ep48 – Elizabeth Faye

I had such a great talk with my guest this week. She is a powerhouse influencer with a mission to elevate and amplify the real life impact of artists, salon owners, and educators on all of us. 

She hosts her podcast, coaching, and personal development retreats under the Hair Love University umbrella. I can’t wait to share with you this week’s guest: Elizabeth Faye. 

• Elizabeth shares the emotional story of how a hairdresser changed her world right when she needed it at 12 years old 
• She became ill during the four years of filming the Amazon Prime documentary “Hairstylists Change the World” and had to find her own tools to get better. She now shares these tools with other stylists through her retreats and coaching sessions
• Her mantra is “when you feel good, you do good”
• Find Elizabeth Faye online for her coaching sessions, her Hair Love Retreats, and her podcast Hair Love Radio

Complete Transcript

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

Well, welcome to another episode of head cases. And today I’m really excited about this guest because she’s really traveled the world as a hairdresser and is probably one of the most well known influencers that I know. Her mission with Hair Love University is to elevate and amplify the impact that artists, salon owners and educators have on the world. Through Hair Love University hint hint on who this might be. She’s a trauma informed business and life coach, breathwork specialist and a podcast host her event. Hair love retreat. Another hint hint hint, is a global affair. Her coaching helps salon owners and educators run their business, like a business when a concept. This one really impressed me as well, because this one would scare the hell out of me. But I’ll tell you she’s spoken on TEDx before, which means and I think that qualifies her right off the start she is she’s starting her own documentary. Hairstylists Change the World. So let’s get into this week’s headcase Elizabeth. Elizabeth Faye. My love it has been, you know, I was thinking about this the other day, they always talked about the six degrees of separation Well, I can’t even say you and I have one degree of separation because we’ve worked for a manufacturer together on stages. And but yet it was always that little bit of separate and I I’ve never got a quality, sit down time with you. So that’s why I want to, I want to have you on here and I’m we talked about this a tiny bit before. But for all the people that are watching and listening right now I just want them to know that I’ve watched hairstylist change the world. And if you have not seen her documentary yet, you have to go on to it. I mean, for anybody, for anybody who’s watching, because if you’re if you’re not a hairdresser, you need to watch it if you’re a hairdresser, you particularly need to watch it. So, Elizabeth, welcome to Headcases.

Elizabeth Faye 2:25
Hi, I know I’m so excited to talk. We’re always like in a space together and like Hey, see you later. Okay, we should talk, you know, like, know about what the other person is up to and but we really haven’t had a chance to sit down for more than maybe 510 minutes. Yeah,

Chris Baran 2:43
well, yeah. You know, what, Elizabeth, what I’ve learned is that it’s obviously not possible. But I just said, if you ever want to know somebody, and get truly to know the person, everybody should do a documentary. You know, I mean, I know the documentary wasn’t solely on you, but you shared a lot in there and I I was truly impressed and and and I think it does our industry, the world of good and I think you and I have that common bond where we really want to help our industry grow and get it seen as, as something that’s equal to and maybe surpasses some of the other ones is what they’re but listen on there. I love you. I always try to find out where people got what how the hell did you get into hair? You know, and I watched it, I do know it. But I want other people to know, how did you get into hair?

Speaker 1 3:30
Yeah. So I’ve told this story so many times, and it’s still a story that is makes me emotional almost every single time it means so much for me. And I really feel like my story is the story of so many other people the story of our clients and so many other hairdressers who’ve walked a similar path to me and they can see themselves in some way and it’s a big part of my mission. So I always share that I believe that hairstylist changed the world. And I know that because a hairstylist changed my world. And I grew up in Las Vegas and I was a really troubled kid I got into a lot of trouble everything from running away to drugs to self harm, and just trying to figure myself out trying to figure out where I was supposed to fit in the world and I was supposed to be in the world and in those attempts. I got in so much trouble I got sent away so I kept getting sent away to different schools different families and one of the schools I was sent away to I hated so much that I had to be kicked out up I just fucking hated it there. And I I stole box color to make my hair like a scene kid like create you know, the colors that I could add in and cut it myself. And I wanted it to be distracting enough that the private school I was at would kick me out and I I got it. I showed up. I knew where I was headed. That day I was headed to the principal’s office and to be expelled and that’s why mission was that. And I, that’s where I ended and I ended up waiting for my parents to pick me up that day. And when I was sitting on the curb, waiting for my parents, there was this woman who was, you know, picking up her kids and she was leaving, and she stopped and looked at me, and she handed me a business card for a hairdresser. And she’s like, You need to call him and, you know, we’re all hairdressers. So I can say this. This was for the Robert Cromeans salon in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas. This wasn’t just any hair salon. I didn’t know this. I’m a 12 year old kid is not in the hair industry. And you know, I’m a kid. If you have been in my work at all. My dad’s a big part of our retreats, he leads the hikes he leads the yoga. My dad is the definition of a mountain man. He’s very down to earth. He grew up blue collar he worked for the water district so he like fix things in the street. He led hikes on the weekends for extra cash prune trees did taught yoga at the YMCA at night, lives in overalls or like this blue jumpsuit. He’s not a man who rose up to the Mandalay Bay or the Robert Cromeans. I love my dad. Yeah, he’s like, like, he’s just a mountain man. And like,

Chris Baran 6:20
he also sounds like he’s the direct opposite of Robert Cromeans.

