Today we’d like to introduce you to Paola Criel.
Hi Paola, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Where to even begin, well I am originally from Coahuila, Mexico born and raised until the age of about eight years old. I am 1 of 3 siblings, being the middle child and only girl. We first moved to the U.S specifically Austin, TX in the year 2000. It wasn’t an easy transition but thanks to my parent’s sacrifice, hard work and the need to be united as a family, we made it work. Growing up as an immigrant kid was definitely not easy, one of my biggest obstacles was learning to speak English, but thanks to school and being mostly in bilingual classes, I began to pick up the language in no time. I would say I was fairly a good student throughout all my life, and after graduating high school, I went to Austin Community College and got an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. The goal was to continue school and move onto a University to get a Bachelor’s degree but the universe had other plans for me. Deep down I always knew I wanted to be my own boss and being a hairstylist was always something I had thought about, but it wasn’t until I was about 20 years old that I decided I really wanted to go to beauty school.
I grew up watching my mom always making changes to herself. I swear she would change her hair color every other month, haha. She did so many things, from pixie cuts to long hair to a bright red color and many other things, and always stayed ahead of trends. I think always being with her at her hair appointments was the reason I decided to take on beauty school. I loved seeing people go into the salon happy and come out even happier, and the confidence it gave them, I knew wanted to make people feel the same way. My mom has always been my muse, she’s pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and continue to grow as a hairstylist. She encourages me to not be afraid of anything and just keep doing me in this industry. Her wisdom has allowed me to never let anything phase me and only compete with myself so that every year I could be better than the year before.
I got licensed in 2012 and never looked back. It’s been a whole ten years of being a hairstylist and truly have no regrets. The journey wasn’t easy but the reward has been worthwhile, I am my own boss, have a cute salon suite that I call home five days a week and really love transforming people every day. And I think little eight years old Paola from Mexico would be proud.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Being a hairstylist/colorist definitely has had its challenges. It is a very competitive industry that requires you to keep up to date on the latest technologies, products and fashion which to no surprise change so much. When I first started, it was hard, I had no idea how much color theory I still lacked and needed to learn more to be able to color hair seamlessly. I had a lot of trial and error to get where I am today and continue to learn more as things in this industry continue to change. I feel like a chemist sometimes, I create unique color formulas for every client to complement all their features, from eye color, skin color to natural hair color so it definitely takes a special skill. As an artist, social media plays a big role on attracting more clients to your business, but it can also be discouraging when platforms display unrealistic hair expectations of hair color that is heavily filtered. When such thing happens, it can be hard to explain this to a client, but ultimately as hairstylists, we always try to educate our clients the best we can. Overall the goal is always to give everyone a good experience and hope they trust the process to get them to their dream hair.
My vision of life is to stay consistent in my work and life, to keep striving for more and never take the little wins for granted because sometimes those wins turn out to be the most important ones in life. I want to keep being dedicated to this craft and also try to experience more traveling in life. So maintaining a good work balance is important when being in this industry.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a hairstylist/colorist that specializes doing Balayage hair on blondes and brunettes. I also enjoy haircutting and trying to learn more on event hair styling. Most of my time revolves around creating Balayage looks for my wonderful clients. For those of you that don’t know what the Balayage look is, it is a hair coloring technique that was created to give a really blended natural look with no harsh or obvious regrowth lines. It can be low maintenance if wanting a subtle change but also very customizable to create multiple dimensions on every type of hair color. The options for this type of look are endless. I love that this technique can be for everyone too, and it’s a technique that can be accommodated to work for any type of lifestyle. You can visit the salon every 3-4 months, and depending how low maintenance it is, maybe only visit the salon 2x a year but ultimately it will depend on how heavily you added the Balayage lightness against your natural hair color. It truly is a beautiful technique that I doubt will ever go out of style.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I think to have been able to experience working for different types of salons taught me a lot. It made me realize what kind of hairstylist I wanted to be. I want to make people feel their best and help find the unique style that best suits them. And like I mentioned before in this industry, you go through a lot of trial and error before becoming good, but eventually, the work becomes less hard and the fear of failure slowly goes away. I give myself a lot of credit for continuing to be open-minded in an industry that’s forever changing and for always wanting to learn more as time goes on. I am extremely thankful for the continuing support of my clients and welcome anyone who wants to give their hair a little change.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @paola.hairstylist_
Image Credits
Photography: @wildrosephotostudio
