Don't Call It A Salon... It's a DRYBAR baby!

I was lucky enough last week to catch Alli Webb, founder of Drybar, and her architect and designer Josh Heitler on the phone, which was an amazing feat considering the fact that they are on the fast track to global domination. Despite their busy schedule, they couldn’t have been more excited to share a few of their secrets and stories with me. Stop, look and listen… cuz this is how it’s done folks… one beautiful head of hair at a time (just check out my before and after for proof)!

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1. Alli… The concept of a blow out only bar… OMG… First of all, you HAVE to know that every girl in LA (and I’m sure in NY) has thought to herself… “Why didn’t I think of that?”!!! At what point did “lightning strike” for you?

I have naturally curly hair and I ALWAYS had to get a blow out. I was obsessed with straight hair. My interest (and necessity) for hair care led me to be a stylist.

When my kids grew older I desired to get out of the house a bit more, and to be around other women and moms, so I started a business, going to my friends’ homes and giving blow outs for $40.00. Everyone loved it! They loved it so much that I couldn’t find any more time or space to accommodate them. I realized there was a huge hole in the market when I asked my friends what they did when I wasn’t available. They either went to a cheap chain or to a high-priced salon, and their experience was just never the same!

2. Alli… How did you meet Josh “the Messiah”, and how did he become a part of your team?

Josh and my brother were friends and had actually worked on a few projects together, multi-million dollar projects like the W and the St. Regis in Vegas. During some quiet time Michael asked Josh if he would work on his little sis’ project, kind of as a bet. The stars aligned… it was the perfect storm… and now he really is a part of our family!

3. (Alli and Josh) Besides the ingenious business concept, what makes me happy (as an interior stylist) when I walk into your spaces is the design. It’s very functional… yet flirty and super fun! Did you have a vision already in mind, or did you try and style according to what you thought your future clientele would respond to?

(J) I think Alli (and Michael) had as much of a vision of what they wanted as what they knew they didn’t want. They definitely did not want it to look anything like a traditional salon and for a designer that’s a very exciting challenge. From there, we referenced things form Alli’s successful at home blow dry business and other kinds of spaces and places (bar, clubs, lounges, restaurants, hotels and homes) that we all liked and felt comfortable in until we found just the right mix. From day one, the focus was on imagining the client experience and I think that comes through.

(A) It really was a collaboration. I wanted a fun space with girly movies, a girly hangout but with sophistication too. As Josh said, the ideas that we came up with for the space were client experience driven. It had to match the feeling I gave people when I visited their homes. Once we decided on the bar iconography, things really took off!

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4. Josh… Yellow is my favorite color. How did you decide on yellow as focal point of the design concept?

Actually one of the things I really like about Drybar bar was that the concept, branding and interior design all come together at once. When we started, the original name was Straight Bar (Alli’s original business was called Straight at Home) and the logo colors were pink and brown. We slowly gravitated away from those more common colors to the more unique yellow and grey (this was BEFORE Soul Cycle and others) we now have in both the design and branding. Greys and yellows are actually pretty challenging colors for interior design as subtle shifts in shade and temperature are really crucial and yellow fabrics are a little limited.

5. (Alli and Josh) Do you think the design concept will stand the test of time and why?

(A) We aren’t cocky… so we know that we will need to evolve. In fact, we are constantly tweaking minor details with each new store opening. But I do believe we could pull Drybar out of 2012 and put it in 2025, just like the classic hairstyles we chose for the menu. Those hairstyles have stood the test of time!

(J) I think so. One of the other stories we tell a lot about with the birth of Drybar was that Alli and Mike sent us this list of seemingly contradictory things that they wanted – traditional and modern, elegant and comfortable, sophisticated and approachable, etc. It was a bit of challenge to calibrate these elements just right, but I think the benefit is that the end product defies a narrow description and is hopefully more universal and timeless.

Also, as we opened, people said it was a California thing. I think we’ve proven them wrong! We didn’t completely understand the customer at the beginning, but now we know it’s every woman with hair!

6. (Alli and Josh) When I walk into a Drybar, one of the first things that makes me smile is the dish of cookies waiting for me at check in (followed by the champagne). When you walk into a Drybar space… what’s the first thing you see that puts a smile on your face?

(A) It’s the full bar of women, and also what comes with it… NOISE! I love the sound of the blow dryers, the chatter… I love it LOUD. I love to see women in their element, with friends or by themselves, having a great time as if they are at home hanging out. It makes me sad at the end of the day when the salon is empty and the noise stops.

