Meet Toby Hirsch: Salon Owner, Hairstylist, and Confidence Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Toby Hirsch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Toby, how does your business help the community?
Do the Bang Thing Salon differs from most because our guests and our team give back to the local community on a daily basis. Early 2018, we as a business had to look at what we did for our guests. Hair of course, but what about hair was so important. Why do people pay to go to a high end salon when there are so so many choices out there? They want a salon that gives them CONFIDENCE. People want to build it, have it, feel it. When you walk in to our doors and you have, as we all do, self confidence issues, you want to walk out feeling better. You want to catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, smile and node, and raise your head up high saying, “I look good!”. Over the course of 22 years in this industry, I have heard so many women tell me so many things about what they don’t like about themselves. Their nose is slightly crooked, they have wrinkles, they have a round face or a big forehead. I have heard men talk about their eyebrows getting crazy or how they are balding. Of course I can’t do a thing about those issues but I can make them more confident. I can listen and validate them while I massage the day away from their tight scalps. I can’t trim and color and extend their hair to make them happy. I can show them, that they are enough and that they are unique. And once their time with me or my team is up, they have their cape removed, the chair spun around, a mirror handed to them, and they see our work. “Oh my g-d! Look at my hair!”, is a common saying I hear from new guests. “It looks great, you are amazing!”, is another phrase I hear from our regulars. Obviously I reply, “You think so? I think I’m good at this, I may open my own salon!”, usually followed by an eye roll from my guests. But they are happy and guess what, more confident. Okay, let me get to the point! How do we do this, but for our community? Who else supports building confidence in young girls, before they start looking at their nose, their face, and even their bodies? Girls Inc. of Denver Metro, that’s who. A local non profit affiliated with a much larger group who have been around for 100 years. Their motto, making girls STRONG, SMART, and BOLD. Perfect, we do the hair and they help the girls. For 2 years we have been donating a portion of every service to them with our 10 chair salon giving $13,000 to date. And our guests love it just as much as we do. I feel it is very important to have a mission with a business, not a business with a mission. 

What should our readers know about your business?
Such a great question! For me, I am so proud of the team culture I have created in a very old school thinking industry. Most people ask me when interviewing, “are your stylists booth rental or commission based?”. “Neither!”, I exclaim, because we are a team based pay salon. Meaning, we pay our artists a hourly wage as well as benefits. The newest one is health insurance and net profit sharing is probably my favorite. We have paid meetings, education, holidays and some paid time off. This year we paid our staff for voting and not the mandatory 2 hours Colorado state law requires but half a day of average pay. We are also closing for 4 days after Christmas and I am paying them for 2 of the 4 days because they help my business grow. Most businesses have this, this is not a new concept. Yet not to many salons operate like this because they have a “me” mentally. Me as in commission and booth rental rely on their guests, their money, their time. Not our guests, our money, our time. Okay, yes I have met owners of salons that are commission or booth rental that have had great success or a fantastic team culture, but for me it wasn’t working. 2018 I was literally putting payroll on personal credit cards. I also almost shutdown due to the lack of knowledge of really how to run a business. My own fault! When I was introduced to a company called Strategies my life changed. I identified with many of the coaches and staff, they too had faced so many similar challenges. I didn’t feel alone anymore, like I was the only one not making it. I immediately signed up for coaching and starting my journey. They taught me so much and I have been able to take their ideas and morph them into what is Do the Bang Thing Salon today. Was it easy, lord no! I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much. When they told me this was a 18 month conversion, I laughed. I thought, “there is no way, I have the best team and they are all going to see how great this is.” Well, much like telling a pregnant woman she will NEVER be as tired as she will when the baby comes, I too didn’t believe. I overcame this but simply leaving things up to the universe and trusting in my managers, my coach, and my heart. And wine…lots of wine. But in all honesty, looking at others, including other local salon owners that have made the transition, and seeing that it was going to be a journey. The cliché of Rome wasn’t built in a day was never more real. Slowly yet surely, things started to get better. New stylists came in that we happy to have stability and we grew together. I learned that if you need a change, no one is going to do it for you. People will always doubt you when you do things differently, trust yourself. Recently I had another break down about Covid-19 and the possibility of things getting shut down again. A friend sent me a quote that said, “You wouldn’t plant a seed and then dig it up every few minutes to see if it has grown. So why do you keep questioning yourself, your hard work and your decisions? Have patience, stop overthinking and keep watering your seeds. – Steven Bartlett”. My salon, my business is successful because my employees feel valued, appreciate, and heard. I am not above them because I am only 4’11”, I kid! They see how I continue to grow as a leader and that I am not an all knowing being but a student of life. But with all seriousness, I want them to know I care and with them being in a career not just a job, they can achieve more, build a future, and not work themselves to death.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My Clients! They have been through thick and thin with me, and that’s not a hair joke. They have followed me all over the Denver Metro area as I have had 5 different locations in 10 years. Most of them are now my friends and know everything about me. I utilized my time with them in my chair to bounce ideas, vent about struggles, and share my joy. They remind me where I came from and how quickly I got to where I am. I am very fortunate that they all bring something to my life and I value them. If you are sitting in my chair every 4-8 weeks, you mean the world to me. Thank you for always being there and believing in me!

Website: https://dothebangthingsalon.com
Instagram: @dothebangthing
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/do-the-bang-thing-salon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dothebangthing?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DotheBangThingSalon/
Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/do-the-bang-thing-salon-denver-2
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DotheBangThing/featured

Image Credits
Marla Keown of Marla Keown Photography for personal photo and the one where my staff and I are wearing masks.