Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights Game Changers, who inspire, educate, and celebrate individuality, beauty, and style. Meet hairdresser, entrepreneur, celebrity stylist, and photographer Kristin Ess who’s become the Queen of haircare — and she’s only getting started.
I got into the game specifically for the trade and the art and the creative side of doing hair. If I’m being completely transparent, I wasn’t really sure what was on the other side of that. I just sort of followed my nose as far as what was interesting to me.
I got my feet wet with Fashion Week and celebrity hair and doing all different types of things in the hair world. And then, starting my own brand was very much a melting pot of all of those things. That’s what really has made this process interesting to me, because I’m not just thinking in one way. I’m thinking 360 as far as: What is consumer perception? What is a hairstylist’s perception? How sustainable can we get?
It’s not just about putting your name on something anymore. It’s now about what you bring to the table from your craft and your trade to make something meaningful.
Every founder’s very different. I have founder friends who love to speak; they’re almost a built-in spokesperson for their brand. If it were up to me, I would be hiding in the shadows, just wheedling away, making products, writing copy, doing tutorials, and things like that. If no one ever saw my face, I would be so thrilled. But I leaned into it and put my name on the front because I thought, People barely know me at all, but the people who do know me know that I’m not going to just put something out there and not show them how to use it.
We had a beauty website prior to me launching the brand called The Beauty Department and it was all beauty tutorials. People would come to me and say, “I never knew how to braid my hair. I never knew how to do an updo. I never knew how to curl my hair, but you taught me how to do it.” I saw the impact of those teachings, and I knew that I could bring that as long as there was room on the bottle to educate about the product. So, that was one thing that I was super passionate about when we started, was making sure that we’re not only putting out a product, but really, truly teaching people how to use it.
The highest priority for me right now is sustainability because the clock is ticking and I feel a responsibility to reduce our footprint in a significant way. That’s been a focus for a little while now, and we’re working on a lot of ways to implement that—and not just little by little, but in a big, more impactful way. That’s something I’m super committed to and excited about.
There’s not a lot of things in hair care that I find super challenging, but sustainability and looking out for the planet is not easy. It’s actually very difficult to make sense of a brand and also look out for the planet. It’s a hard balance, but we have no option at this point but to get there. The people that I’m most inspired by right now are people who are really embracing what’s special about them and amplifying that and seeing how they can be useful and helpful in this world. It’s a little wizardy-woo-woo, but at the end of the day, it really is true. It’s not about founders. It’s not about a stay-at-home mom. It’s not about anybody in particular. You can be doing this in any capacity. It can be anything.
-As told to Melissa Cronin
