On August 5, Sola Salons hosted an event in Kansas City with the Popular Nobody team, and Beauty Launchpad was in attendance!
Created by John Mosley (@popular_nobody), the Popular Nobody brand helps teach stylists skills from business building to branding, marketing, strategy, personal development and mindset, so pros in the industry have the skills to become a popular nobody like Mosley himself.
Along his 15 year journey, Mosley has invited fellow professionals and creatives to join his team. For the event in Kansas City, Mosley brought along Stormi Kelly (@juststormi), Larry Legend (@officiallarrylegend), Stephanie Martinez (@bombshellbarber), as well as photographer/videographer Justin Kyle Owens (@j.kylephotography), who shared their unique skillsets with attendees.
The day kicked off with a panel where the Popular Nobody team introduced themselves to attendees and answered their industry-related questions. They shared how they built their roster of celebrity clientele, their thoughts on how the industry has changed post-COVID, advice for how to become a truly great educator and more.
"Be your greatest self, and show up as your greatest self," Kelly shared. "Being an educator starts behind the chair. The guests that you are serving behind the chair, talk to them. Tell them why you do what you do. I put products in my guests' hands [and tell them] 'this is how you use this, this is how you recreate this look.' Because if they look good, I look good. And, it gets me comfortable talking about what I'm doing."
"Know what you're talking about. There are a lot of 'social media educators' out there," Martinez added. "They don't know what they're talking about. They got lucky with some cuts, and it's cool. Then, all of a sudden they're an educator. They've got a huge following, and they do great cuts, but can they tell you how to get there? Can they tell you where to start? Can they tell you the bone structure? Can they tell you what section angle they're taking? Know your verbiage."
Mosley jumped in, "I always use this quote: 'A teacher teaches you how, an educator teaches you why.'"
After their panel conversation, attendees were treated to a barbeque lunch! Then, each of the team members got hands-on to showcase different hair cutting techniques.
Martinez kicked it off for the team, showcasing what she believes will be the next big hair trend: the return of 80s hair.
"Right now what I'm seeing is a lot of 80s coming back. For women, lots of feathered hair," Martinez shares. "Eighties feathers are coming back. The shorter layers are coming back with the longer hair. In the men's world, I see what I call a slam back. You can go low fade, taper, mid-fade, high-fade — any of that is going to be fine in this hair cut, but the top of the hair is combed back and slammed down."
Next, Kelly showcased her process for cutting a bob with a clipper. She used an Andis Cordless reVITE Clipper, saying it was her favorite to use because "I have all my tools in one." The clipper incorporates a removable blade and adjustable blade in one single tool, enabling the stylist/barber to make changes between a taper blade and fade blade quickly and easily for added efficiency and convenience.
Then, it was on to some textured hair education with Legend, who talked about his process for approaching a cut before demonstrating for attendees.
"The three most focused points that I look at when I'm [approaching] this type of hair cut is a blended transition, a proportional balance and the detailing of the whole hair cut towards the end," Legend explained. "I say Cameron (the name of the doll head) came to me growing his hair out, but he wants to change it and make it look a little more dope and not just a basic flat type of hair cut. So, what we do is we put a little short graduation into the temple area and the back of the nape area. That allows it to continue to have some growth, fun and balance all around the hair cut."
Then, Mosley concluded the day by discussing the principles of hair cutting, so stylists can be more efficient behind the chair.
"Most people don't understand principles — They don't understand principles of what we do, nor do they understand system," Mosley shared.
As the event wrapped up for the day, attendees had the opportunity to chat one-on-one with each of the team members to ask questions and take photos.
By hosting this event, Sola offered pros an opportunity to continue their education, stay up to date on the latest trends, revisit the fundamentals of their craft, build community and more. We are so glad we got to be in attendance and watch how intently this group engaged with the Popular Nobody team!
You can see more of our coverage from the weekend saved to our Instagram highlights (@beautylaunchpad).
