ep113 – Kate Owens Heins

“What would you do if a person with autism sat in your chair for a haircut? What if the sounds of the salon triggered an episode—causing them to holler, scream, or bounce? Or if they were terrified of clippers? Would you know how to help?

That’s exactly why I’m so excited about today’s guest. Welcome to another episode of Head Cases! Our guest is not only a visionary but also the founder and CEO of Sensory Safe Solutions. With 24 years in the salon industry, she brings not just professional expertise but also a deeply personal perspective as a parent to a son with autism. Her firsthand experiences navigating the challenges of haircuts led her to dedicate the last five years to researching and refining sensory-safe haircuts.

In just 18 months, she has successfully certified over 2,400 providers across 12 states and nine countries—establishing Sensory Safe Solutions as a game-changer for the industry. Thanks to her work, salon professionals now have the tools and knowledge to create a more inclusive and supportive experience for all clients.

Let’s dive into this week’s Head Case with the incredible Kate Owens Heins!

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.

Kate Owens Heins 0:22
I quick question,

Chris Baran 0:28
what would you do if a person with autism sat in your chair for haircut? What would you do if sound that was in the salon triggered an episode with them and they started to holler, scream or bounce or just were terrified of a clipper. Would you know what to do? I have to say, that’s why I’m so excited about the guests that we have on today. And welcome to another episode of head cases, because this guest is not only a visionary and the founder and CEO of the sensory states solutions, you know, and she’s been in the salon for years. She’s been around in the industry for the longest time, for 24 years, and beyond all of that. And just be under professional expertise that she has, she brings a deeply personal touch as a parent to a son with autism and the trials and tribulations that she had to go through it, which we’re going to talk about, she’s dedicated the last five years to researching researching sensory state haircuts. Let me say that again, researching sensory safe haircuts and refining the associated processes that go along with it. And in a remarkably short span of time, literally 18 months, she’s led the organization to successfully certify over 2400 providers across 12 states and nine countries. She’s established the sensory safe solutions as a beacon of transformative support so you and I know exactly what to do. So let’s get into this week’s head case. Kate Owens Heins, Kate, it is an absolute pleasure on you, and just so the listening and viewing audience knows that you and I had a bit of a conversation the other night, because I know that with you being a subject matter expert on this, I really wanted to make sure that we helped to get this story across, but it was absolutely a pleasure and an honor meeting you and I tell you, we had so much fun. I know that everybody watching listening now is going to have just as much fun as we did. So welcome. Welcome to head cases. Thank

Kate Owens Heins 2:43
you so much. And I felt the same way about our conversation the other night,

Chris Baran 2:49
you know. And it’s and I always find it that way, you know. And what I love that we’re talking about today, and I want to get more into that being about, you know, that autism, the people, the way that people view it, you know, especially if you’re not in if you don’t have a member of your family or your community in it, you don’t understand it. But I also want to find out, you know, let’s face it, just if you look at your hair, and I know just from when I did your your welcome and gave made you such an incredible star in our intro. But obviously you’re in the hair industry, so give us a bit. What I’d like to know is a bit of your hair story, like, how did you get it? Number one, how’d you get into it? And then, how did all of that lead to where we are now with being involved with autism, and I don’t want to give a whole bunch of stuff away, but I’ll let you take it from

Kate Owens Heins 3:41
there. Oh, thank you so much. I hope you have four hours. Let’s go.

Chris Baran 3:46
Well, I gotta I got a wine fridge right over here, and a quick couple deep parts over there, and couple cuts, I can always make sure I got lots

Kate Owens Heins 3:54
of wine. Beautiful. So we’ll buckle up and let’s dig in, Chris. So I ended up in the hair world because of my beautiful, fantastic, fun loving auntie. She was headed for Hollywood, and she modeled, and she was on Miami Vice and to me, she always was a superstar, and she didn’t make it to Hollywood, and she was trying to find her way, and she was in her early 40s, and someone said to her, you love men and you Love to talk. Why don’t you become a barber.

Chris Baran 4:44
What was Auntie’s name? Oh,

Kate Owens Heins 4:45
well, we like to call her auntie tight pants, but her no lie, but her real name is Auntie Donna. Got it, and no one will ever forget if they meet auntie. Tight pants.

Chris Baran 5:00
I got it. I don’t think I will have I’ve never met her yet, but I don’t think I will ever forget the name Auntie tight pants. Yes,

Kate Owens Heins 5:08
my my first ex husband gave her that name so lovingly, and it stuck. So she became a barber in her early 40s. She moved to Florida, she opened a barber shop. And I was, I know this is going to be really hard for you to believe, but I was a wild one.

Chris Baran 5:29
No, yeah, hold it. Hold it. Shock.

Kate Owens Heins 5:35
I was, um, you know, I was the high school student that got dropped off at the front door and went directly to the back door. I just wanted to see you know what everyone was wearing, how everyone looked, and where we were going to have breakfast and and drink and have fun and party. So my high school career was very unsuccessful. I didn’t graduate. I ended up dropping out of high school, and I remember, distinctly, remember waitressing, and a woman came up to me that I worked with, and she said she took a drag of her SIG and said, Why did you take my table? And my life flashed before my eyes, and I thought, if I don’t do something and do it quick, that’s going to be me. Yeah, and there is nothing wrong with being a waitress. That’s not what I’m saying, but it wasn’t right for me. Got it? That was not where my life was going. My auntie said, you know, I’m making great money down here. Why don’t you go to hair school and we’ll open a shop together. Ah, so and I was down here visiting her in Florida. So I got off the plane and went to the nearest hair school, and I quit my jobs and I signed up, and my family went crazy because I was already a single mom, and they all said, What did you tell her she can’t quit her jobs and go to hair school? And my Auntie said, Well, I didn’t know she was gonna do it today. And nothing impulsive about you. No nothing. And I went to hair school and I was the worst one there. Oh, really, I was the worst one out of my class. And it did not come easy to me. It did not come natural to me. Uh, none of it. And I started hair school, the worst one in my class, and I finished hair school, the worst one in my class, and my grandmother let me use her credit card, and I went to Filene’s, and I bought this beautiful suit and these beautiful shoes, and I went to this beautiful spa, and I interviewed, and I got the job, and it was definitely God. And I worked for these three amazing owners that taught me so much. They had 63 years between the three of them, and they used to say, You tricked us, you showed up in that suit, and You tricked us. And I learned so much from them, and I moved to Florida. I packed up a U haul. My auntie said, It’s time I bought the barber shop. But what I failed to mention to her was that I had never cut men’s hair before

