Check Out Kristi Richards’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristi Richards. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always been an artist. Some of my earliest memories include drawing, painting, and molding clay. I feel like I was always using my free time to create something. When I was in middle school, we were asked to write a paper on what we wanted to be when We grew up. Up until this point I had always said a cartoonist but for some reason being a cosmetologist just popped into my head. I thought to myself “I bet I’d be good at that” so I researched the topic and wrote a paper about it. A few days after it was turned in my teacher let me know that the local career center was hosting a 3-day course over the summer for young people to come into the cosmetology school and essentially dip their toes in to see if they liked it. I signed up immediately and attended a few months later. 

Once there I completely fell in love with the idea of doing hair for a living. It felt like making wearable art. This particular career center allowed you to start your training in your senior year of high school as long as you had all of your credits completed. So, I began my cosmetology training then. In Michigan, you need 1500 hours of education so once that was completed, I got my license at 19 and immediately started doing hair. 

I apprenticed for 6 months and then went on the floor at a salon in my hometown of Big Rapids. I ended up staying there for 10 years but then decided I wanted to move to a bigger city so I moved to Grand Rapids. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I have been doing hair for 19 years now and back in the day, we didn’t have social media as a way to promote ourselves. It was mostly word of mouth and it took a couple of years for me to really build my first solid clientele. I can remember coming to work with zero clients. Cleaning and helping all day and going home with nothing. Back then there was no law where you had to make at least minimum wage as an employee if you were present in salon. Thankfully I somehow scraped by and stuck with it. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Over the last few years, I’ve really started specializing in curly hair. It seemed for many years there just wasn’t a lot of training specifically for curly and textured hair. I’ve been grateful to have some mentors along the way and I continuously take classes on this topic. I myself have curly hair and have known the struggles of a bad curly cut. I often have used myself as a Guinea pig, trying new techniques and color placements. Shaping curls is such an art form and in my opinion, should not be cut the same as a traditional haircut. It lays differently so it needs to be cut differently. I believe so much in this technique that recently I’ve started teaching classes at local salons here in GR. 

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Find people that you admire. If they do hair how you want to do hair then reach out and see if you can commission a one-on-one session with them. Or maybe they would be willing to teach a class at your salon. I find we have such an amazing community of hairstylists here and everyone I’ve met has been more than happy to offer guidance and support. 

Pricing:

• Long haircut $70
• Short haircut $60
• Global color $115
• Partial highlight $165
• Full highlight $195

Contact Info:

• Email: kristirichardshair@gmail.com
• Website: www.elysiansalongr.com
• Instagram: givethemhairbykristi
• Facebook: Kristi Richards Hair

Image Credits
Leigh Ann Cobb
Jodi Mulder
Andrea Lane