Speaker 1 6:24
Oh, my gosh, couldn’t be like my dad’s like, great at Dutch oven does charity work constantly, like he’s just very down to earth, like, you know, you can find him in the dirt or hiking like that’s my dad are working on something with his hands. So my dad takes me to get my hair fix because it was a mandatory fix. This wasn’t like a treat. So we go to my mandatory color correction. And I was blown away by hairdressers, just the energy, they wear what they want. They say what they want, they look the way they want. They’re all colors, shapes, sizes, expressions, they swear they had blue hair, they had big hair, small hair, and I was just like, oh my gosh, these are like rock stars. Like I was just blown away. And I loved it. I was just obsessed. Like, I was like these people I want to be around and my hairdresser found out pretty quickly. You know, I did what everyone does, when they sit in the chair, I told them my whole life story. So he learned why I was there. And I was a really troubled kid. And I think he you know, saw something in me and was kind of mentoring me and talking to me and helping me out. And I just loved it. I was obsessed. I had to go back. My dad was livid about the price, and made me pay it off. Fun fact, I had to pay it off by cutting wood. My father is like a prepper. Like he’s ready for the end of the world at any time. And we have so much wood in our backyard. I don’t know for what I’m assuming for fires. But like, I would cut wood as fast as I could, like, work that shit off, and then earn more money. And that’s what I did. Because he’s like, You’re not coming back. That was so expensive. Like your ass is grass. You’re not coming back. And I was like, Oh, I’m coming back. But I will do whatever you need me to do to come back. But I have to go back like I I felt something. And it wasn’t the highlight. It wasn’t the haircut, right? It wasn’t the shampoo. It was what I felt. And now as a grown up and a hairdresser and a career woman, I look back and I’m like, what was it about that that made me like so called and determined to go back at such a young age. And it was that I felt heard, seen loved and beautiful. And I didn’t feel it at school at church at home and all therapy like none of these places. And I felt in a frickin hairdressers chair. Yeah, yeah. And so I earned the money. I came back, I put the cash six months later on the station and was like, What can I get for this much? And he’s like, laughing and he’s like, where are you been? What’s going on? And I was like, what can you do for this much? And he’s like, I’m gonna go talk to your dad, and overalls. So he goes and talks to him. And they come back and they’re like, we’re gonna make you a deal. We I’m going to do your hair complimentary. Today, you’re gonna bring me back a report card, and it’s gonna have better grades on it. And if you promise to do that, we’ll handshake on it. I will do your hair. And that’s what we’ll do. And I absolutely was like Deal, deal. And that act of kindness completely changed the trajectory of my life. And that man did that for me until I was 16 years old. Wow. And then I became his assistant at 16.

Chris Baran 9:50
Oh, I didn’t know that. That 16

Speaker 1 9:53
Fun fact. I came back with no report card because I dropped out of high school and he had stopped working for Robert Cromeans and his manager, Kelly Cardenas had opened his own salon and I was going to their salon. And they knew me very well. And I came in and said, I don’t have a report card today. And they said, What about a job? I became an assistant. That’s how my career started. That

Chris Baran 10:18
was, that’s wild, you know, but there’s, there’s so many times that I think that hairdressers do things like that, and they never get recognition for it. You know, I think that, you know, if there is the side of business that it is about, let’s face it, no matter how you put it, it’s, you know, you, you can’t put butter on the table by giving stuff away. But you could change somebody’s life, who can add to society for that, and, and I, I, I take my hat off to that person, because I think that a lot of people have done it. That that’s that whole I think, antithesis of that whole feeling of pay it forward. You know, he did that and look at what look what you’re doing now. You know, I think it’s just absolutely phenomenal. And I you know, I I’m actually just blown away by this, somebody would do that he did your hair for what for four years. Wanted just crazy. Just wanted, all he wanted you to do is just be better at what you did. You know, the reality was, though, you, I think you were a bit like me, I didn’t I never went through that extreme, but I hated school. And but I did I you know, I knew that. And quite frankly, I just thought it was stupid. You know, that’s all I thought I just because I wasn’t, I couldn’t connect with a teacher or anything. All it was for me is I just knew that I couldn’t connect with him. They weren’t teaching to me, like I needed to be taught to and, and my grades reflected. And therefore I just thought, Well, I must be just a dumb person. And I think part of that came out. And the result of that was me as I saw myself as lower than other people, intellectually, so I never participated. And then I was just that shy kid on the block. And it wasn’t until many years later, even into my adulthood, that all I found out, and it wasn’t till I got hooked on education that I found out that it was, it was that the way that that teacher can connect with you. And quite frankly, I can’t blow them all away, because Mr. Zaretsky was one of my teachers, and he was the one that that he taught history, which I hated. But he told stories, and he told it in a way that that I could understand. And you know, I didn’t get really good grades, but it was a little bit better than I had got in from other teachers and, and I always take my hat off to him just from that connection. And but that’s one thing I learned about when I watch you teach and I watch other educators teach is that it’s about the connection that we make. It’s not about the words we say. And I think that makes all the difference in the world. So congratulations to you. And to him, I just take my hat off to that. You know, in the end this I want to go as funny I don’t like to start off normally so heavy. But the in the documentary, and again, for those people that just listening or just tuning in right now, hairstyle has changed the world that you talked about hairdressers pain point. And, and that we’re so busy taking care of ourselves that we have others that we don’t take care of of ourselves. You know, can you just explain a little bit about that? And what how you talk about that, how that affected you.

