Meet Cassie Roland of Luxe Hair and Beauty

Hi Cassie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
At a young age, I was always interested in anytWhat ‘Green and Eco friendly things does your salon offer tGreen and Eco friendlyhat sets you aparthing that had to do with art or music. I was the go-to girl for braided hair at basketball and volleyball games, hair and makeup for school dances, and I took every art class that would allow me to join. I believe you find out what you really love doing at a young age, even if you still aren’t sure where to apply that later in life. I always thought I wanted to have a career in healthcare because I’m an empath and I love hearing others’ life stories. What I later discovered is that there is a career in which you can have a creative outlet and take care of people, the beauty industry.

After graduating from cosmetology school, my first year doing hair was mainly observing, sweeping hair, doing pedicures, and booking appointments. In the beginning, the hours and pay were terrible. It took me years to build my clientele and a lot of conversations with myself and my husband to not give up. He has always seen a light in me I sometimes lose sight of and has encouraged me every step of the way. I worked nights, and weekends and had a second job (home healthcare) for the first 5 years of my hair career. I continued to build an amazing group of clients over 13 years. I learned how to manage, team building, and all the ins and outs that make a business successful over those years. I had a great mentor that I learned a lot from, but I also was able to learn many things that I would do differently.

Over that time I also had my daughters, now almost 7 and 9 years old. I knew when they were babies that I didn’t want the added responsibility of my own business. Thankfully, I was able to enjoy their infant years by limiting my hours, a privilege I will never take for granted.

Now that they are in school, Joe and I give our full attention as business owners and we love it. Looking back, if I didn’t have the struggles and patience that I had then, I wouldn’t be able to lead other stylists now. Success doesn’t happen overnight, it happens while you are putting in all the late nights and extra work over a span of many years.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road to establishing Luxe. I’ve made many mistakes and have learned along the way. The main reason my husband and I chose to start Luxe was to create a positive space for hairdressers to learn in, grow and be able to make decisions for our families. And of course, to continue relationships with clients and give them great services.

In January of 2021, after being laid off many times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we took every penny we had ever saved and took the biggest leap we have ever taken to purchase the building and a business. It sounds absolutely crazy on paper, but there has always been a little voice in our heads that told us, you are capable of so much more. When the opportunity came, we both agreed, this is what we were meant to do, together. We renovated the salon the whole first year of business while we operated. That alone was a huge task to tackle. It meant working on our Sundays off since the salon was open 6 days a week.

It also meant sacrificing family time, and our normal weekends off, that whole first year. The week we were closed for the big part of our renovation, our plumbing permits did not arrive in time, there was a big miscommunication with our painter, and we found an unexpected pipe inside a wall we took out, pushing our timeline way beyond what it should have been. Thankfully, a term I’ve learned to quickly adapt in the whole process – “everything is figure-outable.” I’ve noticed my team will often say this as well now,which also means that my positive outlook would forever be contagious as long as I am leading that way.

Situations like this will never go as planned, but you move forward with a new plan and keep walking forward. Even if it is one small step at a time. We pushed thru the renovation and made it happen, and always involved our daughters when we could to make sure our family time wasn’t compromised too much. They saw our challenges, but they also see daily how we work thru them together and we do not give up.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Luxe Hair and Beauty?
Luxe is a team of 8 stylists, nestled in the bluffs of Winona, MN. Cassie Roland, Jessica Hentges, Amy Nelton, Marissa Flynn, Naomi Weideman, Kayla Hanson, Courtney Wiese and Sophie Scruggs. Luxe artists are elite trained in the latest hair artistry techniques with many years of experience and training from top educators all around the U.S. This team of stylists are from many different areas surrounding Winona such as, Rushford, Plainview, Lewiston and Wabasha.We strive to give you the best hair experience with our newly updated salon, relaxing shampoo experience, and top-of-the-line haircare and body products.

Luxe is a luxury and eco-friendly hair salon that offers organic beauty products and hair-cutting, coloring, facial waxing, hair exension, and airbrush makeup services to men, women, and children. We currently carry Kevin Murphy & Moroccan oil hair care lines and hair accessories by Kitsch, Emma Flhair, and Steel& Clover Jewelry. Over the last two years, we have also added body care lines from Moroccan oil, Spongelle, and Silky Body and Bath.

We love being able to help and support our community, seasonally we feature local artists such as Gourdgeous Jewelry, Willhouse Candles, and Jade Williow earrings. We pride ourselves on our many continuing education classes throughout the year. Last year we took over 8 classes to stay up to date on product knowledge, Kevin Murphy haircut and color trends, as well as advanced up-style techniques and our newest menu addition, hand-tied hair extensions.

In 2022 we started training in Temptu airbrush makeup to add to our bridal and special occasion services and will be adding them to our service menu in the summer of 2023. We are most proud of the relaxing and positive environment we have created at Luxe. Many clients comment on our welcoming atmosphere, product delivery, and talented artists.

Thankfully there are many great hairdressers in the area, but what sets us apart is our environment, team, and values. We strive to be your daymaker, not just your stylist.

We are only 2 years into our Luxe journey, but we believe we are only getting started.