Master Hair Stylist Orlando Lopez

Here we go.

I told you guys I was gonna close the second season with a bang.

This is the second interview of the day, and today is super successful, nice, handsome, cool guys.

And I'm here with my second interview of the day, Orlando Lopez, owner of OLS Hair Salon and master stylist Hi Orlando.

Hello, everyone.

How are you doing?

And by the way, you guys that are just listening, I highly recommend go to my Instagram, go to his Instagram, Orlando Lopez style, go to the Instagram of the salon, OLS Salon, and check out his work.

And he looks amazing.

Thank you so much for doing this.

My pleasure, my pleasure.

And you told me you're game for any questions, right?

You're ready to rock and roll.

Embarrass me all you want.

I don't care.

I'm not going to.

embarrass you.

By the way, if you guys listen to this music, the background noise is because we decided to multitask since we're both so busy.

He's doing my hair, which I'm super excited about because it's the first time he's doing my hair.

And we're doing the podcast all at the same time.

All at once, multitasking.

Yes.

So I'm here at OLS with him as I have color on my hair.

And I'm sure it's going to look fantastic.

Let's shoot, huh?

Let's go.

You are a heterosexual guy.

I am.

And you're married.

I am.

And we all know this is an industry that most guys who are stylists are homosexuals and

all of you are usually surrounded by beautiful women, women that want to look great.

So, I mean, we have to ask, yes, this question.

Do you get hit on a lot?

Do I get hit on a lot by females or males?

Both.

Spill it.

Actually, the truth of the matter is I get hit more by males than I do the females.

Really?

Exactly.

Because they had the misconception right away, I'm a hairdresser, that it's open game and that's that's free territory and like oh he's gay automatically but right at the same time I don't mind it but I do hit on by women but not so much because the way I play my role behind the chair is you know I'm not a you know one of those hairdressers that you know like this Oh Han you would say that organizes and plays the role.

But I always give a little bit of taste, you know, a little bit of skin, a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

So it intrigues women to be curious.

Curiosity to me means a lot in relationships and everything in life.

Yes.

So you give too much, it means nothing.

So the little that I give

means a lot.

So it's like I play with my clients at the same time to accommodate the sexuality of the man and the woman and all that.

But at the same time, there's a respect there that I am married.

And most of the time, they're married, but to bring a little life to the situation, make the woman feel good.

Yeah.

Is what my role is.

Flirting a little bit is okay, right?

Flirting is great.

It's healthy.

I agree.

And my wife's going to hear this.

And she's going to be cool with it.

And she's going going to be cool with it because she knows as well as flirting is innocent.

It's not

giving it all up.

It's just a little bit of taste.

It's super nice that you're saying that because I completely agree with you.

You can still be married.

Love your wife.

You go home every night to your wife.

You guys have a great life.

But a part of your job, it's like my job in many ways.

We work with our image

and it's all about people looking great, looking beautiful.

The hair is a huge part of our ego.

So yeah, I don't think there's anything wrong with laughing, laughing, doing photographs, doing pictures with your clients, right?

Totally, it's just a little bit of fun that just makes the situation more.

I don't know how to put it in words, but it just, you know, just my job is to enlighten a woman as far as their looks and their perception, how they see themselves.

So, by me, adding a little bit of flirtatiousness, adds to the element of making them feel more of a woman, more sexy, more attractive.

Oh, that's amazing.

So, that's my role as a hairdresser, not just as a man,

is to bring that out of a woman.

At the same time, they bring it out as a man.

Yeah.

So it goes both ways.

I completely agree with you.

And it's interesting because I think in your profession, you break all the stereotypes.

Like you said, a lot of men probably come the first time they come do their hair with you and they're like, oh, this guy's gay.

And then when they realize I'm not,

I'm happily married and I'm super successful.

in this business that is

not not all of the business I know because I'm gonna get a lot of flack for it we're not talking about everybody but most people in this business are homosexual which we have no problem with none zero hey I grew up in LA a lot of my best friends are homosexual and we love them but we're talking about in your case I think it's amazing because you're able to build this awesome career and it's funny because when I do with men and they come to me it's like for instance I do Muay Thai kickboxing and all that and I'll train with these men and all of a sudden he has an insane body by the way I have to put parenthesis.