Speaker 1 13:45
Yeah. So that has become that has taken over my life in such a beautiful way. And what’s actually interesting about the documentary is I actually in 2019, got really sick and we had started filming the documentary in 2018. And we filmed over the span of four years. And I actually went through a massive healing journey during that movie, which was not planned and not the point of the movie. But it’s really beautiful because it is actually captured the essence of well being transformation, self care healing, like on accident, like it’s just like a divine, beautiful thing. And, you know, when I started and this will all lead there when I started in the hair industry. I you know, when I opened my first studio after working for the company I worked for and I was a beauty school teacher at Paul Mitchell and I relate to what you said a lot about feeling stupid. I wasn’t until I went to hair school when I was 16 that I was like, Oh, I’m not stupid. I learned about learning styles and was like thank God thank God I’m not stupid. I’m just body kinesthetic or I consume information differently and But anyways, after later I opened my first studio I remember anchoring and like to my own like self and mission, I was like, you will be successful as with you will get the clients you need on your chair and they will stay. If you will make them feel the way that Brandon made you fill in the chair. Yeah, if you know you’re getting better at hair every day, but it’s okay. But you’re not the best at highlighting, you’re not the fastest, just, you know, make people feel heard, seen and loved. And it was truly my mantra for years. And I had a bunch of clients I got through Groupons and I built it and I made everyone feel heard, seen and loved. And I just knew if I could do that I would be successful. And that was true for me. And for years, I would teach color classes, I was a beauty school teacher, and then I taught color classes. And I would share that, hey, you change the world. And the reason it’s important to be really good at what you do is so you can do the part that matters most when you’re really proficient at your job and your in your artistic you know, expression. And you know what to do you get to do the human part, the connection part. And then when I got into business coaching, I would share the same message and I would say hey, you change the world. And this is how, and this is why it matters that you make a lot of money and you run your business while and you’re great at what you do. Because then you get to really do the thing that matters most which is making people feel heard, seen and loved. And you know, I grew in this industry and had a lot of success. I had a lot of mentors, a lot of overcoming, you know, a lot of putting myself out there and trying things and really, you know, being bold in my career. And I built a very successful chair business worked for multiple salons, beauty school teacher, educator, all the things very successfully. And with failures, of course sprinkled along, but I hit a point where I learned if I’m not well, I can’t be of service for other people. And I think that we’re in an industry that no one and this goes for all beauty pros, all wellness pros, all educators, all coaches, people, you know, teaching like you’re holding this really special space for someone, and you’re in service. And what you do is so much more than the highlight. And you know that what you do so much more than the workshop or the barber, right? You’re barbering, it’s more than that. And when you’re serving from a depletion or lack thereof, it catches up with you. It really, really does. And in our industry, we are not, it’s not normalized all the self care practices and how to pour into ourselves first, like it is the first priority. It’s like kind of an afterthought, it’s kind of squeezed in, it’s like hustle, grow, do this, then you’ll make time for that. And you know, I think our world in general 2020 woke us up to our relationship with productivity and hustle and giving, giving, giving. And for me, I got really sick in 2019. And it woke me up to how important health and well being is and how I can’t serve anyone if I don’t serve myself and it has so much so put me on a path of I actually went to school starting in 2020 for trauma informed work, certifications breathwork like I have a whole list nlp hypnosis, all of these things that help with well being and health. And I brought it into my work in the hair industry where I teach at hair shows and schools, giving people tools to care for their mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health. Because that is what is going to create a sustainable career for you. That is what is going to create something that’s scalable. And if you don’t have your health, mentally, emotionally, physically, it’s going to be your glass ceiling. Yeah. Yeah,

Chris Baran 18:49
I love it. And just for there’s so many of you, if you talk to people, everybody knows what a life coaches, business coach all of those things. But even when I went when I heard that you are trauma, how do you how do you phrase that? Is that? What’s the word? I’m looking for? a trauma informed, informed. Give us a little bit more. What does that mean?

Elizabeth Faye 19:16
Yeah, so when you’re trauma informed, there’s different certification schools where they teach you understanding trauma, awareness of how the nervous system works, how humans so even when I work with facilitators, that’s what I’m helping them with his trauma awareness, where it’s like, hey, someone’s reaction to you is coming from fight flight, freeze fawn. This is what’s happening in the brain. This is what’s happening in the mind. This is how language impacts that this is how tonality and breath and all of these things impact our human experience. And you know, being around people constantly, your social nervous system is impacted 100% it has an impact and if you We’re not given tools for discharging that energy, moving that emotional charge through, it wears on you, it can cause anxiety, depression, burnout, overwhelmed, we as clients, so literally, yeah, it’s just is what it is. And so having tools to understand the science of that and regulation tools, and then communication tools allows us to do the part that we love about our job we got in this for people and for art. That’s why hairdressers are drawn to this. It’s not because they love tin foil and bleach, they love art, they love humans, they love connection, they want to make people feel something. And that can come, that’s the best part of the job. And it can also be the hardest fucking part of the job. And with the right tools, the best part of the job gets to stay the best part of the job. And when I went through, and I’m still I’m literally in my fourth year of school with this training, I was given all these tools to protect myself when I’m working with people. And I thought, wow, hairdressers should be taught this. And that’s when I started teaching this in schools, in my programs at hair shows for simple, easy tools that we can take care of ourselves, you

Chris Baran 21:16
know, and just so I’m gonna try and take this one step further. So when you’re talking trauma, I think, well, first of all, there’s a trauma that we can get the physical, but there’s also the trauma mentally, you know, somebody says, Oh, you got big ears, you got a big nose, you got whatever. And then we carry that they said that as a passing comment, but we carry that just like a weight for our lives, unless we can help declare that in some way, shape or form. Is that what you’re referring to?

Elizabeth Faye 21:45
Yeah, so trauma, by definition is not what happened to you. It’s what stays with you. So trauma is like the product of it. So like, yeah, exactly. You were, whatever the incident was, right, as someone said, you sing dumb, you talk dumb. I don’t like your voice as a little kid. That was the thing that happened, what the trauma is, is maybe the rest of your life, I’m afraid to be heard, I’m afraid to be seen. So you don’t have boundaries with your clients. So you people, please. So you over give, you know what I mean. And that’s a whole like, going a little deeper. But there’s simple tools that we can just use for nervous system regulation. Where in, in hair shows I don’t get into like limiting beliefs and trauma and story like I do, maybe at a retreat or something. But I do give them tools for their breath for their presence for their regulation where they can move energy through because they’re in so much energy all the time. So we understand the science of hey, you might feel tired, because your nervous system is impacted. And this is what’s happening scientifically. Here’s some really easy tools that you could use every day. Working with this many people and therapists do this all the time coaches do Why the fuck are not service based providers who are holding such sacred space having any tools to protect themselves. And literally this is where this got really real for me was I had been teaching 1000s of people these tools in the beauty industry to help them improve their business and how they feel my whole motto is when you feel good, you do good. Instead of when I do enough, I’ll finally feel good, right? And I get enough things I’ll finally No, no, no, no. When you feel good, you will do good you will be of the highest service in the world. And so I was teaching all these people and when the documentary got premiered in the TED got premiered, I heard 1000s of people who are not in the industry, echoing my hairdressers like my therapist, my hairdressers like my therapist, my hairdressers like my therapist, and I thought holy shit, and no one gives them any tools to protect their own mental, emotional, physical energetic energy, we could change this as an industry for ever, we could be given tools from the ground up, instead of in the middle where I’m helping 1000s forever. And that’s what that’s a big, big, big part of my mission that we do. You know,

