Today we’d like to introduce you to Colleen Brickley.
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 been in this industry professionally since 2010, but honestly, hair has always been my calling. As a teenager, I told my parents I wanted to be a hairstylist. When I had the opportunity to enroll in a career program at Ben Davis High School, my mother told me I was too smart for it — and I don’t hold that against her. That was over 20 years ago, when the industry looked very different. So I took a different path, but by the time I was 23, I found my way into beauty school and knew immediately it was exactly where I was supposed to be.
My passion for teaching showed up right away. The moment I earned my cosmetology license, I went back and obtained my beauty instructor license as well. I started as a salon stylist specializing in color and working primarily with female clients — but in 2012, my life shifted in a significant way. I got sober, found my faith, and in 2014 made the bold decision to move to Utah to rebuild my life from the ground up. Three suitcases. No car. A fresh start.
The only place within walking distance was Sport Clips, so I started there part-time. I had always wanted to sharpen my men’s hair skills anyway, so it felt like the right move practically — I had no idea it would become the foundation of my career. By 2018, I was offered an educator position with Sport Clips, and I fell completely in love with that role.
Then life tested me in ways I never anticipated. In 2019, I lost my father. In 2020, the pandemic hit. And in April 2021, I experienced the most devastating loss of my life — my younger sister passed away unexpectedly. After losing her, I couldn’t picture myself smiling, leading, empowering anyone. I was broken. But after a few months, I picked up the clippers again, and I found that my craft gave me somewhere to put my grief. Work became healing.
I threw myself back in. In 2023, I secured a contract with Wahl and continued growing my social media presence. In 2024, I made the decision to come back home to Indiana — to my roots — and build here. I’ve been working in barbershops in the Indianapolis area, currently at Jones Barbershop in Greenwood. Along the way, I’ve also discovered a genuine love for social media and content creation. And now I’m actively pursuing what has always been at my core: a role in beauty education.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth? Not even close — and honestly, I think that’s what makes my story worth telling.
The most foundational obstacle I faced was one that most people in this industry share but rarely talk about: beauty school never taught me how to cut men’s hair. Not really. So everything I built in that space, I taught myself from scratch. Every technique, every fade, every skill that eventually became my career and my brand — I figured out on my own. That gap in education is actually what drives my purpose as an educator today. I don’t want the next generation of stylists to feel as lost as I did.
Layered on top of that was the reality of starting over in a place where I knew no one. Moving to Utah with three suitcases, no car, and no safety net wasn’t just a career risk — it was a complete life rebuild. And then grief entered the picture. Losing my father, navigating a pandemic, and then losing my sister unexpectedly — those weren’t just personal hardships, they were moments where I had to decide whether I was going to let the weight of it all take me down or keep showing up anyway.
And I kept showing up. Not perfectly, not without pain — but I made a choice, over and over again, to be a light for the people around me even when I was the one who needed it most. I think that’s the thread through every obstacle: learning to move through hard things with grace, and letting those hard things make me better at what I do.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a licensed cosmetologist and beauty instructor with over 15 years of experience, and what I’m best known for is my ability to teach hairstylists how to cut men’s hair — a skill that, as most of us know, beauty school simply doesn’t cover the way it should.
My specialty is modern, trend-forward men’s haircuts, and what sets me apart is my approach to personalization. I don’t just execute a technique — I study the person in the chair. I match the cut to the shape of their face, their features, their style, and the version of themselves they’re trying to bring out. I’ve been told I have a gift for taking someone from feeling overlooked to feeling like the best version of themselves, and that transformation is what keeps me passionate about this work every single day.
As an educator, I bring that same energy into the classroom and online. My origin story — being completely self-taught in men’s hair — is the foundation of how I teach. I know what it feels like to figure it out alone, and I’ve made it my mission to make sure other stylists don’t have to. I’ve had the privilege of working with industry leaders like Wahl and Sport Clips, earning my National Educator credentials three times over, and growing a social media community of over 300,000 people who trust my voice in this space.
What I’m most proud of, though, isn’t any title or number — it’s my resilience. This career has been built through grief, reinvention, and a whole lot of faith. And through all of it, I’ve stayed consistent, stayed warm, and stayed true to who I am. There really isn’t anyone else quite like me, and I mean that in the most genuine way — my energy, my story, and my approach to this craft are entirely my own.
Any big plans?
My immediate focus is continuing to grow my craft and my clientele behind the chair. I’m always open to new opportunities and challenges — that’s just who I am — but I’m also in a season of being intentional rather than reactive, and letting my next steps unfold with purpose.
Long-term, I see myself deeply rooted in education. Whether that’s teaching in a beauty school, returning to the stage with clipper brands like Wahl, or continuing to build my voice online as an advocate for hairstylists in the men’s hair space — education is where my heart has always lived. Being on stage, putting a clipper in someone’s hand and watching something click for them, is one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever experienced, and I want more of that.
But the dream that sits closest to my heart is one I’ve been holding for a long time: opening a beauty school centered around addiction recovery and sobriety. I want to give people in recovery a trade — a skill, a purpose, a reason to show up for themselves. The school would be called New Beginnings, and it would be dedicated to the memory of my father and my sister, both of whom lost their battles with addiction. If I can take the most painful parts of my story and turn them into something that gives someone else a fighting chance, that’s the legacy I want to leave.
As for big changes — I’ve had plenty of those over the last two years. Right now, I’m ready to settle into what I’ve been building and trust the process. The next chapter is already in motion. I’m just excited to see where it leads.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://stan.store/cocodidmyhair
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cocodidmyhair?igsh=MXB3b2ZyOGJuNTZ5Nw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
