How Hairdressers Can Help Alleviate Global Poverty with Alannah Zilkowsky & Hair Aid

What's the tea, friend? My name's Hunter Donia, industry business educator for hairstylists, but my friends just call me Hunty. Whether it be growing your clientele, making more money, or automating and streamlining your systems, in the next 20 minutes or so, you'll be hearing realistic, actionable strategies to create a beautiful career for yourself behind the chair. So, if you're ready to get into it, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast.

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. I freaking am so excited to have this conversation, because it's one that I want to learn about even more, although I'm semi-familiar with this, um, with this initiative that, um, our amazing guest is gonna be bringing to the table to us today. I am so excited to hear and get in- and dive deep into, like, a firsthand experience with this beautiful initiative, one that I feel like...

'Cause I heard about this initiative a long time ago, like years and years and years ago, and being a little bit more at the, uh, closer to the beginning of my career, hearing about this initiative, it really illuminated and just reinforced my belief, understanding that this industry is just so infinitely powerful, and, like, the skillset that we have as an industry is just so underappreciated. And so, there's so much untapped potential, and we as hairdressers literally change the world, and we have so much potential to change the world in thing- in ways that we never even thought before. And so what we're gonna be talking about today is Hair Aid, and we have the lovely Alanna. Alanna, how do I pronounce your last name?

I don't think I've ever gave it a shot. Is it Zylkowski? Yep. Okay, beautiful.

I'm glad that I got it. Alanna, welcome to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. How are you doing today? I am great.

Thank you so much for having me on today. I'm so excited to chat about this with you. Yeah, dude. I'm so happy to have you here.

And I know that this is an initiative that you are super passionate about. And so, if you wouldn't mind sharing with the audience first who you are, what you have going on in the industry, and then talk about what it is that brought you to, uh, wanna speak with the industry about Hair Aid and what Hair Aid actually is. Okay. Well, um, so I'm a hairstylist.

I'm a salon owner, and I'm actually a website designer specifically for hair salons and hairstylists. I live all the way in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Uh, I've been in the hair industry for 15 years. I'm a beekeeper, I'm a scuba diver, dog mom, plant lover, and world traveler.

And my favorite place to travel to is to the Philippines to volunteer with Hair Aid, uh, which is what I'm gonna be chatting with you today about. So, Hair Aid is an Australian charity which teaches women basic haircutting skills so they have the ability to earn an income and support their families. That is freaking beautiful. And so I've heard about Hair Aid before, and it's not just the Philippines, am I correct?

They have, like, multiple locations that they go to? Yes. So Hair Aid has been around for about 12 years, and they have, uh, volunteer projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand. And this year, they just launched, uh, their first project in Guatemala.

So their first one kinda over on this side of the world. And could you explain why it's so powerful and so beautiful to go and teach these specific women these skills? Yeah. So you are teaching people who are quite literally in base poverty.

We had a, uh, the privilege to have a tour of the community in which a lot of the women that we were teaching live in. And then it is quite literally dirt floors, corrugated rooftop slums, right? So, we think we know poverty in the States, uh, and in Canada, and it's- it's very, very different over in Southeast Asia. And you are physically teaching someone basic haircutting skills so they can trade their neighbor for a bag of rice.

They can be the community's haircutter, and they actually then have the ability to put food on their family's table. It is an absolutely life-changing skill that you are teaching people. Yeah. And it's such a beautiful thing that we get to, as privileged individuals who do have this type of skillset and education, get to share that with other people and to really make a difference in the world.

I just think that is just so powerful and beautiful. And so, how did you end up hearing about Hair Aid, Alanna? So, I heard about Hair Aid about five years ago. One of my absolute hair heroes, Tabitha Coffey, who I'm sure we all know and love, uh, and her fantastic TV show that I used to binge-watch all the time.

She did a volunteer project in Cambodia and, um, posted about it on her Facebook page. And of course, I looked at it, and I'm like, "What is this?" Like, teaching hairdressing and traveling, my two loves together. So, started following Hair Aid.