Chris Baran 24:05
I It’s funny how everything that happens. I don’t think it happens for a purpose. And I was talking to somebody yesterday and we’re just rehashing Well, you know, this person from long time ago, this person from long time ago. And I don’t know if you ever if you remember heard of Dr. Lulu sansi. They worked with Paul Mitchell tell me if he was a psychiatrist, psychologist, and he was working with Paul Mitchell now I’m have to say this was in the 80s. And the story that always struck me was he told this story of how a woman came to him and and said that she was having whatever and I don’t remember whether it was a relationship problem with her husband or what it was. So he as the psychologist gave her all this advice, and and then she came back to the following visit and and said Well, did you do what I told you to do? And he said, No. She said no. And she said, why it was so well because I talked to my hairdresser and my hairdresser said not to do that. And and that, that’s, that’s why that’s why he got involved with the hairdressing industry. And they said, if that if a hairdresser has that much power, to be able to help to change somebody’s life in that way, by just by giving them advice, just social advice, you don’t have no degree on it. Now, you know, I’m gonna leave aside whether it was good, bad or indifferent. But you know, just that he he wanted to get involved in our industry and was involved in it for years. Helping hairdressers understand more about the psychology of people simply because of that one incident. Then I blow your mind. Oh,

Elizabeth Faye 25:45
wow. Yes. And I like love that because that is the thing is we have so much influence, like you said, is it good, bad or sideways? I think that depends on the person. So when we can be well and wealthy and come from a centered place, it’s like, we we really get to have a lot of beautiful impact as artists and leaders in our community. Yeah.

Chris Baran 26:06
I want to throw something else at you. Because this is a probably a question that I’ve been clearing for years, I’ve been asking people about it. It’s not a new question. It’s but it’s plagues our industry. And, and it’s that that thing of, you know, we I mean, you you did a documentary and hairdresser changed the world. And we, we tell it all the time stylists are the clients come and say You changed my life when you did X, Y and Z. And yet we have this, this feeling. And maybe it’s because other people in our industry or other industries, think of our industry as a second rate profession, which is not. I always say I’d like to compare my, my tax reform with yours. If you think that your your information is or your yours is better than mine. It’s not about dollars, but it is about that’s what they’re putting it to. Why do you think that so many hairdressers buy into that? Why do you think that that happens that, that we can talk to them all they want. And yet, we still don’t see ourselves as powerful as impactful in other people’s lives, as that we know that they can be?

Elizabeth Faye 27:17
Yeah. You know, it’s interesting, because when I share this message, I get to hear what people think. Right? Like, do they agree? Especially I’ve had the video, it’s gone viral, that I’ve had really gone viral with it. And there are some people who are like, I don’t change the world more. So people are like, Yeah, I never thought about the way I do that, or I do do that. But I think collectively, you got your barbers, your hairstylist, your nail techs, your tattoo artists, your massage therapist, you know, all of these kinds of trades. And I think a lot of us got into trades as an alternative to traditional education and a traditional career path that we’re literally if you look at the school system, we’re groomed to be an employee we’re groomed to say yes, we’re groomed to be a nine to five, we’re groomed to do this. And we were drawn to this for some alternative out of the box reason whether that be income, your family couldn’t afford school, it’s artistic, it seems easier, you are interested in an alternative way of doing things. And so I think, by category, a lot of us maybe we’re underdogs, and are underdogs, because we like went a non traditional route in society. And I think, you know, in the last even 10 years entrepreneurship and artists like we’ve grown a lot, not even just our industry is like that is an option, like parents aren’t like you have to go to college, like the parents, my age raising kids, but our parents were more like that. So I think society has really collectively position certain career paths above others. And I think when you start with a story and you go in, you have to change a whole system and a narrative not only of the people attending, but the collective. And that’s why I work with corporate, I work with schools, and I get the mission outside our industry because there’s so much work to do to change a story. And it really will take a whole new generation of us coming through. But like the work you’re doing the work that I’m doing in the middle and then our new baby stylists coming up, yes, we can really feed and empower them. It’s it’s going to get better with each generation. So I think the story will die. I also think we’ve been under resourced as an industry with financial literacy, business literacy, you know, well being self care information and we’ve seen in the last decade that become more mainstream where it was maybe living in hubs of red can or different schools, networks, but it wasn’t super mainstream and accessible and due to social media and influencers and brands and you know lots of people it’s it’s more mainstream mindfulness is business literacy is there’s so much information now. Maybe too much So I think the accessibility of becoming more like a CEO and shifting that is accessible, where it really wasn’t, we were really in a model of like, you were in a mom and pop salon, or you were in a high end commission, and this was the only way to be successful. And then there was platform artists, or beauty school teachers, and it’s really the rules have been changed. There’s like, a million ways to do everything now.

Chris Baran 30:22
Yeah. You know, it was it’s so funny, because you talked about just a little bit of will use the word genius. And I was at a conference just this last weekend. And the on there that he was talking about how there was a study that was done, and I hate it when people say there was a study that done but they they don’t, they can’t tell you the name of what the study was, so that you can go back and research it yourself. But I’m repeating what I heard from this other person. And I, and I thought it was just brilliant, because this is the way it amounts back to what you and I felt like when we were in school. They said that they wanted to talk about IQ. And they wanted to talk about Morris about not so much about IQ, but what you had to be to be considered a genius, creative, etc. And they said that when they did this study asking these kids certain questions that they could tell whether they had to think about it creatively. And that sort of tuned into whether that this word fit in the parameters of a genius, I’m, I don’t say I’m not a genius, I just say I don’t know the studies. And I don’t know the questions you would ask, however, what stuck out to me just like a big sore hand. I used to say thumb, but I got this as an example now is that he said that, that that when they tested kids that were 454 to five years old, before they went to school, all of them graded and I’m not going to use the right number, I’m sure you can go out and research it, etc. That 90% of these kids there. They were qualified as geniuses. When when they got into school, and they got into it a number of years, they tested a similar amount of kids. And their genius rating went down to about 40%. And again, my numbers are off. I haven’t got it set up. Right. But proportionately it’s there. Yeah, they tested adults. What do you think that the percentage was of geniuses when they measured the adults? 2%