(J) Honestly, it’s not a design element – it’s the customers clearly enjoying themselves. That’s the whole point and if design helped contribute to that then I am thrilled.

(A) Seeing the difference between women arriving and leaving is so satisfying also. We’re not just making women look good, we’re making them feel good too.

7. Josh… (I know this is a tough question)… If you could pick your FAVORITE contribution to the space… what would it be?

Well all of the designs are our children, so it’s hard to play favorites, BUT the blow dryer chandelier is definitely a signature element. We still make them custom for each store in our office. I made the first few but now it’s kind of a rite of passage for new employees – with folks passing on how to do it. We’ve actually had other people/companies ask us to produce them, but then it wouldn’t be the same signature element if we saw the chandeliers popping up in other salons or even homes. We would rather forfeit the money and keep the chandelier to ourselves.

8. (Alli and Josh) Were there any design concepts that didn’t quite pan out or were re-thought entirely? I like to ask this question because rarely does a project go from “soup to nuts” without challenges.

(A) One of the most interesting revelations happened in our first space in Brentwood. We discovered that with the noise levels and inherent chaos of the environment, answering phones at the location became nearly impossible! It was also too difficult for reception to be 100% present with the physical customer checking in if they were also answering phones and trying to schedule appointments. This led to the creation of the call center.

(J) I am not sure if there is anything that really didn’t pan out after we narrowed it down from the original 9 design concepts (some of which had some things that definitely would not have worked). There was a lot of refining and tweaking of concepts – especially around the choreography of the stylists and receptionists and how to accommodate, power and store all of their equipment effectively. We’ve also had a lot of challenges and made adjustments to accommodate the traffic we’ve been lucky enough to have – infrastructure like HVAC and durable materials, fixtures and finishes.

(A) We have also played around with (and have been asked to) offer other services, but ultimately we decided to stick with what we know and what we do well. Don’t complicate a simple (and fabulous) idea!

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9. Alli… Are you at all surprised with the speed of expansion and the level of success that you have achieved in such a short amount of time?

I could not be more surprised! Brentwood was going to be my one little shop! I knew it would be successful, but we did not see this coming. We thought it COULD grow slowly and organically, but this was not planned. We are humbled and surprised!

10. (Alli and Josh) How do you feel about the competition popping up everywhere? Imitation is the highest form of flattery?

(J) That’s a tough one. I can say that a certain type of imitation can be flattering but that we have seen far more of the kind that is a bit more….. maddening. It would be fine to see stuff out there that might be inspired by something Drybar has done, but we have seen some folks just shamelessly copy/steal the ideas and elements. The only positive of that has been to reinforce the idea that the details and execution matter. I can snoop around and try and figure out what ingredients Mario Batali is using but that doesn’t mean our food will taste the same.

(A) It can be frustrating, but there is value to the execution and experience that can’t be copied. The imitation has actually shown us how loyal our customers are. Clients send us pictures of the “thievery” (sometimes exact text is copied!), and are genuinely upset!

11. Alli… What kind of advice can you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs? It’s a common question asked, but one that is so important in motivating each and every one of us!

It’s SO much work, but I had an idea and I stuck with it! I trusted my gut and my instinct even when being questioned (mostly by men 😉 ). A good example of this is when I wanted mirrors BEHIND the stations. I noticed in my mobile business that I never did the blowout in the bathroom in front of the mirror. I did it in the kitchen, or the living room. It was social. The client couldn’t see what I was doing, so they couldn’t pay attention and micromanage what I was doing. This took the pressure off of the client AND the sylist. When I finished they had to go to the bathroom for the big reveal. It was a WOW moment! I wanted to replicate this moment in the Drybar space and it has worked! Friends talk, watch the movies, drink their wine or champagne and fall into the experience. It was a calculated risk and one I believed in.

As mentioned before, don’t stray too far from the original concept. I know blowouts. Let’s stick with that. Be comfortable with what you’re doing and don’t get swayed by the temptation to do more, more, more. I could add on mani/pedi services, but I know nothing about that business!

Finally, stay true to yourself and surround yourself with a great team, with people that you trust and that have no ego.

12. Alli… I have to know what your fave blowout style is?

The Mai Tai.

13. And finally… I have a question from the winner of my Facebook/Twitter challenge. The question comes from Galit Strugano, a successful entrepreneur in her own right, owner of Girlactik Beauty. She asks, “Did you anticipate revolutionizing the hair industry? (P.S. The decor is beautiful!)”

NO! I get chills when people say that! Brentwood was supposed to be Brentwood and that was it. You know, we didn’t reinvent the wheel with the blow dry, we just came up with a better place to do it.