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March 12, 2025 16 mins

Meet Skye Lewis, the passionate owner behind Heirloom Salon who transformed her business from a one-woman show into a thriving community of eight skilled professionals. After seven years at the helm, Skye shares candid insights into her journey from salon receptionist at age 17 to successful entrepreneur.

What started as a desire to maintain client relationships has evolved into a nurturing environment where stylists grow through well-structured apprenticeships and assistant positions. Skye's approach emphasizes the value of confidence, patience, and mastering fundamentals before tackling more complex techniques. "Start from the bottom," she advises newcomers, highlighting how essential those building blocks are for long-term success in the hair industry.

Beyond business wisdom, Skye reveals exciting hair trends breaking away from the "white blonde" standard toward more natural, flattering options like buttery and bronde tones that complement individual skin tones. She dispels common misconceptions about service timeframes, explaining that today's sought-after looks often require 3-5 hours to achieve properly while maintaining hair health. Located near Lynnhaven Mall in Virginia Beach, Heirloom Salon offers a comprehensive range of services including specialized curly hair treatments, extensions, bridal styling, and makeup applications. When she's not transforming clients, Skye balances entrepreneurship with motherhood, spending quality time with her one-year-old and five-year-old children through camping trips and adventures at local parks.

Ready to experience the personalized service and expertise that's built Heirloom Salon's stellar reputation? Follow their work on Instagram @heirloomsalonvb or book your appointment anytime through their online booking system.

Heirloom Salon

Skye Lewis

2728 N Mall Dr #105

Virginia Beach, VA 

757-515-5867

IG: HeirloomSalonVB

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Denise Taylor.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Today I'm here with Skye Lewis from Heirloom Salon.
Thanks for being here, skye.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited, of course.
So first of all, tell me alittle bit about Heirloom Salon
and how long you've owned thebusiness.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Okay, so Heirloom Salon has been Heirloom Salon
for seven years come April.
Congratulations, that's awesome.
I know Lucky number seven,right?
Yeah, I'm thrilled to say I wasa one man show but realized I
just couldn't do it all andservice all of my clients, so I

(00:50):
was having to kind of divvy themout to people in other salons
and then I never saw them again,and so I I felt like that was
the next step was to have kindof like my umbrella, that I had
stylists that I could recommendmy clients to, and still be able

(01:11):
to connect with those clientsand still, you know, have them.
A part of what I built, whichwas Heirloom Salon, yeah because
they already trust you.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, absolutely, they trust you with their
services, with other peoplebecause you trust them.
Yep, and it's a shame to thinkabout sending business to
somebody else.
Yeah, tell me how many stylistsare currently in your salon?
I have about eight employees.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Okay, I have an apprentice, so I typically have
an apprentice regularly and that, in case people don't really
know what that means is they'repretty much doing their
schooling under my license.
They learn all of the hands-onexperience they need to become a
licensed stylist through me andthrough my employees, my other

(01:59):
stylists, and then they do theirbook work online and with that
they you, they deserve a chairat the salon as a full time
stylist after they finish.
So I offer apprenticeships andthen we have two or three
assistants.
That kind of an assistanttypically is licensed.

(02:23):
Typically is licensed.
They finish hair school butthen, you know, there's that
little bit of a window wherethey're not fully confident to
be a full-time stylist.
So they continue to do theirlearning and get their hands-on
experience as an assistantbefore switching to behind the
chair.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
So that's an interesting word, confidence,
because I think in most businessroles whether you're owning
your own business or starting anew sort of job yeah, one of the
biggest things is gaining thatconfidence.
Tell me how long you typicallysee for a stylist to be able to
go on her own or on his own, tobe able to do that without being

(03:01):
under the assistant orapprenticeship?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Honestly, I kind of go off of their, their you know
vibe, their confidence, theirskill level.
I can typically tell whensomebody is ready they will be
an assistant until literallythey don't have any more hours
to be an assistant because nowtheir books are starting to fill

(03:26):
up on their styling days.
So I follow their lead, youknow, like if they're confident
and they they're ready to takeit full on, I'm going to support
it because at the end of theday that's their goal, that's
their career right?

