Today we’d like to introduce you to Scottie and Ashton.
Hi Scottie and Ashton, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Ashton and I met when I started working at the same salon as she did in 2015. We became friends and hit it off well as we both had a passion for hair. As hairstylists, we did a lot of hair extensions on our clients. At the time, it was only possible to buy extensions by the “bag” (which typically had 8 wefts) and that bag was all one color. We either had to buy multiple bags of hair to match our client, or we had to custom color the extensions to match our client. We realized how much time and energy this was taking so we decided to create an extension line where stylists could buy by the weft, rather than by the “bag.”
We started testing manufactures in 2016. We wore the hair ourselves to make sure it would hold up to the high standards that we were expecting out of our future company. After each product that we tested let us down, we got super discouraged. We kept on trying and kept on testing new products. In 2019 we finally found a product that we could stand behind. Then the business of Scottie + Ashton was born.
We began selling our extensions exclusively to our coworkers and stylist friends in the beginning. We didn’t have a website, we didn’t have any social media. Everything that grew at that time was from word of mouth. There were so many stylists that supported us, and honestly, we wouldn’t have grown the way we did without them. We owe so much of our success to them and their trust in us.
Since we didn’t have any investors or capital to work with, Ashton and I used our own money to create any inventory that we had. We stored the inventory in an ottoman in my kitchen and a drawer at Ashton’s salon! Within a year we had moved our inventory to my basement. We still didn’t have much money to work with, so we couldn’t afford to rent any kind of warehouse. We set up walls of pegboard and filled orders at night after kids went to bed, At this point, we still didn’t have a website, so all our orders were placed through social media.
In October of 2021, our website finally launched and we signed a lease on a warehouse. Ashton and I own 100% of our business. We do everything ourselves, from marketing, to order fulfillment, to product creation, to bookkeeping. We had a vision for our company and we want to make sure that our vision is brought to life so we can continue to support stylists, which has been our goal all along.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We struggled a lot in the beginning to find manufacturers that had a quality product. We wore each extension ourselves to make sure the quality was what we were looking for. Some products we received went right in the trash as soon as we looked at them. Others we wore for 3 months before deciding it wasn’t up to our standards.
When we finally found a product that we felt was top-notch, we wore the hair ourselves for 6 months before letting our clients or coworkers try it out. Then we asked those clients’ coworkers to wear the hair as well. The process of finding this product took us over 3 years. We also struggled a lot with website development. We had many bumps in the road and had scheduled a website launch date 3 times, all without success.
Something else that was tough in the beginning was getting inventory. Since we didn’t have much working capital in our business, Ashton and I used our own money to stock our (limited) inventory.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Ashton and I are both hairstylists. We both attended hair school in 2007 and have been active in the industry ever since. We both work behind the chair while running Scottie + Ashton.
We both specialize in hair extensions and have a committed and full clientele.
Ashton owns her own Salon Suite and has her instructor’s license. One of her favorite parts of this industry is being able to help boost someone’s confidence and watch it grow just by doing their hair.
Scottie is part-owner in a small salon where she works behind the chair. She enjoys the education part of the industry and has a passion for teaching and helping other stylists grow.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
This year, we enrolled in Jody Moore Business Coaching and that has helped us so much since we do all of the business ourselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: sahairco.com
- Instagram: @scottieandashtonhairco
Image Credits
Emma Nilsen and Jordan Bree