Chris Baran 8:53
the Trickster comes out one more time. Yes, believe

Kate Owens Heins 8:58
and I moved to Florida to her little bitty barber shop after, you know, working at this beautiful spot in Waltham, Massachusetts. It was right on the Wellesley line, and it was very upscale. And I showed up at this little bitty barber shop, and I said, Well, auntie, what’s the what’s the phone number here for my cards? And she said, Oh, I we don’t have a phone number. Is there lighting? She goes, this is the only lights we have. I said, What are the products we’re using? She said, these are from Sally’s. I go, Oh, my. The most amazing thing happened in that little bitty barber shop. Chris, literally, the most amazing thing while I was there, working in that little bitty barber shop that didn’t have a phone line and didn’t have good lighting. The most incredible thing happened I found my guide as I was. Cutting. I held up the hair, and I was like, oh, that’s the guide. That’s what they’ve been talking to me about. And I was already four years in. For four years, I made up haircuts and cried every single day. But I had no other options, because this was it. I was going to do this or die. And in that little barber shop, I found my guide, and I found that if you held your fingers like this, it made the hair go like that. And oh my, I was mind blown. Found that guide, and my career skyrocketed because now I had confidence, along with my great skills of faking it and and the fact I could talk to people and I could make you feel good when they were with me. And from there, you know, my book blew up, I ended up working with my auntie as long as we could without killing each other. And I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with family. Yep, we, we really. We rocked it out for about five years, and I ended up not to make the podcast longer, but I ended up getting really sick, really, really sick, and I ended up getting meningitis, and I was in the hospital, and I remember them saying, you know, telling my mom, call your People, we don’t know why she’s not getting better. And I was kind of in and out, and I remember thinking like I might die here in this crappy hospital. And I had four boys at that time, and my youngest was two, and I remember thinking like, this cannot be it. Yeah, there’s so much more that I want to do. This can’t be it. And I begged, I begged God to let me live, and I promised him that if he did, he wouldn’t be disappointed, and I was gonna do good things. And 48 hours later, I was released.

Unknown Speaker 12:33
Wow,

Kate Owens Heins 12:36
wow. They did something kind of experimental, I guess on me they there was a shot in the dark. They said, We’re going to try this. It may work, it may not. And I was out in 48 hours, wow. And they told me it was going to be about eight weeks before I recovered, because my brain was so swollen from that, um, my oldest son said that, even still today, the way I speak is differently, really, like Mom, you talk different ever since then, like the way either my mouth moves or whatever, he noticed that. So they said, eight weeks till you, till you’re recovered, and within four weeks, I had the doors open to my shop, which is Kate’s cuts. Wow. Because the fear was gone. There was no more fear of, like, what if I fail? That was like, minuscule compared to the thought of, what if I never get the chance to even try? Yeah,

Chris Baran 13:50
you know, what I find so incredible is that, you know, people will sit around and thinking about, well, what if I can get my car payment, or what if I can’t get the new car that I want? Or what if? What if, and, and I don’t know, I don’t wish that everybody had to go through a point of dying almost the day before. So you can, you know, have the courage and have the insight to say, Listen, anything that I can do now is way better than what what happened, what was about to happen to me. So I got nothing to lose, you know. And why do, why is it that we have to go through that? Why do we have to go through all that shit in order to have a revelation, you know? And I don’t know, I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s it certainly made me think about it when you said that.

Kate Owens Heins 14:39
I know for me, Chris, I would never appreciate the good times as much as I do, if I hadn’t. You know, gone through the bad ones. Yeah, makes the sweet ones so

Chris Baran 14:52
good, so much and so much sweeter. Yeah.

Kate Owens Heins 14:56
So I opened up my shop. It was myself, five bottles of shampoo, a chair, yeah, no business loan, $5,000 that I had from an income tax check. And the only way I can describe it is I worked like it depended on me, and prayed like it depended on God, and, 14 coming up on 14 years later, and the first little shop was 1000 square feet, and now Kate’s cuts is 6000 square feet, with over 30 independent and you know, commission hourly teammates that work under my brand, beautiful, beautiful. Well, if anyone’s listening to this and they feel like they might not have the talent to make it in this industry, I can tell you right now, Chris, out of that class that I graduated from, I’m the top dog, yeah, yeah, and I was the bottom Yeah, when I left there. So I think grind will outweigh talent any day.

