Welcome to Splitting Hares, episode one. One. One. Oh, that's fun. Ooh, we're definitely live. Episode one, Splitting Hares, this is season three. Those of you guys that have been waiting, thank you so much for waiting. We actually, we were live. We thought we were live. But whatever, we weren't, and now we're live. So I've got Daniel Downs, Brian Hare, Drea Bolland, Thad Bolland, and Christina Cavalcanti. We're all here to chat with you guys about hair. We got a ton of news articles, a ton of stuff going on. The one thing I want to get kind of like out of the way, not out of the way, because it's not nice to say. Well, the one thing I want to talk about is the stranger that's sitting with us. Those of you guys that have been following Free Son Education, you may have seen her in probably episode, what do you think that was? Like six? Six of like the first podcast season. This is Danielle Downs. She, phenomenal hairdresser, but more importantly, started working here yesterday. So. I don't know that that's more important. I think that's like equally important to the fact that she's really good. Yeah, well that's true. Well thank you, but I'm just excited to be here. So, Danielle will be creating videos, but also she's a stylist at the salon. So everybody's working together. We got a new team member. So we're excited for that. Danielle's been doing hair for. 15 years. 15 years. And we've known Danielle for quite a while. We worked in Palmichol with her. So we're really excited to have her here in the salon working and also part of this. So talk about throwing yourself in on your second day. Now you're live on the internet. So. Welcome. Yeah, it's not nerve-wracking at all. No, not at all. Baptism by fire. This is actually your job interview. So good luck. Yeah. So thank you guys so much for tuning in. Hope everything is good. Hope the sound is good. Let us know in the comments. And also you can post some questions. We'll be answering those as well. But we have a ton of questions that were submitted from Instagram to get through. Biggest thing I want to talk about to start the show is that what we've been doing for the last year, basically. So the last year has been very busy. I know you guys haven't seen us on the internet as much. We haven't been interacting with you as much. But the reason for that is we were building this beautiful studio space. By hand. So we're ground up. With little hammers. Yeah. And popsicle sticks and macaroni. They don't trust us with our tools, so it took us a while. Hayden had a critical impact on building the space. So you know. Yeah. Everybody pitched in and did their part. Except Danielle, because it's only her second day. Yeah. So we're not better about that. But I'm glad that you guys put in such hard work. Thank you. I appreciate. And that I didn't have to do any manual labor. Yeah. She just comes right in to the. So actually, this is kind of a funny story. Danielle. But all of you. So Danielle. Welcome to the team. Danielle was going to start here a few months ago. Probably even March. March. March. Right? Yeah. But then she heard about how we had to build everything up. And then there was a mysterious state board issues with the government. So those of you that, again, followed us for a long time. We were in 700 square feet, really tight quarters.  And Danielle interviewed. And we hired her. But the problem was she worked in New Jersey and didn't have enough hours to come to PA. So running to that, a lot of you guys have probably dealt with that. So she had to go back to school. Years don't matter when you're just looking at hours. And Danielle went back to school. How long did she go back to school for? For two and a half months. Two and a half months. 250 hours. Yep. So she went back to school. She just got her license. And that's why she started yesterday. So congrats on graduating again after 16 years, 15 years of doing hair. I'm really glad that you wanted to work with us so much. Yeah. Well, when you really want something that bad, you just go for it. That's right. And besides that, Brian wouldn't let me quit anyway. Yeah. And if I tried. Truth.  She's here. I mean, we're going to have to find other ways to make people go through like a six-month proving that you want to be a part of us, period. Right. Well, all we had to do was karaoke. True. Dre and I killed it. There is like a CrossFit course out back. That could be interesting. Really fun. We're going to add Prada as an alligator to get our job. Yeah. I think I'll take the state board route instead of that or CrossFit or anything. No, not my thing. So welcome to Danielle. We're excited to be back to in the show. Post your comments, questions. Let's get that going. And I want to say a big thank you to MinervaBeauty.com for helping us put on this podcast, being a big supporter of the podcast, and also our salon in general. So if you look at our salon online, you can see how beautiful it looks. It's all Minerva furniture. So we're really happy to have that partnership with them. So check out MinervaBeauty.com if you're looking for a salon furniture. That's it. What's new? What have you guys been doing besides growing your hair, Brian? Well, you might recognize me. I played Aquaman this summer in the lead feature film, Justice League. So I grew my hair out and started working out. So it's good to be back. Let's go to the hairs. Drea. How can I top that one? She was Phoenix. You can't. I was Phoenix, you know? So that's what I was doing. Drea's like, who's Phoenix? Dad, what have you been up to? Lots of things. He picks things up, he puts them down. He picks things up, I put them down, and I've started getting into cryptocurrency. Dad's like a millionaire now, because he's investing in coins, online coins. Almost. He's almost super rich a couple of times now. We're almost there. This slow. Soon Dad's just going to roll in here. He doesn't need money. He's just here for the fun of it. True story. Yeah. All right, cool. So that's what's up. We've had a lot going on. We're going to show you guys our entire year. Our entire year. That's all we've done. What else are we done? I don't know. I feel like this whole year has been a day. I was going to say, I feel like I'm done.  That's what I'm doing.  That's what we were doing. All right. So follow everybody on Instagram. Yeah. All right.  I did notice that today.  Wait, I thought it was their charming personalities. OK, that's it. I went on Danielle's thing because I wanted to find a picture of her to post, hey, we have a new stylist. And it's like, oh, wait. Literally, the pictures are like holder pictures. That's OK, Danielle. I'm the same way. Christine's the same way, but. I'm sorry. I'm not anti-social. I'm just bad at taking pictures. I don't have the gift like Brian does. And I don't even have a green light. So gift. Well, I realized the other day how many of my Instagram pictures are of me and Brian. And I was like, oh, wait. That's when I take pictures to post on Instagram is with Brian. See? Oh, cool. So. Six degrees of Brian hair. People are digging your hair. I know, I love it. I know. I'm so jealous of it. Wait, me or Danielle? No, Danielle. I would love it. I wish I could put a poll up. Like, which? Whose hair do you like? Can we get an Instagram poll? Brian? Right now. Right now. I do kind of feel like it's a Justice League kind of thing. We got Aquaman. We got Phoenix. Storm. Yeah. You guys are crossing DC and Marvel. I'm getting all upset. And my britches just let's move on. Yeah. Sorry. But that's where you're here. We are. Let's just next subject. OK, let's start talking hair. So. Comics in general. Yeah. Comics aren't in general. Not to Brian. No, like I'm just saying. Comics aren't in general. Comics are life. OK, so. So now, weekly, what we want to do is we want to bring in kind of news articles and talk about them. Brian submitted one about what I wish I knew in beauty school. So do you want to talk about that? I didn't write it. I know. You didn't write it. You submitted it. I submitted something that I completely plagiarized. It submitted to you. It's a pretty pretty pie. Yeah. That did sound like it. No, I did not. I don't sue me. Episode one. Wait till three. It's going to be way better. Well, I didn't steal it. I didn't do this. I'm just reporting on it. Yes. So I came across an article from American. It was in American Salon Magazine. It was what I wish I knew in beauty school. And I really like the idea of it. So I read on. I kind of felt like this specific article was really just an excuse to name drop all the famous people that he's friends with now. But hey, if that's what you're going to tell yourself to get through beauty school, cool. But I figured it would make a really nice topic, especially having