This week on Headcases we are joined by a true force in the beauty industry. He’s built a remarkable career as a celebrity hairstylist, a master colorist, a brand ambassador, and a business executive. He’s taken his expertise worldwide, teaching sold-out classes around the world. Specializing in balayage, blonding, and advanced color techniques, he has not only perfected his craft but also mastered the social media game, amassing an impressive 3 million followers. Today, we’ll dive into his journey and share his insights, plus the secrets of his success.
Let’s get into this week’s HeadCase with my newfound friend, Mr Alfredo Lewis.
Show Notes
3:40 Alfredo’s early career and education
6:18 Transition to Corporate Life and Global Education
9:11 The Impact of Social Media and Influencer Collaboration
12:53 The Hair Saves Series and it’s Impact
13:06 The role of social media and mental health
13:52 Personal Reflections and Aspirations
Chris Baran 0:00
How great would it be to get up close and personal with the beauty industry heroes we love and admire, and to ask them, How did you learn to do what you do? I’m Chris Baran, a hairstylist and educator for 40 plus years, and I’m inviting all our heroes to chat and share the secrets of their success.
Welcome to another episode of head cases, and today we have the incredible Alfredo Lewis joining us. He’s a celebrity artist in the beauty industry, known for his remarkable career as a celebrity hairstylist, Master colorist, brand ambassador and a business executive. He’s captivated audiences worldwide, teaching sold out classes across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. As a specialist in balayage, blonding and advanced color techniques, he has not only honed his craft but built a massive following as a content creator, creator with an impressive 3 million followers on social media. We’ll dive into this journey his insights and the secrets behind his success in the ever evolving beauty industry and social media game. So let’s get into this week’s head case with my newfound friend, Mr. Alfredo. Lewis. Alfredo, my friend, it is such a good time to connect with you again. I mean, you and I have this history where we work for companies, and you were on one side and I was on the other and we saw each other passing in the dark and so on, and never had a chance to have a a really great conversation just between you and I. So I’m really, really excited about this. And just wanted to say, Welcome to head cases.
Alfredo Lewis 1:52
Thank you for having me. I’m honored to be here. I’ve been when you asked me, I was like, it was the fastest Yes, I’ve said, You’re right. We’re like, passing ships in the night. I remember you scarf. You love my McQueen scarf. Oh yeah, I’ll tell you. Remember that you always I
Chris Baran 2:07
do you? I gotta tell you a funny story, because I’ve always been a McQueen fan, uh huh. And you know, you can tell my my era is a little bit earlier than yours, and other people and and so I have other movie history behind me as well, and, and Lori Zabel always teases me because I remember one time somebody asked me, Who am my favorite designer? And I said, Steve McQueen. She had never she will not let me forget that so. But in reality, you know, McQueen is one of my favorite designers, and I remember that time, and I think the last time we had any real time together like this was on beauty cast when we did one of their their gigs. So I again, my friend you, I’ve always been a huge admirer for of you, and you’ve made such great inroads in so many different areas that most people don’t get into. Like, you’ve, you’ve done the hair, you’ve, I’m just throw it out there again. You know, almost 2 million people following you on tick tock. And you’ve, you’ve been in a corporate life, and, you know, I don’t know if there’s anything you haven’t done, but can you just for anybody who doesn’t know you and I, I don’t know where the hell they’ve been in life, if they don’t, however, could you just give us, like, a quick overview on your hair story? How’d you get into it and so on?
Alfredo Lewis 3:30
Yeah, of course. Thank you for that. So kind of you. Uh, well, I’ve been doing hair for 31 years, so I obviously started when I was, like, you know, three years old, right? But I’ve been doing this a long time. The first half of my career was in salon. So I live in Los Angeles, so I worked in Beverly Hills back in the 90s, pre social media. And I was one of those hair stylists that never went to a class, never went to a hair show, got booked and busy and thought I knew everything. And you know, what happened to me was the burnout, right? Burnout, you know, I had nothing to inspire me. And it went from just, you know, gray, retouch, highlight, you know, they would book us back then every 30 minutes. And I was also young, really immature and wild. And I got, you know, what some hairdressers do, not all, but I’m partying and all that. And I almost left the industry. And I always tell it was education that really saved my life. I got invited to a class, and I thought, oh, man, I don’t want to go to that class. But I said, yes for some reason, and I’ll never forget that morning. It was a Monday morning, the hair stylist we were going to go together. I said, Oh, I’m not feeling well, and she’s a girl, she said, Oh no, no, no, no, I’m picking you up. Get ready. You’re going to this class. You promised me. I know you’re not sick, so I begrudging Lee went and so lucky that I did, because that class changed my life. Wow, it was a Brazilian blow up class, but it was back when I first came out. So think like, well
Chris Baran 4:59
and give. Shout out. Who is Do you remember the educators name? I always Yeah, you
Alfredo Lewis 5:03
know, she’s no longer with us. Her name was Natalie, and she was so amazing. And I’ll never forget her, because she was so great. Whatever she did, you know the power of education? Yeah, she did it. She got me. She put me under her spell. And I wanted to buy everything they were selling that day, and I just was like, I want to make people feel how this amazing educator made me feel. And it just completely changed the trajectory of my career. I went back to work a completely different person, like it just, you know, lit a fire under me, and I ended up moving salons. And the salon I moved to, lo and behold, it’s fate. Were the founders of Brazilian blowout. No way. They said, You know, we think that you’re, you know, you’ve got a great personality. We love your vibe. We need educators really bad. And it was exactly what I wanted. And of course, I was nervous because it was so different for me. But I started off teaching small classes. That’s what a lot of people probably don’t know about me. You know, things take time. I didn’t just wake up one day with 2 million followers on Tiktok. I started out teaching classes with three people there, but, man, I acted like there was 3000 I was so happy to be doing it, and I loved it. Cardboard table, a mirror cling behind me. And then, and then it, you know, I obviously it started to progress. Next thing you know, they asked me to do a road show, and there’s 100 people there, and then they’re like, hey, we want you to do back then it was is e right in Long Beach. Now it’s premiere, and that’s when I got into the platform artist life. But this was before I had any social media. I was pretty known in that genre of hair shows. I started to become known for that brand because I was kind of one of one of the lead educators that you’d see on stage. And back then, one of the biggest booths at the show, remember, like that I am booth and doing, you know, Chicago, doing Orlando premiere. And then the next thing you know, they’re like, hey, we want you to go to Australia. Like, I ended up traveling the world through that brand. I went to every continent with them, and I taught Thailand, Hong Kong. I mean, I can think of almost every country you can think of. I did education for them, and I ended up, then there was a controversy with them. Remember the formaldehyde controversy? And I just was, I don’t know, I just said, you know, I think you guys need a head of education. That’s how I got into corporate. I said, I think the problem with this is everybody’s using it, you know, without going to classes. And you have educators, but you don’t have, like, somebody overseeing the, you know, the education and how it’s how it’s being presented. And one educator saying one thing, and one saying another. We really need to have that streamline, you know, message that we’re sending everybody. And they, gave me the job, you know, and I pitched it with me and another educator, because I was kind of, you know, so new to me to be in the corporate world, but I just, I don’t know, I wanted to change. I’ve been doing hair for a long time. So I would go one week for two days, and she would go the other week, and I really thrived. And she’s amazing, amazing hairstylist. Her name is Michelle, but for her, it just wasn’t for her, like she felt very out of sorts and didn’t enjoy it. And I would really thrive and be excited and show up with ideas. And so eventually they said, We want you to just do this every week. Come in two days a week, every week. And so I had to balance salon and corporate.
Chris Baran 8:17
And what year was this? This was 2009
Alfredo Lewis 8:21
I think. And I was with that brand for almost a decade, from educator to running education with them. I ran education for them until 2017 right? Long time. And I think we, when I left, we went from like 10 educators to 65 educators. Wow. And then I did the research and development for a bond builder called b3 it was like, when Olaplex was like, you know, yeah, I mean, it still is right. But when I first came out, it was like that. I always say there’s this moments in our industry that change everything forever, like a product that comes out, then that was definitely the bond builder, you know, moment.
