root melts
Color specialist
Straightening treatments
Extensions
Cuts

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
No never. I love my journey. It made me who I am today.

Contact Info:

• Phone: 2145191186
• Email: hairbybrittanybaxter@yahoo.com
• Instagram: Hairbybbax86

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