Exploring Life & Business with Abel Ortiz of luxcy hair studio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abel Ortiz.

Hi Abel, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
HI,

My name is Abel. I was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico but was raised in North east los Angeles specifically highlands park where my salon is located.

I started doing hair professionally at the age of 26. But i feel like i have always done hair and have always loved it since i was a little boy. I have 5 sisters and 2 brothers and i grew up doing my sisters hair everyday for school.
My favorite hairstyle to do on them was a perfect, tight pony tail- my sisters didn’t enjoy that but i loved the challenge of trying to get every strand of thick, Latina girl hair into a perfect glossy ponytail. It was also one of the few times that my step mom would be nice to me because i was helping her by getting them ready.

However, My love for hair didnt start when i was a teenager. Ever since i can remember i always loved long beautiful hair- it was always the first thing i would notice in a woman at the grocery store, or on the bus or on tv and how different it was and is on everybody. I use to dance around with a mop swinging it around pretending it was a woman with long hair.

Then life Happened and i think the things that happened in early childhood and early teen years caught up to me and i met friends and they became my escapism from my troubled home life and i felt like i left hair behind and replaced it with my friends and Alcohol and life was different and chaotic for the next decade.

Fast forward to age 25 and i was working in the hospitality industry and it was fun but i had a moment of clarity where i realized i didnt want to just work at restaurants the rest of my life and had to figure something out. Mind you, coming from a poorer , disenfranchised Latino community in the 90’s- no one really talked to me about college nor did it feel like it was even an option for me because i was and still am Undocumented and was convinced you needed that to go to college.
So, i hit The pause button on my life and just sat with myself and also hit the rewind and asked myself one question “what is something that always brought me joy consistently throughout my life? “
Two answers; Selena and Hair.
And then the idea was planted and i began the process of figuring out how i was going to get myself through school on a restaurant salary without the financial help of my parents- i lived on my own because my parents lived in a one bedroom with 7 kids. So, moving back home wasn’t an option while going to school.
Also finding a school that didnt require a social security and was affordable enough that i didnt have to take out loans or financial aids- which in retrospect is actually a blessing.
So i did- i found ZMS academy in highland park and it was 3,400 dollars out of pocket- normally beauty schools at the time were anywhere from 14,00 to 21,00 but ZMS wasnt a credited school yet so it was affordable.
And thanks to Eric garcetti who passed the AB60 drivers license ( any undocumented California resident with proof of residency). I was able to go to state board and attain my cosmetology license. However, it was bleak for a moment. I had to take a two year break from school because that wasnt in affect yet.
So after failing my first time, i was finally licensed in November of 2013.
I started off doing photo shoots a lot of unpaid stuff – mostly for trade. I do the hair and they provide good pictures for my portfolio and it was fun and i gained a lot of experience but when it started getting into paid jobs the pay wasnt great and i didnt have a car so traveling to locations was really hard.
So i decided to start looking at salons. I made Roughly about 1,000 dollars a month in the first few years of doing hair when i was assisting. Even tho that was almost 15 years ago and life was more affordable it was barely anything- specially when your rent was 600 dollars. There were days when i had to decide whether i wanted to treat myself to an in and out burger or bus fare. So sometimes i would walk 4 miles home because id always choose in and out. I worked at 9 different salons before i finally found a decent place that didn’t emotionally torture their employees. I was actually let go of one salon because i was undocumented.
I knew nothing about how to build a business but i knew that if i focused on education and good hair- what could go wrong?
Well, a lot but in the end its turned out great.
This industry is tough- when you go to a cheap school they dont teach you about style or taste or how you have to not only be skilled at doing hair but sell yourself and how to price yourself so that you’re covering your over head, taxes, medical insurance and to pay yourself a live able wage. You just learn how to sanitize your tools- which is great but there’s so much more to the industry that ALL beauty schools lack in teaching.
So there was a lot of learning on the job and i went through phases of it all ; Giving all the services i could for no money, trauma dumping and trauma bonding with clients so they’d come back. But i was determined to make it and really, i had no other choice.
So i spent my time watching educational videos, taking as many free classes, practicing on doll heads, practicing on co workers when we had the time. I worked 7 days 10-15 hour days taking any and all clients.
This career has not only saved my life because i had to stop drinking to do it because i cant imagine drinking and doing what i do. I would be such a poor performer at this job if i still partied- im just not built that way. Kudos to those who can but i cant. But it also taught me a lot about myself, and life and people through the stories from clients and what they go through or have been through and it allows me to stay connected that way.

And then Luxcy hair studio was born. An opportunity showed up at my door. One that i couldnt have ever imagined because my perception of the world for myself was small. Life had said No so many times to me because of my legal status in the country that i didnt know it was possible. But it became reality. Also forgot to mention that my best friend who’m i met when i was 12 is also a hair dresser. So, it made sense to bring her on this journey and i also forgot to mention that i moved in with her when her twin girls were 3 years old and i wanted to ground myself and live a more quiet life from the partying. I mention this because i took Her girls to school every morning for 6 years in exchange for lesser rent because at the time she was working in tv and her call times were usually at 5 or 6 am. So every morning i got them ready and then went to the salon and they became such an important part of my life and healing journey from the childhood i never Had. Some mornings were rough, most were fun but i love being on time, if not early so gettting two kids ready in the early mornings is a challenge. So i watched them grow up. Their names are lux and Lucy and they were my saviors when i needed them most.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Luxcy hair studio is truly a hidden gem. we are not big square footage wise but we strive to have a big impact on the neighborhood by providing a safe space for everyone and anyone. We really like connecting with our clients and knowing their stories and who they are on top of doing really good hair.

What does success mean to you?
Success is a fabricated feeling and I really believe we define our own success. For me the definition of success keeps being redefined as i grow As a human and evolve.
Currently success to me is ; having balance and having peace with myself, and with those around me and acceptance of what is rather than what isn’t or could have been.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Luxcyhairstudio.com
• Instagram: luxcyhairstudio