Chris Baran 8:58
Because everybody went after that. They
Alfredo Lewis 9:01
went, but I got into social media because, yeah, everything had changed. Celebrity wasn’t really pushing products anymore, you know, like getting and so I had to figure it out. My boss at the time said, uh, CEO Mike Brady said, you have to get into this. Everybody’s doing it. You don’t have a social media. And everybody’s, you know, you know, there’s all these influencers back then, they didn’t, you didn’t know what they look like. It was just pictures and little short videos, if that. So I again, begrudging Lee, it’s always when I pushed into discomfort. I think that I’ve had the most success. I was, really didn’t want to do social media, believe it or not. Yeah, I was. I was one of those platform artists that’s like, I don’t want to do that. That’s not for me, like there, you know, I’m, uh, that was,
Chris Baran 9:43
and that was a big, crucial time. That was a crucial time in the education world. It was, it was, there was this shift between, you know, and I think there was a lot of at the beginning, a lot of animosity in between the two. And
Alfredo Lewis 9:56
I was, I started out, believe it or not, it’s hard for people to understand that I was. Was like, doing it, but begrudging like I didn’t want to do it. I was like, Okay, I’m gonna find these people. I’m gonna bring them into the brand, but I don’t think we need it. And I had remember 65 platform artists, educators that didn’t want those, you know, influencers coming up to the brand. They wanted to be the ones on stage and be the ones talking. So it was definitely a very slippery slope, especially back then for all the brands. And I know even in, you know, the red can L’Oreal, it was happening industry wide. It wasn’t just and so I started meeting these artists, and I started realizing how talented they were. They weren’t obviously, it was very different than those of us that were working with brands. Because when you’re working with a brand, as you know, there’s ways that we need to speak about that product, there’s claims that we need to stick to, there’s things that you know legally or whatever, you know, we’re representing the brand in a different way, right? And I started to be refreshed by these artists that were so off the cuff. They were saying whatever they wanted. And I, you know, for me, I’d be like, Oh, God, you’re, you know, you can’t say that about this product. I can’t say that. And but then I kind of started to warm up to it. And I was like, Okay, how do I find the synergy in this? How do I find a balance where I let them be them, but I teach them a little bit more about, like, how this product actually works, so they’re, you know, they’re relaying the right message. And then they started asking me to do content with them. A lot of them, a lot of them, Hey, do this video. And they start tagging me. And all of a sudden, I started gaining followers like, you know, without even trying, I was just, all of a sudden, I had 20,030 1050 now we’re, you know, 2018 and I started to collaborate with all these incredible artists. In the end, there was 95 around 97 influencers with b3 from micro influencers to people with 500 800,000 followers. And we would have retreats, and I would bring up I was, I think we were one of the first brands, besides pulp riot, to bring influencers to a hair show and put them on stage, like in a as a platform artist, yeah, man, it was fun. You know, we they’d come out and there’d be 200 300 people around the booth, like cram, to see these, you know, these artists, influencers, on stage. And it was definitely a time, as you know, like it was a huge shift happening. I mean, you and I have been through so many shifts in the industry, but that was definitely one of them, yeah, and it definitely again, it was another industry changing time for me, because that was my first exposure to social media, the power it could have, what I could do with that platform, how I could reach so many more people than at a hair at a hair show, you’re reaching a lot of people, but then on that, it’s a platform where you’re able to reach people through a computer screen or through a phone, yeah? And
Chris Baran 12:54
I want to stop you there just for a second, because I love where you’re going with this. Yeah. What I’m still intrigued with is the because there’s that part where I don’t actually do this, but I have to do it with the social media and all that. What was the what was the hook? What was the thing? Is there something that you remember, that you went, Oh, it’s pretty damn cool. What was the thing, if you can remember, because I know there’s lots of people out there. Let’s face it, if you’re if you’re a hairdresser out there now behind a chair, and if you’re not doing social media, you know people. It’s different people. Clients are shopping you you’re not advertising for people. They’re at. You’re doing advertise to pick me, pick me, pick me. And it’s different. So there, but if there’s something that was in there that people that might not like doing it as much as others, was there something that you could relate to them that went up? This is the part it was, whether it was the validation or whatever,
Alfredo Lewis 13:52
you know, well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, too quick. It was when I really had that moment. It was not even in this country, that’s when I really realized, but it was going to the hair shows, and all of a sudden, I would see it with the people I was working with, because they were before me. I was kind of like the next, close to second generation, right? Yeah, I would see everybody want to take pictures with them and line up and like, and it was that day when I was walking by myself at the hair show, and all of a sudden, like, these five girls come up to me, go, oh, my god, are you Alfredo? Can we, you know, we love your videos. Can we take a picture with you? And I was like, Oh, wow, I’m starting to, like, have that same as all these people I’m working with, you know, one, instead of overseeing them and being their boss, I’m, like, almost becoming one of them, you know. But when I really noticed it is, I went to Thailand to do a class, and everybody was so quiet. It’s a different culture, and I thought they couldn’t stand me. I thought they hated me, like nobody smiled or laughed. And I was teaching, I was like, oh god. I was so nervous. I was shaking. And I still, to this day, said I was getting nervous on stage, believe it or not, but I was like, I don’t think they like it. And at the end, they just rushed me. It was like 300 stylists, and they started, like, touching my shirt and taking pictures, like they were just being polite, like it’s just a different culture when they don’t, it’s just they don’t raise their hand and get all, you know? And I was like, Wow, I’m in another country that we don’t even share the same language, but hair is a universal language. Yeah, they all knew my content and knew me, and it was like they were so excited to meet me. And I remember getting really emotional, like, realizing, like, like, you can’t reach people like that without social media. Like, to be able to reach an entirely different country that speaks an entirely different language and a different culture. That was probably the moment I was like, wow, this is getting huge.
Chris Baran 15:42
Yeah, you know what I and I think, you know, that’s while a lot of people in the world may, may not be traveling to Thailand or going to Japan. And I know it was similar in Japan, you had to carry around a balloon with you so people could find you in the crowd, so they could take pictures with you. But the the that, and I don’t want to get go the wrong path down when I’m talking about being validated. But if you think about just the stylus behind the chair, it’s the same thing. It’s that smile that that that beam, that their eyes popping open when they see how great they look is that’s that validation that you’re getting, but you’re getting from a single person. But when you get on to the level that you’re at, it’s not about being ego. Look at how many people that are I’m getting pictures taken with, but but the validation that you get for the influence that they have and how you’ve helped transform their lives. I think that’s the, that’s the key in that. I
Alfredo Lewis 16:42
love where you’re going with this. I know where you’re going. I mean, it’s a roller coaster, yeah, be honest. But in the beginning, the roller coasters, don’t you know? Roller coaster goes up, up, up, yep. And that’s really all you see at first, yeah, is in the beginning, is the, it’s like the honeymoon phase. And we, let’s just be honest, this hairstylist, and it’s taken me many years, maybe 25 years, to understand this. It’s there’s so many amazing things I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love my job, but we do live for validation, and it starts on the song. Every day you’re doing clients, and you’re waiting for the smile at the end. You’re waiting for the I love it. You’re the best. I can’t go to anyone, but you, you’ve got me for the rest of your you know the things that we hear, or nowadays the text message, I haven’t stopped getting compliments on my hair since I saw you. That’s that’s without social media, yeah. Then the downside of the roller coaster is the text of, my husband hates my hair, and I can’t look at myself in the mirror. I got home and it looks yellow to me. I think I see red. It can ruin it can just take our whole we’re so hungry for that validation that when it goes in reverse, it can destroy us, which, that’s a part, the hardest part of our job, I think, is criticism. Now take that with social media, when it’s millions of people, possibly or 1000s, or hundreds of 1000s. It’s the same thing. You can’t believe either of it. You have to ground yourself. You can’t believe all the validation and all the good, because then you’re going to turn into a I don’t want to say, Well, you said we can cuss you turn to an asshole, right? Like you can, and that’s nobody that’s not fun to be around. But you also can’t believe if somebody you know, you have to know how to ground yourself and look at things in a different way, where you don’t let it, you know, defeat you or take you down. And kind of you have to have a really level head. I think that’s, I think that that transcends from salon to social media. It’s just magnified on social media. Social media is a hair stylist. To me, is your salon life magnified times like you have a follower account like, and it’s not about but I mean, if you have an audience, an engaged audience, the more it grows, the more magnified that feeling is a validation versus defeat, I guess. Does that make sense? Yeah.
