Meet Barras Salon Hairstylist: Eric Barras-Johnson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Barras-Johnson.

He’s a hardworking, longtime veteran of the industry – a business owner, stylist and artist at heart.  We are inspired by his story and excited to share excerpts of our interview with him below.

Eric, please share your story with us.  How did you get to where you are today?

My career has spanned 24+ years styling hair. I have worked for top salons in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, as well as an accomplished free-lance artist in the fashion and music industry. I served as one of the directors of education at Warren Tricomi LA for 10 years before leaving to embark on my own endeavor as a salon owner. Though I worked the celebrity scene of LA, my heart is with the everyday people that love and support my art even when the celebrity status is not there.

I began my study of the fabric of hair very young. My dog and my hamsters were some of my first clients! I gave my Lhasaapso the best blowouts by the age of 10. I would round brush him for two hours! He had hair, not fur. Funny, a bit strange… but all the same true. I spent many years as a very young child (4yrs) wallowing through vintage and imported silks and woolens in the fabric stores where my mom would frequent weekly. I stayed there for hours on end.

Weekend after weekend while my mom combed the pattern books for what she needed. This gave me many hours of hands on practical study of textiles. This is where my inspiration was drawn for the fabric of hair. Somewhere between 4 and 8 I realized that the fabric growing from our heads was the same as what I had been studying for the years prior. A talented child with a gift of music and movement, I would soon thereafter take these things along with what I was learning about fabrics and incorporate them into my hair artistry and finishing. From then, my keen ability to capture the art and beauty that is present in every human being, grew tremendously.

At 25 I went to work for Joseph Martin in Beverly Hills. I had been there for almost two weeks when one of the stylists asked that i blow one of his clients out. Both owners caught a glimpse of me working and stopped mid-work. They called me to the back and told me that they “had never seen someone with such a relationship with hair as I.” They offered me a chair right there on the spot. I turned it down due to hostility from other assistants that had been there working and waiting for a chair for 2 years. I from there moved on to West Hollywood to a popular salon and then on to Warren Tricomi LA where I would spend the next 10 years. I served as one of the directors of education at Warren Tricomi LA before leaving to embark on my own endeavor as a salon owner. My skill has taken me thru the likes of Hollywood as well as sports and music. Sculpting tailored looks for celebrities, pop stars and sports wives.

Has it been a smooth road?

The road has definitely not always been a smooth one. The only thing I have found consistently smooth about this industry is my love and passion to do what I do. Being a stylist in Los Angeles amongst a sea of well dressed, under skilled imitators has been quite challenging.

Most come here in search of stardom and celebrity status. They can look the part but delivering the product is another story. To build a client base takes a lot of effort. Getting someone who has been taken advantage of and manipulated by pop-Hair culture, to sit in your chair and trust that you really do know what you are doing, can be almost impossible. Especially with the new generation of young adults coming up that can’t seem to keep their attention on any one thing long enough to build a foundation. I believe it is true skill and talent that has allowed me to not only endure but to grow and evolve as an artist and business person. I would say that my most important of milestones has been to embark on my own endeavor as a salon/small business owner. This experience over the last 10 years has changed my life tremendously for the better. I have been enriched through struggle, pain, triumphs, goals realized, relationships that I’ve formed and extreme introspection.

What are your plans for the future?

I just opened and am still ongoing renovations on my new studio space in Korea town LA.  I have created a studio in LA”s first original live/work loft space, that will double as a Bridal Suite Rental. The other half of my space will be a gallery space for all sorts of artistic energy flows such as the obvious visual art shows and installations but as well, music shows, rehearsals, poetry readings, art workshops, pop up shops etc…  This has been a huge change for me and leap of faith into what I see as my ultimate purpose as an artist.  And that is, continuing to share, (in ALL ways) and express what I have to give to the world artistically, while at the same time allowing my space to be a hub for others that have a similar flow. I believe that rue Art is summed up in the word, movement. If it doesn’t have movement then it doesn’t have life.  I want to keep moving and in my business, service those that also want to evolve into more.

Let’s dig a little deeper into your story.  What was the hardest time you’ve had?

I believe that one of the hardest points in my career was when I was priced out and evicted from my first salon space that I opened in the now “famous” Highland Park La. As a pioneer and the first of only two “gentrified” businesses on the Figueroa Corridor,  I spent $30,000 and a year and a half of my life designing, resourcing and building with my own hands,  what would become Barras.  I opened in 2007 right as our economy crashed.  It was devastating.  Had I known what the economy was headed for I would have waited.  I had nothing.  I had spent every dollar on my endeavor and now all cash flow had come to a screeching halt.  I couldn’t find a team that could support my vision and I was alone.  A one man show.  The coming years were almost impossible.  In spite of not finding the right team that represented what I stood for, I grew and evolved. I had a good time doing it as well. There were some hard lessons in that 8 year journey and not least of those, the lesson that one should NEVER hold onto a connection to someone or something that is not in line with where they are going.  I knew this but my caring heart won over as I invested in others that had no real investment in my brand. As the neighborhood grew and is rapidly becoming what I said it would become in the next 10 years, my lease was up and I was deliberately priced out and criminally kicked out of my space.  Without access to the unlimited capital as my landlord had, I was forced to leave.  In spite of it all, I knew that my time there was up and I gracefully bowed out.

Contact Info:

• Tel: (323) 257 8493
• Website: EricBarras-Johnson.com
• Facebook: Barras Salon
• Instagram: BarrasSalon_Studio

Check out his work below: