Women's Money Wisdom

Episode 243: Personal Care and Your Money with Hair Stylist Jessica Hawkins

• Melissa Joy, CFP® • Season 4 • Episode 243

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Ever wondered how to manage your hair care routine without stretching your budget too thin? 

In this episode of the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast, Melissa Joy, CFP®, CDFA® sits down with Jessica Hawkins, a top stylist and trainer at HJem Beauty, to break down the secrets to smarter hair care budgeting. Jessica shares her expert advice on how to seamlessly weave personal care expenses into your financial plan while still enjoying the hair care you deserve. 

Jessica dives into the art of open conversations about hair maintenance costs, offering practical tips whether you're a frequent salon-goer or someone who prefers the occasional visit. She’ll help you feel confident in making informed financial decisions, all while keeping your hair looking fabulous. 

Listen and Learn: 

  • How to approach personal care budgeting, especially when it comes to hair maintenance. 
  • Expert advice on maintaining blonde hair without breaking the bank. 
  • Pros and cons of home color applications as a cost-saving alternative. 
  • A sneak peek at the upcoming hair trends for winter 2024-25 and how economic factors may influence your salon booking decisions. 

 

Join us for a practical and engaging conversation, packed with beauty wisdom and financial savvy. Whether you’re balancing a high-maintenance hair color or just curious about the latest trends, this episode offers valuable insights from the vibrant world of HJem Beauty. 

Tune in to discover how to stay gorgeous while making smart financial choices for your personal care! 

 Resources:

The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only. No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING’s investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https://pearlplan.com/

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and the founder of Pearl Planning. My goal is to help you streamline and organize your finances, navigate big money decisions with confidence and be strategic in order to grow your wealth. As a woman, you work hard for your money and I'm here to help you make the most of it. Now let's get into the show. Are you integrating your hair budget into your overall financial budget? Are you making the right choices when it comes to personal care decisions, and are you comfortable talking about the money that that involves?

Speaker 1:

We're going to cover all of that and more today with jessica hawkins, who is a lead stylist, as well as trainer and just leader in general at gem beauty in ann arbor, michigan, and she also happens to be the person I trust with my hair care. So, jessica, welcome to the podcast. Thanks, muslim, excited to be here. I'm so glad you're here. We've been talking about this during my appointments for probably the last three or four months, but I really think that part of the value of the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast is to like normalize conversations about money in all aspects of life, and certainly at least for me. You know my hair care is an important and significant part of kind of my personal care and personal budget, and so I thought we could have that discussion from client to professional about what everybody should be considering when it comes to their hair and maybe some tips and trends and things like that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's something that I feel like is becoming more of like an ease of conversation in the salon, especially with you. I mean, you're a different social person because you're the one telling me Jess, you need to raise your prices.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, we haven't had that discussion before.

Speaker 2:

You're coaching me too. So I mean, it's a forever learning game and, I'm sure, in every industry.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're very in demand. One of the things I have to do is schedule a couple sessions out and you know, certainly while I would like to keep my hair budget down, I see you as you're an entrepreneur, you're a business owner, and so you know navigating that supply and demand and keeping track of costs over time and making sure that they're keeping up with inflation is really important. I see that with a lot of my business owners. But then on the other side, for my clients who are spending money on personal care, you know you've got to make sure that what you're spending fits with what you can afford, right?

Speaker 2:

So for sure, and that's something that's like ever fluid in our industry, especially since COVID, like a lot of things have been flipped, turned upside down and now we're restarting again.

Speaker 1:

So it's yeah, definitely yeah, and I talked to some friends or clients who put in a budget line of one haircut a year and I'm like, because I've been, I've had gray hair since I was very young, I've had gray hair since I was very young. So you're a color specialist and I've never gone, I've never gone for um once a year appointments, just because maintaining color is takes more time and I don't do it myself. Um, I hear in the salon people kind of consulting whether it's with um. You know kids in college who are like, hey, what you're asking for is going to cost about $300 and be about three or four hours or something like that. Is that OK? It's like, yeah, my mom knows, or whatever to all the way to you know, just like talking up front about what's going on, what? How do you guys train your team to kind of address that part of the conversation? How do you feel about it?

Speaker 2:

So I think it took a while to get comfortable with that conversation. I won't lie about it. Like I feel like in general it's we're supposed to talk like pretty things and reality TV and restaurants and makeup and stuff, but then when we're like, ok, yes, exactly Like we, it's a fun experience. But it is like some people are there for the fun glam moment and some people are like it is a beauty regimen for them and it's a routine for them and they, like want to be able to come, like every four to six weeks. And then we have people that want to come eight to twelve weeks or, like you said, there's the few that are once a year.

