Life and Work with Ashly O’Neil

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashly O’Neil.

Ashly, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I hated going to school. I felt like it took away my freedom. I would be doing homework, reading or writing papers on subject matters that felt irrelevant to me and it was difficult to get through it. I knew I didn’t want to go to college but I still wanted to build a meaningful career and life.

Around that time, I met a friend who was a hairstylist and she asked me to be a “hair model” for her. She would cut and color my hair in ways I didn’t know was possible. She was making art and I could see she was so happy while she was working. And that was it- I went to hair school and I’ve been doing hair for 12 years.

Has it been a smooth road?
Working in the beauty industry can be very difficult and draining. Society tells us that we need to be beautiful in one particular way or else we are not beautiful at all. It can be hard not to try and conform to these standards. Frankly, the beauty industry can make you feel like trash. That’s how HairGarbage was born. I felt like I was just trying to keep up and I was posting all of these images that felt gross to me. Eventually, I just started posting images I liked and if people thought my work was garbage I no longer cared.

If you are just starting out in your journey to be a hairstylist or whatever career it may be, my advice would be not to waste time and do what feels rights. Do your work with integrity and make it genuine. Stay true to yourself. This will make you more fulfilled and the people you work with more fulfilled as well.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with HairGarbage – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
At the beginning of my career, I focused on my technical skills. I wanted to be the best and make no mistakes. I wanted all my work to be even and precise. Eventually, my skills got to a point where I could work confidently so I decided to shift my focus. I started working on building deeper relationships with my clients. I got to know them in a genuine way. We become friends and I know everything about these people’s families, their pets, what they do for work, etc.

I found myself doing hair in this technical way but building relationships in this organic way and I thought to myself that I need to shift focus again. There was a big disconnect between the two important areas of my work.
I started hairdressing intuitively. Instead of treating the hair like an object that needs to be maintained, I started treating it like I treat my clients. I get to know the hair, where does it like to lay? If it could speak, what is it trying to tell us? How can it compliment the person wearing the hair?

These two aspects together have created a beautiful space for people to be heard. People can come in and find true self-expression all while building deeper relationships with themselves and their hair.

What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
Be you! Does the work you do feel good?
It is hard to put your heart and soul into something that is not the right fit. And if you find yourself in a career that doesn’t feel right, it is never too late to reinvent yourself.

Contact Info:

• Address: Goldie x Bob salon
  3459 ringsby ct #116
  Denver, CO 80216
• Website: Goldieandbob.com
• Phone: 303-292-4141
• Email: ashly@goldieandbob.com
• Instagram: HairGarbage
• Facebook: Ashlyoneilstylist

Image Credit:
Photo with flowers Makeup @breartistry, For @shopcoucou, Photo by @mb_schwartzman

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