Life and Work with Brittani Estes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittani Estes.

Brittani, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Beginning in 2008, I worked as a hairstylist in a couple of different commission salons in Denver for approximately five years. During this time, I had already started to lose interest with the lack of education opportunities and unlikelihood to move up. I needed to find a way to challenge myself and push my boundaries, personally and professionally.

I decided to go big and geographically move away as far as possible, so I applied for a work visa and moved to Australia. Upon arrival, I applied at the top five salons I had chosen and was fortunate to get an offer from all five. I chose Heading Out, a large salon with multiple locations in Melbourne. Melbourne is Australia’s home to fashion week, Formula One racing, and Melbourne Cup Day (a horse race recognized as a national holiday). Heading Out was considered to be the go-to salon for local celebrities and a destination for travelers to get their hair styled for these events. Doing complex hairstyles on a regular basis for these high profile clients significantly increased my confidence and satisfied that need for a challenge.

I decided to move back to Denver after my visa expired and went right back to work at the commission salon I had left a year prior. It felt like I took one step forward and two steps back. I was three months into my employment when I knew I had made a mistake. I knew I would be putting all of my new skills I obtained to waste if I stayed. Over a coffee date with my mother, I remember her telling me I needed a game plan before moving onto the next thing. At that very moment I said, “I’m going to start a wedding hair business!”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The beginning was smooth sailing. The day following the coffee date with my mother, I met up with an attorney and set up my LLC. This was the perfect solution to bring together my love of styling hair and my desire to be my own boss.

In 2014 there wasn’t a ton of competition in the world of wedding hairstyling. I was fortunate enough to immediately fall into the right group of vendors and my business took off really fast. The second wedding I did was published by Style Me Pretty and a photo of the bride’s hairstyle got over 2,800 likes on Instagram and I remember thinking, “I MADE IT!!”

Now fast forward to 2020 and the wedding hair and beauty industry is very saturated. My advice is to never stop learning. We all have something to learn from one another. In a creative profession, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in your career or who you know. If you don’t educate yourself and stay relevant, your business will come to a halt.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
It is important to set myself apart by offering quality over quantity. It is not uncommon to find hair and make-up teams pushing stylists to do 50+ weddings a season for little compensation. Through my own experience, I found out that it leads to burn out quickly. I’d rather do fewer weddings, keep my team really small, pay my team well, and have control of the quality of our work.

Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, I was focusing on training my team of stylists with one-on-one training. It’s very important to me that we all operate on the same page to provide a consistent, quality service for the bridal party, and ensure they have a great experience with my team. This consistency allows us to complete the work in a timely manner so we can get the bride and her party down the aisle on time.

Fortunately, I’ve also rediscovered my love of doing hair in the salon since working for myself. I’ve invested a lot into educating myself in color and cutting techniques as well as the business side of the industry. I offer all hair services leading up to the day of the wedding. I start with a quick consultation via e-mail or over the phone. We exchange photos of the bride’s current hair and the desired look. From there we set appointments for color, hair extensions, and trial runs to make sure we are getting the result we want. This means I often get the opportunity to meet the bride several times to establish a trusting relationship with them before the actual wedding date.

One of the most proud feelings I have towards this little business I’ve built is the reach it has. We travel all over Colorado from Aspen, Telluride, Crested Butte, and beyond. We’ve even recently started branching into out-of-state weddings.

Who have you been inspired by?
Honestly, the women that sit in my chair every week. I have this amazing advantage as a stylist that gives me access to openly talk to some of the most inspiring women in Denver. Whether they are in real estate, financial advising, health care, or even stay at home moms, I leave the salon everyday a little more inspired and a little more educated than the day before.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.brittaniesteshair.com
• Email: hello@brittaniesteshair.com
• Instagram: coloradoweddinghair

Image Credit:
Kimberly Mitiska, Winsome & Wright, Ashley Sawtelle, Amy Caroline, Rachel Havel, Tara Bielecki

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