Chris Baran 16:13
Yeah. You know what you said? There is so profound. Because, like, we share some, you know, I found no matter who I talk to on these podcasts, Kate, there’s always a commonality. And some of the things is that we didn’t rise to the top at the very beginning. We weren’t the shining star, and we weren’t that little thing that shone so bright. And, you know, I always say when I you know, and I’ve said this a couple times, so people that have listened to this all the time, you can turn up, turn off, and wait more for Kate to speak. But I say, I say it a little differently about high school than you did. I said, when I was done with high school, you know, when I was done with grade 12. I never said I finished grade 12. I said, when I was finished with it just sounds so much sweeter that way. But the reality was, I didn’t finish. I didn’t graduate from that either, and I wasn’t great in school, in hairdressing school. But I think what had to happen is like, you know, we all have a a wake up call, and I think yours was just so much more extreme than everybody else’s is, you know, and I and whatever that is, I think, is, if you’re not having a wake up call, good on you, but wake it’s probably going to happen sooner or later. Because if you hadn’t had a wake up call in one way, shape or form, like you’re going to get one. Because that’s just the way the universe work, without

Kate Owens Heins 17:37
a doubt, without a doubt. So

Chris Baran 17:41
okay, so now obviously you had another wake up call, because I want to how did your no so you went through all of that. You went through almost a life and death experience. And then you, you persevered, and got your salon going and 30 plus people going and going from 1000 to 6000 square feet, and now all of a sudden, you’re, you’re advocating for autism. Why?

Kate Owens Heins 18:09
Um, because I didn’t think four boys was enough. But you know what? To be honest, Chris, things got good. Yeah, we were paying the bills at the shop like I didn’t have to borrow money to pay for the power bill. And you know the for it was the first time I could things are good. My my big boys were good. Life was good. And I said, Actually, I had my pastor’s wife sitting in my chair. I was blow drying her hair. She had more hair than anyone I ever met. It would take me forever to blow her out. And she said, Do you think you’ll ever have another baby? And I said, I can’t have another baby. I have this place. She said, Tell me one reason why you can’t have it all. Wow. And I said, You know what? You’re right. I can have it all. I’m gonna have another baby and it’s gonna be a girl. Ha, ha, wrong.

Chris Baran 19:13
After four boys,

Kate Owens Heins 19:15
wrong. Yeah, I had another baby, and my Waylon was born in 2013 and was my fifth son. And as soon as he was born, I knew something was different about him, and I I can’t put words to it, something was different. And as he grew that first year, maybe year and a half, I would say to my ex husband, do you think there’s something going on with him? And he would say, there ain’t nothing wrong with that baby. Do. I said, Okay, got it. I said to my mom, same thing. She said, You’re crazy. I said to the preschool, do you think there’s something going on? They said, yes, he’s spoiled. He’s the youngest. I said to the pediatrician, she said, it’s nothing, he makes eye contact and something, you know, my intuition would not stop. It was screaming, and as soon as that baby could sit up, he was rocking. And late at night, when the world and the problems and everything gets quiet, that would that would be screaming at me that something was wrong, something and and Chris, I, I don’t even want to put it like that, because He’s so perfect the way he is. There’s nothing wrong with him, but I knew something was different. Yeah, and I begged and pleaded and fought with medical professionals to get him tested for what I knew it was, and I can see the moment where they were testing him and Chris, it looked like they were just playing toys. That’s it. I just watched my my baby, play toys. And it was minutes and they said, Miss Owens, come sit down. And I knew, yeah. They said, Please sit, sit. And I sat down. And they said, your baby has right under severe autism, and he’s considered disabled for the rest of his life. Wow. And I think my mouth just hung open because she said, Ma, you understand, go to Social Security. Your baby’s disabled. What it felt like the world fell out from under me, and I thought my life was over and his life was over. And I don’t know how to do this. What is this gonna look like? I’m scared for me. I’m scared for him. I don’t know anyone with autism. I don’t know about disabilities.

I thought it was over, and I know we don’t have a lot of time, but I think it’s important

that I share with you and anyone listen to this, that I called my dad, you know, God rest his soul. I called my dad, and he was a hockey coach, and he said to me, Katie, I want you to dry your tears and stop crying so you could listen to me. And I said, Okay. And he said, Okay, you can hear me. I said, Yes, sir. He said, I want you to find the nearest hospital, and I want you to go to the cancer ward, and I want you to find the sickest kid there, and I want you to ask that moment she’ll trade places with you for autism. And I said, Dad, you’re you’re such a jerk. And he said, I’m not done. Then I want you to go to the cemetery and see if a mum there will trade places with you. And I hung up on him, and I wish I was ready to receive how wise those words were then, but I thought he was just a jerk, and I thought this was just another time that he was too tough on me, but not one day in the worst day that we’ve had, and there’s been some bad ones. Would I trade? One thing I would not trade for any. I wouldn’t trade with anyone. And many a day I locked myself in the bathroom and thought about those words while Waylon was banging on the bathroom door trying to get to me so he could attack me.

His autism.

He was very impacted by autism. I. He had a 10% quality of life. He was non verbal and highly aggressive, targeting the majority myself and his closest older brother. And he was living. The only way I can describe it is he was living like an animal, and he was living in hell. Is what it looked like to me, because there wasn’t a moment from the time he woke up till the time he went to bed that he wasn’t just screaming and tantruming and breaking things and hurting me and hurting his brother. We didn’t have a TV left in the house. He kicked out the windshield in my car. He broke windows, and I really I remember being locked in the bathroom on the phone with my mom, saying, if this is going to be my life, I don’t want it. I don’t want it. I can’t do it. And I’m grateful that because I was raised by a hockey coach. He didn’t raise, he didn’t raise no little bitch. Sorry, Chris, I had to,

Chris Baran 26:30
well, listen, you know, thank you for that, because I think it’s just the same as you know, if you watch a lot of TV or movies, you know that that is changing the state from emotion to humor always helps people. And I think, I mean, I got my clinics going, Well,