Elizabeth Faye 32:31
so little, what was that

Chris Baran 32:33
2% 2% Now think about it’s the same kids. But only thing that happened. You see our you know, our our schooling came from the industrial age when like you said they were just made to make employees they wanted, they wanted line workers etc. And they took all the creativity away from everything, all the arts away from everything, and consequently robbed so many people of their creative genius that they have, every kid has it out there. And if we could only learn now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking anything away from the teachers that are out there. The teachers are phenomenal, but the way that the system is set up, it just takes the press. It’s the system that takes the creativity away from us. And I think, you know, that’s got to change. I think that’s why things like Montessori and those kinds of places that just say, What do you want to do today? I want to play with my trucks in the sandbox. Okay, how many trucks do you have? How much sand is or if you put this much sand then how much you know, and they do it in real life situations. And I I think that that probably I’m not gonna speak for you, but I will speak for me. You know, I love to draw I was a good I was good at drawing when I went before I went into school and even while I was in school, but I just felt stupid about everything else. And maybe it’s just my that’s my escape story to to, to say why I felt that way. But I thought that was just absolutely phenomenal. So no,

Elizabeth Faye 33:51
I agree with that. That is cool. Well, and it’s like right, all the programming starts and all the how it’s supposed to be. And it really does, like squash our creativity and that that is our genius. I mean, that’s why I really think our career path is one of the most abundant careers that there can be because the amount of human connection and artistry available to us through this is so cool and can be so healthy and alive. And like such a beautiful career and with the right tools of craft and business and well being like you can have such a rich, wealthy, beautiful fully expressed career and switch lanes in our industry like there really is so much like it’s cool. Yeah.

Chris Baran 34:36
This episode is sponsored by the salon associate accelerator from trainers. playbook.com. Are you struggling with the time and cost of associate training? Do you feel like your salon is running you will get your associates on the floor, all with 90% Less time from you so you can get back to building your business. Get Come world class design, finishing collar and client care skills they’ll use every day for the rest of their career. While you focus on realizing your vision, go to trainers playbook.com and get the salon associate accelerator. And now back to the show. So it’s just like with Matt and when I have to have to say this about what in your hair love retreat, and I had heard about it before, but didn’t really understand what it was about. And, and when I watched the documentary, what really hit me hard, was you don’t do retreats like where it’s just Okay, let’s find a hotel room somewhere. We’re going to do a little get together. You You went to tempt sit, you made your own tents. You had people coming up. I’m not just it was they were teepees, right? But you had them all lit up on the inside and you had your flag that you hoisted up in there. And, like weird, I want to know where the concept came from how you felt about it. What was it like, even with the concept of started, what did you do just to go Oh, my God, I’m not going to do this. I’m just going to take it, you know, 180 degrees. How did that work for you?

Elizabeth Faye 36:07
Yeah. So that came from my dad. So before I did hair, love. I was a beauty school teacher for years. Before that I worked with Kelly Cardenas, I was in education literally from the ground up then it was beauty school teacher for four years, while I worked for lunatic fringe and trained assistants. So education No. Fringe. Yeah, I was the elitist Yes, the lead stylist in St. George for years.

Chris Baran 36:33
I love those guys. And girls. Yeah, I

Elizabeth Faye 36:37
Yes, it was great. And so I trained all their assistants. That’s when I started, like realizing I was such a curriculum builder as I was like, We need a assistant program. And I started writing it and all of that then. So that that was, you know, my education was there. And I was in Paul Mitchell world for a long time. And then I went independent with my education when I had my son. And I did workshops for four years. And so I was the person who started paint brushing hair before anybody was paint brushing hair. And I did about two workshops a month for years. And I was a single mom at the time. So I built this community of a lot of hairdressers around the world. I’d be in Oklahoma, then New York, like wherever. And it just started small a school because I had connections if you like or school once a little class cool. And they called the salon down the street once one. And they were just small, like 10 to 30 people classes. And I did that for four years. And that bill, our community base of what we have now, that’s actually how Redken found me as I was teaching shades EQ. And they were like, Who is this girl teaching so much shades EQ, and I just was no longer affiliated with a brand. I just taught what I loved. And I had an offer from another brand that wanted me to be an ambassador when that was just starting and they said but you can’t use shades EQ and I said I can’t do it. So I had been doing free stuff with Redken they’d invite me to random things. And I sent them what I wanted to do for them and I wrote a deck and pitch to the first ambassador program and I was the first ambassador that started wow that’s how they started the ambassador program. So I I just pitched it was like this is what I want to do for you. This is what I’m doing and they were like perfect let’s do it. And then Hayley and add ran with that and built the whole program. But um, so I was teaching these workshops and hair love was really inspired by my dad. So growing up my dad, my family’s Mormon, but we grew up like in the hood, Vegas Mormon where our church wasn’t like a rich white, Utah fancy, like keeping up with the Joneses. It was like people off the streets who needed food and their kids were not okay, like it was like church where people needed help. And the Mormon church is really good about offering help. So my dad was always in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts bishopric. And he dealt with a lot of troubled teens, including his own mate. And he would lead these hikes and him and my grandpa would host these rendezvous where they would set up our families, teepees, they build them, they build them at our elementary schools, and they teach people how to gather what a rendezvous is, and come together and they do the whole experience and they would dutch oven, and then sometimes they take people. My dad on the weekends we’d go hiking with the youth groups, and he would teach me about, you know, the nature nature and Pachamama and herbs and connecting and it was one of the only places I found God or the divine or higher power or peace, whatever you want to call it, something bigger than me. And so I felt really connected to those experiences. And they would have these rendezvous in Vegas out in the red rocks, where people would trade goods. So when you go to a rendezvous for the beads, candy, whatever, and you go in and you trade and then you say good trade, and that was what hair love was built on as I wanted to gather people pulled together around good trade where we would trade education, we would trade love, we will trade what we know. And we would, we would escape to learn. And that’s the concept of one of our like values in our company is get out of your environment and come into an environment that has an education set up literally for you to connect, grow, expand. And when you are in something for not just an hour, not just for a day, but you are literally off grid somewhere else for five days, you’re in a different frequency, a different way of being a different mindset. For that many days, it anchors in a new reality. And that’s why everyone’s like so different when they go home is it wasn’t just I’m excited. I listened to one motivational Tony Robbins talk right Tony Robbins events are days and days and days that’s on purpose. It’s to like really help you step into a new reality. So we wanted to create an education portal for that. And it was based on my dad and what I learned and that’s why we have the yoga and hiking with the business with the hair. It’s a whole holistic experience because we’re holistic we’re not just hair we’re not just a mom or dad, a salon owner we’re like you’re all of these roles we play and so we look at the whole picture of what successes

