Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Leaman.
Amanda , let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It all began with my Fisher Price beauty salon when I was a kid, equipped with all of the fake styling tools to start my “career”! For some reason starting at a young age I was always so fascinated with anything beauty related. I would always want to brush my moms hair (until I got a round brush WOUND up in her hair – whoops. I didn’t touch her hair again until I was licensed haha). Fast forward to my pre-teens, I was that friend giving haircuts in the bathroom at sleepovers. You want bangs? Sure thing! Color your hair? Let’s do it! As time went on I started realizing that this is what I want to do for a living.
I started working at a local salon outside of Boston as an assistant while I was in High School, sweeping up hair, booking appointments, washing clients, etc. Everyone in the neighborhood had been going to this salon for years, not only for the hair but for the laughs. When you walked through that door, you were considered family. I learned a lot from watching the stylists, and a month after I graduated High School I was off to cosmetology school. I LOVED cosmetology school. I immediately was more drawn to color, which is still true to this day.
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?
No, definitely not. I stayed working at the salon for a while after graduating but ultimately knew I wanted to be working in the city. I was so grateful for the opportunity I was given at such a young age but knew it was time for the next step. So after years of working at this salon, I ventured off to start working at a corporate salon in Harvard Square.
I ended up working at this salon for about four years. I met people from all over the world coming to study at Harvard. I got a lot of experience by being exposed to all types of hair, female & male. I worked with a large staff of co-workers, some of which I am still close with to this day. I went into management at the salon very early on and it had its pros and cons. Over time, it became a toxic environment where quantity was more important than quality.
Stylists would be working non stop, one client after another while you would have a waiting room full of clients staring at you waiting for their turn. It started to become more of an assembly line, rather than being the amazingly creative process it should have been. Since it was so busy, higher-ups would pretty much hire anyone just to have another stylist to get through the clients, even if they didn’t really have enough experience/education to deal with such a high traffic salon. This ended up causing more problems in the end when clients would start coming back unhappy with their service.
Education has always been and will always be really important to me. I feel in this industry you can never stop learning. I vividly remember suggesting that we needed to start having in-salon classes, so I put together a class – about balayage. Balayage hadn’t blown up into what it is today at that time. My manager kind scoffed at it saying that it wouldn’t end up “being a big thing” and that she didn’t like how “free form” it was. She may have been laughing then, but I’m the one that was ultimately laughing in the end.
Under the harsh conditions and several issues with higher-ups, several employees started to drop. We went from having around 18 stylists down to about 7, which would make it even more stressful because now this meant everyone would be working even harder because the clients were still coming in. I would come home from work so overwhelmed and exhausted, questioning if I made the right decision with my career or if I should go back to school for something else. After much thought I came to the realization there was nothing wrong with my career field, it was the toxic environment with no support that was the problem.
I knew it was my time to move on to bigger, better and inspiring things. This led me to where I am today, Joi Salon. I couldn’t be ANY happier with my decision.
Topknotbalayage – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I work at Joi Salon, located in the North End of Boston. The salon has been in business for many years and we have a very loyal clientele. We recently just went under a complete renovation and it couldn’t have come out any better!
I perform all hair services – but I specialize in color, and more specifically balayage. I love creating customized color for each of my clients that will compliment them and their lifestyles. What I love most about balayage is that you can be as bold or as natural as you want with it. With balayage, I can create a believable sun-kissed dimension that will grow out well and not require as much maintenance as some other color services.
What I am most proud of and what sets us apart from other salons is that our salon makes you feel right at home. We all work well together and learn from one another all of the time. We are constantly continuing our education so that we can provide our clients with the latest techniques. We want each client leaving our salon to feel as beautiful as they look.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
This is a hard one. If I had to pick it would be when I got to travel to Paris France, the birthplace of balayage – to take a balayage class last spring. I had never been to Europe before so I was excited just by that alone, but to able to learn more in depth about something that I already had a deep love for, and by well-known stylists was nothing short of amazing.
Balayage has been around for many years and is France’s main form of highlighting, it just made a huge comeback in the U.S. within the past few years. I would definitely love to go back someday for another class.
Pricing:
- Balayage $250+
- Haircuts $70
Contact Info:
- Address: 2 Atlantic Ave Boston, Ma 02110
- Website: joisalon.com
- Phone: 617-723-6330
- Email: joisalon@joisalon.com
- Instagram: Topknotbalayage
- Facebook: Topknotbalayage
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager 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.