Kate Owens Heins 26:47
I gotta tell you, laughter through tears is one of the My Favorite emotions. That’s from Steel Magnolia, yes, yeah, one of my favorite movies. So I couldn’t stay in that I I don’t give I don’t give up. So they gave me a fat stack of referrals from the doctor. She didn’t say things would be better. She said, if you do these interventions and therapies, things will be different. And I was desperate for anything different, so I put my other boys to the side, I put my business to the side, I put my ex husband to the side. I put the size of my jeans to the side, because I’m always obsessed with how my weight, everything, nothing else mattered, besides improving Waylon quality of life. That was the only thing, and we did behavior therapy, speech therapy, equestrian therapy, occupational therapy, music therapy, art therapy, swim therapy, play therapy, pet therapy. We didn’t even have a pet. We if it said therapy, I put his name on it. I think at one point we tracked that we were driving 700 miles a week to get him to all these places. One of the therapies said we’re 30 hours a week, and we’re in your home. And by the way, it’s with you. We’re not we’re not working with him. You’re going to be with him for the rest of your life. You need to know. So I had a new 30 hour a week job, along with all those therapies and, you know, managing the salon and the rest well the best thing I could have ever done, because in one year, he went from a 10% quality of life to an 80% quality of life. He started talking. He showed us his little personality. He that I that I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I never got to meet the real him, Oh, my life wouldn’t be near as amazing. And he became amazing, and his life got good. So my life got good, and I looked around and I. Like what I saw, and I saw a bunch of his peers that looked like hell, and I couldn’t understand why. And I’m such a hairdresser, right? We’re in a clinic. Kids are getting therapy, and I’m judging their haircuts. That’s such a hair that’s a hairdresser, right. There you go. I could be anywhere, and I’m looking at like, Oh, I could fix that. So the first family I saw the individual had hair all the way down to their bottom. And I said to mom, here’s my card. I would love to take care of you and your daughter. She said, That’s my son. I said, Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. His hair is beautiful. I’ll take care of you guys. And she gave me an attitude and said, No, thank you. We’ve been kicked out of a salon, and no thanks we won’t be back. That’s why his hair is long. And I was like, okay, she’s not very nice, fine. The next friend I saw. It’s the kind of haircut that you would see in your nightmares. It makes your like, your scissor hand quiver. You just want to take your thinning shears like, you know, like three minutes, I can make you look amazing. Let me. Let me be the hero. Come here, real hard kitchen ear bangs that are crooked cuts on the side that I could see, and then the back was just long. And I said, Oh, hey, Mom, I have a salon in Bonita Springs. Here’s my card. I would love to take care of you guys. And she broke down and started sobbing and said, I can’t do that to him again. And I said, what she said, to cut his hair. It took four people to hold him down, and he didn’t stop crying about it for months,

and I was like, what that’s now? That’s two families that I speak to.

The next time I saw my friend that had hair to his backside, I started crying, and I said to the woman next to me, what happened to him? And she laughed and said, You didn’t know that’s the official haircut of autism. They shaved. They shaved his head to a number one he had hair all the way to his backside and shaved his head to a number one. And the only way I can tell you what it felt like to me was sheared like a sheep, and that is the official haircut of autism girls like, come on, you’ve got to be kidding me. The industry that I love that is fed every dream I’ve had that’s the official haircut of autism. No, not anymore, not in Bonita Springs, Florida, not, not anywhere in southwest Florida, if I have anything to do with it. So I opened up Kate’s cuts for sensory safe Sundays, and it boomed, and we didn’t know what the heck we were doing. We just weren’t holding anybody down. And we were telling, Mom, you’re safe. Come on. I don’t care if your son spins. I don’t care if your daughter claps and yells real loud the whole time. This is going to be a safe space. So we did that, and we did that for five years, and we did about 5000 hours worth of sensory safe hair cutting. And during that time, I had a really hard time with my school system, and I had to fight for I was trying to fight for all these things, for Waylon and his quality of life was deteriorating, and I was watching him regress anyway. Long story short, I had to sue my school County, my school system, the whole county, and the money that I got to do that was from my dad’s life insurance, and I was scared shitless, and I said, I can’t sue a school system without my dad. And my bestie said, Well, you’re going to have to because he’s gone. And I. Did, and I won, and they gave me everything I had been asking for for about five years, and they gave Waylon everything, and they rolled out the red carpet for him. And you know what, Chris, that made me mad, because why do I have to? Why do I have to sue you for you to do what the federal government says you need to do anyway. And how about the bunch of kids behind him that their parents might not be brave enough to sue you or have the money to sue you, or the time, or whatever, and it’s not okay. So I went to school. I went to some school board meetings, and I started getting rowdy, and I started speaking up, and I started fundraising to help other parents sue the school system and make things right for our most vulnerable population, and that is the population that doesn’t have a voice. Yeah, the most vulnerable now because of my big mouth, I was invited to national Developmental Disability Day of 2023, at Florida’s capital. And I got up there, and I was very inspired, because I felt like there is real change, change that can be felt at a big level. And that’s what I want, and that’s what I’m here for. I’m here for change. And I thought this is where I want to be. And while I was there, I met my curriculum writer, and she was an autism she is an autism specialist. She’s an RN. She was a professor that taught American Sign Language. She’s a board certified behavior analyst. Her she has so many letters behind her name, they don’t all fit on her business card. Wow. And she lived one city away from me, and I met her at the Capitol, six hours away from my house, and we talked, and I said, I’m teaching a class at Paul Mitchell, the school Fort Myers, and I think I want to talk about sensory, safe cutting. Would you like to join me? And she said, Yes. And I said, Great, here’s the date and time meet me there. And I drove home from Florida’s capital, deciding on how I was going to get out of here and into legislation, and I heard a still, small voice that asked me, had I done enough in my lane? And I know exactly what my lane is. My lane is hair. Yeah, my lane is the industry that I love. And I thought, nope, I haven’t done enough. Yes, I’ve provided sensory safe spaces in southwest Florida. But autism isn’t just in southwest Florida, it’s everywhere. Yeah. So I surrounded myself with women like Christine mon my autism specialist, and we wrote a curriculum. And she asked me a really great question, Chris, and she was really surprised. She said, Tell me, what other industry professionals are teaching about autism in your industry? And I said, there’s none. And she rolled she had the nerve to roll her eyes at me, Chris. And then she said, Well, what does it say in your textbooks. And I said, Christine, it says nothing. I said, Actually, I take that back. There’s one sentence. It says, you may have clients that have disabilities, you will have to make accommodations. She rolled her eyes and did not believe me, and she found out that I wasn’t making up stories there. There, I will say there is no curriculum out there, but there are a lot of people that want to help individuals on the spectrum. There’s beautiful people all over this world that that might specialize, that do specialize in sensory safe cutting, but it it can’t help me, Chris, if I’m in Florida, and me and my baby live in Florida, and the person that specializes in sensory safe cutting is in Chicago and in and in Colorado, because autism is is not choosy, yeah, and I believe that this curriculum needed to get out there and needed to get out there and. Big way. So we formed the nonprofit in June of 2023 we taught our first class in September of 2023 and since then, which is about a year and a half ago, we have certified 2460 sensory safe providers through 32 states and nine countries, and we have 30 regional educators. Wow, we and it is grown and it’s evolved, and

