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Evalyn Denis is a celebrity hairstylist based in LA and she makes $200K a year. In this episode of For a Living, learn about what it takes to be a celebrity hairstylist, more about Evalyn’s journey, and watch her do human hair braids on celebrity Nia Sioux and more.

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For A Living documents extraordinary women thriving within unique careers. From the salary they earn to the most unexpected task they perform at work, we learn the ins and outs of life for these women dominating in their field.

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Transcript
00:00It's a real intimate thing to do with someone.
00:03I like to put my hands through their scalp,
00:06and they're always like, oh, this feels so nice.
00:08And you know, just to make someone feel good,
00:10I do think it's the perfect profession for me.
00:12I'm Evelyn Dennis, and I make 200K
00:15as a celebrity hairstylist for a living.
00:20I got into the hair industry
00:23subconsciously around like 12 years old through my grandma.
00:26I used to do her hair all the time.
00:28I started being a celebrity hairstylist in 2019.
00:33My friend, Elijah, recommended me to my friend, Jared.
00:36He was the lead stylist for Kanye West's Sunday service.
00:40And that's how I got put on.
00:43After that, my actual client became Solange Nels.
00:48I'm best known for Solange's goddess braids.
00:52She wore them for about like a year.
00:54That's kind of how everything catapulted.
00:58My celebrity clients are Melina Matsoukas, Nia Su,
01:02Shiona Tarini, Tika Stumpter, and some I can't name yet.
01:07I chose braids because at the time,
01:10everyone was doing like blowouts and blonde.
01:13And I do know how to do those things because I went to school for it.
01:17But I didn't see how I could like get into the market and everyone know my work specifically.
01:25And so I chose braids because I knew you can kind of tell with braids who did it.
01:31You may not get it, but we get it.
01:33Hi, how are you?
01:39I'm good.
01:40Today, I'm going to be working with my celebrity client, Nia Su,
01:44and she's going to be getting some human hair braids.
01:47Everyone is rocking human hair braids right now.
01:51So we just snagged a cute photo on Pinterest and we'll see how that goes.
01:56Hi, I'm Nia Su, and I am an actress and a dancer,
02:01and I'm also a social media influencer.
02:04What I admire most about Evelyn is that she's just so good at her job.
02:10And like, it doesn't matter like how late it gets,
02:13she's going to make sure she gets you done.
02:15Every single time she does my hair, we always have a good time.
02:18We always have a little kiki, a little laugh.
02:21And I just admire her work ethic.
02:23I think house calls are really nice, especially for me,
02:26because my schedule gets so crazy busy.
02:29It's easier just to like be home, like in the comforts of my own home,
02:33and not like traveling somewhere to go get my hair done.
02:37The hair process takes a good chunk of time.
02:40It's nice to just be like in my home and we can watch TV and we can talk
02:44and like we can order food.
02:46It's more like a hangout more than anything else.
02:49The typical day, it depends on the celebrity.
02:52Some of them like to like be up at the crack of dawn.
02:55Others like me to come around like noon.
02:58So, you know, the later you start, the later we're up.
03:01I kind of always try to get them to,
03:03can we start at 7am?
03:05But most of the time that doesn't work.
03:07Some challenges I faced with working with celebrity clients
03:11is they don't really like to sit.
03:12They like to take like a gazillion breaks.
03:15Can we go for like five hours and then can you come back?
03:18And I'm like, or we could just be done.
03:23The majority of the sessions are at least seven hours.
03:27A lot does get said and they do spill some tea,
03:31but it is fun to know that they can trust me with, you know,
03:34their personal information and for them to know that I'm not going to say anything.
03:37I love that.
03:38When I first started as a hairstylist, my salary was about $32,000.
03:43As a celebrity hairstylist, obviously it ranges per year,
03:46but last year was around $200,000.
03:49My base charge for braids is $500.
03:52And then according to density, how long your natural hair is,
03:56I add or subtract, you know, according to that.
03:59These braids are going to cost around $1,200 to become a celebrity hairstylist.
04:06Your salary can obviously, the sky's the limit.
04:09The day you say no, you're not making any money for that day.
04:13So it's kind of like, you can work three days a week.
04:15You could work four weeks straight.
04:17Sometimes I worked for like 32 days straight.
04:20If I know that I'm going to like have a long run,
04:23I definitely take a week off or I'll take a couple of days off.
04:27And I will literally do nothing, literally nothing.
04:31For any stylist that's trying to break into the industry,
04:35my advice would be to just don't try to do everything.
04:40You need to like focus and hone in on one thing.
04:43That way you can be known for that.
04:45But then obviously you can do anything else.
04:48What I love the most about doing my celebrity clientele's hair is just
04:54seeing them like in the mirror and like them gassing themselves up.
04:59That's like the coolest because like I did that.
05:02So obviously they're doing it, but like I'm doing it, you know?
05:08So yeah, I like it a lot.
05:25Thanks so much for watching.
05:26Click to subscribe.
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