I looked into the charity and what it provides for people, what it stands for, and I was like, "Yes." Like, "I need to be a part of this." So, I just kept my eye out for the first project that aligned kind of with the schedule that worked for me, and I traveled to the Philippines in January 2020 for my first volunteer project with Hair Aid. That is sick.

So tell me how your experience went. It was phenomenal. So you get there. The- it's a week-long project.

I got there a day early. You can stay afterwards for some personal traveling. First day is meeting everyone. I was the only Canadian, and there was people from the States, a lot of people from Australia, some from Sweden, some from England, all around the world.

First day, you're putting the kits together, and you're learning about the program. So everything...... for the women is donated, and at the end of the week, when they successfully complete the training, it's not just a given, they do have to complete, um, the haircuts on the models, get them checked, show proficiency. They get what's called a Business in a Bag.

So they get a little pencil case with a pair of scissors, four clips, and a comb. And with that, they have the ability to start earning money. So, the first day, we put together all the kits that are donated, scissors, clips, capes, everything's donated. Second day, we go to site, we start meeting our trainees, and the program begins from there.

So then, what is the tea with training, right? Because I'm sure that on the first day, they wanna make sure that y'all know, like, what the, what the situation is. And also, are they, like, preparing you before you even go on the trip? Like, is there a Zoom call?

Like, what does preparation look like beyond just setting up the kits? So once you sign up for the project, there's some email communications back and forth, especially with Selena, who's the founder of Hair Aid, giving you a bit of preparation about what to expect when you get there. It is very much on the ground training. They've got it down to a fine science.

So first day you meet your trainees. Uh, in the morning, you're teaching them, uh, how to greet a client, how to do a consultation. Mm. How to drape them.

And then four sections, so how to do the four, basic four sections. Then you teach them how to hold the scissors, how to sanitize the scissors, and take care of her kit. Then after lunch, they come back and you'd show them a straight line, one length haircut. And by the end of the day, they have cut a one length haircut on a live model by the end of the first day.

That's so freaking awesome. And the facilitators of Hair Aid are, like, training you in what you, in, in what you should be teaching and how you should be teaching it, I'm assuming. Yeah, they have a very distilled five-day program for the haircutting so that everyone i- who is teaching the program is all on the same page. We may have a different way of doing a long layer or a round layer.

We may have different sectionings. Sure. But we all kinda put that aside to be on the same page so that we can be consistent in how we're teaching them. That makes sense.

And so, let me ask you this 'cause this is my biggest, biggest, biggest, biggest... I have this irrational, or maybe it is rational, I don't know. I have a fear of language barriers. I, I genuinely do.

Like, I don't know what it is. It, it... Like, miscommunication and I guess maybe even just the social anxiety around language barriers, like, really freaks me out. And so, I'm curious about language barriers, if there is any that you have to overcome within these spaces, and how you tackle those, and of- and then of course, right, like, being an ed- I'm an educator, you know?

That's what I do. I, I teach people every single day, and, I mean, to, I mean, a, a, a lot of education comes down to a- not just, like, the physical touching and, and doing and showing, but also actually the verbal communication as well. So, what does that look like for you guys? So there 100% is a language barrier to overcome.

Uh, both of my volunteer projects were in the Philippines, so I know some very, very little of Tagalog. But what is beautiful about the project, especially in the Philippines, is previous trainees will come back and be volunteers for us and be translators. They will help us. Wow.

And honestly, a lot of it is visual. Like, when you're showing someone, "Here's..." You can say, "Here's how to hold a pair of scissors," but you're, you're showing them- Mm-hmm. how to hold a pair of scissors.

You're sh- showing them how to comb and cut. And honestly, half of the, half of it's the fun. By the end of the first day, you've learned how to say, like, you know, maganda is beautiful in the Philippines, so you can get over there and go, "Oh, maganda." Mm.