Speaker 2:

So I think we've just integrated like in our consultations like what is your priority? Like, do you, for example, never want to see gray hair? Then like, okay, this is what the maintenance looks like and you'll probably have to come every four weeks and it will cost us much each time. Is that something that you're game for? And if they're like no, no, no, that's too much, like that doesn't fit in my budget budget, then we move into different things of like okay, well, are you okay with blending your gray as opposed to covering?

Speaker 1:

your gray like there there are options.

Speaker 2:

It's not like I have a lot of clients, especially brunettes, that are like you'll tell me when I have to color my hair right, you'll tell me right, I'm like you don't ever have to jump into that maintenance if you don't want to. Like there are options because we are very well trained in being creative and challenging those like things that people are dealing with as they age or maybe not age. I started grading when I was 25. So you know, could happen to anybody.

Speaker 1:

Totally, I think I was 14. So when I had those first strands, 14. I know wild, that's another episode, right, but I, I love that. So it's not just about the service you're receiving that day. You also need to say and if you're not getting that consultation, you should ask like, okay, what will this entail If I you know, if I my hair gets bleached and turn pink? What does that look like? In order to maintain, or whatever it is? That's really interesting, and having that conversation up front versus figuring it out later is really important.

Speaker 2:

And that's where even some clients now jump into our DMs on Instagram and ask us these questions ahead of time too. And I firmly believe that a real conversation with somebody whether it's going to be on the phone or like Zoom or an in-person consultation, like we offer that variety for people that have the space to answer and ask these questions, because sometimes I'll get like a DM from somebody it'll just be straight up like what do you charge? And I'm like that is not specific. You know what?

Speaker 2:

I mean I need a little more to go on yes, but we, because it color is so custom now we really can break it down.

Speaker 2:

So it shouldn't be a thing that you have to sit for two hours in your appointment just feeling uncomfortable with, like, if you want to know ahead of time, like you're ordering a coffee somewhere and I want to add a pump of this and I want to add a different kind of milk for this. Like the same thing with hair do you also want a conditioning treatment? Do you also want a haircut, or are you stressing about how much it's going to cost the whole time? So then you don't get either, because you never ask. But like up front, those are all conversations that we in education are even trying to train our staff to be able to like ask without making the clients feel uncomfortable, as you know. You know.

Speaker 1:

I love that and I think that's great like reminders for our audience of in all aspects of life, it's okay to bring things up. If you get uncomfortable, like vibes back, then that's certainly something to take in, because I don't I don't think there's an expectation anywhere that you should just like blindly have your credit card ready to swipe regardless of the cost, but you also have an obligation to talk about it up front. So, since you're a color specialist, can you tell me like what is kind of the high end of, like what brings the service really like doubles or triples the price versus what's a way to be a little more economical in the way you kind of set up or request services?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I feel like it's like when I said the pandemic changed a lot of things. I think it moved everybody into what we're calling a lived in color, like not everybody wants to have, like they're not as focused on their part anymore. Let's just say that. So we move into bigger services that are like two times a year, maybe three times a year, bigger services that are like two times a year, maybe three times a year. But that's where, like, the cost effective thing I think comes into play. Are you going to spend like around $400 twice a year or are you going to spend $150 every four weeks? So it just gets into like what you're comfortable and what, what you feel like and what you look like, and if you're okay with like learning to live, not with such high maintenance color. So it's, I think, coming more often, especially like I do blondes, right, so like majority blondes, I do blondes and I am someone that does that because I have been so focused on my part in my hairline for like my whole life. So I feel like I take one to no one sometimes. Those appointments, if you want to be a blonde, it's never going to be cheap. Let me just say it like that. But that doesn't mean that you have to be a brunette either.

Speaker 2:

There are ways to create a more like lived in blonde that we're calling or you can do. I have clients that maybe their schedule changes because of a new job or because they just had a baby or because they moved two hours away and they can't budget the time anymore. So we transition into like a more natural looking blonde. That doesn't cost as much as like getting 200 foils in your hair. You're getting like 100 foils in your hair. So it can be one of those things I feel like with moms. I like kind of feel such an honor with when they're like I still really want to do this, but help me and I'm like yes, girl, I got you. There are ways for us to move into that world and I think that's the benefit of kind of sticking with a person for a while, especially in big transitions like that, because you get to know what areas are really important to people and how to take care of them better. So there's value in that.

