Today we’d like to introduce you to Karissa Guerra.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Karissa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been a hairdresser for 13 years now! I started working in a salon as a housekeeper when I was 17 years old. I washed dishes, folded towels, swept hair, and the stylists would use me here and there to shampoo clients when they were running behind. From there, I graduated cosmetology school and had several offers from stylists at the salon to be their person assistant. I ended up assisting three amazing stylists who all specialized in different services. I moved from that small, local salon to a huge salon in Pasadena that specialized in all hair types and editorial work. I got to work behind the scenes for runway and numerous editorial shoots. The highlight of my editorial styling work was assisting Jimmy Paul for Bumble and bumble.
For a W Magazine shoot with a famous fashion photographer, Patrick Demarchelier. It was amazing being on location at the El Mirage dry lake beds with designer contour and a highly skilled staff. I started to focus my career more on in- salon work as I was starting to become a busy newer stylist. I started working with an assistant at the age of 25 and really love that aspect of my career of training a young stylist and help them better their craft! Over the years, I’ve take many educational classes and workshops to better my craft! I love keeping up with classes and staying on top of the latest trends in the hair world.
Right now, I am currently working at Union Salon South in Pasadena and love the vibe there so much! I specialize in all salon services for women’s hair. My colleagues and so professional and talented! Now I spend my spare time traveling the world and sharing my stories with my clients! I’ve been working on blogging my travel journeys into the blog portion of my website hairbykarissa.com.
Has it been a smooth road?
Fortunately, I have had a smooth road paved for me career-wise! I have two amazing mentors- Victor Val Verde and Brenda Maldandado. I still go to them for client or career advise and they have my best interest! I’ve always been a hustler from day 1! Hair is my obsession so I feel like I’m still carving my road to success with my passionate nature.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Karissa at Union Salon South story. Tell us more about the business.
I specialize in woman’s hair from bob length to the longest of lengths! My clientele is very diverse but majority of them have SOOO much hair and I’m not intimidated by it. I feel like my forte is soft, dimensional, natural-looking color. The biggest compliment I receive is when a client tells me that strangers think their current hair color is their natural hair color. I specialize in color that is suitable for the client’s skin tone, eye color, and lifestyle. My relationship with my clients are also a major highlight of my job! Talking to so many different types of people have made me very resourceful!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The hair industry is booming right now! Anything goes as far as trends right now and everything is trending- long hair, bobs, lobs, shags, balayage, highlights… everything! I’m not positive where it will go in the next five years but I’m curious if “big hair” will make a return.
Pricing:
- Haircuts $85+
- Color $85+
Contact Info:
- Address: 435 s. Fair Oaks Ave
Pasadena CA 91105 - Website: Www.hairbykarissa.com
- Phone: 626-440-9100
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Hairbykarissa
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