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Writer's pictureSue Sayles

Here’s To A Beautiful, Totally Unique YOU!!!



With summer growing closer with each passing day, there’s never been a better time for a new start, a fresh new you to be created to the delight and surprise of yourself and others.


The same is true with me, and hence, this blog, and this welcome post.

It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, and for me, it’s an opportunity to share with you where I’ve been and what I know, to help you learn to work with, embrace, and fall in love your hair’s natural texture.


So, before I go into what exciting changes I have in store for you, let me take just a few moments to share my story, and how I got here.


Who Exactly is Sue Sayles the Curl Specialist?


My story isn’t a whole lot different than many of you. Life is a journey. Sometimes we wander a bit, here and there, until we find our purpose.


I guess it’s about passion, and for me, my passion as a hair stylist is working with curly and wavy, naturally textured hair.


It all goes back to my high school years.


I was the classic example of an ADHD student and the thought of spending years ahead of me in books was absolute torture. So, going into my junior year I was selected by my high school counselor to enroll in the local vocational beauty school program. I graduated both high school and Beauty School in 1987.


That fall I enrolled in college as a fashion design major. After nearly 2 years of fashion design school I realized I really only desired to be a Hairstylist.

I’ve been a hairstylist ever since.


About 5 years into my career, at the age of 22 I had an opportunity to open a small salon of my own. And in 1996, along with a few local stylists, I opened Salon Artistix, currently located in Johnsburg, Illinois. And in that lovely little town of 6,000 people is where my adventure with people and their transformation of beauty takes place.


You might think that the word transformation is a bit much, but from the time we opened Salon Artistix, the transformation was like magic to me. I noticed early on that I could see beauty in every client and my focus was to bring it into fruition through haircutting, coloring and styling and I loved what it did for them.


I thought, at that time, that I’d found what I was looking for, that I’d be happy doing this work for the rest of my life. Life, as it often does, had other plans.


How I Became a Curl Specialist


Things never stand still. They change, and we better be ready to change with them.


The year was 2015, Pinterest had been out for a while, and customers would pull up pictures on their phones with styles I had no idea how to create.


(Little did I know at the time that most of these inspiration pictures had been photoshopped and filtered.)


Just the same, it was becoming increasingly clear that times had changed and I began to feel myself becoming outdated. Nearly 30 years as a hairstylist and I was depressed and burnt out.


But then, one of my coworkers, who was ahead of me in years and had already crossed that path long ago, could see the agony I was going through. She came up to me and said, “Sue, you need to reinvent yourself.”


Reinvent myself?

Where would I even start? Because you don’t know what you don’t know, right?


Well, as I pondered where I should begin my mind kept going back to something. A missed opportunity, one that dated back over 10 years, when I had first inquired about becoming an American Board-Certified Haircolorist (ABCH).


At the time coloring hair was my passion but I had a load of excuses not to enroll. It was expensive, time consuming, I thought I was already a hair color expert.


But maybe, probably, the real excuse was that I was afraid to fail.

Now, with nowhere to go but up, I found the money and courage to enroll in the ABCH certification exam. I pushed past my ADHD as if my life depended on it, because this test included an entire textbook to learn and understand the ways of the ABCH. And it was at that time that something miraculous happened. I met and began networking with other like minded hairstylists. I set my ego aside and dove straight into learning more about my craft and honing my skills. I had the rebirth I yearned for. I began looking for classes that interested me, paying the big bucks and showing up.


By the way, I ended up passing that exam and I’m proud to call myself an American Board-Certified Haircolorist.


There’s something crucial, turning point-like, about making that big decision to change. When you get yourself in a spot where you know how things are isn't going to work anymore, and what you once said No to might hold the key to a better way.


For me, it was becoming a board certified haircolorist. And that was the beginning of a new career. A new way of doing things, where the mastery of one thing led to the discovery of another. Always feeling a desire to push myself, beyond everything I’d done to that point.


A life filled with a new confidence, ambition, an entirely new attitude about what was possible.


“Look at Me Now!”


Those words - “Look at me now!”- kind of describes my life post reinvention, the love I have for working with people and the transformation I get to be a part of.


And, yes I may have heard a client or two say those very words, and I can very much imagine they thought it to themselves.


From the time I enrolled in the ABCH program, educating myself wasn’t just my personal reinvention, but an investment in myself, my business, and my clients.


So it was wasn’t long after I passed the ABCH exam that I began to network with a few of the people I met in my study group - women like Vicki Black, of hydrateyourcurls.com, in Peoria, Arizona. And Jo Behrens of Curlyhaircolorado.com, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With their encouragement and direction I studied for and passed the Headshape Matters haircutting certification. It was fun, challenging, another big leap, and I can only imagine what those clients of mine thought when I had my measuring tape out as I cut their hair.


But they loved the transformation, and that made all the difference.


From there, it was just a matter of time before I was learning the art of the curl cut, first with a Deva Inspired class in Milwaukee and after that traveling with my new tribe to the Deva Academy in Soho New York for Deva Advanced classes.


That was the new me, always networking, always improving looking for a way to better bring out the beauty in my clients.


Looking back on that dark time not that many years ago, feeling burnt out and hearing my coworker’s words, who’d have guessed this is where I’d be. I ended up becoming a curl specialist, and it’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done.


The Transformation


There’s something special that happens when I’m working with a new client. For them maybe, it’s a kind of nervous anticipation and excitement of what changes are coming.


For me it’s very rewarding and an honor to have new client’s put their trust in my judgment and opinions about their hair and allow me to work my magic.


There’s nothing like the transformation that reveals itself when it’s finished. I’ve had clients– traumatized by getting “haircuts” their entire lives– crying tears of joy in my chair after their first Curl Cut, seeing just how beautiful their hair really is.



That’s the look at me now moment I love so much. The privilege of being part of a woman’s discovery that Beauty is love for oneself.


And that’s what I take to the salon each and every day.


A single goal—


To help others appreciate and love themselves more.


So, What’s Ahead?


This blog is about sharing what I know, empowering you to help yourself, save time and money, avoid mistakes and work through problems. For example, in the coming months, we’ll have articles that cover--

  • Tips for detoxing and hydrating your hair at home, so you can get the most out of your trip to the salon.

  • Reviews of the best haircare products available, matched to your kind of hair.

  • Everything you should know about diffusers--

    • What they do.

    • How to choose one that’s best for you (including a few I personally recommend).

  • DIY curly hair tips for giving your hair that “just-left-the-salon” look.

  • Working through the problems like--

    • Frizzy hair

    • Bad cuts

  • The coolest new and time-tested tricks to turbocharge your curls

  • And of course, the cuts—

    • The tried, true, and magnificent.

    • The trendy cuts.

And so much more. And it’s all coming your way, free.


But Wait, There’s More


To make setting appointments easy, I’m revamping my website and making it easier to set appointments with online booking for new clients.


Rust Never Sleeps, Especially for Curl Specialists

I’m always learning, always looking for the next way to become better at what I do. And for you Curly Girls (and Guys) out there, to help your hair's natural curly texture look and feel amazing, just the way it was meant to be.


So, I’ve recently taken on my latest big challenge, Curly Hair Artistry Mastery Program with Scott Musgrave. Like many other journeys to self-improvement, it’s stretching me, but I’m up for the challenge.


Looking Back, Looking Ahead, But Loving Life Now


Like many of us, these past few years have been difficult . But the future beckons.


2023’s gotten off to a wonderful start, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year has in store for all of us. I’m hoping you’ll join me here.


Until then, here’s to those who love curly hair. Those I know, and those I’ll meet in the future.








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