Today we’d like to introduce you to Lacy West.
Hi Lacy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am the founder and CEO of Laced Inc. our brands include, Laced Hair Extensions, Laced Hair Care, Laced Academy, Laced Hair Salon, and the Laced Hair Foundation, I grew up in a very small town in Southern Utah, and I knew pretty early on that I wanted to do hair. I went straight to cosmetology school after high school, and that decision ended up shaping so much more of my life than I ever could have imagined.
After graduating, I moved to Las Vegas and started working behind the chair at the Bellagio. I was young, ambitious, and completely immersed in the beauty industry. I had the opportunity to learn from incredible stylists and work with clients from all over the world, including celebrities, athletes and performers.
That was also where I really fell in love with hair extensions.
At the time, extensions weren’t what they are today. The options were limited, and as a stylist, I kept finding myself wishing I had better hair, better colors and more ways to customize an install for the person sitting in my chair. I wasn’t trying to start a huge company. I was a hairstylist trying to solve a problem for my clients.
I started sourcing hair for myself, and then other stylists started asking if they could buy it from me. In 2010, that became Laced Hair.
I know what it’s like to stand behind the chair all day. I know how important the quality of your products is when your name and reputation are attached to the finished result. I also know how life-changing this career can be. Cosmetology gave me a career, but it also gave me the opportunity to build something I never would have imagined for myself when I was starting out in Southern Utah.
Then, in 2015, my relationship with hair changed completely.
I started experiencing neurological symptoms and went through a terrifying period where I was initially told I had an inoperable brain tumor. I was ultimately diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and during treatment, I lost more than 70% of my hair.
I had spent my entire career helping women feel more confident through their hair, and suddenly I was the woman who didn’t recognize herself in the mirror.
Hair loss may sound superficial until you experience it. I knew my hair wasn’t who I was, but I also learned that wanting to feel like yourself during an incredibly difficult season isn’t superficial at all.
I was fortunate because I had access to Laced Hair. I could use extensions to help give me back some of what I had lost and feel a little more like myself again. But during treatment, I met other women going through hair loss who didn’t have that same access. Many were already dealing with enormous medical expenses, and a beautiful human-hair wig or other hair-loss solution simply wasn’t financially realistic.
I couldn’t stop thinking about that.
That experience eventually became the Laced Hair Foundation. We created the Foundation to provide women experiencing medically related hair loss with high-quality wigs, toppers and hair extensions at no cost to them.
It has become one of the most meaningful parts of everything we’ve built.
Today, Laced is so much bigger than the hair I started sourcing for my clients. We’ve grown into hair extensions, professional education through the Laced Academy, the Laced Hair Salon, Laced Hair Care and the Laced Hair Foundation. But I still want everything we do to connect back to the people who got us here.
I want stylists to have incredible products and education that help them build careers they’re proud of. I want clients to feel confident when they look in the mirror. I want cosmetology students to see that this industry can take them places they may not even know are possible yet. And through the Foundation, I want women experiencing hair loss to know there is a community that sees them and wants to support them.
Being able to build all of this here in Utah makes it even more meaningful. I came from a small Utah town with a cosmetology license and a love for doing hair. I didn’t start out thinking I was going to build a company. I just kept following the next problem I felt passionate about solving.
Looking back, some of the hardest parts of my story are also what gave me the clearest sense of purpose.
Laced started because I wanted something better for my clients and fellow stylists. The Foundation started because I went through something that made me understand hair loss in an entirely different way.
Everything with Laced Hair has always been focused on giving back, ethically sourced, and created on the highest standards.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I think some of the hardest seasons have ultimately given me the most clarity about why I do what I do.
Building Laced from the ground up meant learning almost everything as I went. I started as a hairstylist trying to create better options for my clients, not as someone with a business background or a roadmap for becoming a CEO. There were plenty of mistakes, growing pains, financial risks, and moments where I had to figure out the next step in real time. As the company grew, I also had to learn how to transition from working behind the chair to leading a team and a growing brand without losing the stylist-first perspective that Laced was built on.
One of the biggest challenges came in 2015 when I began experiencing serious neurological symptoms. I was initially told I had an inoperable brain tumor and was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. During treatment, I lost more than 70% of my hair. It was an incredibly difficult and scary time personally, but it also completely changed my perspective on the work I had been doing for years.
I experienced firsthand how deeply hair loss can affect your confidence and sense of self. That experience eventually became the inspiration for the Laced Hair Foundation and gave an entirely new purpose to what we had built.
There have been many challenges since then, as there are with any growing business, but I’ve learned that the difficult seasons often force you to evolve. I try to look at each one as an opportunity to learn, adapt, and come out of it with a clearer understanding of how we can better serve our stylists, our customers, and our community.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
For VoyageUtah, I’d make this the answer that really explains the **full Laced ecosystem** while keeping Lacy’s stylist-first philosophy and the Foundation at the center:
Laced Hair is a luxury hair extensions and hair care company built by a stylist, for stylists. What started with me sourcing better hair for my own clients has grown into a much larger ecosystem that includes professional hair extensions, Laced Hair Care, the Laced Academy, the Laced Hair Salon, and the Laced Hair Foundation.
At our core, we specialize in high-quality human hair extensions and education. Because I spent so many years behind the chair, we approach product development through the lens of the stylist actually using the product. We are constantly asking how we can create better hair, better methods, more customization, and education that helps stylists not only create beautiful results but build successful, sustainable careers.
Education has become a huge part of who we are. Through the Laced Academy, we offer both online and in-person education for stylists at different stages of their careers, from cosmetology students learning about extensions for the first time to experienced professionals continuing to perfect their craft. I believe so strongly that a cosmetology license can open the door to an incredible career, and I want Laced to be a resource for stylists long after they leave school.
We’ve also expanded into Laced Hair Care, which was created to support both natural hair and extensions with products focused on scalp health, hydration, and overall hair health. Our Laced Hair Salon here in Utah gives us the opportunity to stay connected to clients and the day-to-day stylist experience that started this company in the first place.
What I’m most proud of, though, is that we’ve been able to use the success of the brand to create an impact beyond the business through the Laced Hair Foundation. The Foundation provides luxury human-hair wigs, toppers, and extensions to women experiencing medically related hair loss. In the last two years alone, we’ve been able to help more than 165 women, and our most recent gala raised over $185,000 to continue expanding that mission.
I think what sets Laced apart is that there is a purpose behind every part of the company. We want to create exceptional products, but we also want to invest in the people using them. We want stylists to feel supported, educated, and excited about what is possible in this industry. We want our customers to feel confident and take care of the health of their hair. And we want women experiencing hair loss to have access to the same feeling of confidence and community.
I’m incredibly proud that something I started as a hairstylist trying to solve a problem for my clients has grown into a brand that can now support stylists, clients, students, and women experiencing hair loss in so many different ways. To me, that is what Laced is really about: great hair, great education, and using what we’ve built to give confidence and opportunity back to others.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you don’t have to have everything figured out before you start. I didn’t start Laced with a business degree, a big team, or a perfect plan. I was a hairstylist who saw a problem and believed I could create something better.
So much of my journey has been learning as I go, being willing to make mistakes, listen to my customers, pivot, and keep moving forward.
I’ve also learned that some of the hardest seasons can give you the strongest sense of purpose. I never could have predicted that my own experience with hair loss would eventually inspire the Laced Hair Foundation and become such an important part of the Laced Hair mission.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lacedhair.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacedhairextensions
