Hi! I’m Ali.  I work @ Rooted Salon. 

I guess my “hair story” begins when I was a little girl playing with barbies.  I would sneak my moms scissors out of her junk drawer & start giving them new hairstyles.  FYI bangs do not work well on barbies, haha.  Any doll I had I was constantly playing with their hair, teaching myself how to do different braids & things.  As I got older, I started sneakily cutting my own hair while my parents weren’t home.  Like your parents wouldn’t notice that you suddenly have bangs or your hair is now shorter than it was?  Somehow, I never screwed it up too bad. 

Once I was in high school, I had a couple friends that I convinced to let me color and cut their hair.  I enjoyed it, but never thought much of it as a career.  I was always super artistic and into drawing & painting, so I always figured I would go to art school.  Once I became a senior & had to really think about my future, I could not see myself going through 4 more years of school, and didn’t want to be a starving artist.  I knew I needed to do something creative, so I figured what the heck, I guess I’ll go to cosmetology school.  I figured having my license would be something that I could just always have to fall back on, but I wasn’t really fully sold on that being my career for the rest of my life. 

Fast forward 10 years to where I am now, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.  This is the most rewarding and also challenging job to have.  It has changed me so much as a person.  Teaching me patience & compassion & understanding.  This job has allowed me to change so many peoples lives, and pick so many people up and make them feel so much better about themselves.  What other job allows you to do that?  And to meet so many amazing people who look up to you and love you. 

Being a good hairstylist is a LOT of constant hard work, but at the end of the day seeing so many glowing smiling faces, and knowing you could do something to make people a little bit happier, it makes it all worth it.  I am so thankful that I followed this path that led me to be able to live such a rewarding life.