Chris Baran 18:59
And you know, you know. And I, because I always, you know. I’m looking right now at at I was watching CBS the other morning and and they were saying that in the US, which this, it didn’t surprise me, but the level it was at surprised me. They were saying that different. And you hear this every year with the happiest country in the world, I guess, for the last, whatever, 1015, years always been Finland. I just want to know maybe it’s the Aquavit that they drink, or the or whatever the herring that they eat. I must do that. I got to get on that diet. But this year US ranked, I think it was 28 the lowest they’ve ever ranked, and they said that the majority of it came from, from the youth, the teenagers, the people that are just starting in their business. They they don’t feel accomplished. They don’t feel that the world’s giving them what they need and whatnot. And I don’t want to go, you know, everybody was going to damn kids or dumb, you know, I don’t believe that. I You’re still human being. You know. And as a coach, you know, I mean, because I’m and I know I’m going, I’ve got several thoughts going on here, so just bear with me. But that that point about how people are feeling right now, and and as a coach, you know, you and I have evolved. We’ve been through this thing, and I’ve my evolution has really taken me down the coaching road and the train, the trainer road. And the more that that I find when you’re coaching people, if you could just make them see themselves and just be happy they’re a completely different person when they when they talk and and I think that that mindset, that that a lot of people in where they’re either down in themselves or their their mental sort of looking for the it just the mental being is is taking a hit. And I that’s, it’s kind of sad when I mean, if you look at where we’ve evolved in our world and where we’re at in our world right now. Yes, there’s all this crap going on. I don’t want to go down that road, but that’s another just, that’s another podcast. But just, just if we could do something in our industry between us, that you could just make people feel happy, even if it’s just for like, 10 minutes, you know, and then push that to 20, and then 30, and then 40, just so people are more happy just with what we have than what this thing that they we always feel we have to be.
Alfredo Lewis 21:34
No, I mean, I like what you said. I think when I look at the the youth, it’s definitely because, you know, I’m on different platforms, so I honestly, really see it. I study these things, like Tiktok is obviously a lot of Gen Z, a lot of the younger generation, even though there is now, now everybody’s on there, but it still is a majority, I would say younger audience compared to Instagram, right? Which is why you’re Gen X millennial. I think Tiktok is probably younger millennial. You know, if you’re going to really like really like I, you know, compartmentalize, and then you’ve got Facebook, right? That’s for me, one like generation here of social media, right? Why? Yeah, so, um, I think, you know, if you really just look at the world, and again, another podcast, but the things that have happened in the world, from the pandemic, like we we you and I lived in a time where there was no social media, when we had to connect with people, when we had to leave the house to make friends or to talk, so it’s really hard for us. I feel like to judge a generation that grew up where they’re connected to their phone and they don’t know how to communicate. That’s what I see. I see that they know how to communicate where we have that blessing of we had to, we know I have not forgot what it’s like to not have a phone or to not have a following or to not and how I connected with people. So I think it’s, it’s you’re spot on with like, even if it’s for 10 minutes, is, how do we get them in the rooms? Though? Yeah, sometimes they’re so connected to that phone, and maybe they’re in a suite. Also, I grew up in a salon culture. There was 40 people in my salon. I went to work, and I had 40 friends, and maybe some that I wasn’t that good of friends with, but still, it was like a family, you know, you got the family members. It was the same thing. There was love and laughter and laughter and all the things that you feel with people, and that human connection now with the sweets. They’re in that room with the door closed. Not everybody, of course, there’s Yeah, but I think it’s, how do we get them to come out? And I see it in the youth when they do come to the class, when they do come to the show, yeah, and I do have the opportunity to talk to them in person. I see them smile. I see them happy, yeah, but I think some are isolating themselves. I think it’s about the, you know, not isolating yourselves. And how do we get them into the rooms? Yeah,
Chris Baran 23:53
you know. And I, I It’s spot on conversation that I love we’re having right now. Because, you know, I give you, for instance, I was just, I was just doing a gig, doing a training program just a couple of weeks ago. And I know that the the people that were in that room are of that, that Gen generation that is so used to their phone, etc, and and I, I the problem that I have with people right now is they’re saying that they treat them like they’re not human anymore, and they’re just saying that they’re, they’re, uh, well, they’re that new generation. But, you know, they’re, they’re human beings and but they have a different mentality than I’m going to say me, particularly because I was raised when I was a kid, and even the first what, half of my hairdressing career, there was no social media. You just you. Everything was talk, and then we’ve we, so the platform has shifted, and they don’t like with us, we would go to a class, and if we didn’t like it. Right? Your culture meant stay in the room. Stay in a room. Don’t say or wait till a break and then maybe leave, but you would be respectful. And they I think people think that kids aren’t being respectful if they just leave your room. What I tell people is, look at you’re just not impacting them. They’re not they’re in a swipe. I don’t know what the hell way you go up.
Alfredo Lewis 25:22
Bands are different. They’re there. But we have to do nation,
Chris Baran 25:25
the teachers of now. You just got to hit them with stuff faster, so that you impact them and draw attention to them. And I think that’s where influencers and and ambassadors that they’ve had for companies right now, because they’ve got that influence, they know how to get that to the people, literally, immediately. And instead of trying to give one long segment, they give like, five short ones. And that’s what they grab. That’s what they grab on to. And I think it’s really, really, that’s the lesson, I think that that people that have been educators really not need to get into right now. No,
Alfredo Lewis 26:03
I mean, I honestly, I love Gen Z, and I’m not just saying that, like, you have to know how to speak to there’s times where even on social media, the somebody that’s Gen Z will come at me a certain way. And at first I’d be like, but if I have a conversation with them, like, I comment back right away, they’re like, oh, and it’s like, a totally different tone. Like, maybe they’ll come on and say something negative. Like, I think that that was the wrong way to do it, because, and it’s just, it’s, like, almost sounds angry, yeah. And then I rather than, you know, shutting them down, not commenting, deleting it or whatever, I’ll come back and say, You know what, I love your thank you for your comment. The reason I did this for me is because, you know, but there’s other ways to get there. I love your idea. And just, they just want to be heard, and then all of a sudden they’re like, oh my gosh, I just followed you. Thank you. Like, they write back this beautiful neck, and I’m like, broke through, but I think it’s just the way that they communicate. It’s and from our generation, we take that as like, oh, you know, they’re attacking me. It’s literally the way, because if you think about it, they live most of their life from a keyboard. So there’s this safety there of typing whatever you want or whatever is in your mind, rather than thinking about how something sounds. And so I always say text messages can be so misconstrued, too, right? Like somebody writes you a text message, you’re like, you get angry, then you talk to them on the phone. You’re like, Oh, I totally misread that. Yeah, exactly. And that’s how social media is. And for that generation, they’re so in that. And I think it’s something we forget, right, you know. And it’s just, it’s just the way that they, that they, you know, absorb information, is so different. So you just kind of have to learn, I love what you’re saying. It’s but then, you know, when, when you and I are, if we’re on stage, you got to realize there’s all generations there. So how do you everybody? That’s another challenge,
Chris Baran 27:59
yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s, you know, when I guess again, that’s again, a whole nother comment that we can add for another one on how to grasp people in those environments. But the like the idea, first of all, I want to congratulate you, because in the research that I was doing on you, and even though I know of you to me when I do this, I always want to know a little bit more and and it was the first time, and I’m going to be, can I be just really, really honest, and you’re you might hate me for this, but never be really honest. Never hate you. Well, you know, I don’t do my own social media. I pay for people to do it because they know more than I do, and I can help to create content, but they’re the ones that put it all out there, so you’re at the master of this stuff and creating it. I just do what they tell me to do that makes sense. And I can blame it on my I can blame it on my age or my era or whatever. But I was like, I just, yeah, I you know, I love it when I do it, but I just don’t like to do it, until somebody they tell me to do it. And then I go, Yeah, that was kind of fun now, but I want to spin that around. Is what you do, and you and Philip, particularly in and I just called the hair risk, hair rescue series that you do, yeah, there’s Brilliant stuff, man. Thank you, brilliant. How tell how did that for anybody who, well, first of all, if somebody wants to watch them, where would they go? Because I want people to be able to watch these. Well,
Alfredo Lewis 29:24
on my Tiktok, there’s a like, you can create playlists on Tiktok. So I do have a, I think it says hair talk or hair disaster saves. It’d be easy to and I have them all, like, in chronological order. I think we’ve done 15 now, wow. So it’s all, you know, all the content. There’s, like 55 because I do, like parts, and I do updates on these ladies, and you know how they’re doing now, and I kind of keep up with them, so I have, like a playlist so they could watch them there.