it’s been

my life’s dream. Yeah,

Chris Baran 40:56
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, it you know, I, I wish I had a hat on right now. Could I take it off to you? But it’s, it’s I, you know, I’m actually even a bit dumbfounded by this whole thing, simply because, number one, especially at a time like now, when diversity and inclusion and all of that is so high on the radar of everybody that’s out there, but it’s just Noah. I know you, you and I talked, and I would tell everybody that’s watching or listening right now, this is so much of a different conversation that we’ve had right now than we talked the other the other day, and I’m glad of it. But one thing that I asked you, and I remember you and I talking about this, and I said, certain, let’s face it, if I’m just going to give something really simple that you can use as an analogy, if I cut one type of hair, and that’s everything that I do in the salon, when I get another type of hair that comes in coyly or whatever, You know, I’m not, you know it, you see some people. They’ll see it, and they just keep their name on. They see that person come in, and they’ll literally run for the backs, for the back breakout room, because they don’t know what to do,

Kate Owens Heins 43:32
don’t we all do that anyway. We have afraid of a clipper cut. We have the stylist that says, I don’t perm. And, you know, we have people hiding in the cupboards and in in restrooms, up in the corner of the ceiling, they’re hiding to not get the haircut. And yes, we have the stylists, and we have the barbers that don’t want to cut kids and would be very uncomfortable cutting someone that has a disability.

Unknown Speaker 44:00
Yeah. So what

Chris Baran 44:02
do you like? What do you say to those people? I mean, I mean you and I know there’s a simple answer to it, but like, you know they have that and why? Why do like? What do we say to those people like that? Yeah, say to those people when they’re when they’re simply afraid of it.

Kate Owens Heins 44:18
Yeah, you know what it’s it’s like, what I tell everybody, do it afraid after you get sensory safe certified, yeah?

Chris Baran 44:29
Well, so tell us a little bit. I mean, because, let’s face it, I think that most people that are out there, they want to be comfortable, yeah? And the moment that there’s something different that happening in the salon, like the the your client who has autism, and they they have an episode or and they might start to scream or holler or do whatever, because there’s no one thing that they do. What are things that you teach like? What? What? What sparked in your curriculum? And. That. How do you handle something like that? What would you do?

Kate Owens Heins 45:03
So the main thing that I can tell you, Chris is that if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve only met one person with autism, and the whole first our curriculum is two hours to be sensory, safe, certified. And in those two hours, the first hour, we’re going to teach you everything about autism so you don’t have to be afraid. It’s an autism overview. It’s enough to understand autism and sensory processing disorder and related disabilities such as post traumatic stress, OCD odd Tourette’s anxiety. How about Alzheimer’s? How about dementia? The sensory safe solution envelops how to truly accommodate anyone. We give you tools, strategies, systems that you could have someone with Alzheimer’s come in, and you can use just a few things just to make that guest comfortable and have enough things, tools, strategies and systems that you feel comfortable to Yeah, because it’s not just the guest that’s traumatized by a service. If And Barbara’s stylist hear me. If you didn’t hear anything, hear this. It’s not just that guest that’s being traumatized when they’re held down to get a haircut. You think the lady in the waiting room, yeah, likes hearing someone cry and and truly, Auntie tight pants, likes to say that little one looked like they were fighting for their lives. Yeah, because, you know what, if you’re four and you’re non verbal, then you have no say for your life, and you don’t want some machine to hurt you. You are fighting for your life, and it’s not comfortable for the stylist that has to go to bed knowing that they did that, I can promise you it’s not comfortable for dad. He’s probably going to go home and cry in his pillow once everybody else is asleep. And then the How about the other guests that are witnessing trauma like that? There is a better way. There’s a solution, and it’s the sensory safe solution. Yeah, and you asked, what we could do? What are some things that, what would I teach if someone comes in and has a meltdown and is having a hard time? Okay, why don’t we take a view of the room? Is it loud? Is there a lot going on? Is there a lot of people there? Does it? Does it maybe look like your guest is thirsty? Are they hot? Like, let’s use some common sense, especially if that individual doesn’t have a voice. Come on, let’s use our common sense. What does it you know, how does the room feel to you? Is it really crowded? Is there eight blow dryers, clippers, and then is there really loud music? Maybe they need a break? Yeah, all things like that. Well, that’s

