Stylist: Shin

Main Branch: Saratoga Salon

A: I was born and raised in a small town in Chiba Prefecture, Japan known for Narita Airport. After graduating, I moved to Tokyo, the city of everyone’s dreams to become a hair stylist. 

In Japan when you’re a newbie in the hair styling world, you start off as assistants. That means, staying late every night to practice your craft, to handing out flyers on the streets to promote your salon. The world I dreamed so much about was quite different from what it was in reality and I quit my job after 3 years. Bottom line, I was young and didn’t know anything about life. A few years after leaving, a senior stylist from that salon decided to launch his own salon and asked me to help him out. A life-changing moment for me. From this moment on, I made a promise to myself that I’m never bailing out again. 

After a few years from the new salon opening, the owner decided to launch a second salon and he made me a general manager. I was still 21 at this point. My experience as a hair stylist was still miniscule. On top of that, I knew nothing about managing people. Without a doubt, this was one of the hardest periods in my life. It was countless days of being yelled at about the same thing over and over, without even understanding what the heck I was doing wrong. 

The owner didn’t teach me much about technique, but he did teach me fundamental values of being a hair stylist. Back then, I was too young to understand but his words stuck with me to this day. Now I truly understand what he was trying to teach me. Words can’t describe how grateful I am to have met such a mentor who looked after me like that. 

Although it was a difficult period, I stuck with my promise and hustled more than ever before. After a few years, all the hard work finally paid off. I became the top-selling stylist, trusted by my customers, salon staff, and the owner—Also the moment I realized the importance of perseverance. 

After 13 years of salon experience in Tokyo it was time for me to move on which brought me to California. All those years of struggle and failure are what make me stronger today. 

A: Through my years of experience and following a simple philosophy, I’ve developed a cutting skill that caters to a wide range of customer requests. Whether it be short men’s cut or women’s long cut, leave it to me. Perms also define me. Spiral Perms, Twist Perms and Japanese straightening or digital perms to name a few. My ultimate specialty though is being a hustler and never giving up.

A: Ever since I was a kid, I loved creating and wanted to make my passion something useful for others. I also realized that making others happy makes me happy. A hair stylist’s job is doing just that—Making people happy with the passion and craft of creativity.

A: Witnessing a happy, satisfied customer’s face and making a positive impact on my customer’s life. 

A: Just like Vidal Sassoon, Mod’s Hair and Tony & Guy did, my dream is to create my own brand and pass it down to the next generation. 

A: I hang out with friends, go out on hikes to connect with nature and cruise in my car with my favorite music. I also watch movies and enjoy concerts to get my creative juices flowing.

A: Your only enemy is the enemy within.