Life & Work with Renay Bossy Graham of Los Angeles California, watts

Today we’d like to introduce you to Renay Bossy Graham

Hi Renay bossy , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ok…I’m bossy .I’m home grown CAIL born &raised. I’m a shop baby. I had a lot of aunties ,that did hair growing up . I had to be baby-sat in a safe environment so I bounce between my aunties. My aunties are OG stylist they go back to the days of braids by Sabrina if you really from La then you know lol… She had signs all over the city lol.. I began to be able to do hair ,braiding first I started out. I could do any hairstyle with braids. Then I moved to doing cuts, color & weaving. By the time I was 12 years old my dad Built me a lil Salon in the second garage. I did hair on the weekends ..we used to charge between 65 & $75 for any hairstyle. I had a couple cousins , Friends working for me. Yes I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I was lucky enough that one of my aunt’s did hair on the entertainment side. By the time my teen years came .I would tag along and I learned the hair business. I learned how to be professional. I learned how to charge a king’s Ransom.. lol. Reality I learned how to work in a professional environment. Because of my aunt I was able to get several jobs on different sets. All through my teen years before I even had a license. I reached my ceiling &realized that I needed to get my license if I wanted to go further. I mapped out a plan to get my license. Cosmetology school was horrible.. I got my license. I created my salon &brand Hikey ya gorgeous LLC SALON ™. In one of the most horrible times of my life. I had just lost my mother &my stepdad a month &a week apart. Soo…back 2 IT . From my personal experience in the industry .I wanted to make sure that my solan was a professional environment. A fun accepting of all people type of place. kind of like the salon that I grow up in. I made sure that I Incorporated all the things. I was good at wig making growth ,serums ,lashes lipsticks & lip gloss. Of course my hairline 100% human hair .its a perfect match for all nationalities & backgrounds. I did that on purpose .I’m a multicultural stylist I do all hair textures. That’s kind of the cliff notes lol 🤣 of this West Coast girl. I travel from here LA, south east coast& of course overseas .I love doing hair in London ,a little bit of everywhere. I do hair I teach extensions &color using my own methods. The hair community has been really good to me .its a place where we don’t have a boss. We definitely make our own hours and make our own money. Cosmetology this hustle is definitely not for the weak .you have to have a strong sense of self to do this. It’s very crowded everybody wants to do hair . being a stylist is now the cute profession. So you definitely have to set yourself apart from the pack. I’m grateful to God that I’ve been able to do that. I’m different because, I’m a unicorn & I do all textures of hair . I do all types of hair from weddings to corporate events. I definitely refuse to box myself in. May God bless all the girlies that only braid, are only do weaves bless them. I have to have a variety to not get bored or burnout. By the way I’ve been able to work with different organizations like the national Cancer society, alopecia /diabetic organization, .I make wigs , hair pieces , I have growth treatment for this particular niche community. I definitely think outside the box when it comes to cosmetology. Meanwhile I’ve been able to get myself in all these different spaces . myself or business without having a large fake social media following. I believe in doing everything organically. Millions of followers don’t mean financial stability catch that one. It’s definitely a lot of lying & faking going on. I’m happy that I’m taking the stairs to success the elevator ain’t all what it’s cracked up to be trust me.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My journey into the hair world. Let’s just say it has never been easy. I’m an unicorn .I’m a brown girl that does incredible vanilla hair. When I started years ago it definitely was not the norm. it’s still not the norm. I’m saying, the quiet part out loud it’s definitely not easy for us brown girls. Yeah because of my talent level .I get myself into these different spaces, where no one has been that looks like me. Perfect example when you look at my website. you wouldn’t necessarily .think that it was owned by a brown woman but it is. I found my nitch I understood that ,I was a luxury service. I work with a lot of professional women CEOs of companies & international Business women owners lawyers surgeons . I love my private jet flight attendants. Yes I wouldn’t trade my flight attendants for nothing in the world. That