You are 45. Your dad just fell getting the mail. Your mom has stage two breast cancer and cannot drive herself to treatments. Hubby is physically there but has emotionally checked out. Your 21-year-didn’t listen to you. She got an apartment she couldn’t afford and has just moved back home for the second time. She is now in the spare room you converted to your home office. You just picked the perfect wallpaper and you’ll never see it again. You love them all, but need a vacati

I’ve spent a third of my life behind the chair as a salon owner. If those mirrors could talk, they would tell stories that would make your heart cry. Before I perfected my interlocking skills, I was in the trenches of Brooklyn Housing Court and running a homeless shelter in Queens. I had a front-row seat to the limitless ways a person’s life can pivot. The Conversations That Matter Lately, I’ve realized I don’t want to spend all my energy explaining the difference between hig

Have you seen that Black Mirror episode, “Nosedive" the one where everyone was obsessed with their five-star rating? It felt like each character was living in a pastel-colored purgatory where every smile was fake and every latte was just a photo op. When I look at the current state of social media in 2026, I have to ask: Who are these people even influencing? In the episode, the main character loses everything trying to climb a social ladder made of glass. I decided to break

I have a confession to make. I have an ADDICTION. Every single night, without fail, I find myself spiraling through at least a half dozen videos. What’s so intriguing that it keeps me up? Hair horror stories on TikTok. I’m not just watching for the drama, though. I’m fully committed to the investigative research-learning exactly what not to do in my own business by watching where others went wrong. One woman's cautionary tale is my blueprint for excellence. When you look at

"And yes, your favorite D.I.Y Microlocks influencer probably goes to the salon. The modern-day grifter is a “creative.”

News Source: Sullcrom.com Sullivan & Cromwell LLP On April 6, 2026, New York State Senator Michael Gianaris re-introduced a bill that would prohibit most non-compete agreements between employers and employees in New York State. On June 20, 2023, the state legislature passed S3100, which banned non-compete agreements for nearly all employees regardless of annual earnings, applied both retroactively and prospectively, voided new and existing non-compete agreements, and gave cov

If you’ve noticed career schools closing their doors at a record pace lately, you might think it’s just the economy. But the reality is much more layered and urgent. We are currently witnessing a perfect storm where federal accountability is clashing head-on with outdated salon hiring practices. The result? A dead zone that is leaving students in debt and schools out of business. FEDERAL FUNDING For decades, many career schools operated as license factories. As long as a stud

In 2025 a Black woman filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court on behalf of her and her seven year old daughter, alleging discrimination ( NYCHRL ) at an Ulta beauty salon on the upper East side of Manhattan New York. The suit alleges a violation of New York Civil Rights Law 40, which guarantees all persons full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges in places of public accommodation. The suit claims Ulta beauty created a segregated service m

The internet has a way of digging up the truth, and the recent story out of Cambridge, Maryland, is a chilling reminder of how some people use authority as a weapon. A homeowner reportedly hired six Guatemalan roofers for tens of thousands of dollars in labor. When the job was $10,000 away from completion, she didn't reach for her checkbook-she reached for the phone and called ICE (allegedly). She even handed the agents a ladder. Thankfully, one of the workers, Bryan Polanco,

In high school, I was convinced college was a NASA-grade launchpad. I thought I’d board that vessel and blast off into a galaxy of hyper-competence where everyone spoke in profound metaphors and solved world hunger between classes. Then I actually got to campus and realized the rocket was mostly a refrigerator box held together by duct tape and student loans. I was ready to debate that religion and sororities can blur the line between community and quiet indoctrination-but h

Exploring Why Negative Outliers Drive Reviews More Than Consistent Positive Experiences Academia often paints a broad-stroke picture of consumer behavior, but the view from the front lines of business ownership tells a different story. A landmark study by Ben-Gurion University, spanning a staggering 1.2 billion reviews, suggests a world where women are the "benevolent graders" of the digital age-leaving higher star ratings than their male counterparts and remaining 10% less l

Natural hair has never just been about hair. For Black women, it has always been identity, culture, resistance, politics, and, in many cases, survival. But how that hair is treated socially, professionally, and culturally varies wildly depending on where you are in the world. The common thread? It’s rarely neutral. UNITED STATES In the United States, natural hair sits at the intersection of visibility and scrutiny. There has been a cultural shift toward acceptance, protective

In the beauty industry, the terms deposit and cancellation fee are frequently used as if they are the same thing, but in the eyes of New York law and banking institutions, they represent two very different financial concepts. Understanding the tug-of-war between a salon’s house rules, state business regulations, and the robust consumer protections provided by credit card companies is essential for both stylists and clients to avoid costly misunderstandings. When a client lose

At some point, the beauty industry decided that a consultation was just a boring formality. The equivalent to those long "Terms & Conditions" that everyone scrolls past as fast as possible. But in reality, the consultation is the only thing standing between the perfect look and a total hair disaster. It’s where the Pinterest delusions meets the laws of physics. Without it, every haircut or drop of developer is just a high-stakes guessing game. And when you’re dealing with th

Forget the MetroCard. The real gatekeeper in New York City history was the yellow cab that wouldn’t go to Brooklyn. If you didn’t live through that era, you don’t know the grit it took just to exist here. And if you weren't sitting in a salon chair for six hours in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn with random salesmen selling you pepper spray and CDs during that same era, you have no idea what getting your hair done really meant. New York City isn't just a place, it's a context. And nowhere

MORAL DELAY Have you ever walked down the produce aisle and noticed several bags of unwashed grapes that look half-eaten? Those individuals aren't sampling, they're grazing. It starts at the grocery store with the person who thinks a sample means consuming half the bag before they even hit the register. It’s not really about the fruit- it’s about a lack of integrity. If you’re comfortable stealing three dollars worth of produce because you think the rules don't apply to you,

Welcome to the industry where we treat a cosmetology license like it’s vintage wine that just gets better by sitting on a shelf. I recently sat in on a round table discussion about the state of the natural hair industry, and I nearly pulled a muscle, adjusting my chair and rolling my eyes. The conversation was obsessed with credentials and the number of years someone has been holding a pair of shears, as if simply surviving decades in a salon automatically makes you a subje

Grab a glass of something strong and let’s have a quick chat. We need to talk about the thing nobody says out loud because they’re afraid the cross on the dining room wall, will fall off or turn upside down. Twenty-five years as a stylist, and the stories are always the same. Everyone is exhausted. We’re out here acting like motherhood is this shiny trophy we’re supposed to sprint toward before the clock strikes twelve, but let’s be real: it’s a scam. Once the foils are on a

I didn’t just stumble into the beauty industry. I navigated it like a maze where the walls keep moving. Along the way, I realized that for young adults or anyone pivoting into a new field, mentorship isn't just nice to have. Mentorship is the GPS that keeps you from driving off a professional cliff. The real head-scratcher is: how do you actually find one? Ideally, a mentor spots your potential and swoops in like a corporate fairy godparent. In some cases you have to be the o

We’ve all seen it: that stunning, sun-kissed honey blonde or the icy platinum look that makes a set of locs look like they were spun by angels. It’s tempting. It’s a vibe. It’s damaging! If you’re thinking about taking the plunge into the bleach bucket, let’s talk about why your locs might decide to part ways with your scalp (literally). THE CUTICLE Hair has a protective outer layer called the cuticle. Think of it like shingles on a roof. To change your hair color, bleach ha