The Teals
As you know, we are pretty hardcore Nerd Stalkers. Sharing the fruits of our labor is half the fun! We are sure you have heard of The Teals and you have probably even read an interview or two about them. Hold on to your nerd glasses because we are getting up close and PERSONAL with this dynamic duo!
Ryan Teal is a vivacious and outspoken hair artist with an absolute love for all things creative. A well-accomplished and award-winning salon, session and stage artist, he’s also a passionate teacher who openly shares his vision and inspiration with others. From highly polished long hairdressing to daring and avant garde catwalk creations, you too will be impressed and inspired!
DeAnnalyn Teal- A true hair color artist with a creative and detailed eye for design, DeAnnalyn Teal applies her vast knowledge of color chemistry to achieve beautiful, transforming results. This expertise, along with her down-to-earth approach, makes her an in-demand colorist and designer in the salon as well as in the industry – whether independently or as part of the Teal duo, she’s a well-accomplished educator, platform artist and session stylist.
As a successful salon owner and stylist, what do you feel is one of the biggest mistakes beginners tend to make?
Ryan- HAHAHA. Becoming an owner! Not everyone should be an owner, it's tough.
DeAnnalyn- I think people tend to think this is a super easy career to get into, and that all they need to do is spend 14 months in school and you have your certificate and you're done... you don't need anymore training. Every other professional occupation you have to go to at least a 4 year school and then some.
What is nice about those careers is you know exactly how long it will take before you are done with your schooling. With hair because it is a open format learning, it could take 6 to 12 years to ever really get an understanding of what you are doing.
I think Beginners start their careers with little to no education and all pumped up because they went to an expensive name brand school. They assume they are going to make $250,000 in the first year, and when they don't have those successes in the first 3 years.. they quit.
Ryan- I would say being under financed as an owner.
After being an educator for years, how did you convince yourself to dive head first into building a salon? How hard or easy was it for you to make the decision for this change?
DeAnnalyn- I was an educator when I met Ryan, and I used to take him to hair shows. When he got out of school, we decided to throw it all in. Tuesday had just been born and we decided that we needed to jump off that cliff and create something that we could be proud of.
Ryan- Years?? I was a Salon owner 6 months after beauty school. The salon we were working in was going to sell, and they wanted to sell us with it. So i looked around at all of the other salons in the area and none of them were doing what we wanted to do, so we said F*@k it... lets do it ourselves. We had NOOOO money...I did all of the build out myself at night when I finished working in the salon all day.
What is most rewarding about educating other stylists?
Ryan- Our mentors in the Industry taught us that you can never really call something yours until you can give it away. That lesson has stuck with me my whole life.
Also, there is a High that you get, it is kinda like a drug and it is addicting. It is that moment when you see a light go off in someone's eyes... when they let go of their preconceived notions and they get it. There is no other drug that can come compare.
DeAnnalyn- A candle never loses any of it's brightness when it is used to light another candle, in fact; for a brief second both candles get brighter.
You guys do it all together... What is your secret for not killing each other?
Ryan- It is tough... can you imagine seeing me every day??? Hell, I would kill Me! No really, it does get tough we fight and scream and yell, we come to the salon in bad moods and I will slam doors and throw scissors. In reality she is and has always been my best friend. We make fun of each other and we have a lot of fun. We also drink a lot, so we can't remember each other half the time.
DeAnnalyn- I have been slowly poisoning him since 1993.
Ryan- Seriously, I hate it when I am not around her. I always say that D and I are really only half of a good hairdresser, but when we are together we make 1 really good hairdresser.
As we saw at ISSE, you have a unique dynamic and are able to entertain, educate and inspire all at once. What do you hope each stylist takes from a class with you?
Ryan-I Will never teach a class that I would not want to go to. I hate boring sales driven education. I HATE hairdressers or platform artists that think they are "the shit".
Dude, I am a hairdresser just like the person watching me in the class room, and I am no better or worse than anyone I have ever taught in a classroom or on stage. Our backgrounds are just different. So my thought is that when I teach I am really just sharing what I am doing.
I hate this whole," This is what we are seeing on the runways at Fashion Week" or "What we are doing for our collections," Bull Shit. I am more about THIS is what we are doing in our little 1000 sq ft salon in Portland and we think it is kinda rad and hope you do to...I ramble.
What goals have The Teals not conquered, yet ?
Ryan- We are very goal oriented and have done just about everything in the industry.. We have owned a School, a small chain of salons, our own product line, I currently have a Distributorship and we have traveled the world. I usually just wait until I see something and then attack it.
DeAnnalyn- Our next goal is to be financially independent and debt free. To not have to work because we need the money, but to work because we love it. We plan on conquering that goal by the end of this year.
The Teals have made hair a family affair. Your gorgeous daughter, Tuesday, is currently enrolled in cosmetology school. What has it been like watching her grow through the process of school and her NAHA entry?
DeAnnalyn- It has been kinda surreal.. you know she has been on set since she could crawl. She used to sit under the photographer while he was shooting and tell the models how to pose. It is natural that she will feel comfortable beginning this career.
Ryan- She really had no choice. She had to go to hair school, but she doesn't have to be a hairdresser. We just wanted to give her a skill that she could survive on if she chooses college or whatever. She does like the lifestyle, though. Her NAHA this year was the SHIT. I was blown away, she only had a budget of 30 dollars and was living in a whole other state. We would check in with her on skype, but we hated everything she was showing us.
I was like," OH SHIT, she is going to screw up this shoot." But on the day of the shoot she pulled it out.