Danielle, who's been in beauty school, like seven minutes ago. Just if you could go back and give yourself just a little bit of advice or encouragement or tell yourself to calm the hell down whenever it is, I don't want to start because this is my idea. Matt. Yeah. What would you say to yourself if you go back to beauty school? Would you tell yourself to finish? Yeah, I would. No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't change anything. I somehow skipped out early, got a license, and I feel good about that. But the one thing that, for me, when I was in beauty school, I think I wish I would have just taken more time to, like I studied hair, but I didn't go straight into learning the whys behind what I was doing. It was more like, how cool can I look doing something? Do you think a lot of those teachers really understood too, though? No, I would have had. I think with beauty school teachers, a lot of them are not all of them, but a lot of them are, they don't have the freedom. I think it's teachers in general all over the place. They don't necessarily have the, they have to teach a curriculum in a way, but I think they should be more mentoring. But a lot of them. See, mine were the opposite. Yeah? My beauty school teacher, I wanted the curriculum, and everybody was just doing their way, and I'm like, there's no consistency throughout this. Yeah, all they were teaching me was the book. I didn't get, but that's why. I asked for the book. I found the, I got a bunch of VHS tapes from one of my teachers in school, and I started watching those. Michael O'Rourke and Tony and Guy, and that's when I started really getting into learning on video, you know, so. I was going to say, mine was like 50s, I think. Classroom was all textbook, and then on the floor it was all. All right, so what would you tell? So I would just say to kind of buckle down and really focus on the fundamentals and that kind of thing, and understanding the why, not so much, not getting caught up in the hype of doing all the other. The fancy. The fancy stuff, yeah. Dreya, what would you tell yourself back when you were in beauty school? That state board wasn't as scary as it was. Good one. Like, I literally, before I graduate, put myself into such like a hyped up panic attack about going to state board. And once I went through state board, it was just, it was a piece of cake. It was easy, and I overstressed myself, so I feel like don't. Hopefully Carly's listening. Don't put your, just relax. State board is important, but reality is.  You'll be fine. It's one of those things, like if you fail the theory or you fail the practical, you can take it again. It's not the end of the world. You probably won't. Yeah, it was like my driver's license. Like, it's not, it's a big deal because we needed to get our license, but it's not. I was the worst on my test. Like, that was bad. Now you were, you were good, I went with you. That was the third time. Well, let's put it this way. No, it wasn't. On my way to state board, we stopped at Sally's Beauty, bought all the supplies that I needed to take the test. Nothing about that surprises me. Yeah, that's another thing we do for five years, of course. If you didn't know me. I'm going to take the test is when this guy buys his supplies for it. I would have to, nice, clean. I would have to, nice, clean, for like months. And then when I got there, so they showed up a plastic bag from Sally, I was like, ready for my test. And like, here you go, you have a license. And they, so they had. He didn't get everything. He had a lot of it. You had a lot of it already. You just needed a few things. Like the scissors and the clips. See, I didn't realize this was a thing. My school did a box.  You gave a check for $250. And they, when you came back from state board, you brought the kit back. And if everything was in it, then you got your check back. So we never had to pack our state board kit at all. That was definitely different from mine. Yeah, they set you up. They did everything for you. And now look at you. Oh, no. Oh my God. I can't. No, no, no. That's your boss. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No, no. That's fun. That's hilarious. Stop, Dre, you know I'm kidding, right? No, I don't. Oh, okay. So I'll just go around. All right, real quick, bring it back. Dial it back. Right. Focus. What would you? What about you? What's going on with you? All right. No, if I were to tell myself something in beauty school, I would just tell myself to relax. I remember it was really stressed out. I was really, because it was just me and one other girl in beauty school and she was like speed, speed, speed, speed, like super fast. And I used to get so pissed that I wasn't fast. Like to the point I took my scissors and like stabbed them into the head of my mannequin and pushed it over and like left one day because like it was taking me so long to get through it. And I believe it or not, I used to be a little high strung. I'm shocked. I would just tell myself to relax and maybe enjoy it a little more because I took it really seriously.   I wish that I had known that like speed will come. Don't worry about it. Just, you know, focus on like just a basics. Just get this down and you'll be good. I felt like I needed to leave beauty school a master and just put so much pressure on myself. That's it. Sweet. Danielle, what would you tell yourself three weeks ago? Well, that was the good thing about having to go back. Going back, I definitely did a lot of things different from the first time. I went to a vocational school the first time and there was no structure. So this time it was kind of nice to see the difference between it and attendance. It's your biggest thing.  You want to be 15 minutes early. You want to have everything ready. You want to be present and not freak out every time something happens. Nice. So what did you, so I have a question because and I got perfect attendance. Yay. When you go back to school after doing hair for so long, what did they have you doing? So whatever they were doing. So I started out into whatever. No, they started me out in core. Okay. And I had to go through core one, core two, adaptive. I didn't end up going out onto the floor. But it was only a few weeks. Like, did you do it like fast? Cause I know they spend like a couple months in core. I was going to say, did you get at least the fun parts of core? Yeah.  And it was nice to go back to the fundamentals cause when you're in it for such a long time, you do kind of forget that and you do the shortcuts. And you know, like sometimes the students would ask me like, well, why are you doing it this way? Like they said, and I'm like, because that's how your school's suit. Right.  So that's why something would collapse. If I don't do the graduation and lift it up just right. Okay, cool. You forget. Nice. So it was nice. Cool. I went and visited Danielle one day while she was in school. And it kind of felt like visiting someone in jail. Cause it was like the end of the day and I'm watching these kids like refuse to clean up and like everyone complaining about having a sweep.  Because this is nothing compared to what it's gonna be like when they get assisting jobs. Like I had to leave, I... That's why I dropped out. That was the thing. I seriously, that's what I would have told my beauty school self, just stick with it, Chris. Everyone was like 17, 18. I was like 26. You'd be at this table. She's still in the room. She's the one in charge of all of us. No, she signs my paycheck. She's my favorite out of all of us. I know. Okay, so, hey. Sad. What about that? So I would tell myself everything that you think this industry is gonna be is not gonna be, but it's gonna be way better. Deep. I had tighter things. Still waters. All right. All right, cool. So that was my piece. Cool. So, those of you guys that are watching the show, post below what you would, what's the question? What I wish I knew of you in school. Shall we show you one? Huh? I don't know where. American Dead. Moving on. Okay, so next topic is, dear everyone, please stop doing this in hair salons. So this was kind of like a, this was an article that I found online, but it's really just like a bunch of things that they're saying that people shouldn't do out of hair salon. Now, before we go into this list, I just wanna clarify, is this a list for salon guests? Yes. Okay, because I definitely feel like a lot of these things are hairdressers' faults if these are happening in the salon. Okay, good. So, first one, arriving at the salon with zero idea what you want. How do we feel about that? Depends on how open they are to suggestions because some people will come in and not know what they want and then we start making suggestions and then they start opening up about what they want. But then there's the people who just keep shutting down ideas after idea, after idea, and then it's 20 questions to figure out what we're doing today. Yeah. I don't think anybody has no idea what they want. I think they might just not know how to articulate it. Yeah. And that's why my go-to, because I tend to be a little dramatic.  