Elizabeth Faye Is Making Wellness an Industry Standard

When you think of wellness in the hair industry, you think of Elizabeth Faye (@heyelizabethfaye). With over a decade of experience in the industry, Faye has launched several initiatives to help beauty professionals care for their physical and emotional well-being, so they can feel their best and be successful in their endeavors. Before she could reach that point, she started out as a troubled teen who walked into a hair salon having no idea how that moment would change her life forever. Below, Faye delves into how she found her way into the hair industry, provides an inside look into her initiatives and shares advice for professionals on how to prioritize their wellness in the new year. 

Beauty Launchpad (BLP): Tell us about your journey in the industry. 

"When I look back as the woman I am now, what was it that changed my life? It wasn't the cut, style, shampoo, massage or fresh color — It was the way I felt. I felt heard, seen and loved for the first time in my life."Courtesy of Elizabeth FayeElizabeth Faye (EF): So, my journey in the industry started by having a hairdresser do my hair as a troubled teen. I went to a different school every year of my life, living with a different family from 12 to 16 years old.  One of those schools I wanted to get kicked out of, so I ended up stealing box color to make my hair a distracting color. As I was waiting for my parents to pick me up after being expelled, I was given a business card for a hairdresser, and I ended up going to that salon. It was called the Robert Cromeans Salon in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. That hairdresser ended up becoming my mentor. My dad was very upset about the price of the service, but something had really shifted in me in that salon experience. I'd felt something I never felt before, so I ended up doing whatever I had to do to pay my dad back.

Six months later, I came back to the salon, dropped a wad of cash on the table and asked the hairstylist, 'what can I get for this much?' He told me to put my cash away and ended up striking a deal with my dad that if I could get better grades on my report card, he would do my hair complimentary. That act of kindness ended up completely shifting my life and led to my career in the professional beauty industry.

When I look back as the woman I am now, what was it that changed my life? It wasn't the cut, style, shampoo, massage or fresh color — It was the way I felt. I felt heard, seen and loved for the first time in my life. 

BLP: Can you tell us about Hair Love University and how it got its start?  

"Hair Love is known for its educational concepts. We have a holistic approach to education, focused on the whole human, with community-based and experience-based education."Courtesy of Elizabeth FayeEF: Hair Love University got its start in 2017 by me combining what had changed my life so much: the hair industry and the outdoors. 

I grew up going to camp outs, rendezvous — all these different experiences. My dad would take me, and and we would trade goods with other people. I grew up learning these concepts of community and collective, connection and consciousness and the importance of service and helping each other. I felt this deep connection to those types of gatherings as well as being in the mountains, getting out of our day-to-day and connecting with nature. 

So, I called my friends, family and brands I had connections with, and we launched this. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, and it obviously turned into so much more. Hair Love is known for its educational concepts. We have a holistic approach to education, focused on the whole human, with community-based and experience-based education. It's been able to shift the educational approach of our industry and change tens of thousands of lives. We're really known for retreats, with podcasts and coaching courses.

BLP: What inspired you to place such a heavy emphasis on wellness in the programs you’ve created?  

EF: I had seen over years of during my career as the importance of group cause solutions. If we can really get to the core of who we are, what we want, our values, our mission, what's actually holding us back, what makes us tick, etc., we can cause life-changing transformations. "If we can really get to the core of who we are, what we want, our values, our mission, what's actually holding us back, what makes us tick, etc., we can cause life-changing transformations."Courtesy of Elizabeth Faye

In 2018, I got really sick. I started to have lots of years of burnout turned into adrenal fatigue, then turning into autoimmune disease, chronic pain, migraines and PCOS, and it was really starting to cripple my life and my ability to show up. At the same time, my partner, who's now my husband, was going through a severe mental and emotional crisis. In 2018/2019, we went on tour with our business, and that's when everything came crashing down. I ended up talking about it on Instagram because I was looking for answers and had tried everything I needed to try. I was running out of options. I was going to doctors, therapists and healers. I needed some deeper answers. After my partner became medicine resistant, we really decided to take our healing seriously. 

It took us on an amazing path of understanding the body, the subconscious mind, the nervous system, the inner child, our breath, our trauma and how it all plays out in our lives. It ended up changing our life so much that we ended up getting married, and I ended up really going from life coach to much deeper work and began certifications and training with my teachers, my mentors and different organizations to become trauma-informed: to be an expert in the nervous system, to be a breathwork facilitator, a sound healer and a holistic healer. I've been able to collect many modalities and bring them together in a really beautiful way. My courses became really focused 80% on personal development and healing and 20% skill, and the results are uncanny. 

BLP: You just recently launched the Vitality Project. Tell us more about it. 