When I said go to the Instagram, it's because I really want to illustrate what I'm looking at right now.

And with all due respect to the wife, because I'm very respectful to the wife, but yeah, he's eye candy.

So

back to what I was saying, I trained, like I do Muay Thai kickboxing and I train with these guys and they ask me what I do for a living and all of a sudden I kick their ass in a sparring match and I'm like, what do you do for a living?

I'm a hairdresser.

Like, no, you're a barber.

So no, I'm a hairdresser.

I blow dry females' hair.

And you're proud of it.

And like, oh, yeah, you just got your ass kicked by a hairdresser.

So that's like a reality hit to people that's just the stereotype of a hairdresser is not always so soft and always is nice.

I know.

Again, not so a problem with the stereotype.

And I love.

I confess, one of the main reasons why I wanted to interview is not just because I want you to do my hair.

It's because I love meeting people that break with stereotypes because I hate stereotypes.

I've been stereotyped my entire life.

People look at my pictures and like, she's a dumb bimbo.

She's a dumb bimbo.

She's a whore because of my pictures.

I say, and I love meeting people.

Like, no, it's not, don't judge a book by its cover.

I said to say, well, I got this career, all my life I dealt with stereotypes as far as being quiet and being to myself.

And it was like, does he, my parents used to tell my parents all the time, does he speak English?

Because I don't talk.

So that stereotype saying, oh, he's quiet, so it means he doesn't do that, he doesn't do this.

But they say, now I'm very observant, I'm very watching what's going on.

Why I feel so sexual behind the chair.

And I just say so successful with women.

Yeah.

Because I tell my clients all the time, you want the best husband training?

Come work with me for a week and I'll teach you how to be a good person.

Really?

Can I do that?

There's so many things that happen in a hair salon that many people that know you, women as well, don't know, and men as well.

There's a learning lesson in a hair salon as far as relationships and everything that inquires between the man and a female.

I mean, I see it every day in the chair.

I'm sure you're going to ask me some questions.

That's one of the questions.

Let's jump to that one.

I have heard that before, that you almost become a therapist because people confide in you.

They come here and they're like, ooh, sometimes too much.

Too much.

I've had situations where I have had a husband and wife, two different situations.

The husband comes in, talks about what he's doing behind the scenes.

I'll be honest, he's cheating, doing this.

And then I have the wife come in and say, oh, I caught him doing this.

And I can't say nothing because

both are your clients and they're like, what happens in my chair, the respect that I have behind the chair is, you know, as a psychologist and like a lawyer or anything, the confidentiality between my client and me is private.

So even though I had one day the husband in talking about he's cheating and then the other day the wife caught him cheating, I can't give the husband a warning

that he got caught.

You need to so I hear both sides of the story.

Yeah.

You know, and

I learn a lot as myself and I help try to pass it on to my clients and what I try to talk about.

So you are kind of a therapist, really?

Because

you feel,

obviously I agree, you should be loyal to both parties.

Whatever somebody spills to you should stay in the chair.

Whatever happens in my chair, stays in my chair.

Stays in Orlando's chair.

So if you guys come do your hair with him.

Don't worry, I won't tell on you.

Yeah, you can spill the beans and any will stay here.

I won't say nothing.

Don't worry, don't worry.

So that is true.

A lot of people don't go to a therapist, but they do come to the hair salon.

Probably more so, they come to the hair salon more than the therapist because there's a trust issue.

Yes.

Remember, when you wake up every day and you look in the mirror, who's in charge of that look?

I am.

So who do you trust more?

You.

Your hairdresser.

Yes.

Plus, let's be honest, a lot more fun.

Oh, a lot more fun.

I think going to a therapist, yeah, it's heavy duty.

I'm not even going to talk about the cost, but many times it's tense.

And coming here, you have a little glass of chicken.

You become a comfort zone for a lot of people.

Yeah, okay, so next time a guy dumps me or ghosts me, I know exactly what I'm going to do.

Oh, wait, no,

or you send him to get a a haircut with me, and I'll tell him why he dumped you.

Yeah, and no,

and there's another great thing: you can be feeling like shit, and you live with your hair so fantastic you forget all about it.

Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Great, I love that one.

Now, we were talking about that you break the stereotype, which is amazing.

You're on top of your career, you guys are on this brand new salon they just inaugurated.