Chris Baran 29:51
So, so tell me the How did this? Did this something you went, Oh, this is something we should do. Or did. It was? It a natural what
Alfredo Lewis 30:01
happened? Oh, all the best things that happen are usually happy accidents. When she said, No, I was, I was at a press event, and I was on Tiktok, as one is, sometimes, and I started seeing this video. And, you know, first they didn’t see the actual video of the girl who all her hair broke off in a shower named Steph, I saw hairdressers reacting and doing their commentary on the situation. And it was very, let’s just say it wasn’t like they were supporting her. It was almost like, this is why you need to go to the salon, and this is what she gets. And, you know, oh my god, you know, making, like, like, kind of laughing, and, you know, the girl’s like, in tears. All her hair is just coming out, and, you know, it’s just, it was, it was like, I don’t know, it just didn’t feel good. It felt kind of judgy to me at that in that moment. And I was with another hair. I actually went with Philip. I was with this celebrity hairstylist named Alex Pardo, and he’s an extension specialist. And we were at this, Bellamy was that press event in Vegas, and I don’t know what we were, just like, we should try to help her. We should make a video on offer. And we didn’t know where she lived. We didn’t know, you know, much about her, and it was just a knee jerk reaction. We both made a video on Tiktok, like you can stitch. It’s when you react to a video. And all the hairdressers were doing that, but they were doing it more like to say, Oh, this is, you know, you know, she shouldn’t have done this, and this is what she did wrong, and this is why this happened. And all which is fine, it’s a bit educational, but there was no solution for her. So we said, hey, you know, Steph, we saw your video. We know how traumatic this can be. We’re so sorry this happened. We want to save you. If you’re up for it, respond to this, and you know, we’ll find a way to get you out to to Los Angeles and save your hair. Well, like, 10 minutes later, she responded, I think that video got like 40 million views, that went crazy viral, and this is before we saved her hair. So then it was like, Oh, shit.
Chris Baran 32:04
Now I gotta do that. We have to do it
Alfredo Lewis 32:06
like, what if we bring her out? Such a risk? Because, you know, I’m represented by a lot of brands, and obviously I was with Katie and I pitched, you know, without even knowing, like, is it gonna work, I just started working with them. I was just, you know, I knew the product. I’ve been using it a long time, but I had never used it on that compromised a pair. So there was a there’s a lot of risk involved in that moment, because if we couldn’t get the hair in a place to do it, or if we had her out and we couldn’t finish now, we’ve got all these people waiting for it, so it was probably the most pressure I’ve ever felt, especially on social media. We got her two weeks later, she had never been on a plane, she had been living out of her car and had just gotten an apartment. So she kind of had a following from her content about living in her car and what that was like with her boyfriend. And so she had, you know, never done anything about her hair that was like that happened. Her video got 80 million views of the hair coming out. So when we got her to LA I was so nervous I barely slept that night. I don’t think any of us slept. And she had never been around that many people. She had a lot of anxiety. So you talked about mental health. There was a lot going on in that appointment. We wanted to make sure that she felt safe. We wanted to make sure that she felt, you know, confident throughout the process. And there were moments where she said, I gotta stop. But she wasn’t used to having a lot of people, even though she went, people don’t get it. They’re like, but she went on social media and, like, videoed herself pulling out her hair. Yeah, that was a moment, moment of trauma that she was going through. But like to have all these hairdressers and people and makeup. But you know, it was something she had never experienced before. She’s never been on a plane. She was really afraid to fly. Like there was a lot of emotions there. And what we achieved that day, like just seeing her confidence, like we were all so honestly shocked of ourselves that we were able to get to the end result. And that video, collectively, I don’t even know, but I know it was in the hundreds of millions, like, all you know, collectively that story, and I thought it was a one and done. I really thought it was just one of those moments that, you know, on social media that would be remembered. It was in papers that got picked up by like press, like the independent and Yahoo and, you know, it was all like, yeah, and then, um, the next thing you know, we start getting tagged, especially Philip and I and like all these videos on Tiktok, of the next one was a bride, where she got a Japanese straightener and all of her hair broke off. It was only two weeks before her wedding. And, you know, it just took off from there, like we kept doing them, and they kept coming. And now it’s been, it’s almost been. It’ll be two years in May since Steph, so in the last two years, there’s been 15 hair saves. You know, of course, I still do transformations and regular hair on my social media, but as far as these kind of moments, and people love to see them, they get such great feedback. And I think the whole purpose of it is we wanted to see more kindness on so. Social media, and in the world, there’s so much judgment, there’s so much negativity. Like we wanted to do something that, like uplifted our clients spirits. And what you said about that making somebody smile, even if it’s for 10 minutes, yeah, and our goal was like to make a video that during that 90 seconds or two minutes, makes people feel good, maybe make some tear up, but not in a bad way, in a good way. Really feel something, and I think that we have, for the most part, achieved that with with the series, yeah, it was really an accident,
Chris Baran 35:32
yeah, and I wrote down here, you’re a good soul, you know, so are you. Well, bless you for that. But you know, I think that you know, you actually reached out when, you know, 1000s of people were making comments, you know, maybe not bad ones, but just, you know, whatever you should go commentary, yeah, you actually did something about it at great risk. So I just wanted to acknowledge that. And here’s the part that pisses me off is that when, when you get to a point in society, and I think this is probably a hierarchical thing, something to do with our past, that when somebody is climbing up and they’re getting better, and everybody going, yes, go for it, you’re there, and then you get to that pinnacle at top that, You name it, and then people think that they just need to tear you down, you know. And and I, and I was watching those videos, and then I, you know, and I was just going through there, and I just, I saw this thing about that came up about, about you, and this lady that said that I will just, I’ll call her a lady, because I think that’s more appropriate right now. But I you know, can you take us through a little bit of you know, here you’re right in this wave. Your people are coming up to you everywhere and saying, Oh, my God, I love what you do. Can I have my picture taken with you? And then you saw you have somebody that’s trying to do their very best to to I don’t say tear you down, but to give bad comments, can you just talk to that point? I bet we have something in common. I have this love hate relationship. I hate paying for something that I’m not using. I hate working in a small, cramped box, yet I love working in a cool salon that impresses my clients, and I love the culture and synergy of a team while enjoying the freedom of being my own boss. You too. What if all that was available to you at the salon you rent from, meet artist on go, a game changing way to rent salon space. With artist on go, you only pay for the time you’re behind the chair. You can choose a salon that fits your vibe, location and amenities. With artist on go, you’re a part of a stylist community, not hustling alone. Plus, you get to enjoy perks like clean towels and back bar supplies. Check out artist on go, built for stylists serious about their clients and growing their brand without the hassles of managing a space. Here’s the kicker, you can save more than 50% on your rent to find out more. Go to B, I T, dot L y slash, artist on go, C, B, that’s B, I T, dot L y slash, artist on go, C, B,
Alfredo Lewis 38:36