And, you know, you, there... The language barrier actually becomes quite beautiful. Mm. Especially if you have the motivation to put in a little bit of effort on your end to learn a few f- words.

And everyone who is in the training program is so motivated to learn that they push past it and- Right. there's a lot of visual stuff. But we do have translators on site to help us. And I've also, I've heard, you know, like you said, like, they're so motivated to learn.

I've heard that it's astonishing, um, how quickly and how well they will pick, these women will pick this stuff up from, from you guys over the course of your time there. Am I correct by saying that? Was that your experience? Absolutely.

You know, when the motivation is being able to pull your family out of poverty and- Right. provide a better life for themselves, like, that is, lights a fire underneath you like nothing else. And I think it's, it's phenomenal. I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to touch a pair of scissors to a mannequin heads for the first, what, two months of hair school, let alone- ...

the first two hours, so. Um, it, it honestly is phenomenal. One of the ladies, it was hilarious. She was actually a hair school educator in Australia, and she was like, "Man, I feel sorry for my students when I get back because I'm gonna be like, 'Listen, I taught this, like, I taught a square layer haircut to a lady who doesn't speak English in an afternoon.'

Like, pick it up, pick it up." Right. "You know? I know it can be done."

So there's no excuses. Yeah, there's definitely not. That's really freaking cool. So, I, I know that everybody's, like, listening to this right now and thinking like, "Holy shit, this is so cool."

Like, "This is amazing that this is even an initiative that's out there." So, tell me what signing up looks like. Like, what is the signup situation? What are you responsible for with registration, and then, like, what qualifies you to be able to go and do this, um, amazing thing?

So registration looks like heading to the Hair Aid website, and you look at the projects, they're listed for next year, and you find one that aligns with your schedule. You sign up, you put a deposit down. I believe the cost for the trip is about $1500, $1600 US, which includes your accommodations, transportation to the location, insurance, things like that. You can fundraise for that.

Most people do. They get their clientele involved. Hair Aid has a lot of suggestions on what you can do to fundraise that. W- you can get a lot of really positive support from your community supporting you in going over there as well, and it's as simple as going to the website and, you know, clicking that button and taking that step.

That is so sick, and I actually was peeping the website this morning, and they have everything laid out really, really well, and it seems actually really pretty easy to go through the registration process, which is beautiful. So if somebody was afraid, if somebody's listening to this right now and says like, "Okay. That sounds like amazing. I really wanna do this.

I'm going to go ahead and register," but they had some sort of fear inside of them about this situation, like, "Oh my god. I've never traveled internationally like this before. Um, I've never, like, gone to an area like this before," or maybe, "I'm not worthy of doing this," whatever it may be. Right?

If somebody was afraid of going on this adventure and making a big impact in such a beautiful way, what would you say to that person? Well, it, uh, it sounds cliché, but life begins at the end of your comfort zone. You are never gonna, I feel like, be 100% like, "Oh. This is like a walk in the park.

It's super comfortable for me." It would almost be weird if it was, s- but do know that you have the skills to be able to change someone's life, and if you can take that step and go over there and share your skills, it will be one of the most beautiful things you've ever done. And yes, you're going to impact their lives. By all means, you are going to be teaching someone the skills to change their life, but it, I can't express how much it will change your own life and really give you new perspectives on your skill in our industry and just how beautiful it is and how powerful it is to be able to share your skills like that.

So, it is well worth any sort of stretching of the comfort zone. Yeah, and also, you know, a perspective on, like, you're not the only person who exists in the world, and there's a lot of different experiences, right, that are out there, and, and of... I mean, I, I know that I would, would... It would be a big wake-up call as far as my own privilege goes, and I think that everybody in the world could use that, you know, every now and then for sure to reground us and rehumble us.

