Stacy Pitt, 29

Photograph: Beth Levendis

Who: Stacy Pitt, 29
Where: Styles on B (by appointment only; for appointments e-mail stylesonb@hotmail.com)
Services: Men’s cuts $35; women’s cuts $45–$55; color $60–$70; bridal styling $650–$1,150 (day of)

How did you end up becoming a stylist?
I didn’t mean to go into hair. After college I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and I thought learning a trade would be smart. I joined the Aveda Institute thinking I would hate it, but I really got into it. I was lucky to get offered some jobs in L.A. right afterward, which pushed everything forward quickly.

And you’ve been working out of your apartment for a few years. How’d that happen?
I realized after working in Beverly Hills that I liked doing hair, but I didn’t like working in a salon. My boyfriend suggested that I start my own business, and it just kind of happened. I lucked out and gained a large clientele really quickly: Within six months I had a full-on business out of my house.

What sets you apart from other stylists?
I take a good amount of time to really get to know all of my clients. Sometimes at a salon you can get caught in that factory setting where you keep getting passed on, and if your stylist remembers you, they don’t necessarily remember you; they just remember they’ve cut your hair. You go to a salon to a particular person to have them do your hair; you don’t go to have their assistant do your hair. If that means that I spend more time on one person and can’t take as many people a day, I’m willing to make that sacrifice. At least I know that it’s my own work on them.

How much of your business is word-of-mouth?
About 95 percent. I love the fact that all of my clients somehow know someone else. There’s a whole six-degrees-of-separation sort of thing.

How did you get into styling for weddings?
When I started taking people out of the house, I had a couple of girls who were getting married who gave me nice reviews on The Knot (theknot.com). It slowly kept building. I really enjoy doing it, a lot more than editorial or film styling. About 80 percent stay on as regular clients, which is cool because my whole thing is that I like having a relationship with the people that I work with. I’ll take girls on as regular clients, and by the time their wedding rolls around, it’s a lot of fun.

Are there any styles or cuts you hate doing?
Really, really chunky, blunt layers on long hair. It’s that old ’90s hairstyle—like the Rachel. People still ask for it! Anything that has to be overly styled to look good, I prefer not to do. I like someone to be able to wake up and do their hair, or wake up and not do their hair, and still look good. I don’t style my own hair, so I can’t assume anyone else wakes up and spends that time.

What inspires you, hairwise?
If there’s one thing I’m really drawn to, it’s old movie-star hair. Everything I do when it comes to styling and even cutting is about the hair falling as if it was meant to go in a particular way, and if you look back at all those old movie stars, their hair just looked like it was cut to fall exactly how it was styled, which I think is really cool.

Would you change anything about what you do?
I’d have an extra set of hands!

—Interview by Amy Plitt

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