The First Ward

Good hair shouldn’t only happen on salon days.

This is Kate.

She comes in every few months for a gloss and a trim, and the goal is simple…she wants healthy hair that works with her natural texture.

We didn’t touch her hair before these photos. This is exactly how she showed up.

Kate’s hair is naturally wavy, and Cynthia’s approach is all about bringing out the best in what’s already there rather than fighting it.

Low maintenance doesn’t have to mean low impact.

Hair by Cynthia.

It’s normal for salons to show off their work the moment an appointment ends, when the lighting is perfect, the hair is freshly styled, every strand is exactly where it belongs.

Clients bring in those photos hoping their hair will look the same, and I always let them know that the person in that photo probably didn’t look like that an hour later.

I want to create hair that looks good on any given day. Hair that works after you’ve slept on it, after you’ve worked out, after you’ve gone to work, met friends for dinner, gone on vacation, or led a meeting. Hair that feels like it belongs in your actual life.

Haley had her hair cut and colored a few weeks before these photos were taken. I was interested in showing what our clients look like while they’re living their lives, not just in the moment they leave the salon. She came straight from teaching a yoga class, and aside from a little fluffing for the camera, this is exactly how she walked in.

The goal isn’t that your hair only looks great when you leave the salon. The goal is that your hair looks great while you’re living your life.

Fun fact: when I mentioned our upcoming photo shoot, I discovered that Haley and Hunter (our photographer and client) were already friends, which made her feel like the perfect fit for this project.

Tulsa is full of thoughtful, creative, interesting people. I’m lucky I get to spend my days with them.

Good Hair Here

For years, we talked about service experience, architecture, activism, parties, community, environment, art, music, s*x, politics… almost everything, except for hair.

WTF were we thinking 😅

Let’s take it back to the basics.

Appearance matters. Grooming, self-care beauty and aesthetics are an important element in nature and the animal kingdom.
We lucky humans have a unique ability to manipulate what we were born with in the looks department.

That’s where we come in.

The truth is, we haven’t talked hair so much because we always want to get to know you first.

How much time do you have to dedicate to your hair? What are your esthetic preferences? Do you want something classic or trendy? Do you want to change hairstyles a lot, or find your look and stick with it? What’s your budget? Do you know what you want, or do you want guidance?

FYI there are no wrong answers.

Our top priority is to help uncover the best version of yourself, so you can feel confident and strong in your day-to-day life without ever worrying about a bad hair day. We truly love all hair types, but on occasion we know there are other providers who offer more expertise with certain looks. We’re always happy to give referrals in those instances.

Let us know what you want to hear from us next. We’re here to help 💛

BIG NEWS at The First Ward:

We always said when it was time to fill our extra space, the right person would show up.
Well, they’ve arrived…with an unexpected twist💫

Kristin House will be taking appointments at the salon starting July 13.

Kristin is a passionate Soft Gel Specialist Nail Artist who recently moved to Tulsa from the San Francisco Bay Area. She creates beautiful works of art for her clients, while giving them a wonderful experience.

Clients are able to grow out their natural nails and get 4-6 week wear from their manicures with no chipping. The brands and products that Kristin uses are high quality, non-toxic, and odor free, so they are ideal for all clients.
 
For any nail-doers out there, teaching is another one of Kristin’s passions. She is a Co-Founder of Lacquerbar U (www.lacquerbar.com) that currently has a Podcast (The C Curve) and Patreon where they talk about the business side of the industry.

We’ve only known her for a moment, but it’s obvious Kristin genuinely loves helping others. Join us in giving her a big, beautiful welcome to the salon! Follow her and keep your eyes peeled here. She may have motivated us to start engaging with the socials again 😘

The salon now has a “Masks Optional” policy for all clients and staff.

Over the last year, we have been following CDC guidelines, as well as following local, national and global health experts. We took a cautious approach, following the science and fortunately our staff made it through the year without getting sick and there were zero cases of Covid-19 being spread amongst clients in the salon.

Now the CDC says vaccinated people can stop wearing masks indoors. While this might feel abrupt and scary to some of you, we know our salon is a safe place to put these new guidelines into practice. Each of our staff has been fully vaccinated for over a month. We have intimate conversations with most of our guests and can assuredly say that the overwhelming majority of our clientele is fully vaccinated, as well.

We now have an opportunity to offer a moment of healing to our community. We offer a small space to help you relax and settle into an old, familiar routine. One where we don’t so obviously see a political or moral divide, but one where we see each other as we see ourselves. We hope that’s with love and compassion.

We encourage those of you who want to wear masks to your appointment to do so. And if the thought of sitting in our space with unmasked people makes you uncomfortable, we are still offering private appointments on Mondays (for a modified price).

We will continue to make the wellness of our community our highest priority. If we learn of any future transmission of Covid-19 within the salon, we will immediately revert back to a masks required policy. And as always, please reschedule your appointment if you are showing any signs of illness.