"We've had so many people ask us how they can bring wellness, personal development and healing into their company culture, so I ended up creating a proper wellness program for that. It's my life's work, years in the making."Courtesy of Elizabeth FayeEF: We've had so many people ask us how they can bring wellness, personal development and healing into their company culture, so I ended up creating a proper wellness program for that. It's my life's work, years in the making. It's developed in a way that can truly be integrated by the salon owner into the work place, while also taking care of the leadership team.

We created this exactly the same for schools. The schools are the future of our industry, and if we do not set this as a precedent, we're really going to impact the lifespan of wellness professionals. This is an integrated curriculum that lives inside of schools, partnered with Pivot Point and some of the absolute best names in beauty. It's something we've never seen before. It's an innovative wellness program that is plug and play. For schools, students are learning soft skills, people skills,  emotional intelligence skills, services to regulation skills and personal development and wellness skills as part of their lifestyle and career success from the beginning. It also gives teachers tools for managing all of the emotions and mental and physical challenges in the school and workplace. 

My goal is to shift the industry forever.  In 10 years, it will be common knowledge for everyone we are successful by taking care of ourselves. It's an integrated part of the pathway to success in the beauty industry. This is going to create a lot more retention in our schools — It's going to create more staff retention in our salons and spas. It's going to help with recruitment for both. It's going to help with sustainability, having a longer, more successful career in our industry. 

BLP: What tips do you have for stylists who want to focus more on their own wellness in the new year?

EF: Start making it a part of your schedule just like other things you do to care for yourself. Wellness needs to be the whole picture. That's an important thing with Vitality Project — We understand we all have four bodies: mental, emotional, spiritual and physical, and they all affect each other. Make sure you carve out time to address all aspects of that. My favorite tool is breathwork. 

BLP: Community also plays a vital role in your initiatives. Why is community building important to you, and what importance do you think it has to the industry at large? 

"Don't be afraid to build your own community. If you're not being invited to the table, build your own table and invite people. Don't be afraid to invite others. People will start inviting you as well. Everyone wants to be invited. We're all just little kids who want to belong deep down."Courtesy of Elizabeth FayeEF: Community plays a vital role in all of my initiatives. Community is the blood of all of them. It's the heartbeat of everything. We are an education company, but we are community-forward. We believe in the concept of teaching in circle, where everyone can contribute. We believe in teaching people to be self-led, responsible, accountable for their own success and forward-thinking. We use good questions, coaching and self-development tools to allow people to take these initiatives into their life. 

It's so important that we belong in the world. We're stronger together, we're better together and we can really change the world together. I believe it's important to be a part of community and also multiple communities to get yourself into different spaces where people think and look differently than you, but they also have some sort of resonance of attributes that move your life forward in a positive way. 

BLP: What advice do you have for stylists who are struggling to feel connected to the industry and find their community?

EF: As beauty professionals, we're natural community builders. Start looking at your clientele as a community. Start gathering local community and connections. Go to a few different places. We have our hair shows and brand community, but be a part of independent communities. I think it's important to diversify your community.

Don't be afraid to build your own community. If you're not being invited to the table, build your own table and invite people. Don't be afraid to invite others. People will start inviting you as well. Everyone wants to be invited. We're all just little kids who want to belong deep down.

BLP: What changes would you like to see the industry make to provide for the next generation of stylists and their educators? 

EF: I really believe in being the change you wish to see. For me, what we have created with Vitality Project is the ultimate collaboration. There's literally no one who can't collaborate with us. If you are an educator, let's collaborate. If you are a brand, let's collaborate. If you are a stylist, let's collaborate. If you are a corporate, let's collaborate. If you're a student, let's collaborate. This product is really built to be all of ours and to be a movement and a community. "I really believe in being the change you wish to see."Courtesy of Elizabeth Faye

By integrating these tools, we will be the change that I wish to see in the industry. We will have more community, connection and leadership skills. We will be taking care of ourselves. Wellness will be a standard of excellence.

Something that my first mentor taught me was that you can't assume anything is common sense. You must make it common knowledge, and that's really what we're doing with Vitality Project is giving people this invisible toolkit of wellness wherever they are so they can grow.

Elizabeth's Top 5 Wellness Must-Haves 

1. A really good morning and evening ritual: You take care of lots of people, so have those rituals. They can be as simple as breathwork and meditation. 
2. A friend group/community: Find a group of people you can lean on through good and bad times. 
3. A mentor: Be in mentorship programs and places where you can have someone that's going to help you get where you want to go so much faster and more easily. 
4. Relationships with brands: Start building deep relationships with brands that you align with, whether it be the color, tools, tech or software brands. Build a relationship of loyalty with them. Know your sales and brand reps — they're part of the industry.
5. Start using AI: We're artists, we're people-forward, we're service-based providers — There's a lot of demands we have to meet in order to be successful. Utilize technology to support you, so you can have more time and space to focus on your wellness.