Speaker 1:

I think Well, and I've had a transition myself. Certainly for the first, when I was younger, it was all about affordability.

Speaker 1:

Like how you know, like I would go to the beauty school to get work done, I would trade off the amount of time I needed to sit in the chair versus the cost of the service, because it was discounted, because it was well-trained students that were providing it. And then, in, you know, I kind of sought more moderate costs but still could afford a higher level service. And today, just based on circumstances, time is my most scarce commodity, and so for me it's more important to know that those times are scheduled. It has to be, you know, like end of the day. I can't afford a middle of the day appointment in some cases, and so things have shifted in terms of my level of priority, and I understand there's trade-offs.

Speaker 1:

If the time is my most important um consideration, then I may need to pay more to get things done in the way that I want them to get done, or there may not be time for the haircut every time or things like that. So I think understanding what your priorities are can be really critical. Yeah, huge, is it taboo nowadays, like if you needed to save money and you're like okay, I can commit to the twice a year where we really like level set the situation. Home application of color in the interim, or is that something that you could set up with like the right, you know kind of color mix for them in between, or things like that?

Speaker 2:

um, I will say that's depending who you talk to.

Speaker 1:

It could be taboo, but um editorial opinion right, tell us what you really think. Jessica, you don't what I?

Speaker 2:

really think is it's a lot to ask people to come in that regularly for such a long service, and I never want anybody to feel poorly about how they look. So they have, like I said, the pandemic brought in these new kits, this company, during the pandemic, when none of us were working. They were like we will give stylists a commission if you sell these root touch-up kits. So you're supporting your stylists while they're not working, but also they're choosing, like what color is for you. And they're simple. And they're simple little kits that just cover the necessities.

Speaker 2:

You're, of course, not going to get every single gray hair on your head.

Speaker 2:

You're not going to have enough color to mix like everything, but the stuff that makes you feel bad about it is going to be like right on top and right around your face when you pull your hair up. So they sell like little kits that can help maintain that in the meantime. I do have no problem with these like these have been chemically formulated for us to work with when we need to like bust through that color at your next appointment, or chemically like work with another chemical that we don't have in the salon. I think the chemical you use on your hair is very important. So if you decide to jump into that or you're just honest with your stylist that, hey, I need to start doing this in between, can you help me shop, like most of us care about you, and we're gonna help you do that we're just gonna say, like, never highlight your hair at home, that kind of. That's like kind of where a limit and line is drawn because nobody wants orange roots, you know, and that's just gonna happen at home or break.

Speaker 1:

So there's something like that. Is there a material difference between what you would custom provide versus what you'd find in the aisle at meyer?

Speaker 2:

yeah, the chemicals. The chemicals you find at meyer are meant to fit any head of hair. No head of hair is the same, so like the results could range. So usually if I'm helping someone purchase something, it's going to be from like a beauty supply chain that either I help them order or I can send them to another like even like Sally sometimes can have some like easy to use kind of stuff. In general no walmart, no meyer, no cvs, but like ulta has some stuff and, like I said, sally's has some stuff, places that have reputable hair lines and brands.

Speaker 1:

So good to know. I think I'm hearing like it.

Speaker 2:

Not every professional would welcome that conversation, but some are open to it yeah, some are artists and they want to be hang on to their color formulas. You know what I mean and it depends each client would be different. But I do think that there are cases where helping to maintain at home like comes to a big help and cost to your client and they love you for taking care of them and that's if I can offer that, then I want to.

Speaker 1:

So I love that. So could we talk about, like I'm and I would say that relates to to financial planning, investment management like there's certain things I'd be very comfortable kind of giving a recipe to people and say here's how you should invest. There's other things, when it comes to like taxable withdrawal decisions or you know where there's bigger tax consequences, I'm like you can absolutely try it yourself, but it may be better handled by a professional, and I think the reality for a good person is like just being upfront and not defensive as a professional about like hey, here's the trade-offs and considerations, here's why some people may not like it.

Speaker 2:

Here's where I'm coming from ethically as a professional, I can't promise the result.

Speaker 1:

You know what?

Speaker 2:

I mean, I can say like here is something.

Speaker 1:

And here's what makes me nervous.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Just be honest about it. Yeah, Like where I say do not try to do blonde at home. I just I will flatline say that, but there are options.

