Meet Sam
HI! I’M SAM.
To say I’m excited to be here is the understatement of the century. Up to this point, the bosses have been bringing the voice of CocoLemon to both the blog and the website. I’ve been involved here and there to edit, but I never thought “wow it would be so fun to write the blog” because 1) it’s already so good and 2) to be honest, I never was delusional enough (and if you don’t know me, I’m here to tell you that i’m delusional about most things) to think it was something i’d even be qualified for as someone who’s only been licensed behind the chair since 2020. Like giving advice on the internet or bringing the voice of the incredible business Ashley and SarahMarie have built to the internet is… an insane thought
But one morning I woke up to a message from them asking if i’d be interested in taking over the blog.
Philosophical question: if a girl screams in her bedroom while home alone, did she even scream? As someone who definitely didn’t do that, i’m leaning toward no.
Alas… I am SO grateful to tell you that you’re all stuck with lil’ ol’ me from here on out. I have so many ideas for future blog posts and can’t wait for this journey of bringing all things haircare to you wonderful people and attempt to do the magic of CocoLemon Hair justice.
So here’s a little bit about my job at CocoLemon, why (I think) they entrusted this to me in the first place, and a list of my must-have products because I like to work it in anywhere I can. I hope you enjoy, friends.
what I do behind the chair
It’s hard to say what I do behind the chair because it’s many things all at once. Generally, it’s color. But if you were to label me as a specialist in something, I am a specialist in anything that involves more foil work than any normal person should want to do. I live for a tedious task. So it does leave me with a lot of blondies. Fun story though—my Instagram made it look like I was a red specialist for a second and boyyy was that a trying time for me (*shudders*—no shade to redheads as I am one of you, but formulating red is scary af). Imagine my shock when my guests started bringing me pictures of the my formerly very-blonde guests that decided they wanted to go a bold red. I was sweatin’. (see below)
That being said, overly-detailed projects are my jam. My heart screams at the idea of a transformation and I really reached for the stars and fulfilled my goals because boyyyyy do I have a clientele full of beautiful humans who like to keep me on my toes with changes in their look. I really did that for me and I think that’s so fun.
I also *geek* out about styling hair. The most creative I really get to be while doing this job is when i’m doing formal styling (weddings, events, etc.). I am obsessed with thinking about ways I can move hair around to create something with visible movement that is simultaneously the most secure style ever. So I’m a big nerd about figuring out how products work and manipulating them to my advantage. It’s a fun little game for me.
TLDR: IT’S A LOT OF BLONDING. i also love Updos.
Why me?
To misquote my lord and savior Elle Woods—
“why now? why this Coco girly?”
I’ve had a love of writing since before I came out of the womb. I’m 100% positive that is a true fact that science would back up. And, if i’m looking deeply into why I love it so much, I must be honest about that fact that I think it’s because I never stop talking and there does come a point in people’s eyes glazing over where you’re like “okay yeah, I should move this conversation somewhere else.” And bam, she’s a writer.
Assuming I loved English class is absolutely right, but when I got to high school and found Newspaper I was LOSIN’ IT. In a good way. To this day, I think about how much joy it brought me & one of the most fun things that happened years later was the glorious woman who taught that class is now one of my guests behind the chair. It’s been 11 years since I graduated and back in the day (she no longer teaches), she would give out awards at the end of the year. Mine was “Most Likely to Be a Journalist” out of a group of kids who did also want to be one themselves and did then go on to do things with writing. We giggle about it and she will be my editor whenever I finish writing my book. So I guess she wasn’t that far off.
I did start off with that intention, though—I picked JMU for a handful of reasons, but mainly for their School of Media Arts & Design because they had a journalism concentration. It just so happens that I took a Communications gen-ed and quickly fell in love with communication theory—learning how people interact with each other fascinates me to this day. And, even though I loved it as much as I do, it still didn’t feel like what I wanted to dedicate my life to at the time. So one day I just decided to throw everything I’d ever done out the window and take a chance on myself with hair—the last of my three major interests. I never stop thinking about how grateful I am for that decision, as it combines everything I loved about all the lives I’ve tried to live—I get to be creative and produce tangible work every single day, I get to take what I learned about human interaction and use it to better my communication behind the chair, and I get to talk to people. I get to hear their stories and learn things from our conversations every single day, which was the genesis of the writing in the first place.