Chris Baran 41:21
yeah that’s that’s that’s pretty wild. And you went in in your venues like that’s it’s not a teepee every time right you like you have all different. I think I saw I didn’t bring

Elizabeth Faye 41:33
my families. Yeah, we yeah, we bring my families like that’s part of the workshop. We have a workshop where we learn about coming together and the strength of the polls and unity and how that plays in your team and your business. But we have we’ve glammed, we’ve stayed in houses, cabins, all sorts of off grid, but it’s important that it’s an environment that has a set and setting that can hold what hair love holds, you know.

Chris Baran 41:59
Yeah, I was when I watched the things that you had been doing on there. And I just thought, did I see something about camels? Was there something on about camel, we did

Elizabeth Faye 42:10
go to Morocco, I was gonna I do international experiences.

Chris Baran 42:15
You hesitated for a second I went, oh my god, did I just screw up there was that there was I was having a mind meld or something. But you went to Morocco, because I thought I saw you it wasn’t something I saw you guys traipsing about with these camels, etc. And I just went oh my god, you guys go everywhere. There’s not just a local thing. And I saw the same people over and over at all of your events. So you do have what you’d call a true community. Correct?

Elizabeth Faye 42:42
Oh, yeah, our communities like insane, they blow me away. Like, it’s it’s literally what has rippled from that community is like businesses, collaborations, micro communities, like I see little hair love, like echoes like through 1000s of businesses, you know, it’s cool. Do you do you

Chris Baran 43:04
when you’re there to use it, like I’ve heard this from my one of my teachers said that, you know, there is there’s three main responsibilities that you have one is to yourself, one is to your coach or your mentor. And the other one is to your community. And he said that the strongest accountability factor is is to community. He said, You can blow off the one that you have for yourself, you can maybe disappoint your teacher, but people are more than likely never want to. They never want to disappoint the community. So that’s the highest level of accountability that you have. So and you see, I think you see that everywhere when people get together as a group and let’s face it, we’re all and I say animals I don’t mean a bad way but we’re all animals in in in the pecking order of life, but they so we have to pack we have to have a community they have like mines, etc. And I saw that running through where your people just everybody laughing, crying have a good time, you know? And could I think it would you find that it does that. Having that together? Does that help to open up people? So they’re willing to do say and things that they would never say in front of a stranger?

Elizabeth Faye 44:23
Yeah, I mean, even like when Sam via came and taught at hair lab, people teach different at hair lab and you know, this, you’re a facilitator. The setting is everything when you hold the container as a teacher, or even as a company, like when we own a salon. And we’re setting without the container that we’re holding a standard of our values, the energy, how we interact, how we don’t interact here. And I think very intentional, like what we’ve like we set up a setting on purpose for a certain way. And, yeah, people are showing up differently in this container because it’s set up to be that type of container that can hold You know, that depth that vulnerability that masterminding that, you know, that real camaraderie and community that isn’t performative, that isn’t what can I get from you? We I really am inspired by a lot of what Burning Man does, and I will bring values from other spaces. I see where I’m like, what can you bring? This is an energetic potluck. And where are you showing up? Like, everyone affects the energy? Like, I don’t do fucking negative nancies? Or what can I get from you energy like that hairless? doesn’t fuck like that, like, Yeah, this is a high level community. And we call people to that attunement and that caliber, and that starts with the leadership that starts with how you leave your container. And people can attune to that, because that’s a value of how you play in the sandbox. And so yeah, people show up differently, because it’s set up to be safe to do it.

Chris Baran 45:46
Yeah, yeah. I want to listen, now, there’s so much I wanted to chat about and I know we’re gonna have to do another one here. But I want to know, first off is what pushes you what makes what pushes you in this game? Like, what do you do? What do you do that makes you say, Look, I’m going to shift I want to, I’m going to pivot, I’m going to fall back and punt whatever the current expression is that we have for change.

Elizabeth Faye 46:15
Hmm, I love that. Um, I sat a lot with this during 2020. And I think everyone did I really was like, do I want to do what I’m doing anymore? Why am I doing what I’m doing? Who am I doing it for? Is this good for me? Like, should I quit? Like I really, you know, now I allow myself to like, have those moments of like, let I let myself question right be and that’s been really powerful for me, because it brings me back into a purpose. And I see it’s our mission is what we’re doing. But our purpose is like calling, it’s like that thing that you’re saying like that inner thing that moves you forward. And for me, I get so much out of watching people remember their own power, like when I watch people step into that like that, that lights something up in me and makes me feel like I’m doing something that’s worth being, you know, around for and working for and doing that. And so if my real mission is, you know, and we’ve done a pretty good job, but I’m young and have some more work to do. I want the industry to be completely different than I left it. And I want the standard of not just business literacy, but like well being of the hairdresser, to be something that, like, we’re not burned out. We’re not Yeah, we’re none of that. And like, you know, somewhat so much of us are women and moms like I’m a mom, like, we should have this opportunity to have these full life that when we feel good, we do good. When we feel good, we do good. And so for me to be the embodiment of that, and to show other people, like I almost see it, like I’ve paved and pioneered a pathway like now you don’t have to walk alone, now someone can help show you guide you add to what you know. And it’s like, we can really change the standard of what it looks like to be successful and define that for ourselves. And so that purpose, like when people remember their power, and they step into that, and they’re able to have like ease and flow and health and vitality. I’m like, Yes, more of that. When we feel good, we do good, more heart centered leadership, like we can lead with our feelings, we can lead with our heart, we can lead with our vitality, we can lead with ease. And I think that that’s a beautiful message for the people who are in places of power to be speaking and showing and teaching and guiding.

