Meet Lavielle Huff | Hair Color Artist

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

Hi Lavielle, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
Honestly being disciplined. I don’t cut things short and find excuses if it’s something that I want to achieve. I’m big into fitness as well and keep myself going to bed and waking up around the same times to keep myself on a set schedule. I meal prep and all that too. Being disciplined in other important aspects of my life keep me grounded in my career and help me not have a quiter’s attitude. We all go through spurts of ‘I don’t feel like doing this’ but holding myself accountable for so long helps push me through that mental block.

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’ve always been told that I’m not a typical hairstylist. I don’t even call myself a hairstylist, it’s just the common term. I call myself a hair color artist because the things that I do are honestly just like painting only on hair instead of paper. Im an artist by nature, I grew up drawing and painting in some form or fashion all my life.

I started out doing dramatic, detailed eyeshadow looks actually before I even thought about doing hair and it was definitely a nice prerequisite to where I am now because it helped me understand how different colors can clash with different skin tones and how just a small addition of color somewhere can completely change a look.

I’m very meticulous about my work and if I don’t think something that a person wants suits them, I’ll come up with a more flattering alternative because that’s my name on you. I make sure to put detail into my color application so that when my clients leave people are constantly asking them about their hair color, which I’m happy to say that they often do. I’m also a big perfectionist so if I don’t like what I did I offer to make it better for free because I can’t stand not hitting the mark with a person’s hair, and I think people appreciate that about me.

Hair is a fluid, organic medium so placement is the key in making it look great. Theres angles and light distribution to think about in relation to movement, very reminiscent to sculpting, painting and other traditional artistic mediums and people really don’t even realize that until they sit in my chair. I’m glad that I can show people that I’m not just ‘playing with hair’ all day and am creating art behind the chair. I think my attention to detail has thankfully made my journey over the past 5+ years in the beauty industry pretty smooth because people appreciate an artist that puts their soul into their craft.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I grew up in the suburbs of Frisco and never felt like I really could relate to the people I grew up around or the area. I honestly considered moving to Austin because I didn’t know where the more artistic and cool parts of Dallas were until I started actually coming to the city after high school and found my soft spot in the heart of Dallas. I work in Deep Ellum and I honestly can never give enough compliments to the area. There’s such a mix of things to do, cool bars with fun attractions inside them, art galleries, tattoo shops, great food, live music in multiple venues, cool eccentric shows to catch, clubs, art everywhere, just about a mile from the main skyline so you can easily go explore the cool sculptures and concepts downtown. Whether you like more grunge and grit or are glitz and glam, i’s truly a great place to come to whenever someone is visiting Dallas no matter the type of person you are, there’s just something to enjoy for everyone.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There’s two people that really have been the catalysts to my success: My sister Shelby and my mother.

My mom is honestly the biggest reason why I’m able to achieve what I have and the person I cherish the most in my life. She is a person that will figure out how to achieve what she wants even if she has to sacrifice her time for herself. If it wasn’t for her being like this I would never have the life that I have. I’m fortunate to say that my mom has made me and my sisters never have to want for anything thanks to her hard work and determination all these years. She always was supportive of what I wanted to do even if it was inconvenient because she wanted me to do what I enjoyed. Raising 3 girls almost alone was not easy at all I’m sure, especially with no family nearby but she somehow just figured it out. She was always determined to give us a life she never had and I’m forever grateful for that. I feel like because she sacrificed a lot for us to have a good life that I have been determined to make my own way so she has one less kid to worry about and I think that I’ve accomplished that at this point and am proud that I’m starting to be able to repay her for giving me my life at just 25 years old.

Then there’s Shelby. Shelby is technically my big cousin but she has grown to become my big sister in adulthood. She has faced a lot of hardships but somehow manages life around her children with little worries. She just manages to make things happen despite any setbacks and I truly admire that about her because I am the opposite and am a person that if something goes wrong my world is ending. Watching her become the woman and mother she is today over the past 12 years has truly been something and she helps me see that life doesn’t stop just because of a bunch of bumps in the road. I’m learning through her that you just have to detour around that obstacle to meet your goals.

Determination and resilience is a common trait in these two women in my life that I think helps push me to never give up and always strive for more, because they could do it without way more obstacles than I’ve ever faced.

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