I am just so obsessed with this, and I... You know what I really love that you said, and I wanna go back to it really quickly, is if anybody's worried about the money investment, getting your clients involved I think is so brilliant. And, you know, from my, like, business educator perspective, the surveys and studies show that consumer behavior is very much driven by core values, right? And so if you are exemplifying your core values, if you're exemplifying philanthropy as a business, then your clients will be completely on board.

You will raise retention. Your clients will have a much higher rapport with you. You'll have a great reputation within your local area, and using that to be able to fundraise for that investment is just such a smart idea that I never even, like, thought about, and so I just think that's so smart. Like, you could do raffle baskets.

Um, you could literally just do a GoFundMe and, and like have it out there and send it to your clients. Um, and I, I think that is such a smart idea, Alanna. Have you like, like... Do you have anything to expand on that?

Because I just think that is so good. Yes, so personally, I was fortunate enough that my business is in a place that it is set up for profit, and I was able to, um, as my corporation sponsor, the ability to do it. It is also a tax write-off. Uh.

Mm-hmm. However, some of the fundraising ideas I've heard from the other participants and volunteers, someone did T-shirts, uh, that said, uh, "The journey begins with the first step." She bought one for each of us, and it was beautiful, and then on the back were all the sponsors and local businesses. So she had sold- Wow.

some of the T-shirts as fundraisers. Another lady did a book sale. Someone else did... It's, it's like a poster board with a bunch of squares, and you could buy the squares off of it.

There were- Hmm. raffles. There were product sales. Someone did, uh, a community event where it was like a ladies' night and sold tickets to that and had other local businesses, like botox and permanent jewelry, and kinda had it as, uh, not only a fundraiser, but visual in the community, getting your name out there and, and partnering with other businesses.

So it can really be, um, a marketing opportunity as well. Right. Yeah. So freaking cool, Alanna.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with the audience before we close this out and we make sure that we direct people in the, in the right places to get started with this initiative, and also follow you? Because I also, I also wanna talk about you and how awesome you are as well too. Well, I would just say, you know, if you have any questions, Hunter'll put my contact information, but I'm an open book. If you have any concerns, holdups, questions, you know, feel free to ask.

But I, I can't express enough how impactful the opportunity is and the volunteer project and how it will change your life and give you so much, like, perspective and humbling. You know, not to say that you and I and the listeners here haven't gone through hardships and haven't known hard times, but I'm so fortunate that I wake up in the morning and I have a roof over my head. I have food in my stomach. I have running water and electricity, and that is such a privilege that the people you are teaching do not have, and- Yeah.

the perspective and the... just how amazing it is to share your skills is... I, I can't actually explain how life-changing it is, and I, I wish every hairstylist would do it because- Yeah. um, once you do it, you'll know, and...

I think that's beautiful. And so, um, I know that this isn't... this episode's not about you, but I do wanna just really quickly just shout you out because, um, Alanna is a badass within the industry. She's absolutely amazing, and she also offers, um, really fantastic services to hairdressers, uh, specifically with their websites, which is, I know, a huge pain point.

But I personally 100% would trust Alanna with my website. I would trust Alanna with any of my students' websites. So, if you wanna check her out, then, um, we'll make sure to leave her, uh, Instagram and her website in the, in the, in the show notes of this. And then, also, we will leave the link to Hair Aid where you can get involved in this beautiful initiative.

I know that this is a bucket list thing for me, and honestly, there's nothing holding me back besides, like, the uncomfortability and fear of doing it. So, I just am gonna push through that and fricking do the damn thing anyway. Like, I need to sign up. Like, this is just such a beautiful thing and an important thing, and I think that it's so awesome that we can use this knowledge, these tools, and empower somebody else with that and give them a better life.

Like, that is just so awesome. Alanna, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for getting the word about this amazing initiative out there. We really, really appreciate you, and yeah.

Thank you so much for tuning into this, my friend, to the Modern Hairstylist podcast. I hope that you enjoyed this episode, and we will catch you in the next one. So much love. Peace out, girl scout.

Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2023 Hunter Donia LLC.