CELEBRITY HAIRSTYLE TIPS, Last week, I had the immense pleasure of speaking with Sally Hershberger – the internationally renowned celebrity hairstylist who is known for her trendsetting vision and extraordinary skill. One of the most influential hairstylists in the world, Sally launched her own hair care product line named Sally Hershberger Professional Hair Care in 2008, and maintains an active role in her three successful salons in New York City and Los Angeles.
I met Sally in March in New York City at the Start Over Smart Divorce Expo, where I was speaking on career success. Sally conducted an exciting hair styling/cutting demonstration, taking several unwitting men and women from the audience and transforming them in front of our eyes. I noticed immediately in Sally an air of complete command, authority and confidence – an energy that communicated, “I know I’m great at this, and have nothing to prove – I just want to help people feel and be their best.” I was taken too by how collaborative she was with the other stylists from her salons that she brought to do their own kind of magic. She asked them about their styling opinions and advice, honored their input, and showcased their talents as much as her own. I tried her new products as well that day, and loved them.
Seeing Sally in action, I knew I wanted to understand more about how she had done all this – climbed to the top of a very cut-throat, male-dominated field, launched a successful business, managed three salon businesses in two cities, traveled internationally with her celebrity clients. What has Sally learned from her successes and failures, and what can she teach us?
Here’s what Sally had to say:
About getting into hair styling –
“I never planned to be a hairdresser. When I was younger, at my mother’s urging, I set out to look for a job. A friend recommended I go to a beauty school and work with the famous hairdresser - Arthur Johns — which I did. But I didn’t think I’d stay in hair.
Then, I met Olivia Newton John and I went on tour with her. She was huge then, doing her “Let’s Get Physical” tour. Herb Ritts was shooting her and said that we should work together. Before I knew it, I was thrown into doing Vanity Fair covers, Vogue covers, working with Annie Lebovitz and Herb Ritts and other top photographers. But I still didn’t think it would be for the long term. As a woman, I was into my own hair and knew that great hair gave me confidence. I’m also very visual and into other creative pursuits as well. I left hairdressing for a while to become a photographer (Vogue gave me my first job), then I launched a clothing line which was successful in a number of top stores, but I felt it was too much work in addition to being in hair. Even when I was a photographer, I kept getting pulled back into hair.”
About money
“As a stylist, I’d ask for a lot of money, because I valued the art of hair styling. I saw how hair could transform people and give them confidence. And you can’t put a price tag on that. People started saying I was the most expensive hairdresser. And it was news because I happened to be a woman. The reality was that it didn’t feel like a male-dominated world to me. I was Sally in my world – I did it my own way.
Some of that confidence came from my childhood. I came from a family that truly believed in themselves. I learned that you have to have a vision about who you are and hold onto that vision fiercely.
