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Meet Aleigha Hans of Captivate Beauty in Castle Rock

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Aleigha Hans.

Aleigha, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The first six years of my career I was your typical hair stylist with a main focus of cuts and color. I lived in Seattle in 2011 and friends would ask me to come attend their weddings and help with hair and makeup. I would travel to beautiful areas of the pacific northwest. It felt freeing to be out of the salon and somewhat inspiring to help these ladies on one of the biggest days of their lives through beauty.

About six months later my husband and I moved to the south Denver area. At the time I was a salon manager for a large corporation. I had an eye-opening moment one day when a not so nice manager made me realize not only was I underpaid… I was under appreciated. I quit my job and went home and told my husband I am going to do what I am passionate about! I remember some of my co-workers telling me that this idea of working weddings would never work because you need repeat color guests to make any money. I still remember this exact quote, “brides usually only get married once and that is not a lot of repeat business” this must have have been fuel to the fire because that comment made me want to do it more.

Captivate by Aleigha was founded in May 2012. I started networking with local photographers to build a portfolio, then planners to tell them I was new to the area and don’t forget dress shops. I would network with anyone and everyone I came in contact with. The word started spreading and that first year I completed 20 weddings on my own. The next year inquiries were pouring in. I had booked 50 weddings and was turning brides away left and right. I decided I needed an assistant. I trained Sarah my wonderful assistant to do everything exactly how I would. We kept seeing success and getting more and more rave reviews. Our third year kept them momentum going. Still more brides. This is when I started learning about poor experiences other stylists were giving. I wanted to help every bride I could. I started adding teams of lead stylists and assistants who were again trained to do it how I would if I were there. At this point, we had won multiple awards from the knot, wedding wire and been published on more bridal sites and blogs than I can count. We finally outgrew Captivate by Aleigha and became Captivate Beauty. We were more than me. We became a team. Our team was completing about 200 weddings per year and traveling all over Colorado. We started to outgrow a space we were in. We needed more chairs and space for bridal preview sessions. That is where we found our home in 2016 in old town Castle Rock and opened Captivate Salon. The space is really special; it has an old rustic romantic vibe. It is comfortable and a great place to consult with our guests. Captivate Salon is now it’s own booming business and Captivate Beauty the sister biz is still helping more brides than ever. We currently have a team of 25 talented individuals and at times when I think about the last seven years, it seems like a dream.

Has it been a smooth road?
We have had our fair share of growing pains.

This career can be very difficult. We are in the service industry. Which means customer service. We are always learning new trends, different communication skills, and features. Technology has changed too. I think we are so connected that people expect a RIGHT NOW responses. We have learned that the appropriate response time is as soon as I can verses drop everything RIGHT NOW. We would have zero work-life balance if we are always that connected in.

The other side of it is a team. Working with people can have challenges, but working with stylists can be crazy. We are intense and full of personality. We need reliability, flexibility, professionalism, strong communication skills and friendliness. It is hard to find those qualities. I have always been able to train technical skills, but I cannot fix a bad personality. I have met some of the most talented young stylists at times you have to know when to part ways because they want more than you can give. I enjoy watching them be successful in their own ways. I also have the ride or die co-workers aka my salon fam. These are the people that want to learn and grow. The ones who you build up and they build you up in return. These people are gifts and none of Captivate would be possible without them.

At home, I am a momma of three wonderful kiddos and they live in very full life in my organized chaos. We are always running around from school to salon, friends, to wedding, to soccer, drop off, pick up, babysit… Oh crap! What’s for dinner? I hope that I can inspire my children to be good humans, hard workers and shoot for the stars.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Captivate Beauty story. Tell us more about the business.
I wear all the hats. Last week I was a plumber. Hehe.

If I had to give an opinion on our business, it would be that we are all about the guest experience while we continue to learn and grow. I personally love sharing my gift with my team by mentoring them and my brides by helping them feel confident and beautiful for pictures that they will look back on for many years.

We are a vendor that does both hair and makeup and it truly sets us apart. We don’t do one better than the other, we do both very well. Our lead team is very committed to educating the guest to figure out best hair and makeup options for that individual. Maybe airbrush makeup for a bride with oily skin and traditional makeup for a bride with dry skin. You have fine thin hair we can match you for extensions and give you the style you are dreaming of. Everything we do we customize. We do not do cookie cutter weddings. We enhance ones natural beauty while taking stress away.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
We are not done yet! We are very excited because as of this year we are in two new markets in 2019 Dallas, Texas and North Florida. Our belief is the system works here; it can work anywhere.

Trends change from year to year, but the foundation of what and who we are does not.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Tamara Smith Weddings: https://www.tamarasmithweddings.com/
Elevate Photography: https://elevatephotography.com/
J&K Photography: https://jandkphoto.com/
Haley Ann Photography: http://www.haleyannphotography.com/
Randy + Ashley Studios: https://ashdurham.com/
Katie Corinne Photography: https://katiecorinne.com/
JM Gant Photography: https://www.jmgantphotography.com/

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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