Daily Inspiration: Meet Carla Tarkington

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Tarkington.

Hi Carla, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Styling hair came easy to me from the time I applied my 1st hair color on my neighbor’s mother in the 5th grade. That single act would become the spark that kindled my future in helping women feel beautiful! Playing in hair began as a hobby for me, that is until I became a mother at the young age of 15. One year later, tragedy struck when my father (and babysitter) passed away from a heart attack. My support system was now gone and I had to act fast. I knew that styling hair would be the easiest way for me to barter necessities for my son and earn money for daycare while I went to school. Overnight, I turned into the neighborhood hairstylist. These events were the precursors that set me on the path to becoming the successful woman and stylist that I am today.

In the following 20 years, I transformed a “means to an end” into a 6 figure income that barely feels like work. I go to work and do exactly what thrills me everyday! I have had the opportunity of styling hair on huge stages and trade shows worked on music videos, motion pictures, and several model shoots. I have won styling competitions myself and been a part of several winning teams. As successful as things seemed, I stopped being fulfilled by these things and felt that I needed to fulfill a greater purpose.

In 2014, I began to tour the country as the lead educator for Kevin Kirk Pro’s line of professional hair care products. This is when I fell in love with the Science of haircare. Traveling with international elite stylists specially trained in all areas of cosmetology and cosmetics opened up an entire branch of the beauty world to me… The “ugly” side of beauty to be more specific.

To me, “ugly beauty” is the side of the beauty industry that isn’t always as glamorous. It’s the side that protects a person’s secrets. Secrets can be anything from hair loss, unfavorable scalp conditions, damaged cuticles, dandruff, scalp growths and etc… I have a full cosmetology license but I am limited in what I can promise, provide and promote to my clients. That being said, I was on a mission to learn as many techniques as possible to help as many people as I could that were struggling with an appearance altering hairstyling issue.

I formed the company 2MuchHair to provide a safe place for women and men to experience a dignified hairstyling session. A place where I could answer their common and not so common questions about their hair and scalps health. Here they can get tips and advice on hair care products while also incorporating their dermatologist-recommended treatments into their styling sessions.

I love it, and the passion I have for helping my clients has blessed me beyond measure.

Back in 2018, I was preparing for my new favorite client Christy. Christy’s daughter referred her to me after overhearing a discussion with another client in my chair. She mentioned that her mom hadn’t been to a salon in years due to being humiliated at her last visit. Christy had two auto-inflammatory conditions called plaque psoriasis AND seborrheic dermatitis. Diseases which causes shed skin mixed with excessive hardened sebum to produce huge flakes of what appears to be “dandruff”. The frequency of the production of the flakes was constant which led to immediate shedding even after a shampoo. Christy had a high-profile job which required her to be face to face with dozens of people daily, which also contributed to stress and made her situation worse. Stress is a huge trigger and has been proven to increase inflammation in irritated tissue.

It was a never-ending cycle of highs and lows for her mentally and physically, but I loved the challenges of making her feel confident. Picking those dandruff flakes excited me! I anticipated her appointments from the moment she left until she returned again. I obsessed over those flakes so much that I had to call the Tennessee state board of cosmetology to see if it was even legal to remove dandruff with my license and certifications. They assured me that it was legal and gave me the green light. I was like a kid in candy land when she came back in. After a while, her confidence built up, her condition got better and I asked if I could record her session for my YouTube channel. I figured, if I like it this much, there has to be someone else out there that likes it too. I had had a how-to hairstyling channel for four years and had amassed a startling 40k subscribers that day. I was overjoyed of that honestly. She agreed and I uploaded Christys 1st video on a Tuesday. By the following Tuesday, we had struck YouTube gold with 1 million views and an extra 100k subscribers… we were viral!

Christy’s video created a branch of videos in the fetish market that stood firm with cringeworthy content like pimple popping, ingrown hair removal, toenail repair, asmr, and chiropractic back cracking videos. It was unbelievable!

My channel went from 40k to 140k in less than two weeks. Comments like “Thank you for this video, I never knew someone shared my struggle” and others like ” These videos really relax me, I can’t turn away”. The outpouring of love expressed by the viewers was overwhelming to both me and Christy. So many people were struggling with scalp issues and had very similar experiences as she had experienced in the past. Within weeks there were calls from all over the country planning trips to Nashville to get their egos stroked, scalps scratched and hair styled by me. It didn’t stop there. Women started making Nashville a premiere travel destination for hair weaves, hair cuts and makeovers. I was honored!

Christy is 100% flake-free today and has been for about two years now. She continued seeing her dermatologist and worked on her diet to remove foods that we recognized as her “trigger” foods. A simple skin allergy test helped her understand seasonal triggers as well.

Here it is 2021, and I am having the time of my life creating transformative looks while transforming the lives of so many people through beauty. Well… like I said earlier, the “ugly side’ of beauty. Choosing a hairstylist that understands the skin, scalp, hair and product ingredients can make all the difference in the world.

We have opened the salon back up to full capacity and are adding several new extension methods to the menu. We are also working with health professionals to make sure we have a strong network of referrals for our guests. Internal health and mental health work hand in hand in maintaining your beauty regimen. Oftentimes, your outward appearance is directly related to the issues your body is dealing with on the inside.

