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Laval, Quebec-based hairstylist Maggie Semaan is a 2026 Editorial Award winner. Her winning work was brought to life alongside makeup artist Emily Clayton, photographer Amer Mohamed, and wardrobe stylist Nour Bou Ezz.
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Doctor: "According to Federation law, holograms have no rights."
Janeway: "You have the same rights as every other member of this crew, and I am not going to let this publisher say otherwise."
— Star Trek: Voyager, "Author, Author" (Season 7, Episode 19, 2001)
Look, if you've ever been to our office, you already know there's a 60% chance a Star Trek episode is playing somewhere in the background at any given moment. Anyway, there's this episode called Author, Author where the holographic Doctor character writes a story, pours everything into it, and then gets absolutely blindsided. People take advantage of him. His story exposes vulnerabilities in people he cares about. And through it all, he realizes he has no legal protection because, technically, he's not a person.
So they go after the legal rights of personhood for him.
But here's what stuck with us: he doesn't win personhood. What he wins is authorship rights. Control over his work. Recognition as its creator. And that win, the one he didn't even know he was fighting for, is the one that sets him apart.
Sometimes it's like that. You go after the big thing - independence, your own space, building something from nothing, and somewhere along the way you pick up something smaller that turns out to matter more than you expected. Your signature. Your reputation. The way people talk about you when you're not in the room. Those aren't the goals you set out chasing. But they're what make you irreplaceable.
This issue is for that part of the journey. The wins that sneak up on you. The things you built without realizing you were building them.
Live long and prosper, -the salonMonster team |
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Stop Guessing. Start Charging What You're Worth.
Here's the thing about pricing advice, averages are almost useless.
They don't know your overhead, your speed, your product costs, or how full your book is. Two stylists working a block apart can have wildly different minimums.
We built a free tool that figures out yours, service by service, and gives you a plan to raise rates without losing clients. |
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Tools
The instax mini Evo™ embodies a new generation of analog, combining a classic look with more ways to create. Use the lens and film dials in combination to express your creativity in 100 different ways. Set up and capture your unique shots using the LCD screen. The mini Evo sparks ideas to unlock endless ways to express yourself! |
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Distractions
2019 Netflix Series. Step inside the minds of the most innovative designers in a variety of disciplines and learn how design impacts every aspect of life. Starring: Olafur Eliasson, Neri Oxman, Ruth E. Carter |
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Behind the software is a team that genuinely cares about independent hairdressers. The Independent Chair is where we get to say so in long form. |
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From Bathroom Highlights to Building a Dream: My Chat with Nikii Beis of Elevated Studio
What happens when you mix raw talent, a fearless drive, and a vision for a better salon culture? You get Nikii Beis, owner and stylist at Elevated Studio in Squamish, BC—and my latest guest in our one-on-one salon sit-down. Nikii’s journey into the industry started in the most relatable way... |
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I picked my career based on what I absolutely loved to do. Colouring hair was/is my ENTIRE personality. We're talking 21+ years! Along the way it became more important to be liked by my peers/my employers than it was to grow my knowledge, expand my skills and most importantly; be happy in my career. I let the opinions of people that were not in my corner dictate the outcome of my days. I stopped loving my favourite thing on this planet. The day I stopped working for someone else's praise, colouring was my favourite thing to do again.
- Cassandra Galon |
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Thanks for being here
Whether you've been with us for years or just found us at 2am in a scheduling spiral — welcome.
Running a salon is no joke. We're just here to make it slightly less chaotic. — Liam, Stephen, Annie, Denber, Layla & Niku |
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unravel Hair Salon by Atelier Write is built around a quietly brilliant idea: the salon does not have to stay in one fixed arrangement.
Inside a renovated timber warehouse in Kiyosumi-Shirakawa, Tokyo, many of the key salon elements are suspended from ceiling tracks, allowing mirrors, shelves, and workstations to shift around the room. Instead of designing the interior as a permanent layout, Atelier Write created a system that lets the salon keep changing depending on what is happening that day. That flexibility matters because unravel is not only a place for hair appointments. It also supports education, photoshoots, local pop-ups, and other gatherings, so the room needs to behave more like a studio than a traditional salon. A cutting area can open up for an event. A display can move. The working floor can be tightened, cleared, or reoriented without rebuilding the space. There is a lovely authorship idea here: the architect sets the rules, but the owner and stylists keep rewriting the room through use. What makes the project feel especially strong is that the reconfigurable concept is not just clever furniture. It reflects the modern salon as a creative business, part service space, part classroom, part content studio, part community venue. By putting the functional pieces on tracks, the design gives the salon a kind of editorial freedom. The space can be revised, rearranged, and re-authored as the business evolves. |
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Ctrl + Stephen Random thoughts on business and tech |
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The things we didn't mean to build
I’ve spent most of my adult life building things.
Software. Businesses. A house. Garden beds. Communities. The occasional project that seemed like a great idea at the time and, in hindsight, probably wasn’t.
Truthfully, creating things is one of my favourite parts of being alive.
Whether it’s software, a piece of art, a garden bed, a house, a community, or even a conversation, I just love the act of making something that didn’t exist before.
For a long time, I thought the thing I was building was the thing right in front of me. The software. The business. The project.
But I’ve noticed something interesting over the years: often the most valuable thing we build isn’t the thing we set out to build at all.