Just do whatever. I immediately go like as insane as I can think of just to get them like light a little fire.  I'm like, I'm totally in the mood for really short orange bangs and a purple undercut.  What are you thinking then? I was just saying. Just the bangs? Yeah, just orange bangs. Like, what the hell? And then all of a sudden. This is the truth, too. He done it. I have heard that. I hear you do those sort of people. I like to go with, um. But then they're real damn clear about what they want. Well, it's true. I like to start asking with how much of a change are they looking for? On a scale of one to 10. 10 being a completely different color, length, all of that to how much shift they're looking for. And then discussing what they do with their hair on a regular basis to know how far we can push that envelope. So it's okay if you don't know. This is the thing. And when I looked at this list, to me, a lot of these things, it's our job to pull it out. Yes, try to think about it. If you're going into somebody.  Right. Well, when people don't have, a lot of people don't have style. A lot of people don't know what they, right? Really? We're not all in agreeance of this. I'm guessing there's probably a disclaimer flashing at the bottom of this video now. This is Matt's email, not the rest of ours. No, but a lot of people don't know what they want. They don't have style to put it together. It is our job. They don't have the creative evidence. That's why we study it. Just because you wear the same outfit every day and know what you want. I absolutely wear the same outfit. Matt, I like the jacket. Thanks. No, I do. I tell Matt that I like that jacket every time that he wears it, but now I can never say it again. Or maybe what you're trying to say is, they're not really sure, they're in the mood and want something up and coming and like they're not really too sure. Yeah, so we should share those ideas with them. I think it's part of our job. All right, number two, moving your head during the haircut.   Yeah, don't do that. Hold the house down. I repositioned people's heads. Yeah, just stop.  Everyone. I'm like, don't move. Don't move. I said to my one client, I was like, I need you to be a little less Italian right now. No, yeah. I mean, she actually is Italian. That's not like a racist thing. Don't come for me. No, it just impresses me how often you can say something so insulting to someone. So insulting? That's a good thing. We're in Jersey, Jersey, Italian. I'm Italian, I can say that now. I know, but if I said that to somebody. Just because you had your 23 and me. I'm not. I'm 2.2% Italian. I can't keep anything, so. It's cool that you do. There's a camera on that right now. Okay, next one. Being weird about switching stylists. It is weird. No, like that's one of those things. Like I have definitely, it's really hard. If Hayden was here, awkward. What's that? Awkward. I missed it. And so if Hayden was here, it would be like awkward. But I understand, like I've had to have that conversation with people just to really express to them. Like it's okay. And I get it, like especially if you're switching stylists staying in the salon, crossing paths, they don't know how much. Cause we're so fortunate to work someplace where that is like a crazy notion that somebody's not gonna give you a cold shoulder. Somebody's gonna like treat you weird. Cause I know that those places exist where like. This, how do you feel? Whatever. So there was no hard feelings. And then there are times where he's referred people to me because he felt like they would be more comfortable with me and I would have a little bit more experience. Or as he puts it, shared custody. Yeah. I think it's having the self-awareness to be able to say if somebody that you work with is gonna do a better job and that's what's gonna create that comfort. But even not of that, but like, I know when you go on vacation, there's times that you put people on my book who weren't gonna get in before you left or what not are needed their hair done during that time. And they've just bounced back to you right after. And it's just, it's one of those things. It's not hurt feelings. It's just a matter of convenience. It's all about the guests, really. So they need to feel comfortable. You don't wanna lose the guest. As a salon owner, I think that's what it does come down to. They just tend to come to me most of the time, but they need to know. It's my job to make them know that it's okay. And if they needed to switch, then that's gonna have to be okay too, you know? Well, I think. I'm not that good. If somebody, if somebody's not happy, let's say they're not happy with Brian. It happens.  That's happened as well. Like it happens with my guests as well. We have a bunch of people who bounce around to put it on who's available when. Yeah, I think it's the environment that you create because I know that there's a lot of salon environments that are very feisty because people look at it as their paycheck. I think you have a better growing salon when the environment is everybody's working together. And, you know. And when your scale's growing and you're opening up that room for new guests. I mean, it's. I mean, unless you work someplace that it's not like this. And it is very cutthroat.  The guests shouldn't, though. Yeah, right. Your co-worker should. I mean. Okay. Don't eat dog. That's the showing up late. Don't do that. Yeah. Just don't. That's a bad one too. Because everybody's day is tightly booked for the most part. And when you're tightly booked and somebody shows up late throws off the entire day. So then every guest you're running late with. So it's just, it's a tough thing. I understand that showing up late happens. I think the most annoying is when somebody shows up late but still like gives you a hard time because now you don't have as much time to do what they were scheduled for. Yeah.  You can still do everything. I actually had somebody last week who they were trying to get in before the holidays and Madison talked to them and said, okay, well we can. Madison's our front desk girl. That happened this past year. Yeah, we have a new one. Oh yeah, we have that too. She told them, well I can get you in for your highlights and you can talk to that about if you're able to get your hair cut as well depending on your hair type. Well, she shows up 20 minutes late and tells me that Madison told her that she could get a haircut as long as she showed up on time and showed up at 3.30 and I'm just like looking like. I'm like, it's 3.50. You're 20 minutes late. Yeah. I saw you with the look on your face. I felt bad. I was like, oh man, because dad's like, you know, he doesn't want to have that conversation. He's uncomfortable. Well, I hate running late because I start feeling bad for the person who's behind that person. And I start thinking, well, so-and-so who's behind you comes in every three weeks and has been coming to me for the past four years. I've seen you twice this year. Right.  Yeah, you're 20 minutes late, but we worked it out and still gained a half head of highlights. She got a Bollyard Express and a haircut and a treatment. But being able to give customer good customer service and figuring that out is like a huge thing because you can't let people get, obviously, they don't want to be 20 minutes late. I'm hoping. But when they are, we have to learn how to fix the situation and not lose somebody. What I think that sad did in that situation, it was good.  You just stated the facts. And you said, I will try my best to give you a haircut and then give other options. Yeah, you find a solution to what's going on. Because, I mean, obviously, it's one of those things that, like, I can give you a hug and some life advice.  I was going to say bitter. But that's any customer service industry.  