Speaker 1:

I got it. Yeah, well-received. You know I'm not uh, I will still be loyally going to my appointments, but could we talk about the economics of like, exactly, um, how you're getting paid as just you being, uh, um, a stylist as well? As you know, there's also, like you, picking out suggested product in the salon. So, to start, many stylists are self-employed, correctly correct. They're often associated with the salon, using the brand in many cases, although some cases they're like their own little, you know like a studio within a bigger you know kind of rental space. Is that correct?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, this is a question. We even get a lot behind the chair like, oh, like, how does this work for you? There's a handful of commission stylists and there's a handful of people that booth rent, and then there's a handful that, like, rent their own studios now. So I feel like there's all different kinds of salon environments that could fit to your clientele, but it does come with its own challenges of paying taxes and all of that kind of stuff that we weren't taught in beauty school, by the way. So if you want to go teach at beauty school, you could probably help a lot of professionals makes sense.

Speaker 1:

Right, you've got to figure out your own retirement plan, stuff like that. But in essence, many of the people one of my friends, as I was prepping for this episode she's like, okay, there used to be this rule that if you wouldn't tip the owner, so if you went to a diner and you knew the owner was once serving you, it was like don't tip them. But I think that's kind of out the window because almost everybody's kind of working for themselves. But what's from your side of the aisle? What's the train of thought? Everybody gets tipped right, or should.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean I feel like it's been pretty standard in our business that a percentage is tipped on it. We've even had to come up with all different. It used to just be you throw them some cash, but now we all have Venmo accounts attached to our businesses too, and we have certain applications at the salon that people can scan their card If they don't have Venmo. There's a separate transaction for tips for anybody that would like to offer one, and I think most of us sit in a place at least at my place where we're a commissioned salon. We're all used to getting tipsipped, but it's never expected but always appreciated understood.

Speaker 1:

I'm I you know like everybody has their own philosophy on tipping. But if it were kind of industry standard, is it kind of like a 20 or 15 to 25? Is that like kind of the range of, I won't say expectation, but average? I feel like average is around 20 give or take, and that would be on the services, not the services plus product, correct, okay?

Speaker 2:

and then other which is also something you can clarify when you're catching out somewhere. You can ask somebody that right, I know it.

Speaker 1:

um, when I've purchased product at your salon, they've often said the services were this, and then you know, here's the total. So then also, is there financial consideration? If you, you know, set people up with a lot, you know, like they purchase shampoo and conditioner or whatever it is, is that also often something where the stylist would receive a percentage of compensation or some sort of commission for that?

Speaker 2:

Usually there is. If you're attached to a commission-based salon, there's usually some sort of kickback for you. It's not usually that big but it is more of a better contribution to the small business that you're attending, because we work with product lines that help support our training. So anything that our salon earns based on those kinds of things goes right back into, like, building our skill set. So they set us up with, you know, in salon, education, traveling, education, all of that kind of stuff so that we can keep our knowledge at the top and of course they're using their products, so that builds loyalty for sure yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you? What is the primary difference between what you might buy the salon in terms of um hair product versus like the pharmacy?

Speaker 2:

or cvs. It's an interesting shift right now because I am also I call myself a product junkie, so I buy stuff everywhere. There's always new stuff to try, right, but usually from like reputable things, where I know what ingredients to look for, where not everybody does right. So I'm not saying that there's like no other place to shop in the salon. Like the convenience of clicking online and being adding to your cart, I think is a huge, huge convenience for people and I personally would love to integrate that into my business. But you, you know we'll learn. Um, there are the risk.

Speaker 2:

I feel like the biggest one we've seen is like meyer, walmart, uh, like the bigger chain and amazon. Sometimes they will buy out businesses that have sold, take on all of their products and then sometimes often they're diluted. So we run into like, oh, it doesn't smell like the one at the salon or it didn't like lather like it did at the salon. So the tampering is more like it could happen. You don't really have control over it. You know that kind of thing. But if you are shopping online, a lot of businesses like the bigger color line I'll use redken as an example they have an amazon shop now so you, like, are directly buying from the company, so that like is an ease for clients as opposed to like having to buy it like in the store.

Speaker 1:

So good to know. I heard like I was actually discussion discussing a skincare product with a friend and she said I won't buy from Amazon because I'm not sure what quality I'm receiving, even on the same brand. So yeah, but that helps me to understand the narrative, whereas I'm oftentimes more like oh, my kid just said they were out of this and I need it now, so it's more of a like I can't wait till I have time to go drive here, there or everywhere and one line orders and all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like the convenience issue, I feel like in our world, like the beauty world is adapting to it, it's just really know where you're, know your sources and where you're buying it from is what I would tell everybody to do good to know again if you're close with your stylist, like most of us, can send you a link to whatever, so dms can be helpful, like us.

