Inspiring Conversations with Lorin Lange of Lorin Lange

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lorin Lange

Hi Lorin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When people ask how I got into doing hair, I always tell them it kind of just happened. It was Plan B—I told myself if Plan A (college) didn’t work out, I’d go to cosmetology school.

As you may guess based on who I am today, college did not work out! So in 2017, I began cosmetology school at Paul Mitchell the School Michigan and graduated in November of 2018.

From there I assisted right out of school with a salon that wasn’t the right fit for me for about six months. After that, I worked at DryBar for about two years to hone in my blow drying/styling/customer service skills.

After coronavirus made me contemplate my life and career path, I knew I wanted to do color, cuts, and in general expand my skills. I was hired as an assistant at another salon. It was there I really learned the type of stylist I wanted to be and start to grow my clientele. I got to learn from a team of unique individuals who worked well together and were so giving with their knowledge and experience. I was there for 2 years, as an assistant and stylist, and in May 2023, I became an independent stylist in Ferndale.

That really leads us to where we are today—I am currently an independent stylist/small business owner in Royal Oak (I relocated in October 2024).

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Unfortunately, no journey is without peril. Personally, at the beginning of my career and in schooling, I was extremely shy, which is not a characteristic that particularly helps you in this career. I had no idea how to maintain eye contact or keep a conversation. You wouldn’t know that now because I can barely shut up but it was extremely difficult for a while.

I’ve had mental health struggles most of my life, but they really came to a head in the fall of 2021, while I was assisting and growing my clientele. I had to take time off work. My boss and team at the time were incredibly supportive and gracious as I worked on getting my headspace in check.

On a wider scale, I think assisting in the hair industry is incredibly hard and can be exploitative. There’s a “pay your dues” mentality that some established stylists have towards assistants. It’s a, “I was forced to struggle as an assistant so you should too” kind of idea. Which, in my opinion, is wrong—no young stylist should have to suffer to grow their career. It was never justified then, and isn’t now. You hear so many assisting horror stories and think it’s no wonder that the dropout rate of stylists in their starting years is incredibly high. I believe support staff is the backbone of a smooth running salon, and should be treated as such.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Lorin Lange?
I offer hair services in my private suite in Royal Oak, MI. At this point, I am not a specialist in any one service—the beautiful thing about this career is that every day can be completely different, and I like being a jack of all trades type of stylist. So services include but are not limited to: blonding, vivids, extensions, bridal styling, short and long hair cutting, and blowouts.

With that being said, my brand is really about creating a hairstyle that makes my client feel like the authentic, unique individual that they are. If that’s a bowl cut, cool. If that’s a lived-in blonde, I’m down for that. Neon green highlights? Let’s do it. You get the idea. I believe a hair appointment is a collaborative effort between stylist and client. I’ve heard time and time again people say going to get their hair done is intimidating or that they’re afraid to speak up when they don’t like something, and I want a hair appointment with me to feel like the opposite of that. I’m here to accept and celebrate my clients as they come.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think my life and career has been shaped by the risks I’ve taken. It felt like major risks to drop out of college, go to cosmetology school, quit my first assisting job, move on from the jobs I felt safe in, and to go independent. None of those decisions were particularly planned out thoroughly, they were just rough ideas of a plan. Risk forces you to “figure it out” along the way, and prove what you’re capable of, which is usually a lot more than what you think.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lorinlange.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorinlange/profilecard/?igsh=cmV2MzNmcXc0MzRh
• Other: https://www.vagaro.com/lorinlange/staff