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, absolutely, that's fantastic.
So tell me how you actuallystarted in this business.
When did you decide this?
Is you know the route you weregoing to take with your life?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean it was pretty early on.
I don't remember a time where Ireally dreamt about doing
anything else.
My best friend growing up, hermom, owned a hair salon locally
and it was the it Salon where Igrew up.
So I really envied that andit's such a like a girly

(04:15):
community and fun, fashionforward environment.
I just really gravitatedtowards it.
So that was like one of myfirst jobs was actually being a
receptionist at her hair salon.
Oh wow yeah, so I kind ofstarted the reception job.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
I'm sorry.
How old were you when youstarted with the reception job?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
I well, first off I was a shop kid, like we would go
to the salon, you know, afterschool and just hang out until
her mom got off work.
So you know I was familiarthere already.
And then when I took theposition as a receptionist I
want to say it wasn't as youngas you would think, I want to

(05:00):
say like 18, maybe 17.
And then, yeah, I started goingto hair school, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So did you grow up in Virginia Beach?

Speaker 3 (05:13):
No, I met my husband, who lived in Virginia Beach.
I grew up in Portsmouth.
Oh, ok, yeah.
So all of that part of mycareer that started was in
Portsmouth.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Oh, that's fantastic, yeah, so tell me, what do you
think one of the topmisconceptions of your business
would be?

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Oh, that's a good question.
That it's easy, yeah, and thatit's easy if you enjoy your job,
but it's not easy becauseyou're dealing with.
You know, if you're a busystylist, behind the chair you're
dealing with a lot ofpersonalities.
And then you add, being a salonowner, you're you're dealing

(06:05):
with employees that you'retrying to make happy all day,
every day, and it takes a lot tolike, eventually learn, like
that's not gonna always be thecase and you have to be okay
with that you know, that youcan't appease everyone um so
that's a great misconception.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
I think that's a great lesson, for any business
owner is being able to say I'vegot to do what's best for the
business and it may or may notmake everybody happy, yeah, yeah
.
So tell me um, outside ofworking and owning heirloom
salon, tell me um what you liketo do in your free time.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Well, I have two kids , two very young kids, um, so I
try to stay as busy as possiblewith them because they wear me
out, so I have to wear them out,right?
So we're, we're always on thego, we go camping, we do a lot
of like.
You know the jump parks, theadventure parks, you know hunt

(07:08):
club.
My husband owns a gym locally,so I spend a lot of time at the
gym as well.
That's great, yeah.
So, yeah, I'm always doingstuff.
How old are your kids?
I have a one-year-old and afive-year-old, okay, so they are
super young.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, yeah, they're so fun though Um would you, what
advice would you give tosomebody just starting out in
the hair industry?

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Start from the bottom , because I think when you like
to be honest out of school andthey want to skip a bunch of
steps because they want to focuson the money making part of the
industry, and I think you can'tsucceed at those steps without
starting at the bottom andreally being successful, being

(08:14):
great at each step of the way.
You know you've got to likereally be good at the bread and
butter clients right, those arethe easy clients, the one solid
color clients or, you know, justa haircut.
Be very good at those services,the bottom services, the easy
services, in order to be supersuccessful at the luxury

(08:38):
services.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay, Absolutely, yeah, and enjoying the process
sounds like a big part of it.
Absolutely so that you dofundamentally have those, those
pieces in place as you're movingforward with your career.
Yes, so you've owned this salonfor seven years, um, and it was
just you, and before that wereyou um at another salon in the

(09:03):
area so before heirloom, I waspretty much a self-employed okay
stylist.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
so I worked in a it's called a suite, oh yeah, so
it's like a giant building withvery little rooms that were like
individual salons.
So you were by yourself for themost part at that time, um, so
I was by myself, um, and I gotvery lonely and I was ready to
build a salon community.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
I think the when I think about a salon, I do think
about that camaraderie and thatkind of fun atmosphere and
sitting in the chair and peopletalking to each other.
Yeah Well, I could see how thatwould be very lonely.
So, from a stylist standpoint,what do you see in terms of
trending, what's coming up thatyou're excited for people to try

(09:52):
, or anything new that peoplemay not realize that's coming on
board in terms of hair try?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
or anything new that people may not realize that's
coming on on board in terms ofhair.
I think that I'm really excitedfor there's.
There's this idea of whenyou're a blonde, you're like
white blonde and if you're notwhite blonde, then like your
blonde is bad right, and I'mthat's my daughter, yeah, and it
is.
It's a lot of blonde blondies.