Speaker 1:

I love it. So what are some trends that you're seeing? It's we're entering, you know, kind of winter 2024, 25, new year, 25. What, what's out and what's in, or what are you, I mean? I I know there's room for everything, but there is.

Speaker 2:

I mean, it's pretty standard that in our world all of our blondes are wanting to go brunette for the fall and then they want to be blonde again in the summer. Like everybody takes on a little depth, but that's because we live in Michigan, right? So it's we're not getting the same sun on our hair.

Speaker 1:

We have true seasons.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no-transcript. I need to look good for the Christmas party.

Speaker 1:

They're like I need to be able to afford the Christmas party, so I need to keep the credit card down as I try to pay off the presents and things like that, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So I it is rapidly changing. We were. I was with all the girls yesterday and everyone was showing a picture of like. I cannot believe this is showing up and I don't know if anybody remembers?

Speaker 2:

Christina Aguilera like white, black and red stripes all over her hair. If you haven't seen it, someone's got to Google it. To each their own. To each their own. To each their own. To each their own. I think in general we've been very blended and natural and easy maintenance has been like a big goal for a lot of people. But now some people are missing the like, boldness in some, the way color used to be sometimes. So I think kind of like a shift in that sense that we're anticipating coming, so a reversion, so to speak. Yes, yeah, whatever it was will be the complete opposite of the trend last time. So if curtain bangs are a thing, the next thing is going to be is no bangs.

Speaker 1:

Yeah you know like everybody has to grow them out right, exactly. Yeah, last question I've heard um that you can kind of sense economic trends based on how many people are scheduling, what types of services they prefer, whether they're going big and bold or, you know, kind of understated and and um trying to be more economical. Do you notice that, either seasonally or during, from year to year?

Speaker 2:

I feel like seasonally for sure like it happens so many times in a year and I feel like seasonally for sure, like it happens so many times in a year and I can even like note those things like oh yeah, christmas is coming, or oh yeah, school is starting or whatever, like we can see the shift and even like people that pre-book their appointments with me, like you can see kind of either it's fluid or they need to put bigger gaps or whatever. So in some senses we kind of see it coming. There is kind of in our industry, as we've watched, we've noticed that the two months that are probably the slower months of the year where people need to like buckle down are like October and January, because it's before and after the holidays, which I feel like takes in a lot of people's financial like concerns so well and every kid has their school pictures.

Speaker 1:

Oftentimes like back to school is where you do all your cleanup in that household and you're kind of paying back from that new wardrobe too, or you know, you probably got all of your you probably got all your kids haircut the month before, when you don't normally do that.

Speaker 2:

But once a year, like it's, we see those shifts, so we always call them our vacation month. So we're allowed to take vacations in October and January.

Speaker 1:

Well, hopefully you can fit a few more in than that I know you do actually. Speaking of which, where can people find you if they want to continue to follow the trends and the conversation trends and the conversation.

Speaker 2:

So my Instagram handle is trust by Jess, underscore trust by Jess. I do a lot of blonde content, a lot of like care of your hair content, and I just really enjoy being silly with the girls at work, so there's some little entertainment in there for you. And then our salon is gem beauty. H J E M it is actually a nordic word that means home, so everyone calls it yeah. So we uh we've been there for just over a year and a half now. We came from a massive salon and then kind of buckled down into a smaller boutique salon to get more intimate coaching with our staff and a lot of like new professionals that are just they're're killing it. They're doing a really good job. So it's fun to be a part of building them up as a stylist and, you know, just being mentor and support to them and even just encouraging them to be silly sometimes. You know not the need to be all serious.

Speaker 1:

I could not agree more. Thank you so much, jessica, for the candid and frank conversation on something that is so personal but also so important, at least to me. Um, I appreciate it. I think we should do this more, and hopefully it inspires our listeners to have that discussion with their stylist. I think you've learned a lot. Of course, I'm so happy to be here.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me have a great day. Yes, you too.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. If you found value in this episode, the best way you can support the podcast is to forward an episode to a friend or leave a review. Go to pearlplancom and the podcast link to get all the resources and links mentioned.

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Melissa Joy, CFP

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