Chris Baran 48:37
what like. What I’m doing is listening back to when you talked about sensory Sundays, sensory safe Sundays, you know, is like that, because that way you can specialize the day for somebody that’s coming in now. So somebody might say to Well, yeah, but I can’t open up just on a Sunday for one or two people, but you could do it at the end of the day, beginning of the day,

Kate Owens Heins 48:58
uh huh. You want to be amazing. You want to really be a day maker. Come in early, stay late, pick a day that the shop is quiet, set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier, and come in early to make someone else comfortable. And I think for a lot of years, I was behind the chair and said to people, come on over, sit here. This is how I do things. Put this cape on like this. This is how I do things. Yeah. Not is this comfortable for you? Yeah. Does this feel good to you? And I think of all the the individuals that I’ve experienced over 25 years behind the chair, I know exactly which guess I could have accommodated at a higher level. And I’m going to use an example. She would come in, and her husband would have to come with her, and he would have to sit on a stool as close. He could get to her and he would hold her hand and say, we’re okay. This is fine. She obviously had anxiety about getting her hair cut. Never once, Chris, did I say, Did I sit on a stool get eye level with her or lower, and say, Is there anything I could do to make your appointment more comfortable. Is it better for you to come in when it’s quiet? Would you like me to turn the music off? Would you like me to cut you in the hallway in the parking lot when I’m closed? How How selfish of me to never think to ask someone that, because that’s the true essence of accommodations. Them not meeting us where we are. We meet the guest where they are. Yeah, you

Chris Baran 50:55
know, you said something earlier as well that made me think about this. Was anybody that’s listening right now can be going well, you know? Well, quite frankly, they’ll say This is common sense. When you talk about that with a machine close to their head. I’ve had that, and I might have been scared to it, of it as well, but we’ve got to remember that all of those emotions, I’m guessing you helped me with this are magnified exponentially, like where we would go, okay, that’s loud to them. Is like somebody’s screaming at the top of their lungs and their ears. Is that a fair assumption?

Kate Owens Heins 51:32
I love you so much. You’re describing sensory processing disorder. I don’t have sensory processing disorder, but the way I teach is that sensory processing disorder, you or I have a filter. We can filter out, you know, chatty, Cathy whispering in the background. We can filter out the sound of the air conditioner coming on. We can filter out the click, of of the pen in the back of the room, we can filter out maybe the sound of a blow dryer to someone that has sensory processing disorder. The filter has been removed, and it’s the senses. So their senses are on attack, sight, smell, touch, sound, taste, and I like to say it could be times 100 the definition says that sounds could cause so much anxiety that it even creates physical pain. Are you, wow, so that’s what I would say to someone that said, Oh, I thought that it made me scared too. Yeah. Well, do you have sensory processing disorder? Is it times 100 Have you been held down and had something scary put up to your head. And I did this at one of my classes. I asked people to close their eyes and envision the prop on the front of a plane that feels so loud it feels loud. You can feel the sound of it in your chest and the wind. You can feel it. Your hair is blowing all the way back now lean your head towards it.

Yeah.

Is that what clippers sound like times 100 maybe. No wonder why someone might be afraid of that. Yeah, yeah. So yes, it’s magnified. Yes, it is for someone that has sensory processing disorder. And I want to touch on the fact that not every individual that has sensory processing disorder has autism, right? And not every person with autism has sensory processing disorder, but sometimes it’s very hand in hand, yeah,

Chris Baran 54:17
you know it’s, it’s when you talked about Waylon and how his life as a I can’t remember the way that you said it, but his life skill went from 10% up to 80, his quality

Kate Owens Heins 54:35
of life, quality

Chris Baran 54:36
of life. Thank you. Like, what? So what, how did that happen? Was that just, is it like a trained skill? Is it like you’re the coach of coaches, and you had to go through it 1000 times in order to get him to to that? It didn’t bother him to have that thing that sound, that saying, that interaction? Yes.

Kate Owens Heins 54:58
So. With the clippers, and any thing that can be hard for someone with autism, desensitization is so important, and that’s, you know, exposure to whatever you’re scared of just little by slow, little by slow, but his quality of life skills, and you know, I’m so glad we got to talk about it the other night, his skills to do life did not come natural the same way it didn’t come natural for me to learn how to cut hair. I had to fight for that, and he had to fight for the skills that you and I take for granted, skills like saying, Hi, my name is Waylon. We fought for that. Skills like making a friend, making friends, playing with other kids. He had to learn how to do that. He had to learn. We had to coach and practice the grocery store. We had to learn and practice driving in a car and all those things we just practiced over and over and over and over again. But the thing about Waylon is, once he’s got it, he’s got it and he is he’s something he really, really, is Chris. He’s something special,

and it was a lot of work. And I want to describe

the first time, if it’s all right with you, yeah, go ahead. The first time, I thought, oh my gosh, there might be light at the end of the tunnel. This woman was six foot one, and she had told me that for this therapy, the wait list was a year, and I didn’t have a year. Chris, everything that I read said early intervention was key. You have a time frame. You have from two to five to really rewire the way the lobes of his brain spoke to each other. And I called the place every day, and my dad would say, call again. And I say, Dad, they’re gonna hate me. He said, call again. Call again, call again. So I did, and I didn’t wait a year. I begged and said, I’ll do more than the other parents. I won’t call out, I won’t be late. I had no I said I’d do anything you tell me to do, and I didn’t know that I was rising to the top of being a perfect parent for that, for that therapy. And the woman came into my house, she was six foot one, and she said, If you ever tell your son No and and then go back on it and say, Yes, we’re done with you, I will leave your house, you’re fired as a client. And if you ever tell him Yes, but mean, no, we’re done with you. Do you understand? I said, Yes, ma’am. And she was terrifying, and it takes a lot to make me nervous, but she made me nervous, and she said, all these toys. Are these his? I say, Yes, ma’am. She said, bag ’em up. Get ’em outta here. I said, Okay, she’s keep five, five that he likes, put him up on that shelf. He doesn’t get one till he picks up the other one and he doesn’t get another one till he asks for it. I thought, this lady has no clue. She doesn’t have a clue, because this kid will never ask for anything. And she said, can he say water? I said, Yes, because what way Ling could do was he could label, he could say chair, TV, cup, but none of it was functional. He didn’t say cup when he needed a drink, he would say TV for no reason, like it wasn’t functional language. He didn’t use words to get his needs met. So she said, he doesn’t get water till he asks for it. And for two hours, I held this sippy cup, and I would go to give it to him, and I would pull it back and say, water. And he was crying, and he was clawing at my legs, and I would go to give it to him, water. I. And we didn’t move from that spot for two hours, and he was