yeah. Well, I mean, look even on the videos of staff and stuff, there’s always going to be negative comments. The more viral something goes. There can be if I get a video on Tiktok, I have videos that have 40,000 comments. Imagine, yeah, there can be 5000 that are the meanest, most negative comments. And you know, it’s not, it’s overwhelmingly positive, it’s overwhelmingly low. But the more something is seen, the more negativity sometimes can come in. And that’s a hard tool to swallow, if you will, or it’s a hard thing to get used to. Yeah, you know, it’s something now that I’ve spent a lot of time like grounding myself in. But if you’re new to social media, I can understand how that could be extremely overwhelming and scare you away, and it probably has scared many away, yeah, continuing their journey on the platforms. But you know, everything was going good, and I think you’re right. You know, we had done eight successful and the ninth one that I don’t count in that 15 went awry, and people always ask me about it, and I’ve gotten to a point where I’m like, it is a part of my story. Because someone’s like, oh, I don’t want to talk about that again, you know what I mean? But like, unfortunately, it’s a huge part of my story, because it blew up so big, but in the opposite way. You know, it was just, it was a client that came in. I saw her on and I think I again, you’re right. It’s the roller coaster. Everything was so positive. Imagine. Every single one’s a success. Every single one’s, you know, 10 million views, every you know, everybody’s loving it. Everybody’s like, when’s the next one? Everybody you know, it’s just the brands love it, the hair stylists love it. You’re going out to shows, and everybody’s like, I love the hair say that. You know, it’s, it’s such a moment. And so you get a little overconfident, and you’re like, I got this. Like, you know, I’m I like, I was afraid of the first one, but I’ve done eight now. Like we’re, we’re in this, we’ve got this. And we, we double booked. We did one, the eighth one and the ninth one back to back. There’s mistake number one, because these things take a lot out of us. You have no idea it’s like, sometimes 1416, hours. It’s like doing shoots. You know that? Yep, yep. To do two of these back to back. But again, it’s that like you’re in it, you’re so excited and so inspired by it, you want to just keep going. And I would say that she didn’t, you know, she will call her a lady absolutely, I don’t think she had the best intentions from the get but in truthfulness, it was one of the hardest ones. Even though the hair was compromised, she’d done her own hair at home. This wasn’t in salon. Bleached it five times live, and everybody kept begging to stop, and all the hair started breaking off. We brought her out, had a great time. Had no idea that there was anything wrong, but we did have conversations. The hair wasn’t cooperating as much as the other eight. Like got it as good as we you know, color corrective, anybody that’s a hairstylist knows it can sometimes take multiple sessions. Not every time is going to be perfect. Time one, depending on the situation, like with Steph, we were able to it was like a masterpiece, I think, yeah, I do say so myself. It was a team effort, but day one, and there’s some that you get there, and you get to have that moment with this one, there was a lot of things. I don’t want to go too into it. But there was conversations had about extensions, and I can’t keep up with it at home, so we’re not going to do them. You know, you and I know extensions can make, you know, change everything. It’s like it’s pre colored hair, and you can put it in there. So in the end, everything seemed fine, but they kept asking me. She kept asking me, when are you going to post? When are you going to post? When you going to post? Great conversations after that she’s home, and you know, when I posted, five minutes later, she made a video saying that she hated her hair, that I was rude to her, that, you know, making videos, you know that you know, just things that weren’t true, like, I’m fine. You know, if you know, if you call me and are honest with me and come to me first and say, Hey, I would have, yeah, you know, I would have loved to have had that opportunity to either fix it, or I would have paid for somebody near her to to go in and have her absolutely, I would have, that’s who I am. I would have been like, Oh, you didn’t, I didn’t know that. You didn’t like it. Maybe, you know it happens. Like we talked about this with clients. They love it in the salon. They get home, my husband doesn’t like it. That’s bound to happen. It happens. I do redos all the time. It was more the way it was done, intentionally to start a riot, to start a mob, to start a, you know, huge thing. And the thing with social media, the bad side is people are going to believe what they’re going to believe. And yeah, no matter what you say or do, once it starts, it’s really hard to get a hold of it. And I had never experienced anything like this, even though I’ve had the moments, it kind of was, I think there was a group of you know, our industry is so amazing and beautiful, but there are some times, like you said, once you get to a certain level, there’s people that want to tear you down. And I think that it was an opportunity that a lot of some, not a lot, but people jumped on, you know, right? And the next thing you know, there was 1000s, I’m not kidding. I’m probably of videos of some hair, fellow hairdressers, tearing me down, how awful the color is, expanding the color. Look at the spot. I can’t even tell if some of it was doctored or not, but everybody jumping on the bandwagon, because every video they made about me was getting 300,000 views. 500,000 views. Oh yeah, that was, I was on Gossip pages. Like they’re talking about Ariana Grande, and then they’re like this, let’s talk about this hair drama going on on tick tock. Like it was that big. Like it was wow. I was getting press, reaching out to me, asking me for, you know, my comment, and that was overwhelming. So it was the first time I experienced because I’m a very positive person. And then a publication, I remain nameless, they got involved, and they posted something really negative. Like to come at me and to make fun of me. Basically, I felt like on their page with 2 million followers, and that was really hurtful to me, because I think our industry is better than that, and all those things added up, you know, was a lot. It was it was even for me, like I snapped, like my brain just couldn’t handle and it was hard for me. I can’t even imagine. Felt like everybody hated me, and the entire industry turned against me, and, you know, like social media, that’s what in the moment I’m talking about, in that moment, you know, and I wasn’t expecting it. So, um, I made one video at the time, and it was very it wasn’t bad, but I was like, I would looking back, what I learned from it is, like, I wish I could have waited maybe 48 hours to calm down, because there were so many things I. Would have said 48 hours later that I didn’t say I kind of didn’t, you know if i i haven’t really watched it again, but I just kind of went right on and said, you know, we love this girl. We had a great time. It was really more like I’m confused, you know? And it really just got worse and worse and worse. And then people took that and were doing reactions to that video, which made a whole so I realized every time I talked about it, it was going to get bigger and bigger. The beautiful thing that happened was every brand I worked with reached out immediately. They were checking on me, offering support in my mind, and like, all my brands are going to cancel me. And like, you know, just, I just know it felt like, like cancel culture. Yep, it’s not really. You think you’re getting canceled, but you’re really not getting canceled. Getting canceled. It’s so, like, I’d never experienced it before. You think everyone’s going to cut you off. And, like, there are things that happen. We’ve see it, like, if something really, you know, I somebody didn’t like their hair, it’s, you know, it’s a little different than some things maybe, that you can be involved in, that your career can be over. Anybody’s career can be over. But for somebody just being unhappy with their hair, whether they’re being honest about it or not, or doing it for attention or not, you know, that’s there are worse things in life, like you this too shall pass right in the moment. It felt so larger than life. And I just kept posting something. Told me post a different video every day. Just keep posting. You know, move on. And I didn’t engage with it until six months later and six months later. And what was funny is I realized social media is not real. Like I started going to events. I remember the first event I did was a salon centric event, and it was a big event. There was like, 500 to 800 hairdressers there, or something. It was all the brands. Everybody was there, you know, from the L’Oreal brands and the brands at Salon centric. And I was so afraid, because it was my first public appearance, and I thought I was going to get booed off the stage. And when I went out on stage, they gave me a standing ovation. And the only reason they gave me a standing ovation, I know, is they were trying to tell me that they saw it, and they support me, like there’s no because I haven’t even spoken yet, and nobody else got a stand, you know. And, and I say that with such humbleness and, like, such gratitude, but like, literally, almost the whole every hairstylist stood up when I walked out, and, like, I got I had to, like, fight back the tears, you know, because it was just I was so moved by it, and it gave right went right into my class, you know, right into my thing. But afterwards, so many people came up saying, Hey, I saw that. I just want you to know that was so not cool, and we support you. And you know you were you. We think you’re so talented. Whatever you know we you. I’ve learned so much from you. You’re the reason I all the things you know, all that other side of it, right, all the positive things. And I realized in that moment that social media is just such a it’s sometimes not real, like sometimes the comments or people are hiding behind fake accounts or bot accounts, and it’s just you don’t realize it in the moment because you’re so caught up in it. But when I spoke about it six months later, I was really able to articulate the experience, and I spoke about it, and I kept doing the hair saves. So, like, a month later, we did another one, so that was eight, and now we’ve done 15. So we’ve done,
