Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsey Kincer.
Hi Lyndsey, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a second… and a half… generation Austenite. My maternal grandparents settled here in Austin in the late 40s. As the newest 20 somethings of Austin, they settled down in Central Austin and started a family. My grandmother took up a career as a hairdresser at a local Austin salon, Paul Green Salon off of Red River, in the 60s. I wish I could say I took the obvious route straight into hairstyling from the moment I could hold a comb, but I didn’t. Instead, I got married and had my first daughter at 19 years old.
In our immediate need to make fast cash for this beautiful little girl to have a good life, I tried my hand at many different careers. I started with an allergy testing lab for dogs, cats, and horses. After a few rotations around the office trying my luck as front desk, a lab tech, and data entry, I quickly understood I was not the office kind of gal. I hit the Classified ads again…. throwing it back to pre-google days….. and was thrilled to see that Glamour Shots was making a come back in Barton Creek Mall; they needed Makeup Artists! I landed the makeup gig. It paid handsomely for a 20 years old new mom, and it sparked the inner artist I had been stifling. Alas, retail hours and erratic commission checks did not serve a young mom trying to raise a baby.
On to the next career, one that everyone deemed an acceptable “real job”; Licensed Auto and Home Insurance Agent. I loved the chase of a sale, I loved building relationships with clients, but I was reminded that I was not an office working Gal. In the midst of everything, I had my second daughter and my fourth life epiphany… I needed to enroll in Art School. I worked my insurance job and moved through the Interior Design program at the Art Institute of Austin for the next three years. I had approached my final year in college. With two daughters and a husband in tow, it was time to quit my job and find an internship. Then, the market crashed for everyone in 2008. There was not a paid internship in sight after that. So, jobless and almost maxed out on student loans, I caved to the inevitable… Beauty School.
I walked through the doors of the Aveda Institute in 2010 and FINALLY found my calling waiting for me inside. From this moment forward, life became a whirlwind. I finished the Aveda Institute, got my license, and settled into my first salon job. I built a clientele fairly quick. Two years into my career, I went through a divorce. It was rough for me and my daughters. Now, with two pre-teens needing my presence and support more than ever, I had to up the ante. My new goal went from making it in a salon to making it as my own salon.
The last five years of my stylist career has been spent fighting for our slice of the pie. I made my way in and out of various different salon situations and partnerships, trying to find a place where I could grow and thrive. I began an educational journey and training to specialize in curly and textured hair. I also became part of a fantastic Company, REF Stockholm Sweden. It is the product line I use currently in salon. I also have the privilege of spreading education to other stylists all over Texas and the U.S. with REF’s National Education Team. This is when I caught my first taste of ownership and career independence. May of 2019, my previous salon partnership ended and I inherited a cute little two person salon suite all my own. Duality Salon was finally born!
With the time I’d spent building my skills and earning a place in the Curly Hair community, clientele was busting at the seems. It was finally time for me to make my very first Hire. This was also the first time in my life that I fully placed my future in the hands of faith. Let me tell you, the universe delivered! I gained my first stylist, Veronica Williams. Another curly girl eager to build her career as a seasoned curly hair specialist. Together, we crushed the year 2019 and part of 2020….. until we were halted and shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This pandemic has brought so much turmoil, heartbreak, and doubt, but it also provided a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was given the opportunity to launch myself and my baby salon to the next level. Through all of the uncertainty, a tiny ray of light shone upon my business goals; in the form of a magnificent SBA loan with an unprecedented interest rate. NOW, in the middle of a raging pandemic (July 2020), was the time to strike. I chanted every inspirational quote I’d ever heard to myself- “Strike while the iron is hot”, “Buy low, sell high”, “follow your dreams”, etc. etc.
So far, we are a salon home to six hairstylists, one lash artist, an eyebrow threader, and an up and coming esthetician (who happens to be my eldest daughter *heart emojis*). We range in ages, styles, and all have our own artistic flare.
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?