And then you have no clients. And then you have no job. I wish I had a camera. You look so cute today. Shout out to Madison, though. She is our new front desk person. But she's also our babysitter who has Hayden right now and why we're able to be here tonight. Thanks, Madison. It's funny, because I actually just wanted to say to her, I'm like, don't bring Madison into this. I was staying next door when she talked to you. I ran out the door. I'm like, bye. She's like, wait, how do I watch it? I'm like, what? She goes, the pod kit. I'm like, oh, yeah, sorry. Oh, yeah. All right, so we have 10 more of these to get through. No, we can save some and get into more of the show. I don't think we need to go in. So let me just go through them real quick. And if one really hits you hard right in the face, then stop me. We're OK. Quiet. Try trying to sweep your at-home hair treatments under the rug. Don't know what that means. Can I answer that one? I did have somebody once that she thought, because she had done her color a year ago, that it wouldn't affect the highlights as she was getting. She didn't let me know that it was a metallic dye that she had used a year ago. So I'm putting bleach over that. Hot potato inside of the foil. So everything liquefied. She was in there for like 45 minutes. So it was like literally just a couple of foils. And then I went to go check it after I was done in 15 minutes. And I was like, oh my god. Can you come over to the scene, please? Oh, it's done already? Oh, yeah, it works really quick. You call it done. I call it well done. Well done. Yes. Over done. Yes. But at least it was a fashion color. So it really accepted that paint. Perfect. It's in your best interest. It needed the paint. All right, letting you're neglecting the tip. I mean, duh. Yeah. So yeah.  This one I actually thought was very interesting. Because our fault. OK, it is our fault, but it's also one of the things where like, if you don't like what's happening, why do you continue to get it done? And why do you continue going back to the person? You should definitely speak up, right? I mean, if I offer orange banged, don't say yes if you don't want them. But if you don't offer them, what if you really, truly think and believe that they will get it right one time? Like when you want. I believe in you. What are these days? Everybody says you're amazing, so I'm just trusting that you are. I've also never had that person who has been like, if they don't like something, they usually tell me they don't like it. OK, staring goldfish-eyed into your phone, I love that. Yeah, I was going to say, I want that. Like when they're staring into their phone the whole time. Until like a fax. Yeah, you don't even allow it. Put your goddamn phone away.  Until it affects how I'm cutting and I need them to move their head and they keep moving it back down. That's when it bugs me. But I'm like, move the phone up and you're good. You can do your thing. Well, the only time that it bugs me is when I'm trying to wash somebody's hair and they keep sitting up to look at their phone. Well, they can't do that here. Then you just smack their head back down. Forcing yourself through painful small talk. Doesn't happen in my chair. You have to like. Yeah, I don't like it. I don't like it when like a new client is trying to get like too nosy. It's just like, I don't know you know how your day is going. But hopefully you'll know them for like 10 years. Right. Right. So like I'll talk to them. When are they supposed to get to know you?  I forget like what it was, but I had it like a new client and like it was just like the most awkward conversations ever.  I had a new client they're like, so who'd you vote for? I'm like, well, actually, I don't talk about politics. That's different. Yeah, that's different. Yes, because that should be on this list. Especially when we have these two. Yeah, no, especially this year. Yes, no. OK. Walking in with unrealistic expectations. I mean, that's something that it's our job. We've got to talk. Make them real. Agreed. Refusing to take your stylist advice on product. Yes. I mean, I don't really understand that one. What? What are you doing? Nothing. Sorry, Christina. I purposely went with your microphone from whatever stand it was on to that one, because I know that because you eat it. Yeah, you do that stuff and you wipe your face on it. I do. So I purposely moved it. We have stickers on these to make sure we know who's his house. I put stickers on them. All right, being shy about your daily hair care routine. I don't know who does that.   And I'm like, OK, well, that's cool. I just need to know. Yeah. Well, you would be surprised with the build up on your scalp is telling me otherwise. Like a little bit shy about that. Oh, I don't wash it every day. And it's like, yeah, you're not supposed to. Yeah, don't. Yeah. I have people who wash their hair too much. And then rushing your stylist. We kind of already talked about that. And then letting your nerves take over. What does that mean? It says it takes courage to radically change your hairstyle, own that courage. I get that. I mean, it takes a minute to own it. There's a lot of people that are like up for a big change. And it takes them a day or two to love what you just put them through. Yeah.  Honestly, I think it's smart if you do a big change on a guest to call them a couple days later. I like that. To just check in, make sure that they're not having trouble with their new style or whatever. I worked for you for five years. I've never said to do that. Yeah, I was like, that's a great idea, Matt. That's a really cool idea. Maybe we should start to implement that. Practice what we preach. Maybe we will. I've never preached it before. So today's the day. Preach, preacher. OK, you know what we should do? How long we've been on here? Can we spend two hours? Two hours. Two log. I just check it's a no and a half hour. Well, wait, the first show that didn't stream that nobody saw? Are you counting, Matt? No, not even 1.5. I think we've been on for about 40 minutes. Let's talk about, so let's go over the five hair mists next week. Yeah, OK. I want Daniel for number four. Because when I read that bless, I actually screen shot it and sent it to her. OK, so we'll do that next week. I love these hair mists, though. So make sure you tune in next week. Oh, it's exciting. Oh, I was going to say no. And just so you know, this is what we refer to as a cliffhanger. Number two is my favorite. From the 90s, that group, Escape, member with Tiny, they performed tonight. I don't know, CNN just, or YouTube told me, it's CNN. Christina, I'm so happy that you have Daniel. Did you say any kids on the block? I don't know, well, that's OK. I watch, what is that, Love and Hip-Hop and all that stuff. Yeah, I don't watch it, but I loved. Who? All right. Party on down to the S.K. Chris, do you want to read the Q&A questions? Oh, god. Because I don't know the order that you have. I don't know if it matches up. So these questions were submitted by you guys on Instagram. So, and then do it again. Yeah, OK. So what do you do if you realize you have started cutting too short at the beginning of your haircut? Continue or disconnect and start a new, longer guide. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. This is a great question. I would love to hear your thoughts on it too, guys. I think that's going to vary based on each of us. Who wants to start? You want to start?  Well, that happened. Remember those orange bangs those times out? I wasn't kidding. No, back in the day, I had that happen quite a few times. I'm bob length kind of thing. And I had an idea in my head, and then I started cutting. And after a section or two, I was like, whoa. And I'm not going to lie. I know you're not going to lie. Like, an only picture was just happening. No, I totally brought the next section down and made it a little longer. And then the next section a little bit longer. There was sort of, I invented the concave layer, kind of upside down undercut thing. Whoops. I don't think that's concave. I was going to say, I think. It is if you're upside down. That's super convex. I'm like, I'm kind of really good at what I do. I feel like it. But now it would just be like, no, you're too short. I agree, but to Brian's credit, it depends on the cut. I can get it right with anything.  