Meet London Michalske

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful London Michalske a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

London , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

I keep my creativity alive by seeking out inspirational experiences, places, and people. Inspiration is the foundation of all creativity. Aesthetical experiences usually are my top choice when looking to be inspired. Optimally beautiful
experiences encapsulate both a muse (or muses) and a place simultaneously for me. For example, one place I find a multitude of these aesthetic experiences is Burning Man. It’s set in Black Rock Desert of Nevada. It’s a dusty dystopian valley encircled by mountainous skylines highlighted by breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. So for starters, there’s already the scenic portrait painted by nature herself for a vast array of inspiration to be found. Secondly there’s the art. Most of the art at Burning Man is Interactive providing both visual and sensorial stimulation. This is where experience meets muse. My most cherished Interactive art memory from Burning Man was from this piece called The Yum Cart. After waiting in line in the scorching desert sun, participants stepped up to a small, mobile bar set up under a scaffolding housing a man with a megaphone enticing people to come visit the Yum Cart. Under the scaffolding you’re met by bar tender of sorts who asks you what would you like to taste. You are encouraged to request absolutely anything, real or imaginary. I requested to taste the parental love that I never received as a child. The bartender asked if there were any flavors I didn’t want to taste and if I had any allergies then swiftly turned behind him to face stacks of shelves filled with tiny glass potion bottles and canisters. I watched as he pulled various items from the shelves pausing for a few moments in between to creatively plan my menu. When he returned, he asked me to close my eyes. From here he proceeded to take me on a 3 course emotionally charged tasting journey of parental love. The servings were small, but packed appropriately flavored pairings to the explanatory story he shared with each taste. By the last serving, which was a half of a Luxardo Maraschino Cherry with cinnamon or nutmeg, I was moved to tears while he explained how a mother’s love is sweet like a kiss and the warmth of a father’s hug is grounding and safe. After the tasting journey, we shared a long and grounding hug while he whispered that I was worthy of such love in my ear. Not only did the amount of quick thinking creativity this man had to cook up inspire me, but the amount of genuine empathy and love I felt radiating from him sent me into full creation mode. Without giving too much away, since I’ve returned home from this last burn, I’ve been working on multiple creative projects and am now planning my next entry into the North American Trend Vision Awards (A prestigious, golbal hair competition)

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a hairstylist/colorist working behind the chair in Chelsea of NYC at Unfade X Muze Salon. I also am on the Design Team for Wella Professionals traveling the US teaching licensed professionals in salons. I teach an array of content such as hair color techniques, hair cutting, styling, brand building on social media for hair professionals, how to create award winning competition entries, and product knowledge. I also work backstage for NYFW, on set for both creative and commercial shoots, and compete in hair competitions nationally.
What I find most exciting about what I do is the human connection. Connecting with clients and helping them feel their best and developing years long relationships with them fuels my soul. Additionally, connecting with other professionals, inspiring them to grow and giving them the tools they need to hone their craft keeps me motivated to love my career.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Be patient. In an instant gratification culture, patience is a rare quality of those seeking inspiration or growth in their journeys. For creatives, blocks can be frustrating experience. In my experience, taking some time to focus sharpening still sets, honing my craft, or taking a class have all led me to a light at the end of a blocked creative pathway.

Be brave. Be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable situations, especially when those situations involve opportunities. I’ve entered multiple years into hair competitions and even won a few. I currently encourage other hairstylist to do the same. Often their response is that they aren’t ready. When I ask them why they don’t feel ready, their reply is usually because they aren’t yet confident enough with their skills. I want to remind you of the same thing I tell them, success doesn’t grow from comfortability. As artists we are often our own worst citric and will never feel ready to take a risk if sit around waiting to feel comfortable with our talents. Taking a risk and failing is part of the growth necessary for eventually winning that competition.

Remember to take pause after achieving goals large or small to practice gratitude, celebrate, and reflect on your growth thus far. It can be easy to skip this integral step in your journey. Without the gratitude, we lose sight of our wins and can easily become myopic on the areas where we require the most improvement, leading to negative self talk and self fulfilling prophecies. Don’t stay paused for too long. Remember to find new goals before you get too comfy and complacent.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

Ok so I say both views here can be true. However, before working on being well rounded, pursue your strengths first. For example, when I was in beauty school it became quite clear from very early in my courses that formulating hair color came very easy to me. Haircutting, on the other hand, presented more of a challenge to comprehend. Although, I’ve never chosen to specialize in one or the other, I certainly sought out more color education and worked harder to perfect that part of my craft. Later in my career, I started educating for a global haircolor brand. I started challenging myself to take on more haircutting education in order generate more opportunities for myself to be booked in salons. It wasn’t easy. After crying and cursing my way as a student through some frustrating classes, I began to have a stronger comprehension for cutting. In turn, the reward felt much larger than that of knocking a tedious color correction out of the park. Now, I teach color, cutting, styling, social media brand building, and how to create competition entries. I find playing to one’s strength to be an incredibly useful tool to get one’s foot in the door, but once inside, becoming well rounded makes one as an asset. Not only can it make it more difficult for employers to decide your singular skill is no longer needed, but it can generate more opportunities for revenue.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @TheLocksOfLondon

Image Credits

Haley Varacall
Dave Bredesen
Roy Ren