group of women helped me get so many contacts & so many different clients. I’m extremely grateful to them. It’s not always easy to get a vanilla woman to sit in your chair as a brown woman &trust you with their hair. I’m just being honest. As you see there’s no pictures of me on my website that’s purposefully done. You asked why because, most times when people see a brown girl they believe, they can underpay us & that’s the quiet part out loud!!. I study this industry &what vanilla styluses make & the deals. that they get versus what US brown girls get. I was completely determined to make sure that I was compensated to my talent level and not my complexion.!!!!!!! It’s a little different when you’re struggle or your obstacle is literally your complexion. Go figure but it’s true &it’s reality and a lot of people are afraid to talk about it I’m not. This is my lived experience. But I’ve never let it get me down .I’ve never let it deter me from not doing hair, or from not trying to reach my goals. Prime example I have a lot of vanilla friends that own salons. for one client they will make over 3K with extensions. the extensions don’t look that great just being honest. Now a brown girl does the same service but has to argue back and forth or has to explain herself & her pricing. I hate it ,but she will only make $500 maybe $1,000 and that’s pushing it. this is reality with the pay inequality in our industry that directly is about complexion. Even with sponsorships we are paid astronomically less than everyone else. So ME I come through the door beating them at their own game.lol they book me they pay me before even seeing me that’s the new flex. I have no fake social media presence none of that nonsense. I use my brain & my authentic talent to work my way around the obstacles that come my directions strictly because of my complexion. Believing in yourself be determined don’t let nothing stop you or no one. One door close another opens even bigger. Even down to this publication My name got into this circle because I did hair for a wedding .she was a freelance editor. she put my name in all these different places for different articles and magazines. now here I am strictly because of my talent. Not because a million fake followers on social media that can care less about you. There is always a workaround when you literally have the authentic talent believe in yourself whoever reads this. A fake following will never beat authentic talent. Charge your worth Don’t be afraid to be a luxury. Quality not quantity you can have a million throwaway clients. You definitely want 20 permanent clients let that sink in. Thee bossy The West Coast raised her 💖!!!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m known for being a unicorn. I’m known for being able to do any type of hair. My talent provides me to be able to do editorial hair wedding ,braids or a everyday date night look. I specialize in individuality making the person have an individual outstanding look. You know creating signature transformation looks . this is my style not someone else’s. I do a lot of custom color services & makeovers.. my clients love me because I’m able to make any purchased hair look like it’s growing from your scalp.lol my clients love my sew-ins. My hand tied extensions definitely keep the bills paid AKA micro links.lol.
My work with the national Cancer society is something that is deeply close to my heart. I’m able to recreate the looks of these women who have fought the fight of their life. I’m able to make them look beautiful and give them their hair back. I’ve had great success with growing back what we call healthy cancer hair. I’ve been able to grow back a full head of hair better than. what they had before and under a year might I add. I have a custom serum that I make for each client and we do growth treatments. I have a certain light system that I use and I’ve had great results. I included some pictures below of my work. I’ve had a lot of success with alopecia patients too where I’m able to grow their hair back. As my grandma say I got growing hands lol ….
Making the wigs for the cancer patients is one of my favorite things to do. They bring me a picture of what their hair was like before and I recreated. A lot of times they want a whole new look color ,style, I love that. Please view my website
www.hikeyyagorgeousllc.com
My IG @hikeysalon314
My YouTube channel all caps
@INSIDEHIKEYLIFE I HAVE JUST MY SHORTS UP RIGHT NOW AND MY CHANNEL WILL BE A CATCH-ALL JUST LIKE MY SALON WILL DO A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING SALON LIFE SPORTS POLITICS MOVIE BOOK AND TV REVIEWS I’LL BE ADDING MY ON CAMERA TOPICS SOON… PLEASE SUBSCRIBE SHAMELESS PLUG. TO FOLLOW MY IG.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
