Life & Work with Bri Kim and Heather Vanhuss

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bri Kim and Heather Vanhuss.

Hi Bri and Heather, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Heather and I (Bri) both started our careers as hairstylists in Arizona and found ourselves a few years in working together in a salon in Hermosa Beach.
We had rented independently for years and after the shake-up in our industry during covid, we realized that we were ready for a change in where we worked and how we worked.
In the over the decade we had been in the industry, we both worked in and were aware of salons that did not promote a healthy lifestyle for the stylist or support them in a financially beneficial way. Often times, not even legally.

When Heather and I met, we learned that we had been in many of the same places at the same time and shared a number of mutual friends. Our values, interests and work ethic mimicked each other and we knew there was more for us than our current situation. It felt kismet for us to start a partnership.

We both had a desire to provide a space for stylists where they could simply come to work, do amazing hair and not worry about the day in and day out tasks of running their business. We wanted to be able to support them personally, with an encouraging environment, built to support the stylists and their goals.

In addition, we ourselves and many of our clients were searching for a new type of haircare that was free of harsher chemicals, synthetic fragrances and offered nourishing benefits. Chemicals are an inevitable part of our offerings, but we knew there were options that were better than others and we wanted to make that available to those who needed it.

With these ideas in mind, we started looking for a location to build our salon home and in late 2023 we found a beautiful 1920’s historical building in the heart of Lomita.

We Opened Get Together Salon in February 2024 with the mission to provide a high-quality service with a playful atmosphere and a commitment to providing the best performing low toxic products and color available.

We now have a team of six stylists and are thrilled to be a part of the community.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Opening a brick and mortar is not for the faint of heart!
Taking clients and doing hair is the easy (and best) part, but there was a lot to learn before we were able to get to that point.
Our biggest obstacle by far was navigating the permit process, timelines, fees and contractors.

The silver lining to a lengthy building out process was that we had the time to do lots of product and color line testing. We also were able to really hone in on our offerings, stylist process and salon design.

We, thankfully, had so much generous guidance from our local salon owner friends from Fever Few and Summer Hours Salon.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
We are a salon for everyone! It is the utmost importance to us that all feel welcome when they walk in our doors.
Often, we hear from clients that other stylists have said they have too much hair to work on or it’s too curly, etc. We think that’s ridiculous.

As a salon, we are dedicated to staying up to date on new techniques and investing in education so we can always make each client feel welcome and understood.

We offer a full range of color, cutting and extension services along with multiple treatments for scalp and hair health.

Our color and hair product lines are low-tox and free of all harsh chemicals.

90% of our new clients since opening have been locals and that really makes us feel like we have filled a void in the city.

Our stylists are happy, our clients are happy and that is the best feeling for us!

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Over the last several years, the industry has predominately encouraged independent work in the form of chair rental and salon suites. Of course, this model does work for some, but what it lacks is the interaction with fellow stylists on the day to day. We feel it really stunts a stylists growth when they don’t have colleagues to bounce ideas off of and learn from.

In addition, independent stylists spend a lot of additional time and energy having to work on their business and not in their business. Some stylists just want to do great hair and not also be an accountant, social media manager and stock inventory.

Historically, salons have not supported stylists to thrive in a commission setting and have been unnecessarily competitive. It’s no wonder it has driven stylists to feel like their best option is to work alone in a small room!

We designed Get Together to solve this problem. Allow stylists to make their own schedules, charge their own prices but be a part of a salon team that takes care of all the busy work for them. We have zero ego in our salon. Im sure that might be hard to believe, but it’s true! There is no need for competition and we don’t pit our stylists against each other.

We have stylists that have switched from independent to our commission model and are loving it! We really hope this is a shift that continues to happen throughout our industry and that more salons start welcoming stylists back in with the full support and compensation they deserve.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gettogethersalon.com/
• Instagram: @gettogethersalon
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61554489964438
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/get-together-salon-lomita

Image Credits
Bri Kim