Our stylist community is our family. Each Stylist Spotlight, we love sharing with you these brothers and sisters who not only support VirtueⓇ, but also help share our vision that everyone deserves to have truly healthy hair. They inform and enlighten us, and in turn, we continue to deliver the most revolutionary hair care they could ask for. What we’re trying to say is, we couldn’t do it without them.

Stylist Melissa Maas of Thairapy Salon in Goodyear, Arizona, loved styling hair from the time she was a child. “Whether it was in high school for dances or as a child playing ‘salon,’ I always loved doing hair,” she said. Here she shares with us her style icon, her worst haircut ever––a once-popular one––and her hopes for the future of her salon and her stylists.

Q: What made you decide to open your own salon / become a stylist?
I’d been in the industry for a long time when I got a salon suite. I wanted to create a salon that would be geared toward the stylist, one where the owner is a stylist, too, and wants everyone to be successful.

Q: What is the most challenging thing about owning your own salon?
I think the biggest thing is listening to the stylists. They’re all unique and have their own talents to offer. If they aren’t happy or motivated, then the salon isn’t either.

Q: Who would you say is a true “style icon” in terms of beauty, fashion, life?
Jennifer Lopez. She is a timeless beauty who balances family and her professional life. Plus, she has incredible hair.

Q: What is your favorite trend/style?
I love movement and texture in hair, a good balayage, and overall, hair that is relaxed and low maintenance. I like a look that can be dressed up or down.

Q: What was the worst haircut you ever had?
“The Rachel” from Friends. Mine looked more like a mushroom.

Q: Worst haircut you ever gave someone else?
Once I had a new client who wanted a mullet. It felt wrong, and went against everything I’d ever known. We ended up with a modified mullet.

Q: What’s your personal hair routine?
Shampoo, condition, and blow dry. I’m all about waves and curls––90% of the time my hair is in curls.

Q: What other things are you passionate about that aren’t hair related?
My family. I have two kids, a six year old, and a two year old.

Q: What’s next for your career?
I’m happy for now, but eventually I’d like to open a bigger salon, to expand in that aspect. I’ll never stop trying to succeed, or stop pushing my stylists to grow.

Q: Why Virtue®?
Virtue® was the first product I ever used that, after one shampoo and condition, I could feel that “wow” difference. My clients could tell, too. They’d ask what I used on their hair because it felt so good.

Q: What’s your favorite Virtue® product?
I have two: First, ColorKick™. I start the process even before I shampoo and condition my clients. Second, the Lifting Powder. It’s incredible for volume. I can’t live without it.