Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Raymond.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Growing up I’ve always been surrounded by some form of art, whether it was music, photography or sketching; but he was a painter, and I can recall many times going into the garage and seeing all of the art supplies and paintings and thinking “I want to do that.” We would sit down, as we had our daily root beer float dates and sketch. From then on I knew that I wanted to be an artist. As the years went on I continued to work on my craft, I wanted to create my own comic, but I came to realize that going to art school was not the right path for me. I even dabbled in the idea of tattooing. Two years after high school I went to get my hair done by a friend who was going to cosmetology school, I needed a change, and it helped her out with getting practice. I remember the second time I went in I started to notice how much more hair cutting is than just taking shears to hair and snipping away; there was a lot more art involved than I realized. So I decided to start a few months later, not knowing a thing about being a hairdresser. Going in I thought it was going to be fun and easy, let me tell you it wasn’t easy. I’ve never held a pair of shears before in my life.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a hairstylist, and I specialize in cutting as well as education. I believe in what sets you apart and makes you a great hairstylist or artist of any type, is that you should always push yourself and not stay in one bubble. Don’t do the same thing over and over; keep learning and gaining new skills. Even if you’ve been doing it for years, always stay humble.
A lot of my inspiration comes from music; I don’t stick to just one genre. While I’m heading into work, I’m blasting music to get my day started and get the creative juice flowing. I also get inspiration from art and nature.
I guess you can say my style of haircuts range from messy beach bum, shattered bed head, lots of texture and retro/vintage. I don’t like clean straight hair; I love hair that has movement, texture, and shape.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Social media has been a great tool for hairdressers the past few years; it’s pretty much the new wave portfolio. Which is great, but I’ve been noticing a lot of newer up, and coming hairstylist are relying on their Instagram too much. They look at the top insta “hair” pages and notice how they constantly stay busy, thinking having 300k followers brings in the dough. When in reality these top hair stylist worked for years and marketed themselves outside social media. They are going out and about, showing their presence. While I myself use Instagram solely on hair, I don’t rely on it to bring in my clientele.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I mainly post on my Instagram, so if you wanna give it a follow that would be rad!
You can also swing by the salon and say hi, maybe even get a fun haircut while you’re at it too!
Contact Info:
- Email: toriraymond851@yahoo.com
- Instagram: @salty_rayhair
Image Credit:
Cat Agati
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