Hi, I'm Lauren.
Licensed cosmetologist, 8 years behind the chair, and the founder of The Hair Insider — a space built to give you what your stylist knows but never had time to tell you.
My Story
"Honestly, my hair journey started long before I ever picked up a pair of shears."
Growing up, I was obsessed with long hair. While my older sister effortlessly grew hers out, mine was short, wiry, and stubborn. My mom would buy me clip-in ponytail extensions made for kids — and I wore them every single day. That little girl desperately wanted long hair, and she never really stopped wanting it.
As I got older, my hair settled into a dense, fine, wavy-curly texture. And like most girls in high school, I wanted to be blonde. So I lightened it — repeatedly — and by senior year I already had three years of cosmetology education under my belt. You'd think I would have known better, but the experimenting didn't stop there. Once I graduated, I went straight to cosmetology school and kept going — color, bleach, toners, clip-in extensions, you name it. By the time I finished, my hair was fried, damaged, and crying for help. I turned to extensions twice — tape-ins first, then hand-tied — and both times, with little guidance on proper care, they pulled my hair out and left me worse off than before.
Here's the part that still gets me: I was a licensed stylist, and I still didn't know how to grow my own hair.
So I figured it out. I started oiling daily, protecting my hair at night, embracing heatless and protective styles, and truly learning what my specific hair needed. A year later it was the longest and fullest it had ever been. Five years in, it reaches my waist — and people ask me constantly if it's real. It is. And no, I'll probably never cut it short.
That personal journey — combined with eight years behind the chair watching clients struggle with the same confusion — is what led me to create The Hair Insider. I kept seeing women come in frustrated, having followed influencer advice that just didn't work for their hair. And I noticed that while there's endless content for stylists and endless product pushing for consumers, nobody was sitting in the middle actually teaching clients about their own hair.
That's exactly what I'm here to do. Because when you truly understand your hair, everything changes — and that knowledge should be available to everyone, not just those lucky enough to have the right stylist.
I'm so glad you're here. Let's get you to your best hair yet.
Lauren xoxo