From becoming a hair assistant in Las Vegas, Nevada to owning her own hair suite in Sacramento, California; Haley Harvick has come a long way in a short amount of time.
Haley’s passion for hair sparked at a young age and followed her into adulthood where she would completely flourish as an artist.
‘My journey started in middle school. I was always obsessed with hair and makeup and I knew I wanted to be in an artistic career field. Cosmetology just made complete sense for me! My original goal with going to school was to do special effects makeup for movies, I just happened to fall in love with doing hair in the process,” said Haley.
Haley’s professional career started to take shape in 2019 when she began assisting a professional hair artist in Las Vegas, Nevada. During this time, Haley acted as a sponge and spent her time learning and growing as an artist.
“I was working long hours and receiving very little pay in the beginning,” said Haley. “I believe that a lot of hair stylists can tell you the same story and that’s what’s so hard about this career. It’s incredibly hard staying motivated through financial hardship,” Haley continued.
On her days off from the salon, Haley’s drive kept her motivated to stay the course. She would ensure that she had recruited and booked everyone she knew in order to practice for hours on end.
“It (becoming a professional hairstylist) means giving away your services for free, doing models in order to get content out there. I messaged photographers to do collaborations, I did hair for free, I charged half of what a service was worth sometimes just so I could get that picture because I knew they would leave if I quoted them $600 for a color correction,” said Haley.
Haley has come a long way in the past few years since beginning as an assistant in 2019. She moved to California in 2021 and had to start over with an entirely new clientele. Although this was challenging, her passion drove her towards success and her hard work has allowed her to open her own suite in 2022.
“I’m so proud of this because I didn’t just end up here. I worked the hardest I’ve ever worked to get here. I’ve never been more passionate about anything in my life and that makes my heart so full,” said Haley.
As with any career, there are both challenges and rewards.
Haley let us know that the most rewarding part of being a hairstylist is the connections she makes with people on a day to day basis.
“I get to experience my clients’ lives with them whether they are having their first baby or just got the worst news of their life, we live and feel it with them,” said Haley.
Being a hairapist is one of the many hats Haley gets to wear as a hair artist. However, she also has to play the voice of reason.
Haley told us that the most difficult part of her job is having to say no to clients when their desired look could cost them their healthy strands.
“Sometimes what a client wants is not a possibility while keeping the integrity of the hair, and nothing is more disappointing to me than not being able to make my client happy,” said Haley.
However, when the strands are strong enough, Haley loves working creatively with her clientele.
“My favorite part of my career, other than the ability to express myself creatively, is seeing the confidence in any woman's' face and knowing my hands did that. There’s nothing more powerful than a confident woman and I get to help create that,” said Haley.
Haley has executed more flawless transformations than we can count. However, there is one transformation that sticks out to here the most.
As her favorite transformation, Haley is most proud of this complete masterpiece.
“I was still an assistant at the time and it was difficulty level 1000 and I pulled it off,” said Haley.
After years behind the chair, Haley told us that the best advice she could give a new hair artist starting in the industry is to be their own advocate.
“If you’re at school and you see a cool technique on Instagram, try it on a doll head. If you are just starting to build your clientele, do not get discouraged. Post everything you do! It’s difficult in the beginning and you must crawl before you can walk. Before you know it, you’ll be running,” said Haley.