Today we’d like to introduce you to Jillian Hermes.
Hi Jillian, 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?
As soon as I graduated high school, I immediately went into cosmetology school. It started with a friend who was a hairdresser. We’d exchange babysitting services for hair appointments. The joy and confidence I received after getting my hair done for the first time was such an overwhelming feeling. How a few little changes could make a world of a difference. I knew I wanted to be a part of changing the way women felt about themselves. I went to school for about 13 months. I graduated, got my cosmetology license and began assisting a salon owner in Solana beach. I didn’t learn much, but I was also assisting another stylist who specialized in extensions. I learned a lot from her, and she built a big part of my confidence in doing hair.
I started working behind the chair at a different salon in Point Loma. It took about a year and a half to build a big chunk of my clientele. COVID happened and we shut down a few separate times. I was at lunch with a coworker one day and we talked about where we saw ourselves in the future with this career and what our dreams were, and both of us knew we wanted something more. We looked into Sola Salons, but there weren’t any in the area, so we found one called Salons By JC. We toured and immediately were so excited. We felt so much peace, so we decided to jump in. We’ve been at this new place for almost a year now and we’d love to expand in the future. But right now our main focus is making every blonde dream possible! We get clients from all over looking for a new change, and that’s what we give them!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely was not a smooth road. It took a lot of resilience and courage to be positive. In 2020, COVID shut us down three times for about six months in total that year. Towards the end of leaving our previous salon, the owner demanded we still pay her rent which we refused. So she ended up taking all of my personal belongings and changing the locks and refused to give me my things back. At the time, I was devastated. We were going through a pandemic, my boss stole my things, I had no idea if my clients would follow me, but I knew there was nothing I could do but to keep moving forward. We’ve been thriving since starting, and it’s been seriously such an amazing journey.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about J+b Blonding Co?
We are J+B Blonding Co. which stands for Jillian and Becca Blonding Co. Becca is my partner. We both rent a suite that we lease together. We specialize in a ton of blonding clients. We’ll get clients from all sorts of salons that have been going for a while but are still unhappy with results. We use the knowledge we have to push the boundaries a little bit more and give clients exactly what they’re looking for. We do other services like haircuts, color, extensions and we do weddings. But our main clientele are blondes or people wanting to be blonde.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We do collaborate with a few businesses. We partner with a client who’s a make-up artist and we do weddings together. She also has her own lash brand that she sells at our salon! We have another client who repurposes clothing and makes scrunchies. We tell our clients about her brand and shop, and they’re able to go over and make an appointment with her. Everything is by word of mouth, so we are open to sharing and supporting other businesses grow!
Pricing:
- $200-$250 Balayage
- $250+ Full Blonding
- $150 Half balayage
Contact Info:
- Email: jillianhermes36@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.vagaro.com/jplusbblondingco
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/Jillian.hermes
