Two hair stylists I interviewed recently gave me insight into the way your clientele is determined largely by your salon’s profile and location. Let’s take location first. Jeremy Scheifflee was working in Minneapolis when, already a member of the Brocato Creative Design Team, he was asked to work with Sam Brocato at the new Brocato Salon in New York City, formerly the Oscar Bond Salon.

“The first time someone came in for a blowout,” Jeremy recalls, “I thought, ‘Wow, I haven’t done a blowout in three years.’ In Minneapolis everyone wanted intricate cuts—architecturally strong hair cuts that form the hair’s shape—and then I’d spend a lot of time teaching the clients how to style their own hair at home. In New York, they want one-layer, very conservative hair, and they don’t want to do their hair; they want you to do it. So I’ll blow out their hair and they’ll wrap it up that night, wear it the next morning, put it in a ponytail the day or two after that and come back in to repeat the process every three to five days.”

Robert DiTacchio was headquartered in Los Angeles and traveling the world doing hair education as a Wella/Sebastian artist when he decided he’d had enough jet-setting and wanted to put down roots anywhere but in L.A. He settled on Denver, where he has the opportunity to do all types of hair looks. But all is not as it seems, and we’ll dig deeper next time.

Photo: Jeremy Scheifflee