That’s how hitting

me crying. And after two hours, he said water, and we gave him the water, and we gave him Skittles, and we gave him an iPad, and I gave him my soul. And from there, it was on, it was on, it was on, and he didn’t get anything until he asked for it. And his brothers would say they would go to give him something, because he would say, and they would go to give it to him, and I would whack it out of their hands and say, he has to ask make a mask. And they would say, Mom, you’re mean. And I said, No, you know what’s mean. Life is mean. Out there they’re gonna be mean. This isn’t mean. He needs to. He needs a voice. He needs to tell me if. He needs to be able to tell me if anyone’s ever hurting him. And he needs to be able to say, yes, no, he needs a voice. And boy, did he get one. Yeah.

Chris Baran 1:01:20
How was that on the other kids? On the on your other four boys.

Kate Owens Heins 1:01:25
So, you know, I think those were some of the hardest years that we had. I think a lot of ways they might have resented their brother because, you know, they’re looking at their mom with scratches on her face, you know, all bit up and bruised, and, you know, on the edge and every breathing moment was just Waylon. And I’m sure it was hard. And my fourth son, Johnny, who I call my gentle giant, came to me. Oh, hey, Chris, guess what do you want to say hi to Waylon.

Yeah. I Hi, beautiful. Oh,

it didn’t come through. I don’t know what happened. I’m so sorry.

Chris Baran 1:02:37
Well, it’s funny that you that came up because I was thinking at one day, I want to be introduced to Waylon so he can say, Hi, Chris. My name is Hi. My name is Waylon.

Kate Owens Heins 1:02:51
If I know Waylon, He’s just like his mother, he’ll call back another 10 times. So my gentle giant, Johnny came to me and said, You know, it’s it’s not fair. He gets so much of you. And I told him, oh, when I’m so sad for you. I said, not, I’m not. I said, No, you’re not gonna let that be your story. You’re not gonna let that be your crutch. I’m so sorry that your brother has autism. Where for you you don’t have autism. You have everything you need to be successful in life, and I will not allow you to be a victim and have that be your story. It’s gonna make you a better human, more empathetic, more understanding, more patient, more kind, and you’ll be grateful for it in the end.

Chris Baran 1:03:57
Yeah, and how’s the relationship now? Oh,

Kate Owens Heins 1:04:00
gosh. They’re just, they’re brothers. Yeah, brothers. They love each other. They all, all of them are, are just so interconnected, and they love Waylon so much. Yeah, and the bond, the brotherly love between them is just so deep. And I always say I feel bad for anybody that ever picks on Waylon. First of all, you’d be silly to do that. He’s already probably five eight, and he’s only 11. Wow, and his brothers are a bunch of giants. So

Chris Baran 1:04:52
be the worst thing in the world you could do, really,

Kate Owens Heins 1:04:54
really, it’s the truth. It’s the truth. I. I

Chris Baran 1:05:00
mean, I’ve got a question that I want to ask you, kind of to wrap it up, but what i i Just before I ask you that question, tell me a little bit more about Waylon and is like, because he speak and not tell me what’s going on in his life. Where is he in school? How’s it going on? What’s his life like right now? Give me some of his what’s his day like, and does he talk and all of that.

Kate Owens Heins 1:05:25
So I like to say Waylon is living his best life. He still goes to the same school that I sued.

Chris Baran 1:05:36
Are you welcome there? Now?

Kate Owens Heins 1:05:38
Listen, you throw some money in a lawsuit, it’s like they roll out the red carpet. Yeah, and you’re treated with excellence. But you know, you and I both know everyone should be treated that way. He’s living his best life. He has his own office at school. No joke. They call it waylons office in the classroom. It’s in the back, and I guess he holds court there, and he likes to make the announcements at school on the microphone. He likes to do the Pledge of Allegiance. He likes to be in charge and let everybody know what they should be doing. He loves his family. He calls my family. We’re really, really close, but he calls us his characters, and he says, I want all of my characters to come over. And that just means he wants his auntie, tight pants, his nana, his brothers and he he really loves his family. He loves coming to my shop and seeing what he calls all of his friends awesome, and they probably are, yeah, more, they probably like him better, which is just fine. He has a phone. He texts messages. He calls people. My my sensory safe board, a lot of them, he’ll call on FaceTime. Hi, what are you doing? Do you want to come over? He’s just beautiful. And he was just invited yesterday to be on the news and part of the marketing for a dentist that’s here in Naples, Florida, for a special needs patient. Oh, that’s awesome, and I’ll tell you that three appointments ago, he wouldn’t even sit in the chair. But he thinks so highly about being recorded and having a microphone and being a superstar that he said, Oh, yeah, I’ll do that. Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it. Walked in. Was so happy. Got right in the dental chair, was smiling, and he has just come so far. And the things he does I had never dreamt were possible for his life. So he continues to amaze me. He you know, there was a time I didn’t think we’d ever be able to go on a vacation, nor did I think I’d be able to go on a vacation and leave him home. And now I go on vacations and I leave him home, and a year ago, he went on a vacation without me, and he got in the car and went on a road trip with his brothers to a T shirt convention. And he did great. That’s awesome.

