Meet Courtney Appling | Hair Witch

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Appling and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I believe that taking risks is an important part in personal and professional growth. Without taking risks and challenging myself, I absolutely wouldn’t be the person I am today. I do not want to be ‘comfortable’ in my career; I want to prove to myself how strong I am and to inspire others to do the same for themselves.

Taking risks has helped me accomplish so many things in my life: graduating high school early, starting my career in hair at such a young age, and learn to prioritize balance/boundaries in my work life and personal life. Now don’t get me wrong, there are have definitely been times where taking risks have backfired. But the times that I have failed, have helped me learn and to grow as a professional.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I feel like what sets me apart from others the most is my personality. There are so many amazing people doing what I do, and I love that. I draw in inspiration from so many passionate arts and I constantly ask myself how I can grow and lift others up. I think what I am the most proud of with myself is how I have been able to make people feel. I have had clients reach out and tell me how I made them feel confident again, feel like the person they were truly meant to be. That makes me so proud of myself and that is all that I have ever wanted to do with my life.

I won’t say that have had the easiest time, or the hardest time, getting to where I am in my career. I had a very difficult time overcoming personal boundaries and hurdles. I needed to be strict with myself about setting aside personal time so that I could enjoy my time with my friends and husband. But, also dedicate time to dive in to editing client photos, working on social media, responding to clients, and of course, doing actual hair. I definitely had to learn the hard way about what I wanted in a workplace.

When I first got out of school, I just went with whatever salon wanted to hire me. I didn’t look into what that would mean for me when I finished being an assistant, what education programs they had, or even if they had health insurance. I felt unhappy at work, I felt alienated, and not good enough. My career had just started, I should’ve felt relieved to finally get to do big girl hair. It took my a while to learn what I wanted my dream workplace to look like: no drama, freedom to pick what services I wanted to offer, and education. I learned that I needed to interview salons as much as they needed to interview me. Getting through that helped me learn to respect myself more and to not let myself be taken advantage of.

I am now in a space where I can feel confident, valued, and happy. I finally found a salon that I am comfortable being myself at. I discovered that I have a passion for doing non-gendered haircuts and with most salons there is always a ‘women’s cut’ or a ‘men’s cut’. I am very proud to work in a salon that values every client that walks through the doors and that I can provide a safe, judgement-free space to all of my clients.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I LOVE getting to explore new places and hidden gems in the city.

I am the queen of recommending spots for folks new to Atlanta or visiting.

My favorite go-to spots for food and drinks are: Hawkers in ATL, Casi Cielo in Sandy Springs, Miss Gogi in Doraville. Another good spot to hit is Pie Bar in Woodstock/Marietta.

Best spots to go explore are definitely Oakland Cemetery, Little 5 Points. If you are into hiking, Cloudland Canyon State Park and Amicalola Falls.

In my free time, my favorite spots to visit are the Marietta Antique Mall in Marietta, Rainy Day Revival in Chamblee, and Equinox Art Collective in Woodstock.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’ve been doing hair for almost 5 years now. WOW, that is weird to say. But, even with that many years under my belt; I am still always looking for stylists who I can look up to. I never want to feel stagnant in my career, I feel that hair is such a fascinating thing and is always evolving. To me, I always want to be able to provide for my clients and be able to teach them and my fellow stylists. One of my favorite things to do (pre-pandemic, of course!), was to go to classes outside of my salon. I truly believe that I can learn at least one thing from every person I meet, so going to other salons to learn helps expand my exposure to different techniques as well as people. Throughout my journey of being a new hairstylist, I have definitely had my far share of mentors. The most important person that has guided and been a HUGE inspiration to me is my mentor, friend, and coworker, Melissa Corely.

When we started out, she believed in me and my skills when I felt that I wasn’t good because I was new to hair. Before I had met her, I was in a toxic work environment where I was told by an educator that I should give up and that I wasn’t good enough to be a hair dresser. Melissa absolutely did not see me that way, she took me under her wing. She showed me how to be the hairdresser that I dreamed to be and inspired me to keep learning and to never say no to a challenge. She has introduced me to so many online educators like Mags Kavanaugh, Nicki Wildflower, and Sheree Gaff (aka TheRainbowHairArtist). Their content has helped me so much and helped keep me learning during lockdown. Even though I am no longer her assistant, and I am on my own; we still work together on fashion shows, behind the chair, and have even entered in competitions together. She is one of my bestest friends and I am beyond grateful for everything she has done for me. I wholeheartedly believe that I would not be who I am today, without her.

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