In fact, it was the end of the day and BABAK and I were goofing around. We were pretending to be Motley Crue and she kept yelling at me to help hold hair and what not. I would lose interest and pretend like i was Tommy Lee (not the Pam Anderson Tommy Lee...Ew.. but the" Shout at the Devil", Tommy Lee. )
I guess what I am trying to say, is that she did the whole collection without D or myself.
What inspired you to write your " The Long Hair Dressing Method" book?
DeAnnalyn- We feel that Hairdressers in the States aren't giving the tools to have successes with dressing long hair, so they are afraid of it or refuse to dress hair. Even just the term "Dressing hair" or "Long hair dressing" has a connotation of elegance and that we know what we are doing. Vivienne Mackinder put out a series called, "I am not just a Hairdresser". The series wasn't called, "I am not just a Stylist." or "I am not just a Hair-cutter." We need to as a hairdressing community have more self respect. Even a good hair-cutter can dress the hair with a beautiful blow dry.
Ryan- It is funny because hair care manufactures see the value of long hairdressing. Just about every one has a class or a video offered to teach you their collection, but they all have their own way of cutting a bob or long layers. People that want to learn the fundamentals of Long Hairdressing are left unfulfilled. I was left wanting more, so I decided to write a methodology of long hair dressing. My belief is that if you give a man a fish he eats for a day, but if you teach him how to fish he can eat for a lifetime. D and I are just teaching people how to fish.
Top 3 Stylists you would love to work with...
Ryan-
1.TREVOR SORBIE- I have never even been in the same state as him. I feel like i have a kinship with him.
2.Angelo Seminara- Anybody that Trevor says is talented; is royalty to me.
3.Christopher Galliet- That man is a hair Magician. (Hair Nerd Note: see Hairdini)
Which classes/ techniques have blown your mind ?
Ryan- I know this sounds stuck up or conceited but our Special Operations class. I wish someone else would teach it because I would love to take it! We go through every single wig and hair piece that D and I have ever made and dissect the whole process. Then make wigs together. After every single class, I feel attached to the participants like family. It is like cutting open my chest and letting everyone inside and being completely vulnerable. I LOVE IT.
DeAnnalyn- Ann Mincey gave us a class in Big Bear that was all about being a Star. I loved that class.
How do you use your talents to make a difference?
DeAnnalyn- By sharing knowledge with my peers and waving the flag of the self respecting hairdressers.
What items would you die without?
DeAnnalyn- Mexican food and chips
Ryan- I have (3) 120gb Ipods completely full of music. I carry them with me at all times. I need music.
Have you ever had an "OMG, what the hell am I doing here?!" moment? Share.
DeAnnalyn- We get them all of the time. It is funny when you work sooo hard at something everyday you can't see what you are doing. But when you stop for a moment and relax, you can see all that you have done. Every morning I wake up and I think how lucky I am... that I have come this far, and people might respect my opinion about something. It is staggering, I remember looking up to hairdressers and thinking wow what must it be like to be on stage or to win awards or whatever. Now we look back and we're exactly the same people.
Ryan- Going up the hill on the "Goliath" at Magic Mountain. Tuesday started to cry because she didn't think she could do this ride. I looked around and I was like," WOW, this is really tall... It is funny, but that is almost like an analogy for our life.
Words to live by...
DeAnnalyn- Don't ever sell them something they don't need.
Ryan- Always be generous.
On a perfect day I spend it... and eating...
Ryan- In an Airport, I love Traveling. My clients always ask if I am traveling for business or pleasure, I always say that my Business is pleasurable.
DeAnnalyn- With Ryan, eating home cooked tamales in Laguna Beach.
What do people find most surprising about you?
Ryan- I am half Mexican, and that I am a vegetarian. People always look at me and say," Really, you are a vegetarian?" I usually say that a brontosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever, was a vegetarian and had a tiny little brain.. just like me.
DeAnnalyn- I am a 2nd degree black belt.
What is your next BIG project?
Ryan- I am writing a Book called "SHOOT YOUR WORK" which is an all encompassing manual on how to shoot your work for art sake. Not how to shoot and get paid or shoot for commercial, but how to arrange a shoot and express yourself artistically.
I interviewed over 30 of the greatest hairdressers in America. I compiled their thoughts on how they shoot. I got to interview people like, Ruth Roche, Kriss Sorbie, Chris Baran, Nick French, Steve Elias, and soooo on. They are all people that I have the utmost of respect for.
Balance, how do you maintain yours?
Ryan- I have lots of hobbies. All three of us are Black Belts in Martial Arts. I play guitar, brew beer and wine, and we have a huge garden. I also get up every day at 5:30 am and work on my side projects so by 11:00am (when I go to work) I have completed most of my tasks that needed to get done.
What is one of your #hairstylistproblems?
Ryan- Varicose Veins from standing too long... My hands go to sleep sometimes because of holding the scissors... Poor Posture from holding up the blow dryer...
DeAnnalyn- I would say that there are too many of us...Meaning when the economy went in the toilet in 2008 everyone thought... " Hey, my hairdresser isn't very smart...I can go do what he does." It flooded our industry with students but nobody was hiring, so the student either leaves the industry or starts a salon, to create a job. I think we should consider limiting the amount of licenses issued in a state.
I knew I was a Hair Nerd when….
Ryan- I realized I had no friends, and I pee myself sometimes.
DeAnnalyn- HAHAHAHA, I have been my whole life.
There you have it.. Try and fight the urge to book the next flight to Portland to stalk this amazing couple. Don't worry! We are packing our bags right now and taking to the skies for the ultimate Hair-Venture/ The Teals Edition this weekend.