Chris Baran 48:37
Yeah, that’s amazing stuff. Was there any like I mean that we went through all of this, and I think that they see you on stage, they see you at the retreat. And they don’t hear some of the crap that we had to climb through. Was along the way was there? Was there difficult times? Was there something was there things that just got in the way and impeded us to work through what was

Elizabeth Faye 49:07
Yeah, I mean, from high school drop out to my divorce and single mom, to all the pivots. Every time you pivot in your career, there’s like that opportunity for like an identity process and a death and rebirth from Beauty School teacher to salon owner to educator to starting companies to I mean, I we all went through 2020 together, you know, I had a personal health crisis. That was insane and a story you can find on my podcast that was really hard in 2019 where my partner’s now my husband was suicidal. That’s how we got into breathwork it’s a whole crazy story that pivoted our whole company and yeah, you know, and I love this Buddha quote where he says, pain is inevitable, but the struggle is optional. So it’s like painful shits going to happen in life, but the struggles what we do with the Pain. So when we can see things as sacred opportunities for transformations for opportunities for our evolution, our growth, and we can trust and have faith in, you know that this will lead us to our next thing and our next evolution of self. We take the hard things, and we make them part of what fortifies us. And it’s like, I think of the seasons. We have seasons of life, we’re gonna go through them all the time. I mean, I’m a mom, I’m a wife, I’m a human, I have a course I go through shit like everybody else. But what is promised after winter? Spring? Yeah. So like, honor your winters, let yourself be reborn. Let new ideas come through. And I think for me, that’s where the ease has come in is not when I judge my falls and winters and I just go, Okay, what needs to be shed just like the leaves, what needs to die off in winter, the roots get stronger, and the tree and it fortifies new lives coming. Chill, it’s winter.

Chris Baran 51:02
And it’s just, if you don’t have, if you don’t have that struggle, that problem, that thing that happened, the crap that arose with your family or with a business or something failed, then if you can overcome that, that’s the whole point is what are you doing that’s, that’s what I think the universe throws at you. So that you learn from that. And then you get bigger, you get stronger from that. And each time you do it if you just look. They don’t always feel good. And I think when every time that you hear somebody talking to people listening and watching right now we’re going, oh, yeah, that’s easy for you. But it’s not for me, it’s not easy for us either. You know, we go through that shit the same way. It doesn’t, it doesn’t, it’s not any easier to go through it. But if you go through it, knowing that there is a light, if I’m going to use these, you know, worn out metaphors at the end of the tunnel that they’re there, you’re going to learn from it, you’re going to get better. Sometimes it’s even better on the other side than it was when you had what you thought with the problem. So Good on you for that one. I’m going to throw I have 1000 more questions. So we’re gonna have to do this again. But I want to throw I’ve got these are always just rapid fire questions that I want to throw out at you. So let’s just go away on this one. What turns you on in the creative process.

Elizabeth Faye 52:22
I love this. So flow state for me is like one of my favorite things to draw. Like I love my creative expression. breathwork helps me drop into my body and be creative. Even like three five minutes of it’s dancing and singing and there’s science behind all these things also drop you into your body. So they take you one of the concepts we teach at our certification, we call it mind a magic so dropping out of mine into your body where the magic is, that’s where your creative essence is birthed and born. So anything like breath, singing, and movement will drop you in. And I have like my music back there. So I love that it’s easy, it’s fun, it’s free it’s with me all the time. That is what like gets me like fired up

Chris Baran 53:04
love it and what stifles creativity for you

Elizabeth Faye 53:09
busyness so when we are in a stress state in our nervous system we actually have less access to creativity logic reason power, if you do you just all of your juice inside your body is being sent to keep you in that stress state. So anything you can do to regulate back down actually opens you back up to creativity so creativity is in the void that’s the void it’s the whitespace so if you feel stuck you don’t have clarity you have writer’s block on what to do you need whitespace and you need like to bring yourself into there needs to be like that void

Chris Baran 53:46
Yeah, a our indigenous people used to call it that quiet mind that if you wanted to if you wanted to come up with a thought don’t think you know don’t think and then let other things from nature or even if you’re not in nature, a billboard or whatever, let that come to you. And it’ll give you the thought as long as you just put it in the back of your brain and don’t want it immediately. I love that a thing a thing in life in life in general that you dislike the most.

Elizabeth Faye 54:15
Dishes hate

Chris Baran 54:20
I love that that’s one of the better ones that have come out of that one. And in life. What do you love the most?

Elizabeth Faye 54:29
Oh, man travel I love to travel.

Chris Baran 54:33
And most most difficult time in your life.

Elizabeth Faye 54:38
Oh, the 2019 health crisis that rocked my second world.

Chris Baran 54:43
Yeah. And a lot of people to proudest moment in your life.

Elizabeth Faye 54:49
This year, this year, I like I got married the love of my life. I’ve been through a divorce. So it’s a whole my son’s doing well my message and Ted is my Ted Talk went viral my movie. Like, I just feel like 14 years worth of work is like manifesting into what probably looks like an overnight success. And it just feels like, I could just cry and be like, Wow, it’s working. And it’s beautiful. And it’s impacting 10s of 1000s. And it’s so cool. Yeah,

Chris Baran 55:18
I live in person that you admire the most.

Elizabeth Faye 55:23
Oh, so many people? Well, the most. I have so many mentors, but I really admire my dad.

Chris Baran 55:34
Yeah, I heard that all along. A person that you wish you could meet living or dead.

