Bio
Hair was not Layla’s first career path. She got her degree in Biology in 1999 from Whitman College and spent her first few years out of school as a medical research assistant at OHSU. This experience taught her that she loved learning science, but not the repetitive, mind numbing task of gathering the data. She needed something with more variety.
Her path to hair was not an obvious one. She was part of a bellydance troupe, Tribalation! in 2004 when she was gifted a hair fall from her troupe mate Joy. This gift spawned a love of creating hair pieces filled with yarn, braids, and of course, locs! By 2005, she created a website selling her hair pieces to bellydancers, fire performers, and festival goers around the world.
The next logical step after catching the hair bug was to enroll in Beauty School in 2007. Creating impactful change for people through great hair turned out to be the career she never knew she wanted. She continues to love the beauty industry for its constant change and challenge. Although her specialty is dreadlocks, she loves creating great hair for all humans, and especially loves working with curl, short and creative cuts, and color ranging from natural to the brightest and boldest looks.
Education is crucial to Layla in staying current and making sure she is always using best practices to keep her clients hair as healthy as possible. In 2016, she completed training as a Wella Master Color Expert, as well as cutting education at the Vidal Sassoon Academy. She has also traveled to study with Kristy Ramos of ThirdEye Curly Education and her Curls, Curls, Curls Workshop, and she also completed the Level Up Your Loctitian Skills workshop with Seinstyle founder Anne-Marie, and Dollylocks Founder Alin Leslie.
The impulse to continuously expand her knowledge of all things hair comes from her love of learning and science. The drive to work outside the norms of beauty with clients that define it for themselves is her passion. In her free time she indulges her love of gardening, cycling, dancing, and yoga. She is the mother of one wonderful son, Zed, and considers it her mission to empower her community, one head of hair at a time!