(10:19):
You know I'm so excited for Ican see it trending where
buttery blondes and warm toneblondes, like white isn't your
skin tone is very important, youknow, when making these like
tonal decisions, and I thinkpeople just kind of disregard
that when it comes to being ablonde and they're like I want

(10:39):
it see-through white and I'mlike, yeah, but you know you
need to do something that'sflattering, you know, for you,
you personally.
So I'm really excited to honein on the buttery blondes, the
warm blondes, the brawn blondes,the beachy blondes this year.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
I love the brawn blondes.
Talk to my daughter about that.
Yeah, Well, I had as a baby.
Obviously that changes and shestill wants to be that toehead.
So you're healthy.
We've got to kind of figure outsomething else.
Yeah, People come to do aservice like a blonde.
That's pretty dramatic.
What is the time commitment forthat?

Speaker 3 (11:23):
That's a great question, and I think there's
again.
Another misconception is, Ithink, a lot of clients that
aren't like regularly in thesalon these days.
They have this idea that it'swe're still in like 2007, where
you did a highlight and therewasn't any extra steps and

(11:44):
you're in and out in an hour anda half.
That is not the case for thelooks that they're throwing at
us these days.
These more lived in, these morenatural looks, they end up
taking longer and so to have tolike really perfect that it
takes three to five hourssometimes, especially when

(12:05):
you're trying to maintain ahealthy head of hair.
You're not you're, you're notlike pushing the power in,
you're letting it go kind of lowand slow.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Yeah, um, because, let's be honest, slow and steady
wins the race absolutely, um,to keep that healthy hair for
sure, yeah, yeah, tell meexactly where you guys are
located for our listeners andwell, before we get to that,
yeah, what other hair besideslike cut?
Are you guys doing extensions?

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Oh, yeah, yeah, I myself am an extension
specialist.
I do a couple different methods, but, but I have actually
gotten the majority of my girlsum certified in extensions as
well.
So we do a lot of extensions.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Okay, and then what other services besides hair do
you do at the salon?

Speaker 3 (12:59):
Um, honestly, I think , like between the entire salon,
um, but between all thestylists I have, we can
specialize honestly in anyservice.
Um, when it comes to hair, um,I'm really excited about that.
That's where we're currently atis, um, you know, we have a

(13:20):
curly specialist, we haveextension specialists.
Yeah, we have men's cuts in thesalon.
We do, um, there's bridalstyling, there's up styling for
events.
I just hired a makeup artist.
So, um, yeah, we do do a lot ofthat.
We do facial waxing, Okay, um,so, yeah, a little bit of

(13:41):
everything.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
I didn't know there were curly stylists yeah, and
that's actually really big.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
Now, um, people are embracing their natural texture
and it's, it's, it's becomingreally big, so I'm excited to
have someone in the salon forthat yeah, again something I
need to talk to my daughterabout.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Who has curly hair?
Who wants?
Yeah, absolutely embrace ityeah, it's so pretty.
I love, love it.
Yeah, I'm sure.
Okay, so tell our listenerswhere you're located and then
how to get in touch with youguys.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
So we are located, um , I can literally see Lynn Haven
mall through my window.
Um, we so we are in the LynnHaven area, um, right off the
interstate next to Lynn HavenMall.
So that's a pretty goodlandmark for most people in
Hampton Roads.
They're familiar with that malland you can contact us at our

(14:37):
phone.
You know our phone number,which is 757-515-5867.
We have an Instagram page.
We have an Instagram page.
We have a Facebook page.
It's Heirloom Salon VB, andeach stylist has their own
personal page that you know.
You can check out their work.
It's kind of like our resumes.
And we also do online booking.

(15:01):
So if you get a wild hair at,you know, 11 pm, you can
absolutely book a hairappointment at that given time
from your bed.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
And what's your website.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
We don't actually have a website.
Currently we use Vegaro.
But if you go on Google and youjust type in heirloom salon,
it'll have a book book here.
Button.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Okay, perfect, yeah, people, what's your Instagram
handle?

Speaker 3 (15:29):
It's heirloom H E I R L O O M salon VB as in Virginia
beach.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Perfect yeah, so much sky for being here today.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah it, yeah, that was um.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
It was great talking to you, awesome thanks thank you
for listening to the goodneighbor podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to gnpvirginiabeach.
com.
That's gnpvirginiabeach.
com, or call 757-797-8852.
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