Having a mother in the hair business, Leala literally grew up doing hair. She attempted her first haircut on her 5-year-old cousin at the age of three. She was overheard telling him not to worry; she had seen her mommy do this lots of times. Thankfully she went on to pursue more formal training. At age 17 she was doing nails in her mother’s salon. But she soon needed something more….having always been interested in long hair; she started learning how to extend hair with the braiding method, as that was the best technology at that time. But this was a very time consuming method and the results were just okay, not miraculous. You could kind of tell that the extensions were there because they were bulky at the roots. They also only stayed in a month before slipping. Especially so on very straight, smooth hair. Discouraged with these types of extensions she continued her education in hair and make-up. She attended classes at the Vidal Sasoon Academy, Aveda, Redken, Wella, Vivian MacKinder and Patrick Cameron for styling and Icon for influential cutting and styling to mention a few. Leala can now say she has been successfully doing great hair for over 10 years.

About four years ago a woman came into the salon where she was working wearing Great Lenghts hair extensions. She wanted Leala to lowlight her hair. Her co-workers were doubtful. They said they would tangle in the shampoo bowl, and that she wouldn’t be able to blow her out, but none of this happened. The extensions were easy to wash and blow out and the color came out beautiful mostly because the great lengths hair was human and in really good condition. The woman then informed her that they had been in for four months. As soon as the woman left, Leala made a beeline for the phone and enrolled in the Great Lenghts course. She has been an enthusiastic Certified Great Lenghts Provider for four years.

Leala remarks,“ Every time I do a set, I’m still amazed at how real they look. I love the fact that I’ve been cutting hair off for so long and now I can put it back on.”