Chris Baran 1:09:20
And I I’m going to ask you that last that last question just a second. But I, I just for anybody that was listening. And there was some so some tough moments in there that we talked about, especially when you have to say to your whatever, I don’t know, the ages that he was at, but when you had to talk to your your gentle giant son, and say, you know, shame on you, in essence, for thinking that that’s your story when you don’t have autism and whatnot. And somebody that’s out there might think that’s that’s cruel as a parent, good, but good, yes. But the point is, here’s the point I want to get to, that Waylon wouldn’t be who he is, right? Now, if you didn’t go through those moments and hadn’t had the courage to do those things and say those things and not give them the water until he said water, you know? Because I would have probably caved, you know, and I would have probably got kicked out of the program. So I take off my hat to you, same as I’m sure many people listening out there right now will as well. And I, I just want to say thank you, and that doesn’t deserve a response, because I think that you, you are an amazing person. Thanks. But my last question to you is this, that Kate, that just before you when, if you had to talk to your young self at, say, 15, knowing what you were going through and had to go through and knew the results that you would get at the end of it, what would you say to Kate? It’s

Kate Owens Heins 1:10:57
gonna be okay. Just do the hard things, work hard and it’ll be okay. Work hard, everything will be okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:12
Amazing. That was

Kate Owens Heins 1:11:13
one of my dad’s favorite things to say. Chris, yeah,

Chris Baran 1:11:16
well, you had an amazing, amazing father that helped to get you, get you through that. And I, you know, sometimes tough loves is things that we have to go through when the things that when the times are such that we have to go through those moments to get growth and become a better person. So Kate, for all the insights, oh, I have to say this, yes, how do people get a hold of you? Because, let’s face it, after they’ve been through this, people are out there going, so where can I get this education? How can I get this course? Where do they go? So

Kate Owens Heins 1:11:48
you can find us the sensory safe solution on Instagram, sensory safe solution on Facebook, our website, the sensory safe salon.org, at all my contact info is right up there, and

please join

this mission to revolutionize the way our industry accommodates those on The spectrum. Yeah, because that’s my mission. Chris, yeah, I want such a big goal, but I love to say it out loud because it makes me a little scared.

I

want to make sure that every stylist, barber, nail tech, massage therapist, Esthetician, lash tech, makeup artist, like braider, knows how to service everyone inclusively,

Chris Baran 1:12:52
you know what? And you know the other things are in there too. Tell me students in schools

Kate Owens Heins 1:12:57
that, oh, that’s where it is, because it’s not old dogs like me behind the chair. That’s the future of our industry. The future of the industry that I love so much is just getting ready to sign, sign up for school or in school right now. That that generation, they’re going to be safe. They’re going to be sensory safe. And they want it. They’re hungry. Those are the ones that are begging to be sensory safe, certified, not you know us. Know It All is behind the chair. Oh, I’ve done it forever. I do it like this. Those students, they want to know, yeah, and I’m so excited. And you know, my dream, my goal, my My vision is that there’ll be a way that the sensory safe solution can continue to sensory safe, certify bar, bring students for free, cosmetology, all the students for free. And really big dream is I want to certify all everyone for free. Yeah,

Chris Baran 1:14:06
I love it. Well, Kate, it has been an amazing, amazing time having this conversation, and I just take my hat off to you as I had before, whether it’s proverbial or metaphoric, it’s been an absolute pleasure on here, and I can’t thank you enough for giving us that insight.

Kate Owens Heins 1:14:30
Thank you. Let’s call Waylon, Chris, yeah, okay, let’s do that. Let’s call my I like to call him Biggie, way, way, and see if he answers. Sometime, sometimes, hi, told me on a phone call. Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting anything? Did you on a phone call? I did have a phone call. Now wait, I need you to listen to me for one moment. Is that okay? Are you listening? Yes, wonderful. So on my computer, I was on a meeting with my friend, Chris. Can you please say hi to Mr. Chris? Yeah. Okay, great. Here we go.

Hi Chris. Hi Waylon,

Chris Baran 1:15:16
how are you? Hi, that is awesome. I understand that. Your mom tells me that you are an incredible human being, so I just wanted to meet you. Okay,

Kate Owens Heins 1:15:31
so Waylon, will you tell Mr. Critics, what I do when I go all around and teach people? What do I teach people? I’ll be free than the dentist. Nope, not the dentist. That was yesterday. Not be afraid of haircuts. We help kids be afraid of haircuts. All right, baby, I’m gonna see you soon. I love you. Okay, hold on, Christy’s got a question. Go ahead, yeah, when you’re done at work, can you go to the store and give me 10? And I would love to get you Cinnamon Toast Crunch. The answer is yes, sir,

love you, love you, love you. Bye, baby.

Chris Baran 1:16:19
I can’t think of a better note to end on than that, because now we know where Wayland is at right now,

Kate Owens Heins 1:16:26
waiting for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, life of a king.

Chris Baran 1:16:30
There you go. All right, okay, thank you so much. It was an absolute pleasure. Thank

Kate Owens Heins 1:16:36
you so much, Chris. I really appreciate it. Thank you for everything tonight, and thank you for everything you’ve done for our industry.

Chris Baran 1:16:45
Thank you that means a lot. You’re a legend,

Kate Owens Heins 1:16:49
as are you. Thank you so much.

Chris Baran 1:16:53
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