I’m not sure I could even call this journey a road. It’s been more like a Texas-sized rollercoaster, with a bunch of endless staircases and maybe a tight-rope walk in there as well. I found this opportunity in the middle of a pandemic. Sounds like a beautiful love story; in reality it was the beginning of the biggest leap of faith in my life. Securing funding in itself was a small miracle. I had attempted this journey several different times over the last five years. Each time, the credit of a financially inexperienced student loan riddled divorce-A halted the process in its tracks every time.
When the government lowered the standards and interest rates for SBA loans for small businesses, I seized my moment to grow into a full-sized salon. Being a very small business to begin with, I was approved a very small amount. With close to a $30,000 check in my hand and a loyal clientele cheering me on, it was time to secure a fortress of beauty and pray it was enough to open the doors. From this moment forward, everything was a fight with a touch of heavenly intervention. In the height of global duress, finding matching mirrors, lighting, and a contractor to rescue me felt very “first world problems”-esque, but none the less a HUGE feat for me. Aside from the tight budget, the lack of materials available, I also had a very small window of time to whip this salon into operational status (since I was straddling two leases). I had to convince a trustworthy, reputable contractor to take on my salon build out for 20k and six weeks of time restraint. I know, I still laugh out loud at this part. However, by the grace of God, a stroke of luck, or whatever you want to call it, I found this exact contractor. The Pandemic life struck again. A son of one of my forever business mentors was leaving the Austin bartending scene since that industry was approaching six months with no work. He and his team were extremely motivated to complete this project since it would be the first of many businesses they’ve designed and executed beautifully. With some creativity, tears, and pure luck… we got her open and on time!
I wish getting the doors open was the peak of the rollercoaster, but it was just the first hump. Over the last year and a half, we have been tasked with refereeing a mask mandate, then a no mandate, losing clients to COVID, clients losing jobs and family members in masses. Clients moving out, clients moving in, building and rebuilding these relationships. Then we overcame a colossal freeze that had the salon closed with no water or electricity for over a week. It has been wave upon wave of life-altering events alongside the journey of growing this business and keeping my family healthy and sane. It has been the experience of a lifetime. One that I would not do over, but also one I wouldn’t change one bit.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Duality Salon?
Duality Salon is a full service salon. We offer everything from specialized curly hair cuts and care, fashion colors, highlights, Balayage, blowouts, Bridal styling and makeup to eyelash extensions and eyebrow threading. Our stylists and our other service providers range in ages 20-73, varying professional backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, and lifestyles. The goal of our salon is to offer something for everyone in an inclusive and comfortable space. The focus of Duality Salon is to encourage our clientele to embrace their inner beauty and enhance their natural outer beauty with our cruelty-free, vegan, paraben-silicon-sulfate free, care products and color line. We also focus on providing a positive, growth minded space for all of our service providers. Creating a balanced work environment is the best way to provide our clients our full attention at every appointment. We practice the belief that both inner and outer beauty are dependent upon one another. How we feel inside is just as influential as what we do or put on the outside of our bodies. The Duality of our whole space depends on this practice.
Our salon mantra is ever-evolving with each hair and beauty journey. We have come to learn that everyone has a “hair” or “beauty” story that has molded views of ourselves. Our goal is to hear the stories and break down the barriers and falsehoods of impossible beauty routines and images of what “looks good” imposed on us by other’s opinions. We, as service providers, are here to bring a new light to your self-care routine and offer all of the tools you need to bring out a true, more unique beauty. We offer beauty services for all hair textures, colors, genders, and ages in our salon. When you receive a service from one of our stylists or other service providers, you also receive an education on best practices for your specific hair or skin type.
Duality Salon – “Where beauty on the inside, and beauty on the outside meet”.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
No one is coming for you. There is no “I.T. guy”, there is no safety net, there are no paid vacations, there is no “leaving it at work”, there is no secret savings to tap into or performance bonuses, there is no one returning emails/ texts/ phone calls for you, there are no HR trainings for your employees… there isn’t even an HR department. It’s you, you against you or you supporting you, either way you’re IT. It’s one big giant mirror and all you can do is grow and evolve because you can’t quit yourself.
Contact Info:
- Email: dualitysaloninfo@gmail.com
- Website: www.dualitysalon.com
- Instagram: @duality_salon
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dualitysalon101
Image Credits
Eliza Sanchez Eliza J Sanchez Photography