A stylist might start their career thinking they’re building technical skills. Learning colour formulations. Perfecting consultations. Mastering cutting techniques.
And those things matter.
But twenty years later, what they’ve really built is trust. Judgment. Confidence. Taste. A reputation. A community of clients who wouldn’t dream of sitting in anyone else’s chair.
Those things weren’t listed on the curriculum.
They arrived quietly.
The same thing has happened to me. When I started building software, I thought I was creating products. Looking back, I realize I’ve actually spent most of my career building relationships. Friendships. A team. A community of people I genuinely care about and enjoy creating alongside.
I didn’t know that’s what I was building at the time. It’s just what appeared after enough years of showing up.
I think that’s one of the beautiful things about craft. Whether you’re colouring hair, running a salon, making software, teaching, or creating art, the visible work is only part of the story. The deeper work happens in the background. Every conversation. Every decision. Every promise kept. Every difficult day you push through.
Slowly, without realizing it, you become known for something.
Not because you decided to create a reputation.
Because you earned one.
And maybe that’s why I liked Annie’s Star Trek story so much.
The Doctor thought he was fighting for personhood. What he ended up discovering was authorship: the ability to put something of yourself into the world and have it recognized as yours.
I think all creators understand that feeling.
Not ownership in the legal sense. Something deeper.
The quiet satisfaction of looking around and realizing you’ve built something that couldn’t have existed without you: a business, a craft, a community, a life.
When I was younger, I thought success was mostly about money. These days I’m not so sure. More and more, I think success is getting to spend your days creating things you’re proud of alongside people you care about.
Sometimes the most meaningful things we’re building are the ones we don’t notice until years later.
Cheers,
Stephen |
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Got a hairdresser friend? That's $100 waiting to happen!
Refer a friend to salonMonster and earn $100 when they sign up for a paid account.
Simple as that. |
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Talking Shop with Liam
Video interviews with our amazing community |
Samuel Bligh, owner of Proper Hair Salon in Vancouver, Canada, joins salonMonster to talk about the long, real path from stylist to salon owner, and what he has learned about building a salon where people feel supported, clients feel connected, and growth does not come at the cost of culture.
Samuel shares how he got started in the Vancouver hair industry, the moment he decided to open his own salon, and what it actually took to take over an existing space, renovate fast, keep the team steady, and slowly build something that felt like his own. |
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Saved for Later...Interesting links that crossed our path
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image from The Delta Flyers podcast |
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The Delta Flyers
The Delta Flyers is a weekly Star Trek: Voyager rewatch & recap podcast hosted by Garrett Wang & Robert Duncan McNeill. Each week Garrett and Robert will rewatch an episode of Voyager starting at the very beginning. This week’s episode is Author Author. Garrett and Robbie recap and discuss the episode, and share their insight as series regulars. |
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image from The Artist Next Level article |
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Embracing the Power of Small Wins: A Reminder for Artists
We're all familiar with the feeling of accomplishment that comes from landing a major art show, making a sale, or receiving a coveted award. These are the moments that we eagerly share with the world, and rightfully so. They're the milestones that stand as a testament to our dedication and talent. |
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image from Psychology Today article |
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The Creative Personality
Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives. Most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the result of creativity. What makes us different from apes—our language, values, artistic expression, scientific understanding, and technology—is the result of individual ingenuity that was recognized, rewarded, and transmitted through learning. |
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I've been deep in a Star Trek Voyager spiral lately. Honestly, it's kind of unavoidable in my house and something about the episode we've been talking about this issue got me thinking about music... about what it feels like to be moving through something big and not quite having the words for it yet.
There's a memory that comes back to me every now and then. It was over a decade ago, I was moving to LA - everything packed, everything fast, the kind of chaos where you don't have time to think, you just move. And a hairdresser friend said something to me that has, thankfully, never really left: stop for a second. Look around. Be proud of where you are right now. Not when you get there. Right now.
I made this playlist for that moment. It's got that wide open, out-in-the-universe feeling. A little cosmic, a little euphoric, a little like anything is possible. But underneath all of it there's something warm and human. Because that's what this issue is really about. The work you're doing right now, today, is already something. You're already building something worth stopping to see.
Put it on. Look around. Feel it.
— Annie
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Monster SightingsEvents to check out |
Salon International October 4-5, 2026, ExCeL London
The big one. Hair professionals, salon owners, barbers, and educators. UK and Europe trend direction, masterclasses, live competitions. This is the most prestigious hairdressing event in Europe and worth a spotlight.
Intercoiffure America Canada, Fall Atelier October 3-5, 2026 Hilton Midtown, New York City, USA
CA's flagship annual event bringing together top salon owners and hair artists from across North America — including a strong Canadian contingent. Education, presentations, competitions, and networking at the highest level of the industry.
Intercoiffure Mondial — "The Hair Show Must Go On!" September 12-13, 2026 | Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione, Paris, France
A spectacular international hair event hosted by one of the most prestigious global hairdressing organizations. September 12 features a live show revealing the winning collections from the Creative Capsule competition, followed by an exclusive educational workshop on September 13 at the Intercoiffure House of Nations.
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Honestly? We love making this newsletter.
The feedback we get from this community keeps us going, and putting the Digest together every two weeks is one of our favorite things we do.
Thank you for reading — it means more than you know. |
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