what is that? Seven more since, and I’m so glad that we kept doing it. A lot of people thought we were going to stop, and I was like, No, you can’t let one bad. You learn from it, yeah, you Buck up, you learn, you get stronger, and you keep going. You keep pushing through. I definitely, I stopped counseling. I went to therapy. I mean, it was, you know, what got me more was some of the very few, but the all my brands were supportive, but some of the more branded, or people that are leaders in the industry that kind of took advantage of that moment to push me down. That was, I think we’re better than that. Like I said, that was the, probably the most hurtful to me, rather than people I don’t know, you know, people that are just on on social media. But it definitely taught me a lot. It taught me to keep going. It definitely gave me a thicker skin. And then I did one. I posted about it a few times. The girl, the client, we saved. My manager saved all the videos. There was 32 videos that they made about me, one person tearing me apart. Imagine 32 and I kept them all, you know, just I don’t watch them, but just just in case I had them. And then recently, there was a hair stylist. Her name’s Goldie, and she’s a young stylist, and she went through a similar thing where a client just tore her apart. And was so interesting is everybody came to her, rallied behind her. She’s a young stylist, and it was so different. Rather than tearing her down. And I love to see it. It made me so happy. Everybody made videos sticking up for her, supporting her. It was over a toner too. It was like, come on, you’re gonna make a video. That’s the world we live in right now, though, a client can just go on social media about something as simple as a toner that you could just go back and fix it, right? It’s not a big deal. And they do the video crying in the car, and it gets all the views, and they get all the, you know, attention, and it’s something you have to be very careful about. I do have a be transparent with you. I have my model sign NDAs. Like I changed a lot of I changed. It changed the way that I do things. But I did a series with Goldie. I ended up making a video about it for her, and I told everybody, Hey, go follow this girl, Goldie, like she deserves, like, you know, and I think now she’s got like 50,000 followers on Tiktok. And she ended up flying out from South Carolina, and we did a collaboration together. I did her hair, and I hung out with her, and we did a series. This is brings us to now about this subject. And of course, I was sharing my experience of what happened with my young lady, and she was sharing her experience. And I felt we did it very high brow. We were just really talking about what we’re talking about with what we learned from the experience, and kind of shared some things in hindsight, like looking back for me a year later and for her a couple months, but we posted it. And the client that I had started making videos again. This is just recently, and so I it, luckily, it shut down quick. I had to make a quick decision. I thought, Do I have the right to share my experience? You’re asking me about it, right? Yeah, every time I do a podcast, people ask me about it. So this girl chose to make 32 videos about me, so that for years to come, I will be asked about this. For years to come, people will remember this. And so I decided, you know, I did a four part series, and I ended up privateing All the videos because I thought sometimes you don’t need to respond to everything. You know, I thought, did I have the right to share my experience? Of course, do I have the right to talk about and of course, I do. But she kind of came on, and also she started saying that she was getting death threats and all that. And I just thought, Oh, stop. You know, you can’t make that many videos tearing somebody down to shreds and then play victim like because people are upset with you, you know about all the videos you made. So I just thought, you know, sometimes it’s good to be the bigger person. I thought, I’m just gonna private the videos and move on. Because the real reason I did the hair saves is like I said, I wanted to see more kindness on social media. I wanted to see more positivity, so sometimes, yeah, I’m a work in progress, just like I’m gonna fall down, I’m gonna make mistakes, I’m gonna make a video about something that somebody may not like, or I may do something. Every action has a reaction, and you just have to ask yourself, is the action worth the reaction, or is it better to just move on and keep in that, you know, on that trajectory of creating more positivity that we need so desperately, not only in the hair industry, but in the world right now exactly, and and I think that’s that’s the learning, but I’m glad you asked me about it. It’s just it’s been ever since it happened, a year. It’s just been a year now. So it’s only been a year I’ve been a year. I’ve been doing hair 31 years, and it’s such a small thing. It was one day of my life in 31 years of doing hair, but it was definitely a learning experience for me on social media, and I think it made me much stronger on social media, and really changed the way I do things in a very positive way. So I always try to look at the good, yeah, from the bad,
Chris Baran 53:26
yeah, yeah. And I think you know that it’s like it was a moment, but wasn’t a defining moment, no?
Alfredo Lewis 53:34
Well, I mean, when I say defining I mean, like what I hear mostly when I’m in the real world and I meet hair cells like you and I go to so many events, is you inspired me by how you handled that situation, yeah? And that’s the good part of it, yeah. I think that’s what defines you. It’s not about what happens. It’s about how you handle yourself in that situation that matters, that defines you. You know, yeah,
Chris Baran 53:58
it was interesting. I especially when I, I think so many people can relate to when you talked about i In response, I didn’t wait that 24 hours or that 48 hours before I could do it. And I don’t want this to sound hokey, but I remember a teacher of mine that, and I would do that too. Somebody would send me an email and and then I’d start typing away. And then in the back of my mind, I would hear Blair say, okay, wait 40 hours, 48 hours, or 24 hours. And then before you write the letter, just say, What would love say? And how would you how would you phrase it? And if you’re coming from a place of love, you know? And maybe if you spun that whole story around, and let’s just leave out about, you know, it’s if it’s somebody’s opportune, and I’ll get more views or whatever. But what would have happened to that whole scenario if, if. That person just would have said, well, what would love say, you know, just wait, wait till all that’s over, and then say, how would I respond to this? And what would I do if I was coming from a place of love? Yeah, and I would have turned out, you know, and because she said, you know, and I, I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I don’t want to make this about, about her, or be you. But just if people could just have a little bit more come from a place of love in their life, and before they start to respond for everything
Alfredo Lewis 55:27
I love it. No, I think, I think it got to a place being honest with you, where it was past that, like you know, in truth, what she did wasn’t okay. It wasn’t with good intention, it wasn’t honest. A lot of the things you know that she said happened in the appointment just didn’t happen, like 100 but when you say, come from love, I could have just been like, you know what? Okay? And I could have just done a quick video saying, Oh, we’re so sorry to hear this. How can we make it right? I want to do everything to make it right and make sure that you’re happy like a client, like you would do to a client. Let’s find you a salon, and it’s on me, rather than having, you know, some other entity, come in and get involved, so that they could try to, I don’t know what they were trying to do, but, you know, I could have been the one to do it and and just let all that feeling I had go. But to your point at in the moment, I was never extremely like that. So nobody really knows, unless they’re in it, how you’re Yeah, do you know? But I think now, if it happened, now I can’t say, because it’s I think I would be a lot calmer. I think I would my my response, video wouldn’t be showing text messages or trying to plead my case. It would just be a bit more, oh, you know, even though, in my mind, privately, maybe I’d say a few,
Chris Baran 56:45
yeah, well, we’re still human. We’re human. Let’s, let’s
Alfredo Lewis 56:49
address it, you know, and like, be calm. But we’ve never been through something like that. I don’t think, unless you’re in it, it’s really hard to not get swept up in the moment and just feel this need to to respond, or this need to speak. And sometimes no response is a response, yeah, there you go, yeah, yeah. Or I just a response, you know, it shocks people, and I do that sometimes, especially like somebody will come meet you, to you negative, and if you come back to them positive, they don’t know how to handle it, you
Chris Baran 57:21