And now here I am.
It’s pretty fun.
TLDR: i went to jmu for media arts & design—i wanted to be a journalist.
MY FAVORITE PRODUCTS
T3 SINGLE PASS CURLING IRON: When I first got this I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it (the clamp is much tighter than other irons I gravitate toward—Babyliss is a great one too), but boy was it the start of a love affair. She’s sleek, she heats the hair evenly (it always shocks me how hard that can be to find even from professional brands), and she’s gentle. I use this behind the chair every single day.
T3 FEATHERWEIGHT STYLE MAX: Another tool I wasn’t sure about at first! And, to be honest, it’s because it’s not loud and doesn’t feel like it’s strong enough compared to every other dryer around. Companies really do be pumping out dryers that are exclusively very loud and very hot. So it was the shock of a lifetime when it didn’t cut down on drying time at all, and to top it off, it’s the most customizable dryer I’ve used. It has settings to adjust what you’re blowdrying for (rough dry, smoothing, diffusing, or volume) and will customize the temperature and airflow to whatever you select. I tend to adjust all of it manually anyway just because I know my guesties’ hair well enough, but for at-home use it makes deciding what settings to use a breeze.
EUFORA URGENT REPAIR SHAMPOO: This is… everything to me. If you’re a fan of a clarifying or detox shampoo, you know they’re meant to pack a punch in the cleansing department. While there’s a handful I’ve come across and loved in my lifetime, none more than this baby. Eufora’s product line as a whole is based in USDA certified organic aloe (like harvested and cold-pressed within 2 hours of that harvesting), so it’s incredibly moisturizing across the board. And the same goes for their detox shampoo. Their DETOX shampoo!! So, yeah, that’s pretty crazy and the science of it is something I geek out about. It’s also minty and cooling and smells incredible. 12/10 would recommend.
EUFORA URGENT REPAIR TREATMENT: This is the conditioning counterpart to the angel baby shampoo you just read about. It’s taking everything in me to keep this shorter than the last blurb, but *screams* I will try my best. *Deep breath*. Straight up, you need this. That’s it, that’s the sentence. It’s brought straight up to the scalp, super protein rich, and the most revitalizing sensation you’ll ever feel. It promotes scalp health and is life changing if you’re someone with scalp issues (me). 15/10.
EUFORA FULL EFFECT: I’m gonna be honest—this product does work, but mainly it’s here for the smell. It’s kind of hard to write a dissertation about texture sprays in general because they’re really not doin’ too much. And I say that with love—shoutout to texture sprays ily. But really all they’re going to do is give you separation in your hair strands, visibly define layers, and won’t weigh your hair down. That’s it. So while they’re quiet and not very mighty, they are incredible for what they’re meant to do. And this one is one of the best.
EUFORA FORMATION: I said it in the spring style do’s & don’ts and I’ll say it again—this product is like “mousse… but make it foam.” It’s got all the benefits you’re looking for when you’d traditionally reach for a mousse (volume, style memory, control) without the weight or tackiness you’ll find in a lot of traditional mousses. Contrary to the lil bit of shade I just threw at texture sprays, this one is for sure mighty. Also easy to use at home. (I find some mousses to be harder to use on yourself because they don’t move around as much and can end up leaving you with a spot on your head that is extra polished and… solid. *hehe* no shade, ily mousse)
FRAMAR DETANGLING BRUSH: Not even gonna pretend I can write a serious blurb about a detangling brush. It’s a brush :) But as far as detangling brushes go, this is my absolute favorite. It works and the adorable limited edition drops from Framar 2334958 times a year (which like… thank GOD, the foil patterns are cute af too and I eat them uppppp every time) are why I have about one million brushes too many.
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