I would almost layer that first maybe two inches, layer it shorter, and then maybe drop almost like an undercut. If it was a bob. Where were you 10 years ago? If it was a bob, but if it's long hair. Yeah, what if it's pixie or a base cut? Long hair, don't care, got it. If it's long hair, you just have to take it a little shorter. But if it's long hair, how bad could you have cut it short? We all never forget this one haircut I did on long hair. I was getting this haircut down. I knew what I was doing. And somewhere in the middle, right around our occipital, was a whole section that I just didn't cut. So when I dropped it and I'm brushing through, there's this weird floating layer that was really long. Because I did the length. And then when I brought everything up to cut it, I didn't go all the way through and bring everything up to cut it. I just brought what I figured would make it. Just this long middle of her head tail. Super fun. Nice. Oh, that's very 80s. Again, I'm really good. OK, so anybody else want to jump in on that? I have done that with, like you said, some bobs and stuff like that. And yeah, I just kind of bring it down longer and do a lot of point cutting. And just be like, yeah, this texture will definitely work with your curl pattern, because most of my clients are curly anyway. So I kind of fudge it just a little bit. Yeah, curly hair makes it a little easier. Yeah. Except if you go too short, then the shrinkage is real. Right. Then your foobard. Right. Fair one of us. Yeah. So this one is, what is the best way to work with natural hair growth patterns when cutting pixies and men's hair, especially around the crown? I feel like when cutting wet, I can't always see the growth direction. And cutting dry, even if I flat wrap, having issues with making the crown look full, yet not stick out like a palm tree if I cut too short. Sad, I think this is definitely one that you should start off. Yeah, any short hair, I always cut dry. And I will pull the hair in the direction that it is growing in. Cutting it too short is going to stand up on you one way or the other. So just try not to cut it too short. And then when you're styling it, push it in the direction that the hair grows in, and it should lay nice for you. At least that's what I found successful. I think definitely to go off of that, making sure that you take a minute to look at them when they sit down before their shampoo to see what it's going to look like when they do their hair. Because we can do the flat wrapping, and we can do all kinds of magical stuff. But that's when you're going to find those areas that are going to be a problem. And this is how it's going to lay when they do their hair. And honestly, when I cut dry, I'll typically cut it how they came in for short hair, as long as they don't come in with bed head or 5,000 pounds of product in their hair or head hair. I then know how they style their hair, at least that day. Yeah. And I was going to say, I know when any of us do short hair and we start off with doing it dry, there's a second rinse or shampoo that happens so that anytime you're pulling at the hair for an extended period of time, it's going to stick straight up. That's just the reality of what's happening when you're trying to cut hair. So by going back down and wetting it down and really making sure you get that root wet and then going back in styling, you're not going to have that stick up as much. Cool. Yeah, I agree with all those things. I think what Dad said, yeah. I did a video on it, too. So there's one. So there's his answer. All right, so links below is the video. You can listen to that, or you could have watched my video. I'll link in the link below in the description box. I mean, you can listen to that, or just watch my video. Yeah. I mean, Dad said it, but like, I did a video. Who are you going to listen to? Just add a video. OK, so our next question. Jen is, probably everyone heard that, because it keeps doing the coming off stream at EI. And you got the thing there. Yeah, the questions up in case anybody didn't hear that. Yeah, sorry, guys. It keeps cutting out, but we are recording it, so I might have to repost it. But silly YouTube. I know. Jason's a nice guy. Yeah, Jason's super nice. I didn't know he moved to New York. That's awesome. So I'm a little confused by getting the right clientele. I think just, I feel like based on his question, it's the clientele that's going to make you happy. Right. Like, people that you're going to want to see, the kind of hair that you're going to want to do, not just like dragging it through work to get it. Maybe you can chime in. Yeah, not just doing like, touch-ups and stuff. But by steady, I think that's, you're right. Like, I think that's what he means, like, steady people making and reservation.  Like, there's nobody in my book that I look and I'm like, oh, God, I really don't want to go to work tomorrow. And that's just been, it's taken years of tailoring that and making people happy, making sure that the people that you really enjoy being with and they enjoy being with you and you make them really happy, making sure that they rebook. Like, it's no longer a question. Because eventually if you don't like being with them, make them feel very uncomfortable when they want to come back. Yeah, like, tell them they're ugly. Yeah. I've heard, I've heard Brian do it. They'll be like, should I rebook? And I'm like, no, you're fat. No, just insult them. No, insult them. What is wrong with you? I'm just, I'm kidding. No, I think honestly what Brian does is, he does it really well if you look at Brian's Instagram for what he does as far as hair grows, he really showcases what he likes to do a lot. And I noticed that and that's what I started reformulating when going through and going through Instagram and going through what I want to post and choosing what I want to post is Brian posts what he loves doing. He does beautiful work and he's YZ. So I think that's a big thing that I took from Gail this year. And I'm, well, I think. I didn't think about it, but yeah. You're definitely right. So when you look at social media nowadays, a lot of people, when they were looking for a new stylist three years ago, they would go straight to Google and they'd review salons, they'd look at that. Six, seven, eight years ago, they would go into the salon to see if they liked it. Then they went online to find it. Now we get phone calls, people want to know what our Instagram handle is so they can look at the work. So if my thing is it goes right along with that. If you want a certain type of clientele, if you're not currently getting it, then go then find those people and maybe even volunteer to do their hair for your Instagram so that you're building that up. If you're not worried about making the money right away, then I would say volunteer, get somebody in your chair that is that type of client that you're looking for so that you can post on your Instagram. So then people that are looking for that stuff can see your pictures and then you're gonna start getting more clients like that. I was gonna say, I had a new guest a few months ago who she found us on Google and Yelp and read our reviews. She called, she made an appointment with the salon when she found out she was working with me. She then went to our Instagram, went to my personal Instagram and my hair Instagram and went through it to see whether or not she wanted to work with me based off of what was out there on social media. That's what people do nowadays. They go straight to your social media before they even have a conversation with you. You can find, oh yeah, you put an application in, you better bet that I'm looking you up on it. You said she's had people asking her on the phone. I just did the same thing with another industry today. Like I had a client saying she needs to find a tattoo artist and I was like, it's just like our industry. Like anybody worth their salt is gonna have some social media to show their work. You can shop without ever meeting anybody and know what somebody's capable of, at least work-wise before you even walk in. True, I guess I'm slightly old school with that I do like to, no, I mean it wasn't hammered into me that yeah, I have no social media presence, thanks. But also just being okay with changing your style because you do kind of attract people that like your own style. So every time that you would change your hair, you would attract different clients' help, people that were blonde, people that wanted maybe shorter hair, longer hair, whatever, I know for me right now, it's people that are transitioning to gray, people that wanna try specialty styles. And I would imagine that for Dreia, it would be somebody that wants to go fiery red, vibrant colors. I always get, I want red hair, not as bright as yours. Like I really like Dreia's on her.  It just doesn't work for me. And I'm like, it's fine. You're like, yeah, I wouldn't give it to you. You're red, so you gotta know something about it. Yeah, you're inspiring people. So, I, okay. Yorick nine, should a barber need a large and a small scissor from Mizutani to make the perfect haircut? I'm not even gonna pretend to be able to answer that question. Nope. Because I'm not a barber.  So I guess you could say that they're like, the one is larger than the other. But I would imagine that they're both the same size. I still do a good job. So, my answer to this would be that no scissors like length is gonna make a perfect cut. For a barber, I think a longer scissor makes sense because you're doing a lot of scissor over comb work. Not, a lot of people think a longer scissor will cut more hair at a time. It has nothing to do with cutting more hair at a time. It has everything to do with the reach of the scissor.  