Elizabeth Faye 55:42
Oh, I would love to meet abraham hicks or Joe Dispenza. When I could meet either of them, you can go to their events, but that would be cool. Well,

Chris Baran 55:52
now well, I know that I always say that, that both of those people are there were like this. With me. This is me. And for those of you just listening, I’m got my fingers crossed. I’m just waving my thumb. That’s me. Yeah, and you know what they say when you tell a joke. Nobody laughs It’s a story. So moving right along.

Something that people don’t know about you.

Elizabeth Faye 56:23
Oh, man, I probably how silly I am. Like if you come to my retreat, you know, but I’m like, really goofy and cuddly. I like cuddle my clients that retreats and stuff.

Chris Baran 56:33
Love it. Okay, you have in fact, we had a month off. Where would you go? What would you do?

Elizabeth Faye 56:41
Oh, well, I did that this summer. I went to Europe in Greece. I mean, I could go back to Europe. I’m doing it. We’re going to Egypt next year for almost a month. Oh,

Chris Baran 56:49
is that going to be part of the are you going to do a retreat there? Or?

Elizabeth Faye 56:55
Maybe one day this one’s for us. We’re doing a pilgrimage like a spiritual we’re gonna go meditate and explore and all our weird shit.

Chris Baran 57:04
What’s your greatest fear?

Elizabeth Faye 57:10
Ah, that is good. One. I’ve had so many greatest fears. I think what I’ve been working through and a lot of it is I’m kind of on the tail end of this one. Right? We have different ones is the softening. And the you know, really stepping into just like, the ease in my life. I have like 30% of me that still afraid that things will crumble if I do it. But it used to be like, 100% of me felt that way. And I’m easing and I just noticed that I’m like, Oh, I thought I got over that. And it came up for me again. I was like, I still have some old stories with that, as I soften and release and you know, step more into flow. And I have a little part of me that’s like, the old wounded hustler deep down and she still needs some love. And I think as I I proved to myself that it’s possible to be soft and successful and safe. That will go away. But that’s currently one of my big fears.

Chris Baran 58:05
Good on. Yeah. Favorite curse word. Fuck. She says with vigor. Your favorite comfort food. Oh, I love sushi. Oh. No, go ahead. Oh, if you could change one thing about yourself. What would it be

Elizabeth Faye 58:33
that I’m not such a night owl. That’s hard for me.

Chris Baran 58:37
Yeah, we can’t be friends. I can’t stay up past nine.

Elizabeth Faye 58:42
I want to be like you.

Chris Baran 58:47
What’s your most treasured possession? Physical?

Elizabeth Faye 58:52
Oh, physical.

I’m really connected to some of my instruments and some of my crystals. Love it.

Chris Baran 59:06
Something in the industry you haven’t done. But one two.

Elizabeth Faye 59:13
I have one that I can’t say on a podcast because it’s happening. But it’s what I want to do the both but

Chris Baran 59:19
to start with B. Oh. What is B? Double O? N A K? I heard? Yeah. Book.

Elizabeth Faye 59:30
Oh, my book comes out next year that is coming out that’s happening. I think something that I haven’t done. I can’t say the one. I’ll say this

Chris Baran 59:41
is a sneak this is that.

Elizabeth Faye 59:44
I can’t but I’ll tell you one that’s kind of kitty corner to it. I would love to bring more of these mindfulness tools into the corporate areas and I have done some of this like with biologic and some other companies. But into the facilitators. I think a lot of this could empower they’re impacting people like a ripple effect. And I know what I could share with them would impact a lot of lives. So that’s an area I would like to do more of.

Chris Baran 1:00:09
Oh, maybe you and I could work together on something like that, because I think that’s brilliant. If you had to do over a do over in your life, and most people say, Well, I had everything that I’m had always made me who I am. But if you had to do over, what would that be?

Elizabeth Faye 1:00:29
It would be my relation. I mean, like, yes, of course. Right? I wouldn’t be who I am. Without it. Yes, yes, yes. But if I had to redo it, what led to my health crisis was I missed out on a lot of time with my son and got really sick by pushing myself too hard. And although I learned a lot from that, I mean, if I had to do over, I would take what I know now, and I would have seen him more and I would have not, not taken care of myself for so long. Yeah, yeah.

Chris Baran 1:00:58
And tomorrow, you couldn’t do hair, or anything to do with hair. What would you do?

Elizabeth Faye 1:01:08
breath work. Oh, wow.

Chris Baran 1:01:10
Okay, now I’ve got one last question for you. But before I asked you that, I guess this would be the second that would be the second question then. But where if people want to get a hold of you want to find out about the retreat? Want to find about other things? If they hire you or whatever? How can they do that? Where would they go?

Elizabeth Faye 1:01:30
I think the easiest place to go is Instagram. My personal is Hey, Elizabeth Faye and hair, love his hair love University. And you can always DM me, we got so much free stuff too. So it’s like even if you can’t afford to invest, we have so many free things, or we can connect you to you know, you have lots of free things too. So go explore because there’s lots of free stuff, too.

Chris Baran 1:01:51
Yeah. Okay. If you had just one wish for our industry, what would that be

Elizabeth Faye 1:02:05
that every single hairdresser knew that the power they have literally changes the world. And they embodied it so much that they it was not only important, but it was they knew it was their responsibility to show up like as the highest version of themselves in their well being their business, their craft, like because they know the impact they have. Yeah, if you know that you would show up all the way.

Chris Baran 1:02:26
Yeah, and probably feel better about yourself, do better work and make more money. You know? So?

Elizabeth Faye 1:02:34
Absolutely.

Chris Baran 1:02:36
Elizabeth, I knew you less at the beginning. I know more about you know, I liked you before. And I love you now. So thank you so much for spending time and I know that your life is busy. And this takes all takes time. And on behalf of the people that are listening and watching. I just want to say thank you so much. And I want to have you back on and because I was still got so many more questions that I have to ask.

Elizabeth Faye 1:03:06
I’m honored. Thank you for having me on and we will definitely be collaborating soon.

Chris Baran 1:03:12
There we go. Okay, thank you and everybody else out there. Absolutely pleasure time having Elizabeth on board and good night to you all