know, yeah, well, it’s you said it earlier. I mean, and I teach on this stuff that that when you get objections or people are pissed off or something, the if you just say, Thank you, it completely disarms them. They don’t know, you know, somebody says, Well, Chris, you’re, you’re just a complete asshole. And I would say, Okay, thank you. Well, so can I just ask you, why do you think I’m a complete asshole? And then it just it brings them back into a conversation, you know. And
Alfredo Lewis 57:51
there’s, you know, especially Antigua, all the big creators go through what I went through, yeah, in some form or another. And some of them even worse than me, and more often than me. I think it’s unfortunately, something that comes with the territory on that app that was when you’re at a certain place, and that was one nice thing. A lot of big creators that I’d never met before did reach out to me during that time to say, Hey, I’ve been through this. I promise you it’s gonna get better. It probably feels like you’re drowning right now, but you know, and that was really nice. And it wasn’t even just in the beauty industry. It was like in different industries and different well known, like personalities on there. And that was touching, I guess, and helped me, yeah,
Chris Baran 58:32
well, it’s, let’s face it, it’s, I mean, I know you don’t classify as yourself as a celebrity, but you are, you know, anybody that’s got that kind of notoriety, and that might be sound like a bad word, that meant that much visibility, that you, you are a celebrity. I mean, well, let’s face you got, if you got just 2 million people following you, that’s, you know, I mean, I have seven. So I’m, I’m really impressed. But the point is, the point is, is that you, you are a celebrity, and once you get to a certain point, I think there’s something in our society that feels that you’ve just got to turn them down. You look at the music industry, you look at the film industry, same thing,
Alfredo Lewis 59:16
same thing. It’s something that nobody prepares you for. And I think the difference with me. Like to use that word, yeah, I mean, it makes me uncomfortable a little bit, but I don’t know why. Like, I do know I’m a well known personality, a well known figure, public figure, but I think the reason it makes me like is, you know, like a Kim Kardashian, let’s say, you know, like, I’m starting to think, like, who’s one of the biggest seller, Taylor Swift. They have, like, teams of like, you know, probably I don’t even know how many people around them, like protecting them, doing their social media, lawyers, you know, managers. And you know, I do have a manager, one person, but now, but like, I have no one. I’m a one person show. I’m the only. Person commenting, I’m the only person running my social media. So when something like that happens, not that it’s not traumatic for them, I’m sure it is. They have kids and families, and I’m sure it affects their mental health as well. And they’re also making, you know, 100 million plus billion. They’re billionaires, actually, both of them, yeah? But like, you know, it’s, it’s so different somebody like myself, not that I don’t have a great career, not that I’m so grateful for the opportunities, and not that I haven’t done extremely well. But it is a different level, where, yeah, I don’t have the same support system for something when something happens. So, um, it can be a lot, but it’s but it’s something I’m grateful for. For the most part, I have such a great community and so much love on social media and so and I am so grateful to everyone that follows me and engages and I think when I did go through that, I my community became stronger. I noticed, like, yeah, it kind of rallied behind you. And it actually has a there’s another, the good side of it, but it’s hard to think of that word like celebrity, you know, yeah, well,
Chris Baran 1:01:00
especially if you got a couple of humble bones in your body, then it’s, you don’t like to think of it that way, but you
Alfredo Lewis 1:01:06
are, but you are, you know, I think we should always try to stay humble.
Chris Baran 1:01:09
I think that if we can, you know, just to bring that wrap that that story up is just that, like you said, it, it, it’s a defining moment, but it that negativity didn’t find define you, the way that you eventually responded to it that, and that’s what endeared everybody back and I, and I just want to say thank you for that, because I have no idea what that I can’t even imagine what that’s like to go through. So I take you, my hat off to you, and like I said earlier, you’re just a good soul, so it didn’t deserve that. Thank you. We’re at rapid fire, bud. So here we go. What turns you on in the creative process?
Alfredo Lewis 1:01:57
What turns me on in the creative process? Honestly, I love a good inspo pick. I know some people don’t like it, but I love a good inspo pick, or picks me too, even if they’re all a little different, I don’t freak out by that. I even like it more if they give me three or four and it’s in the same world that shows me that they’re open to interpretation, and that’s their inspiration. Because an inspiration pick doesn’t mean exactly that picture, yeah, it means in that world or in that realm of possibility. And I love that. That always Me
Chris Baran 1:02:29
too, me too. We can be friends, yeah? What stifles the creativity or creative process for you?
Alfredo Lewis 1:02:39
Oh, gosh, this is gonna get me in trouble. And it’s not like I love my brands. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, if it’s what can stifle me, sometimes is when somebody, not necessarily a brand or entity or somebody, wants something so specific that I feel like I’m in a box and I can’t go out of that box, and I have to color inside the lines. And sometimes it will, it’ll uninspire me, and I’ve got to really fight past that, to do great work and to deliver because I respect what they need. But it can sometimes be hard for me to get get past that, if that makes every rain to do because we’re creatives, we’re artists, yep, oh, I’m with me to be put in a box
Chris Baran 1:03:22
in life, what’s the thing that you love the most?
Alfredo Lewis 1:03:27
My family, my husband, my dog, my my immediate family, my parents, yeah, friends, yeah. So important with how hard we work, and I’m on a plane all the time to have, like, a really good support system, very small outside of hair life, family and friend group. Yeah, we can be
Chris Baran 1:03:48
friends. We can be friends. And what do you dislike the most about in life in general,
Alfredo Lewis 1:03:56
um, mean this, I don’t know. I don’t like mean people I don’t like angry people I don’t like honestly, lately I the world makes me sad. I think that there’s a lot of hate and negativity in the world, but I try not to let it bring me down. And again, that’s why I like to bring positivity and the work I can do and the things that I can affect change in I will do because I think the world could be a much nicer place. Yeah, yeah.
Chris Baran 1:04:29
What do you love the most about our industry,
Alfredo Lewis 1:04:32
the community? Like for what?
Chris Baran 1:04:38
No, go ahead. Go ahead. I mean, I
Alfredo Lewis 1:04:40
think we’re the only industry where something can happen. Somebody can be in trouble, like we just saw the fires in Los Angeles, like, yeah, and our entire industry will rally around that person, whether they’re a fan or not, whether they’re with different brands, but maybe they’re with the biggest competitor. It doesn’t matter. It’s one of the only industries I’ve seen where. And we need to, we can put our differences aside, come together and love each other in spite of everything. Yeah, and I’ve never seen another industry like that.
Chris Baran 1:05:10
And what do you dislike most about our industry?
Alfredo Lewis 1:05:15
Um, that there can be some cattiness too on the other side of that, when we’re not in trouble, when we’re not it’s like, it’s a paradox, isn’t it? But there can be a lot of cattiness, there can be a lot of jealousy, and on many levels, I think that can happen in salon, like with your group. It can happen in our world, and, you know, at the shows, or if you’re an influencer working with brand, it can happen within brands, for the teams, there can be kind of a lot of cattiness and not supporting each other and not celebrating each other’s wins. And yeah, it’s because they’re so busy comparing. And that’s something, yeah, a
Chris Baran 1:05:51
person that you admire the most,
Alfredo Lewis 1:05:55
oh gosh, in the world or in the industry, just anybody doesn’t. Okay. I’m gonna say embia. And I know, I know via just because he always what I admire is he’s been in the industry so long, and he’s still up on stage, working his butt off constantly. And every time I’m at a show, he will come up to not only me. I see him doing it with everybody. The biggest hug. How you doing? You know, I love what you’re doing right now. Keep it up. Keep doing it. And it’s always such positivity. I can he can be on his way to do a class and he’s late and it’s in the hallway, he will stop, and it’s just so rare. I think a lot of people could I try to aspire to be the same, but it’s not everybody’s like that. I agree 100%
Chris Baran 1:06:44
Yeah, your most prized possession,
Alfredo Lewis 1:06:51
my health
Chris Baran 1:06:55
person that the person you wish you could meet,
Alfredo Lewis 1:06:59
Madonna. Well, I have met her, but wow, but I but I was really young and I was messy, so I wish I could meet her again as myself, because I’m a huge Madonna fan, and I would have a much different conversation than I did in the 90s.
