Hilda Morales’ studios are cocoons, of sorts; clients enter one way and emerge a transformed, glowing, gorgeous version of themselves.
“Of all things in the beauty industry, color is what makes the client feel a whole different way, with a whole new look,” the owner and CEO of Colour Kraze salons says. “Having a change that drastic always brings a happy face to the client, especially if they’re going through something. For us on the hair-care side, knowing we can make someone happy always changes our day, too. That feeling drew me into wanting to do it more.”
Inspired by metamorphic encounters, the hair-color artist immersed herself in her craft.
Twenty years ago, she says, she realized college studies didn’t ignite a fire in her belly like cosmetology, so she attended beauty school and found a mentor in Carole Lucio, a board-certified colorist with a salon and product line in Addison.
“I was very lucky to have the opportunity to apprentice for her because she was an educator who taught color and did hair shows, and she helped me have the type of life that I always wanted,” says Morales, who lost her father at a young age and who herself was a teenage mother.
“I was a Hispanic woman with no money going to beauty school, and she helped me to picture doing what she did in Addison for the Oak Cliff community.”
After a few years learning every-thing possible from Lucio, Morales — an Oak Cliff resident who emigrated to the United States from Mexico as a child — opened a tiny salon, just enough space for herself and an assistant, where she continued fine-tuning her skills.
“I was not afraid to ask more experienced colorists for help,” she says. “‘How did you come up with this color?’ Or, ‘what would you do here?’”
She was practicing her craft so obsessively, she did not even consider promoting herself. Once a friend encouraged her to showcase her work on Facebook, she says, she began getting 300 messages a day from clients wanting to book.
Today she has two Oak Cliff salons and a team of 15 younger artists learning from her. But before that, she had to learn about running a company.
“After I opened the second hair salon, things got a little rocky,” she says. “My passion for hair was so big, but I did not know how to work a business. And that’s something that I always see (in entrepreneurs). We have the passion to do something because we’re so good at it, but we forget that being passionate for something and knowing how to do business is completely different.”
Photo courtesy of Hilda Moralez
Photo courtesy of Hilda Moralez
Photo courtesy of Hilda Moralez
Photo courtesy of Hilda Moralez
The first crop of stylists she hired did not last long before leaving to do their own thing, she says.
She got more strategic, hiring someone to help in administrative roles and with marketing. She has a following in the Spanish-speaking community but hopes to reach a broader audience, she says.
Now the stylists and colorists who work for her are also learning from her.
“This time, when I started hiring, it was completely different,” she says. Smoother operations freed up time for her to launch her line of Barbie Kraze hair extensions.
Hair extensions can make the color pop even more, which she digs, but the ones on the market were expensive, and the quality was not always what she wanted for her clients, she says. So she cut out the middleman and started producing and selling her own soft, natural Russian hair, which she says is the best. (Most human hair for extensions comes from India or China and is dark, whereas Russia and Ukraine is the best market for naturally blonde hair, a New York Times article explains.)
Morales has come a long way technologically since those days when she did not even have a Facebook page.
Today hundreds of Instagram and YouTube influencers promote her services and products, and she’s always looking to get the word out.
She has added a brush and eyelash extensions to the list of in-salon products, and she plans to expand her online sales and product line.
“When you master one thing, you’re supposed to move on to the next, right? That’s what is happening now,” she says.
She’s surrounded by people who are passionate about the things she loves. The salons are running brilliantly and making money.
“So,” she says, “what’s next?”
Colour Kraze studios are located at 1719 W. Tenth St. and 4444 Jefferson Blvd.