So if you have a longer scissor, it reaches over top of the comb and you can get that two inches of cut because you're working on a round surface. So anytime you're working on a round surface and you have a flat comb, you don't wanna cut. But the combs generally are used are a little bit larger too for the little bit larger, yeah. For men's. But you don't wanna cut more than a couple inches because you're working on that round surface anyways. So no matter what, the longer scissor doesn't make the cut perfect, it just gives you more reach. So even if I was a barber, I would get a long scissor for scissor over comb and I would still work with a shorter scissor for cutting on top of my fingers or cutting inside my comb. Would you say like that would be good for detailed work too? Detail work. Like a round. Yeah. So wait, would you say that it's not the size of the boat, it's the motion in the ocean? Yes. I was really holding back while I was there. I got you. No, Brian's always gonna go there. So would you say yes or no? Yes. Yes? No. A large and a small? Oh yes. You would.  Yes. But only if you buy from personal education. Right. Okay. You just need all of them. Next question, Russell May's hair. Hey. What skills should someone focus on right out of school? Customer service. Consultation. Social media. Skills, like capturing your hair, creating content. Foundation. Because here's my thing. If you're focused, so you guys know, like if you take a picture of your haircut, it looks awful the first time you do it. If you're awkward behind the chair though, it's hard to get busy. Yeah, but if you're awkward behind the chair. But I see people that can't talk. You can work on customer service. They have good hands. I think, I say foundation. Christina says I would. I say foundation because from there, everything else will come. What I'm saying is foundation to me, it gets better when you're capturing your work. Like anytime you're documenting what you're doing, I think you take a picture of it and you're like, ooh, that, you see it from other angles. Yeah. You know what though, I think it has to do with maybe where they're going out of school. If you're saying they're gonna go work in a salon behind the chair, I don't know. Like a lot of people, I would say majority of people sometimes don't wanna know the why's or how and the who's and the ha's and they don't care. But if you are awkward or you can't relate with them behind the chair, it's hard to become busy. Oh yeah. I also think it's gonna. You have to have some sort of custom, yeah. I think it's also gonna depend on where you go. There's a CrossFit gym out back. I think we know where we can go to solve this issue. We'll see who's right. What is he talking about? Hi. We're going back over there to the CrossFit gym. I think, Christina, to kind of go off of what you're saying a little, like what your answer inspired me. I think it's gonna matter on like what kind of career you want. Right, where you're going out of school, I think they would be all different answers. My classmate who was my best friend at the time, when we graduated, I went to some fru fru fancy ass salon and because that's what made me happy and she went and worked at a hair curler because that's what made her happy. And so for her, it was about speed, it was about precision. Right, okay. It was about being able to do a lot of hair really well, really quickly. So that's what she needed to focus on. So I think, all right, so that's what I would say. What skill should someone focus on right out of school? Figuring out where you wanna go in this business. Where you wanna go, definitely. Right. Because there's so many avenues. Where do you wanna end up in 10 years?  Well, I'm going that route, interview the salon as much as they're interviewing you. Make sure you know what that salon's background is in, what their reputation is, what their owners are like, where their stylists are. Yeah. True. And I think also as a stylist, figuring out your comfort zone. So if you're very confident in styling and you're not very comfortable in cutting, start working on the cutting because they go hand in hand. And then just one thing at a time, just trying to tackle it all at one time is a little intimidating.  Yeah. All right. Russell, hope that helps. Hello to Russell. He's been a long time supporter of us, so appreciate it. All right, next one. We've got a couple more left. Okay, Mikey Denton. When is it too soon to raise your prices? I understand when you're constantly booked out and can't fit in any more people, you raise prices. But when is it too soon? For example, I just raised my price to August 1st before that it was a year he thinks about. So as we filmed this, that was four months ago. Because someone may watch it in a year and don't know. Right. Yeah. It's four months too soon. That's what one visit for people. Yeah. That may be a little too soon. That's too soon. Honestly, I think people, this is one thing I got caught up with at the beginning of my career that I kinda wish I didn't. I got caught up with percentages and I got caught up with raising prices. So I raised my prices too quickly. And what you find is that if you're not, like you might be fully booked, you raise your prices and then form, like average guest after six to eight visits is with you or just 10% retention on that guest. Meaning only 10% of your people are gonna come more than eight times? Yep, and then they leave. That's the industry average. Eight times is so long. Yeah, eight times is long. That's a year. It is a year. For some people, it's two years, right? So you have to look at like, for me, four months into it, you don't even know what those numbers are affecting. Like you don't know what raising your prices has actually done to your book, but also take care of the guests that you have. Like don't keep raising prices on them just cause you need more money, right? I think a lot of people hurry to get more money. They try to make shifts and changes and they raise prices and all that, but as soon as you start doing that, you're forcing more and people start dropping off. And then you're gonna find yourself struggling to get people to pay that new price. So my thing would be work on getting them addicted to multiple services, look at your service per guest number, which is something that we look at, and just really focus on growing those individual numbers. Retention rate, make sure you know your retention. Make sure you know your services per guest. Your take home per guest. All of these things can make you more money without actually raising prices on your guests, but offering more to them. So that's that. I'm gonna agree. That's what I've been doing. I concur. All right, last one. Okay. Sorry. Stylist.nicki, there are times I see you use shears and times you use a razor for an entire haircut. How do you choose and why? Me need, me need my email. She ain't talking to us. So. Did they want the real? So, here's my thing. So, and you guys can answer shears and razor, right? So I use a razor when I'm looking for a blunt edge on a cut, and then sometimes I'll go in and shatter that. When I'm looking for a more lived in textured look, then I'll go with a razor to cut.  You said you use a razor for a blunt. Yeah. Oh, sorry, sir. I'm like, how'd you do that? I missed that video. I was like, oh, you didn't do that when I was like, oh. I'm losing half my brain. I'm learning how to use that really well. When you were looking at me, I was like, why is he staring at me like that? That didn't seem like a crazy thing to say. So yeah, scissor for blunt cutting, but in structured cutting, you can cut structure with a razor, but it's still gonna have that jagged edge. So it's a more soft to look. So when I'm looking for structure, really building up the shape, I use a scissor and then I'll go in and break up that shape if I need to. When I cut with a razor, like when I cut Christina's hair, she's got really thick dense hair. I love using a razor because any time I try to cut structure in it, it just explodes and expands. Christina has not had anything but a chemical cut in three years. I know. No. So bad. It's so hard. Girl, I'm right there with you, it's okay. So yeah, so that's where we're at. When I was filming Justice League, you should have seen with all that see what it did to my hair.  