MY BEAUTIFUL AUNT JOYCE MY DAD’S SIDE OF THE FAMILY. Had a great impacts on my life. She’s definitely the reason that I kept going after every obstacle. I’ve had bad landlords lawyers you name it. Because of her encouragement I’ve always kept going she’s definitely deserves a shout out.love her
My auntie nikki on my mom’s side is the reason that I love sew-ins . She was the absolute best in La all through the ’80s & 90s sewin weaves. I watched her support herself create a beautiful life for herself literally doing hair. I just learned from her that I never wanted to work for someone else. She was always a part of a salon. I watched her move to Salon to Salon, to Salon because of drama and nonsense. So she really had an impact on me on how I wanted to run my business. I never wanted to work for anybody else. I also learned that working inside of the industry entertainment side wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. And make sure that you work in and out of that industry that you keep your regular clients and your salon no matter how big you get on that side of the world. There’s always a drop off. Meaning they’re not loyal they’ll move on to another stylist quick the celebrity that is. It definitely helped me create my niche in my audience for my talent. I knew corporate America would be ONE ,of my Targets ,because I’m a luxury service. Half of my business is luxury and the other half is affordable for all women I wanted to make sure that I was able to service everybody. I definitely learned that from t-bird and Lois if you from the PJs imperial Watts then you know them from the 90s and the 2000s lol ponytails French rolls and wraps. My auntie Lori for braids. I learned from them that you want to make sure you do all women , you have a service that every woman can afford & you are great at that service . you keep your loyal clients. I thank y’all were ever y’all are salute to the PJs. From my auntie Nikki who learned & modeled herself after Elgin Charles & Ellen lavarre .I learned high-end services luxury services .I learned how to get the luxury client the CEO the stay at home soccer mom from the suburbs .she taught me how to pitch my business I watched her. Growing up I learned a lot from just being quiet and watching. My favorite West Coast hair giant is definitely Elgin Charles he was definitely a part of my childhood and me learning how to get luxury clients .how to have professionalism, how to separate yourself from the pack shout out to him. Ellen lavar was another one who was incredible definitely an inspiration growing up watching ,I was able to watch both of these great hair artists because of my aunts that trained around them. my whole life grown in up .so I definitely had great tutelage from OG stylists from the ’80s ’90s.
I now offer traveling services within the US . Wedding special events etc. please email for info and pricing . Yes I do travel internationally I’ve done that a couple times and it’s been an amazing ,experience for a wedding. So yes you can email for the services.email [email protected]
Lastly but never not least I want to thank Storm Monroe he has helped me with my YouTube journey that I just started I would recommend him to any person that is starting out with YouTube he actually really helps you he finds your niche if you don’t have one he’s honest with you if this is not something you should be doing he definitely will tell you he is a good person I definitely will refer him and recommend him to anyone that’s starting out with you too he was very instrumental in me getting my YouTube off the ground and going.. now yes he do the gossip sector but I think he’s the king of that sector if you ask me and he has his niche and he’s great at interviewing and he’s not a one-trick pony So if you are looking to do YouTube definitely go to Storm Monroe’s YouTube page and email him and he’s very affordable too it’s like $300 and it’ll be the best $300 you ever spend trust me so I definitely want to give him his flowers now and say thank you for the help with my YouTube journey That’s such a big thing cuz I’m such a no-face no case millennial type of girl.. it’s a West Coast thing.

Pricing:

• Luxe extension service hand tied microlinks 1k+
• Box braids/Bora Bora hair included 350+
• Natural silk out with color 300+/quick weaves ponytails 150 Plu
• Balayage color service with cut 450+
• Travel services offered within the US email for info

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hikeyyagorgeousllc.com
• Instagram: @hikeyysalon314
• Facebook: renayHIKEY FACEBOOK
• Youtube: @INSIDEHIKEYLIFE323
• Other: Email [email protected]

Image Credits
All images owned by
Hikey ya gorgeous LLC SALON ™
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