Meet Nina-Simone Jones of New York

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina-Simone Jones.

Hi Nina-Simone, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I started practicing on my barbie dolls as a kid, but when applying for high school — because I think only in NYC we do that, my mom found a CTE school with a cosmetology program. So I was taking regular classes and had 1-3 periods dedicated to my major, and by the time I graduated I had my high school diploma, NOCTI certification, and temporary license until I took my stateboard. The second I got my temporary I went straight to working in a salon fresh out of high school.

I was 18 working with seasoned women between the ages of 35-60. I learned a lot not only skill wise, but mentally because when you’re young and ambitious you can intimidate older women who may not have had the head start or even the talent that you have. You have to have thick skin, because this industry will really drain you and eat you alive if you allow it to. I attended business school at the same time, so I have an associates in Business Administration and a bachelor’s in International Marketing. School taught me that it’s not enough to just have the skill, you have to understand logistics and the ins and outs of business, how money works. That’s when I started to see a shift in my career when I took a moment to fuse those two backgrounds. I never wanted to work in corporate, and I’ve had family members who want me to get a job with benefits, a pension, and everything we’re suppose to want, but I knew that wasn’t for me.

It took a while for me to decide what I wanted to specialize in. I started off doing everything, because when I started off doing everything since in 2010’s that’s most stylist did. Braids, locs, relaxers, rod sets, silk pressing, color, EVERYTHING! I just wanted you to sit in your chair — that’s why even when the economy was slow I was still able to pivot and keep people in my chair. I’ve niched down now, but it’s good to have more than one trick up your sleeve. I currently offer foundational haircare services and various extensions such as sew ins, tape ins, quick weaves, and wigs. When I say foundational haircare, I’m referring to the integrity of my clients hair. I tell them which shampoo to use, the routine, how often to get trims, overall I’m big on preparation. In my opinion you can’t call yourself a hair extension specialist and you don’t know how to maintain or heal your clients natural hair.

Alright, 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?
As much as I love having my salon suite, it’s a headache sometimes. This is why I say to be a beauty professional you have to love it, because having a suite is like a store front, just on a smaller scale since you’re only paying rent, no overhead. I’ve had to go out my way when having issues with ventilation. Whether it be it’s too hot in my room or it’s too cold and my products are turning into this gel like consistency. Not to get into too much detail, but the tenants can be unbearable sometimes. However, the biggest had to be when my first suite location had a fire and I ultimately changed locations, because they were taking too long with restoration and we barely got updates.

The fire happened in January, it was suppose to take a month. It wasn’t until March came around and I asked them to switch my lease, since my clients preferred the new location anyway, all of a sudden they gave an update and said April is when everything will be restored. Don’t get me wrong I understand there was a fire and repairs wouldn’t be over night, but people still have bills. Not being able to work for at least a month makes a huge difference when you have those responsibilities.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I specialize in foundational haircare and hair extensions; which includes sew ins, quick weaves, custom wigs, wig install both glueless and adhesive use, tape ins, silk presses, and blow outs. From my personal opinion and experience, you can’t have one without the other. During Covid there was a rise in service providers, which is amazing, but I would argue most of them only know how to style. Not many know how to take care of your hair or even give tips on how to achieve your hair goals.

So during this season where I had to pivot, I wanted to figure out a way where I can still specialize in services I enjoy doing like hair extensions — because I enjoy the versatility it provides. However, I’ve never been in the business of compromising someone’s hair just to make money. With that being said I’m very nosy with my client’s routines. I ask them when their last trim was, do they want it today, do they have deficiencies, did your doctor tell you if you have anything internally going on with you, what product line do you use at home, and/or do you wait until you see me? I ask an array of questions, and they teach you that in beauty school to build a profile for your client during that consultation. Since then, the quality of my service has changed drastically. Also, my confidence has boosted as well, I knew I could achieve a look, but I definitely feel more confident now making recommendations to people or telling them yes, no, or meeting in the middle with certain services.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Funny thing I don’t consider myself a risk taker, because I am hesitant. However, I have had to pivot or move when I was uncomfortable if that was the only option I have. I started booth renting with almost no clients but was paying booth rent every week. The first suite location I worked in I had a makeup artist with me and we split the rent, but when there was a fire and I had to change locations, it was too far for her to relocate with me, now I had to pay for my suite all on my own. None of this was planned, but it wasn’t impulsive either. My view on risk taking is it has to make sense, and you have to have some sort of plan or end goal. So, I’ll use both examples on what I mean.

I had no clients and was booth renting. My dad said he would give me the money if I needed it, great! Thing is all that shop had no structure, it was slow, and the commission workers weren’t coming in, and salon hierarchy those clients go to them, not a booth renter. My dad who is a barber told me to show up every day. I did that, and since I was the only one in there, any walk in that came in automatically went to me even though I was a booth renter, because who else were they going to go to? The commission stylist isn’t here, the owner was a seasoned woman who owned a party rental store two blocks up and another business in Brooklyn and was barely there to monitor the shop. What ended up happening every single one of those clients I gave my card to and I slowly started building my clientele like that at 18.

With the suite situation, I could’ve saved money and easily went back to booth renting. However, for the past 4 years of working in a suite with my makeup artist, I go my clients accustomed to that environment and I would still have to pay for the suite as my lease was still active. So I just paid for the rent by myself, hoped for the best, and amount of money I got to decorate my new space I put it towards that, and as of right now everything is going great.

At the end of the day I would never tell someone to just take a risk blindly, but you have to also know when God is telling you to move.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/hairgoesnina
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hairgoesnina