We do have one question, Marcia. Marcia. Do you have another one? Maybe Marcia, could be. Marcia, is this Marcia Clark? How would you, yeah. Like the one from the OJ trial? Oh my God. How would you deal with a salon owner who isn't living up to everything they said upon being hired? Oh. That's Danielle in a couple of months. I didn't hear that, what did you say? That's on our other podcast. How would you don't deal with our bosses? How would you deal with a salon owner who isn't living up to everything they said upon being hired? Oh my gosh. How much are you regretting reading that now? No, we're dying, trying. Yeah. I have high blood pressure on everything. So. We don't even live together anymore. No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding, I'm teasing. I don't have high blood pressure because of you guys. I have high blood pressure because of you guys. I'm just stressing about getting everything done. Wait, can you put the camera on us? It was dead, it was dead. Jason says, plan your exit. Laugh out loud, I've been there. That's the truth, I mean. I mean, there's no.   Yeah, Danielle's been my favorite. She's my favorite. Yeah. That's what I'm in right now. Actually, I left the same boss. I just didn't take me five years. They both worked for the same boss. She just put up with it for five years. Yeah. Well, I had no choice. She had to get a bigger place. True. All right. Who's our winner? Just leave them. It's never going to get better in that situation. One last question, then we're going to get ready to spin the wheel. I'm sure you know. Lisa says, not sure if you have time for one more. Of course we do. Clearly, we are not concerned with 10. We have a sitter who's expensive. Oh, yeah. OK, she says, what is your take on the whole Sola salon experience? Oh, we've talked about this. I think it's cool to talk about it before. I don't mind talking about it again. I was going to say I've never personally been in a Sola salon, but I worked at a salon where we had individual rooms for each of the stylists. And I thought that was fun. Thought about giving you guys each individual rooms. We thought about it.  No, like hospital carton around my chair. To me, it was fun. Like I did that for about six months, and then I came to work here. But I'll look behind the curtain. Drea, be quiet. I think they're really cool because I do think it's nice to let somebody have the experience of owning their own business without having to go through the stress of having to own their own business. Because honestly, not that many salons are perfect to work in, really. We hear a lot of horror stories of stylists working and very, very unhappy in their salon. So I think they're a great opportunity for that. Owning a salon? So long as you don't require the people around you to entertain. So it's a great opportunity for people like that. I think, you know? And it's an unbelievable stepping stone. If you want to be a salon owner, which I'm going to tell you guys, not every stylist should be one. But being an owner of yourself and controlling employees and trying to keep them happy and also fulfilling it, it's not easy. But being in control of yourself and owning your own work and your business is more manageable. It's a bit easier, especially when you're not bringing in personalities and the communication part of the whole other part of owning a business. That's the hard part. I just remember years ago when I was obviously well before working for you. I was thinking about opening my own salon. I was trying to decide what to do. And I met with Matt. And I was like, because I knew him from like Palm Beach and stuff like that, I was like, because I really liked his salon. But there was no talk of me coming to work. I was like, I'm thinking about what if I open my own salon? What advice do you have to be ready to never sleep again? You have to be ready to be sick all the time about having to provide for other people. And if you think you're ready for that, go for it. Right. How about I just come work for you and let you deal with that then? I did this big event a couple, like three weeks ago or whatever. And there was a lot of people there. And the first thing I said was being a salon owner is 24.  And I think a lot of people, what happens is they are the best stylists in their salon. They don't like the way the owner is doing something. So they think, I will take that and I will go open my own place. That's fine.  And now you're in the same situation where people are looking at you. You have to take care of them. And you have to take care of people that don't do hair the way that you do. And you're trying to grow a business like that. You can't have a bunch. It's very hard to have a salon full of people that are exactly like you that are bringing in a ton of money. It's just a tough thing. So the solo salons are great because it's for you.  And think about it. We got an opportunity when we opened the salon. But a lot of people, it's not there to do it. And we were in a great situation. We'll see. Everyone's experience is different. Exactly. Our situation, we were in a great opportunity to buy. But we also took out a business loan that we then just in return gave all of it. That's it. So now we were like, oh, shoot. Maybe we should have kept a cushion. Yeah. So our experience was, if you're ready to have all that stress of financial, we were in that bind. Not everyone's situation is like that. But solo is great because you can step into it. And all you have to do is pay your rent. And you don't have to deal with managing people. Managing people is the hardest part of owning a business. But I also think solo is great because they have so many different types of suite. So if you want a one-chair, two-chair, three, whatever you can bring people on because I know a couple of people that are doing that. And they've actually gone in steps from the one chair and then expanded to bigger ones. And you didn't have that startup of trying to expand the space that you're in or maximize the space that you're in. I like an idea solo much better than a chair rental situation. So when we bought the salon, we obviously didn't fire anyone that worked there. But we realized when certain people left or were fired, we had to start that way. You can't just have three stylists working for you that aren't busy. That's not easy. You'll fail. You have to slowly grow. You have to be patient. You don't start making money for at least five, seven years, I'd say, seeing a profit. As an owner? Yeah. I mean, I think so. Experience. I've lived it. They've owned this place before. Because speaking from experience. That's what any business person wants to open. I may have dropped out of beauty school, but I never quit on my staff. Because profit is on the line. That's what business classes will tell you, too. All right, cool. So Danielle, save us. I want to have the first wheel spin go to Jason, because he has been a very dedicated follower of ours for a long time. So look at this girl thinking it's automatically her. I know she's season three. Season three. Why not the new girl? Why not the new girl? Oh, Danielle, did you want to spin the wheel? Well, Tim, I'm afraid of tripping. I'm going to move so you can see me on the wheel. So you got that? Cool. So you were going to tell me that I was spinning the wheel? No. No. So I'm going to move so that I can spin the wheel, but we are. You just said it, that's spinning the wheel. Sorry, man, my brain. So that's going to zoom in on it. On the wheel, we do have Mizetani scissors, which is a big deal. That's a huge prize. There's one Mizetani scissor on there. It's the only black one. And then a lot of FSE. Sorry. What's wrong with you? FSE is just a fun pack of a bunch of different gifts. Yeah, just seeing you'll send you some fun stuff. Ergo, Donald Scott. It's whatever's on your desk. Minerva. I have like a gold pair, Landry. They'll send you something cool. And that's it. So. Kego. Yes. No. Damn. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Did you say Ola Plex, Donald Scott? Ola Plex. Of course. Yeah. We don't do it. I said Donald Scott, but Ola Plex as well. Say Donald Scott again. Nope. It's the best she can do. I hope he gets his scissors. Focus. One job. There you go. It's Scott of Donald. Sweet. I'll say Donald Scott again. Oh, where's my head? Oh, hey. That was real close. OK. I hope you guys like the show. Did you guys enjoy it? I missed this. I missed it too. I'm just kidding. Yes, I loved it. So I had a good time. I think that's. It was OK. It was OK? Well, were you like two and a half hours? Is that what we clocked on this one? No, I think we're a little over an hour, not much. Were there any more questions? Look, look, there it is. Five more time. Oh, that's real close to the face. OK, so thank you guys so much for watching. And listening. Social media. You can follow Daniel Downs at dmd underscore downs. I think it's a dmd. dmd. Oh, I'm sorry. dmd. That'd be fun. OK. Mine's hairstyle. H-A-I-R-E style. Hair by Dre Day. You look like you're like, I think that's hair by Dre Day. I had to think about it for a second. It's been so long. That is. Sad bullnized. Sad bullnized. And you can follow us, everything at Free Salon Education. Go give Daniel a hard time about not posting on our social media. That'll be fun. Don't judge me. Let us know in the comments below anything you want to see on the show next week. Also, we do have. I have that cool package from Minerva, but I want to. It's huge. You have to give it justice. I want to give it justice, and I want to do that. So go check out. I want to give the big package justice, too. Go check out minervabeauty.com. Thank you again to them for being big supporters of the show. And that's it. We'll see you guys next week right here live on Splitting Hares. Thanks.