Chris Baran 1:07:17
Something that people don’t know about you.
Alfredo Lewis 1:07:21
Oh, gosh, I don’t know something that people don’t know about me. Oh gosh, maybe they do, or maybe they don’t. I don’t know. I don’t know what they know and what they don’t know something that people don’t know about me is that, believe it or not, I can probably be very shy sometimes and nervous around people when I first meet them, even though you wouldn’t think that for my online personality.
Chris Baran 1:07:49
See one more we can be friends. The a month off, where would you go? What would you do?
Alfredo Lewis 1:07:56
Oh my gosh. A month off, I would want to the United States. There’s nothing against the United States. But if I had a whole month off, and I could do anything, I want to go somewhere warm and beautiful, and I think it would be Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I love it there. I’ve been there many times. And I love the people. I love the energy I would just want to be on, like Copacabana beach, you know, laying out every day and, yeah, just be in that environment, chilling.
Chris Baran 1:08:31
Love it, thing that terrifies you.
Alfredo Lewis 1:08:39
Getting old,
Chris Baran 1:08:42
we can be friends, because I can advise you. I don’t know if I shouldn’t, but
Alfredo Lewis 1:08:45
it does. I’m just being honest, like, yeah, like getting old to the point where I can’t do what I do, because what I do takes an extreme amount of endurance, and people don’t realize like to travel like we do, and to be on stage all day, and the prep work and the models and the hair, it’s a lot on our bodies, so it my fear is, like getting old, that I feel like that I have difficulty doing all those things, because I love it so much.
Chris Baran 1:09:09
Yeah, well, I from doing it and like, I’m 75 now, so, yeah, just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. Yeah, favorite curse word, fuck. Favorite comfort food. Everybody does that, and then they take I didn’t have anything that made me say it. I just had to say the word my favorite comfort food is Tacos. Tacos. What kind carne asada? Oh, me too. We’re friends all the way. Okay, something in the industry that you haven’t done but you still want to.
Alfredo Lewis 1:09:45
I don’t know what that would be, but, oh, wow. That was a really tough one that you asked me, um, well, maybe come out with the product line, but like, oh, not, not because I haven’t. I don’t have anything. I have never come out with anything, not even like a tool or a brush or. You know anything? So I don’t know. I don’t, not necessarily. I don’t mean, like a hair color line or anything, but something, create, something that makes hair stylist lives better behind the chicken, um, and be creative about it. What it is? Yeah,
Chris Baran 1:10:13
and if you had one do over in your life, what would it be?
Alfredo Lewis 1:10:19
Well, I think we talked about it, didn’t we probably be that your lady’s hair that I did, I probably, you know, probably that, or also, you know, I’m going to be super candid. I I was at behind the chair.com for a very short time, and I didn’t leave on the best terms. And sometimes that was the lesson I learned you never and it’s not that I, you know, there’s a saying don’t burn bridges, because you never know when you’re gonna need to walk across it. And to be honest, I don’t need to walk across the bridge, but still, I if I could go back, I think I would have attempted to handle the quick departure a little more with a little more grace. Yeah, good
Chris Baran 1:11:01
for you. Yeah, for you. Okay, here’s this one. I’m really I’ve got tomorrow. You couldn’t do hair or anything to do with hair. What would you do? I didn’t
Alfredo Lewis 1:11:15
want to be an actor. Oh, and I’d be broke. But, yeah,
Chris Baran 1:11:21
what’s a role you would want?
Alfredo Lewis 1:11:25
Um, I mean, I don’t want to be an I would want something like, you know, a role like, like, you want me to pick like, a movie that, like, I want to be like a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Chris Baran 1:11:35
Oh, yeah, blood and burn guts. Okay. Now, I got one more question for you. But you know, if when somebody wants to get a hold of you, where would they go if they want to see your work, what would they do? How would they get a hold
Alfredo Lewis 1:11:47
of you? Well, I’m Alfredo underscore, Louis L, E, W, i s on platform. So I’m on tick tock. I’m on Instagram. I’m now. I just started a YouTube channel, as I’ve only been there a month and a half, and I’ve been, I just been posting long form content, 15 minute videos, and it’s been doing quite well. I’m just Alfredo Lewis hair on YouTube, and then I do have the manager. It’s in my bio. It’s like, if you go into my link tree, you can get connected with my manager if you want me for like events or something like that. Awesome.
Chris Baran 1:12:21
Okay, last question, if you had one wish for industry, what would it be
Alfredo Lewis 1:12:28
like right now in present day? What I what I see happening? This is an easy one, because it’s been on my mind lately. I think we’re going through this, another shift in the industry, where I’m seeing brands go really big into celebrity. And I don’t mean celebrity like it used to be, pre social media, where, you know, like they’re getting a ride up in vogue, or People magazine or something that they used a certain brand, but they’re paying celebrities like these exuberant amounts of money to represent the brand. And I don’t have a problem with that. I love pop culture. Obviously, I love all that stuff, but my what I would like to see is I feel like sometimes education suffers because of those decisions, and it’s not one brand I’m seeing it how it’s a trend that I’m seeing different now. And they put less money into the hair status, less money into the artist, and they’re going so heavy on consumer. And, you know, remember, I have a business background, so I see the industry a little bit differently, maybe than the hair stylist behind the chair. But I think the problem with that is forgetting that hair stylists in our industry are what puts these brands on the map. And without us being their cheerleaders, without us using their products, and without us talking about them to our clients, they wouldn’t sell a single dollar. So I feel like they’ve went a little too far into this trend right now, and they need to bring it back home, to us, to the community, to the hairstylist. That’s just what I’m seeing lately. Yeah, so that’s something I would like to change, and I think it will change everything has its you know, like, again, we talked about all the but I’m seeing it. I think the paradigm will come back over, but it’s something I’ve been noticing lately that I’m like, no liquids, you know, yeah, education should be the foundation of every brand. Yeah, and education is the heartbeat, and something that took me half my career to learn, it’s the heartbeat of the brand and the hair stylist, or the heartbeat of the brand. So that’s just something that I’ve noticed lately, and it’s usually people that we can’t see or talk to that make those decisions. Well,
Chris Baran 1:14:28
I’m sure that they’re, you know, with the name like yours, they’re gonna listen so Alfredo, I just want to, one more time say I just don’t know why it’s taken us so damn long to have a conversation between the two of us, and we have to promise each other that that we’re not going to wait another 20 years to have another conversation on
Alfredo Lewis 1:14:47
Lisa, let’s not anytime honor that you had me, and I was so excited to hear from you, and hopefully we see each other at one of the upcoming shows, and we can sit down just chat,
Chris Baran 1:14:57
yeah, and a glass or something or other. Yeah? Sure.
Alfredo Lewis 1:14:59
Appeal.
Chris Baran 1:15:00
All right, I just want to say thank you one more time, and it was a pleasure and honor, and I can’t thank you enough for giving up your valuable time, for hanging out with us on here. I
Alfredo Lewis 1:15:10
thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for having me. Thank you.
Chris Baran 1:15:14
Thanks again for watching this episode, and if you liked what you heard, remember to smash that like or follow button, depending on your preferred platform, and make sure to share it with anyone you know that might be a fellow head case. Head cases is produced by cut action media, with Marjorie Phillips doing the planning parts, Lee Baran on the video bits, and Adrian Taverner mixing the audio jazz you
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