Thank you for trusting us all these years.
🙏♥️✨

Let’s just keep it simple here... For the time being, we are still requiring staff and clients to wear a mask at all times while inside the salon. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’ll update you again when we decide to switch to a “mask optional” policy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Until then, we’ll be daydreaming about how good your sweet faces look with that fabulous new ‘do we gave you. 😍

It’s Jessica’s day 🥰⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
If you already know Jessica as a stylist, you know she loves subtly enhancing someone’s natural hair with cut and color. Helping someone fall in love with their hair is what brings her joy.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Jessica’s hair interest started with styling her Grandpa’s hair at age 3. This moved to her first haircut on a human (her dad) at age 10, progressing into haircuts on trusting friends through high school. After feeling lost at college, Jessica was questioning her life’s path while coloring her best friend’s hair. “Why not do hair, dummy?” She said to Jessica. It suddenly clicked, and she started beauty school the next month.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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What did 10y/o Jessica want to be when she grew up?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Sorry mom and dad 😬 I read an article in cosmopolitan magazine about Nevada prostitutes when I was little and that sounded like the coolest job. I thought I’d start out working at the bunny ranch, then open a brothel of my own. In a weird way, I guess that kinda came true. Did I mention the salon is in a space that was the longest running brothel in Oklahoma? I just now put that together 😮”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When Jessica isn’t styling, she’s hiking, laying in the sun, playing with her cats, and getting her toes popped by her husband. If she could travel anywhere in the world tomorrow she’d be flying to Australia for a Journey By Rail train ride across the country, ending up in Lorne, Victoria to let all the wild parrots and kookaburras climb all over her. ( & for reference)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Rapid-🔥:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Hidden talent: “I’m a certified reiki practicioner 🤗”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Go-to drink: “A regular ass margarita”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
What you would tell yourself when you first started doing hair:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Don’t take yourself so seriously. It’s just hair. And being cool is a defense mechanism. Drop that s**t and love everyone equally.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Jessica, we always love what you have to say & the way you say it. 🦜

On this episode of James World 🌎 :⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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James came from a background in bars and restaurants before discovering the hair industry. He realized he wanted to change fields when he found himself cutting friends’ hair for fun (and for free). When he met Jessica, he saw how cool and fun her clients were and wanted to spend his days like that. So without any formal hair experience but tons in hospitality, he dove into his newfound career. He found the overlapping skills from previous work very helpful, especially In the beginning.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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James has always been in love with styling a big curly ‘do. He even rocks one himself 😎. Lately he has been into the shaggy layers and bangs that everyone is asking for. We asked James what aspect of hair doing he enjoys the most and of course it is the connections he makes with clients. When they communicate and create a look that makes them feel good, and is repeatable in their daily life, he knows he has a winner. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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You might be wondering how James likes to spend his free time. When he’s not working, he’s happiest cooking for friends. He had a few backyard barbecues last summer and it really reminded him how much he missed people during the shutdown (comment if you want an invite to this summer’s cookout). Right now he’s finally getting around to reading White Fragility by Robin Diangelo. As for screen-time, he’s always watching some how-to video on YouTube. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Now for some rapid-fire insight:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Go-to drink: “Daiquiri”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Hidden talents: “I juggle? Oh, and I can take really big bites of food, it’s disturbing.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
You get to hop on a plane and go anywhere in the world tomorrow, where you going? “Bali. I’m in need of some serious post pandemic beach time.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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James, we love the energy you bring to the studio and your clients each and everyday. You are one of a kind and we’re happy you’re here. 😊

Allow us to re-introduce ourselves! After a year of growth, we decided to ask ourselves some fun questions to check-in with you, and made some pretty awesome self-discoveries while we were at it. We hope you enjoy a fun little birds-eye view of what’s going on in our lives and our hair. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We start with Andrea. 🥰⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We asked her to flashback to when she was 10 years old and tell us what she wanted to be when she “grew up.” Her answer? Cryptozoolgy - the study of ‘unknown’ creatures or legendary creatures. She theorizes this career goal had something to do with her parents allowing her to watch X-Files at a young age. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Before hair (b.h.), Andrea was a social worker for 9 years! During her off-time she would spend hours watching hair and makeup videos on YouTube. Sometimes (a lot of the time she says) it would end in bleaching disasters 😅. After some years she started to lose her spark for social work, and decided to take a leap and go to hair school. This path ultimately led her to TFW, and we are so happy it did.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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When it comes to cutting, Andrea loves cutting shags, mullets, and a classic bob or layered hair. “I love giving people what they feel confident and comfortable in.” Her ultimate love lies in color theory, bleaching hair, and using bright colors. If you follow her personal account or simply look for rainbow hair + pops of bright hair color on our feed, you will know exactly what we’re talking about. It’s all Andrea. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Now that you know a little more about our Crytpozooligist turned colorist, let us give you some rapid-fire insight to what she’s currently into:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Go-to drink order: “Anything with Tequila”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Hidden Talent(s): “Hmmm… I love cosplay.”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Watching/Reading now: “RuPaul’s Drag Race & Good Girls”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We love you, Andrea. Please stay goth forever 🦇

What a city day.