I think about the 11 years old Carla that read and reread those hair color instructions 5 times and barely understood a single word. She did it anyway… She made it fun… She did it scared… She did it when she KNEW someone else could do it better.

31 years later, I now know the power of the spark, the kindle, the fire and the flame.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
A big challenge in both hairstyling and creating for YouTube is learning new skills and time management. After you learn the basics, you must learn several other skills to personalize and love your finished creation. I always think it’s going to be much easier than it turns out to be. What you produce takes a specific skill set and carving out enough time for its creation is vital. It’s overwhelming sometimes. There’s barely enough time to carry out the tasks that are necessary daily, finding time to learn the extras can be expensive and challenging. Finding the time to exercise and perfect what you’ve learned takes even more time. I have definitely learned to give myself longer timelines. I am mindful to schedule self-care and volunteer days into that timeline also. When I get too overwhelmed, it always calms my spirit by volunteering my time in the arts. I am proud to work with Philip Holsinger and team in putting together The Nashville Project “We Are Nashville”. It has been two amazing years of community outreach with hopes of bridging cultural gaps with neighbors in the city’s rapidly growing communities. You can check out the work we’ve been doing at www.wearenashville.com. Knowing myself and what makes me tick is the easiest way for me to recharge my mind and enthusiasm when challenges begin to get the best of me.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I just love changing lives. Something as simple as a haircut injects so much happiness into a person. The 1st time I had a client cry happy tears, I was stunned. I didn’t know if I should let her have her moment or smother her with hugs, words of encouragement or a wad of tissue. Well, I didn’t do either, I just sat and cried with her. It’s like I felt the weight of her hair lift off me as well. She shed more than hair that day and it was deeply cleansing to us both. I knew that that feeling was the feeling I wanted to produce. I wanted every client to be empowered. That was the feeling. I not only focused on the trendiest hairstyles. I focused on listening to my client’s journey and being attentive in their hair desires. I learned which types of hair cuts fit different face shapes best. I mastered foundations in haircutting, styling, and extension work. I studied product formulation and learned the differences between cosmetic and medical hair products. I paid attention to highly allergic ingredients and try to avoid them for my clients at all costs. Because of this attention to detail, I have gained the respect of not only my own clients but my youtube audience worldwide. I pride myself in giving honest answers and easy explanations of common hairstyling taboos. I love making the science of haircare easy to understand for everyday men and women.

I love the ahhhh haaa moment from both the clients and students of the classes I teach.

I am not done, I’m still having ahh haaa moments myself. Every month creators are getting more and more innovative in the extension world. Seems like there are new extension techniques popping up monthly and I try my best to stay up to date with them. My clients are always asking “what’s new” I love having an answer for them. Right now, I-tip extensions are heating up the scene. They are a method of applying several strands of hair to a portion of your hair using an aluminum micro ring and weaving pliers. They offer fullness, volume, highlights and length to dull lifeless hair. This application method allows extensions to lasts initially about 8-10 weeks. A tightening service is suggested after the 1st four weeks. Hair is reusable up to one year. This technique is on fire and we at 2MuchHair are definitely serving it piping hot.

What are your plans for the future?
The Pandemic helped me out tremendously. I got a chance to step away from the salon and inventory the services that I REALLY love doing, the ones that I caught myself daydreaming about when I wasn’t working. I rewrote my service menu to add variations of those services and I deleted all of the time-consuming services that did not bring joy to my workday. I choose to be passionate about my every action. If I didn’t feel the passion for it, I deleted it. I also took the time to rewrite my educational courses. A task that was two years overdue. I have an advanced Hair Weaving course as well as an Ultimate Youtube Success class that I am bringing back in 2022. My 1st in salon masterclass date is in January 2022 with YISU INC salon in Johannesburg. This new class is sure to get the stylists excited about making income three ways from behind the chair by affiliate marketing and taking advantage of influencer platforms.

Finishing off 2021 and going into 2022, I look forward to expanding my extension clientele by offering top-quality hair and realistic looking installs. We are creating more science-based YouTube videos for the super hair nerds like myself and entering the education space as an international teacher.

With all we’ve been lining up for 2MuchHair in 2021, It is only the 1st phase. We also have our hearts set on product development. We have a few ideas of our own as well as modifications to existing products.

We are always seeking brand deal opportunities that work with our companies mission. That mission is to bring empowerment and self-love to women and men of all nationalities, one video or hairstyle at a time. If you feel that your product can add value to our customers or viewer, we’d love to chat with you about it.

Pricing:

• Glam Weave Sew in $200 hair/no
• Work Out Weave Full sew in $325 hair/no
• I-Tip (micro bead) $600+ hair/yes
• Scalp Cleansing/Dandruff $100+
• Relaxer $70+

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.2muchhair.com
• Instagram: 2MuchHair
• Facebook: Carla Tarkington
• Twitter: 2MuchHair
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2GKmvr8j7f7NEU7K2B5tgQ

Image Credits
Photographer credits Seedvizion Childishart, Model Carla Tarkington, Model Sylvia Johnson Reynaga