Introduction – aka Our Story

Hello and Welcome to ELISTOCRAT!

We have recently unveiled our new concept and launched this website.

In this first blog I wanted to talk about this whole “Don’t mess with your beauty!” idea and overall concept of our service and how it came to be…

I may say it all started with me getting a stylish short haircut in my 20s and cutting my long hair for the first time. Similar to America’s Next Top Model makeover, I went in with long hair and my best friend cut in into a pixie AND… I loved it!

At that moment I realized that my best friend analyzed my face shape and features better than anyone else and gave me my perfect cut. It was stylish, it was short, and it made me stand out. Since that day my cut never really changed. My color changed a lot, from blond, to jet black, to red, to highlights, but the cut remained the same with marginal stylizing through the years.

As I moved away from my home town, the issue was obvious: where was I going to find a hairdresser, who could repeat this exact cut that I love and would not mess me up??? Mind you, every little deviation from THE CUT was messing it up!!!

After many, many, many mess-ups and tears, I found my perfect hairdresser in Atlanta, who could repeat the cut and style it the right way. What did it take to find that right stylist for me back then? Well, it took a lot of really bad visits, a lot of friend-asking, until I met a lady with a cut similar to mine and asked her where she had her hair done. Bingo! I got my contact and made my appointment the next day. My hair looked great and I felt even better about it for several years, while in Atlanta.

After another move to another city, the situation repeated itself, and ultimately every move came with a challenge of getting a hairdresser that would not mess up my style.

Why should it be so hard? After searching on-line I felt that Yelp, although listing hairdressers and reviews, could not provide me with enough examples and search options. I wish I could sift through “short hair”, find stylists who specialize in those cuts, and actually see their work. Pick the cut I like, bookmark it, make appointment, and tell the stylist: “Here is the cut you have done, I love it! Could you please cut my hair the same way?” Done! I have come across other on-line hair stylists search outlets that asked me so many questions before they were going to send me a list with stylists that THEY thought would work for me.  That was too daunting to just answer the questions without seeing anything… so I would never complete the process… Just show me the cuts -> I see my cut -> I know this person can do it.

That’s when I thought that I could do something about it! ELISTOCRAT idea was born.

I thought it would be cool if one is after a budget cut, they could search by price and coupons. If one is after a special occasion style or organic products usage, they could search by that criteria as well. And if one prefers to pick styles visually, one can search through applicable photos. No need to scout 100s of instagram accounts to find a style and its creator.

To make it a step more convenient, one can create an account and bookmark hairstyles, hairdressers, and savings coupons while searching.  Next time you need them, pull up your bookmarks and there! Your are ready for your next great haircut! OR if haircut is needed ASAP, you can check out stylist’s availability and make an appointment. And of course if you had a great experience (or not…), you can come back here and leave reviews.

Bottom line, no more messing with the hair!

One might argue that hair is not that important. Hair is not teeth and will grow back in due time 🙂

I disagree! I personally do not feel beautiful if my hair is too short or styled the wrong way. I also think that if I were to have long hair I would look totally plain. Hair Stylist for me is person of interest #1 when I am in a new city or on a long trip that requires a trim. We have all been there: the first thing we want to change, if something drastically changed in our lives, is HAIRSTYLE. We can never underestimate the importance of hairstyle in how we look and most importantly how we feel about ourselves.

With our new hairstylist search service I am hoping to achieve just that: never to be disappointed in the next haircut and not let anyone mess up our beauty!

Great hair stylist is the person who will make our day, month, quarter… until we are ready for the next haircut 🙂 This is why now, when we are just starting out, we are inviting hair stylists to sign up and join our beautiful community! Our goal is to make ELISTOCRAT the first place to check when one needs a haircut or an inspiration.

So, yes, this is my hair story!

 

 

Veronica Lobanow  – Co-Founder and CEO