The huge gap between how serious nuclear war is and how seriously it's being taken. Sometimes I'm not sure what presents a greater threat to humanity, nuclear war or the colossal stupidity that has made it possible. Due to the skyrocketing risk of a world-ending confrontation between the United States and Russia, World Socialist Website is re-releasing a series of interviews it conducted in 2017 with experts on the subject of nuclear war. One of them is with a senior scientist at Physicians for Social Responsibility named Stephen Starr, which World Socialist Website has titled Nuclear Winter, the Long Suppressed Reality of Nuclear War. Starr discusses the research which has shown that in addition to unthinkable horrors of flattened cities and nuclear fallout, as we all have all been told about, a war fought with existing US and Russian nuclear arsenals is predicted to make agriculture impossible for a decade or longer, dooming most people to die from nuclear famine. Starr says a false narrative has been spun that the science behind nuclear winter theory is weak. A narrative that I have had parroted at me from time to time in my commentary on this subject. He says the science is in fact peer reviewed and robust, and actually makes very conservative estimates of the environmental havoc that would be unleashed by black carbon soot thrown into the stratosphere by a large nuclear exchange. But this science has been actively suppressed and marginalized by a junk science smear campaign and the slashing of research funding. After the success of the smear campaign against nuclear winter, most people eventually accepted this narrative and funding for new research dried up, Starr said. This had a big impact on the public who got the impression that nuclear winter theory had been disproven. As a result, this issue is hardly ever talked about now in the mainstream media. One of the reasons for this is that over the years, trillions of dollars have been spent on nuclear weapons, Starr adds. If the conclusions of the nuclear winter research that nuclear war is suicide for all peoples and nations had gained widespread acceptance and understanding, it is likely that the whole nuclear weapons industry would have been shut down. Indeed, when you're talking about the movement of trillions of dollars, Obama committed one trillion dollars to modernizing America's nuclear arsenal for the explicit purpose of better confronting Russia, you're talking about the kind of money that any amount of underhanded gangster tactics would be employed to secure. But I think another major part of it, which goes unmentioned by Starr, is the fact that if people truly understood how dangerous nuclear war is for everyone on this planet, nobody would consent to the kinds of cold war games that the drivers of empire have been intending to play with those weapons. If people truly understood that their life and the lives of everyone they love are being gambled like poker chips in nuclear brinkmanship maneuvers geared towards securing unipolar planetary hegemony for an undeclared empire loosely centralized around the United States, those few empire architects would soon find themselves on the losing end of a tooth and claw fight against the entire human species. The ability to win cold war power struggles is dependent on the mainstream public not thinking too hard about what nuclear war is and why it is being risked. So I think we're seeing a broad lack of awareness among the general public of just how close to the precipice we are for the same reason nuclear winter theory has been suppressed. Because if everyone deeply understood how dangerous these unipolarist grand chessboard power plays are and how they deliver no real benefit to ordinary people, they wouldn't permit them to happen. A responsible news media would be educating the public about things like nuclear winter and how easy it would be for a nuclear war to be triggered by a malfunction, miscommunication, misunderstanding, or miscalculation in the chaos and confusion of soaring cold war escalations as nearly happened many times during the last cold war. A news media whose job is not to report the news but to manufacture consent for imperial agendas will do everything it can to prevent people from paying attention to those things. This is why if you really understand nuclear war and what it means and how close we are to its emergence, it feels so surreal and dissonant looking around at the things people are talking about today, how ungrounded in reality it all is, how unseriously people are taking this thing, how willing they are to consent to things like no fly zones and other direct military action against Russia. It's because people are preventing, prevented from seeing and understanding this reality. You can't have the riff-raff interfering in the mechanics of the imperial machine. Unipolar hegemony is too important to be left to democratic processes. Keep the local fauna confused and distracted while you roll the dice on nuclear armageddon with the hope of ruling the world.  There's not the slightest iota of wisdom guiding their actions, just the primitive impulse to dominate and control. They're living their lives and making their decisions essentially on autopilot, guided by unconscious impulses they themselves don't understand. In the aforementioned interview Star also touches on the ease with which a nuclear war could be set off by a technical malfunction and what the earliest moments of a nuclear war will likely look like. Quote, if the US early warning systems detect a missile launch, the president can order a launch of retaliatory nuclear strike before incoming nuclear warheads take out the communication systems and weapons. Of course if this is a false warning of attack then the retaliatory strike becomes a first strike and a nuclear war has started. Moreover, if somebody has launched a nuclear strike against the silos in which your nuclear weapons are housed in, you don't retaliate by targeting their empty silos. You target their cities. Russia has only about 230 cities with a population greater than 100,000. The US has 312. So it's not hard to wipe out a couple hundred cities in an initial salvo. End quote. Star also discusses the insane belief that Russia will probably back down when threatened with the possibility of nuclear war. A line of thinking that's becoming so common today that it's almost its own genre of Natsek punditry. Quote, the strategists often say, oh well Russia will back down. What if they don't? And why would they back down on their own border? Any US or NATO-Russian direct military conflict will very likely lead to a full-scale nuclear war. End quote. In another 2017 World Socialist Website interview, this one with Los Alamos study group secretary and executive director Greg Mello, we get some more insight into the reality of the nuclear threat. Quote, to a first approximation, in a nuclear war between the US and Russia, everybody in the world would die. Some people in the southern hemisphere might survive, but probably not even them. The imagination cannot encompass nuclear war. Nuclear war means nuclear winter. It means the collapse of very fragile electronic, financial, governmental, administrative systems that keep everyone alive. We'd be lucky to reboot in the early 19th century. And if enough weapons are detonated, the collapse of Earth's ozone layer would mean that every life form that has eyes could be blinded. The combined effect of a US-Russian nuclear war would mean that pretty much every terrestrial mammal and many plants would become extinct. There would be a dramatic biological thinning. End quote. The gulf between these expert analyses and what people are consuming in the news could not possibly be wider. People simply don't understand what's being done with their lives by powerful people who care only about imperial domination, and the powerful intend to keep it that way. It doesn't need to be like this.  We should all be pushing for de-escalation, diplomacy, and détente, and for the nations and peoples of this world to begin working together for the good of everyone.