Did you get a lot of backlash when you started in this career from your friends, from your family, or no?

When I first started, I have to say 80% no, and a small percent is yes due to the stereotype.

But again, I'm a jock.

I played football.

My friends are very this and that.

The minute I talked about being a hairdresser, they were like, girls.

Girls.

Girls.

But they didn't remember that some of these girls are like 90 years old.

Right.

Yeah, they're girls.

They're old ladies, right?

But I did get a little stereotype from it, but it was very warm

as what I was going into this career because

I was in the crossroads of my life, this and that, but the sense of security who I am and define who I am as an artist I went into this career without any doubt that I had no worries about that stereotype because I'm very confident who I am what I stand for and I stand behind my art that's great and what I do and also a lot of it the psychology part like you mentioned before I take pride in because I feel like I have a lot to give in the psychology part being a man in this industry that I have a lot to help women to empower women empower relationships I love that I do a lot of every day even with my wife that does the Healing Eat project, she does a lot of that.

I've learned that there's a reason why I'm here.

It's not just to do hair, it's also to empower women.

Oh, yeah.

Every time I touch a woman's hair, it's not just doing their hair and I make a paycheck out of it.

I agree.

I empower them, make them confident.

Yes.

You know, because a lot of it is always coming in here: it's like, how can I do this?

How can I do that?

And back to the perspective of being gay and straight, I always say, Do you want to know what a man like me who's straight, what they want, what they look for?

Or do you want someone that isn't the same page as you that wants to dress like you?

I I know.

So that empowerment helps me a lot in the aspect of how I can coach women into feeling better and feeling better about themselves and their self-esteem.

I think that's amazing because I think most people would agree when we talk about doing hair is not just frivolous, oh, I need to look beautiful because it involves so much more.

It involves our self-esteem, our ego, how we feel about ourselves.

And I do the same with my work.

I'm always trying to tell girls, look, people see us from the outside in.

So if you take care of yourself, you take care of of your hair, you take care of your body, you're gonna have a much better outlook and you're gonna feel better about yourself.

Everything is better.

That's what I do with my health and my fitness.

Like, I tell my friends all the time: when you feel good, and you look good,

everything's better.

Sex is better, relationship is better,

everything and the energy.

You're gonna feel better about yourself, and you're gonna pass that energy on to other people.

I agree completely.

Now, let's get a little tougher here.

I know you said clients confide in you, both men, both women, da da da.

Men hit on you, women hit on you.

Is there anything a client would do or say that would cross the line?

They're like, okay, don't book the, I don't want to do this person's hair ever again?

Yeah,

there's the woman that is very, I have to say, insecure, doesn't know what she wants, and I run into the wall the fact that I'm trying to guide her to find out what she wants.

And I realize that it's not, it has nothing to do with hair, has to do with some personal issues.

Right.

That I know no matter how good I do her hair, she's not gonna be happy so those are like warning flags to me but at the same time

i get inspired by those clients

sorry guys my phone rang it wasn't on mute we got interrupted we were talking about some people are just unhappy very unhappy that we're into these walls with some of these clients that have these personal issues and no matter what i do they're not going to be happy but for me I get inspired to want to conquer those people.

Because obviously there's something there blocking them and allowing them to accept who who they are in the mirror but basically guys to a point if you realize a client is never going to be happy

you're like okay i give off i cut them off i'm exactly like you i have a certain client in my business that i realize nothing i do in the world is going to make them happy and i got to the point like okay bye i put them on my system yeah

i want to work with people that are happy and cool and have good energy and I gotta be open yes you gotta be open some people you're not gonna get anywhere in life yeah some people are just never gonna be happy with anything.

Now, let's, my curiosity, but I know a lot of girls out there want to know the same question.

You're an artist and you do hair.

Is there one hair color that you love doing more than other?

Blonde, brunette, or other colour.

Yes, you're talking to a man that loves brunettes.

And I'm not gonna get hurt.

No, don't worry, you're blonde as hell.

You're a blonde-holic.

My soul is blonde.

Yeah, you're a blonde-holic, but totally.

I love brunettes.

But it's not even a question about, there's a misconception of growth, people love blondes, people love that I love sexy

so if you can rock a blonde hair and you can carry it well and you can wear it sexy I'm gonna like a blonde but if you you can wear a redhead it all depends on how you carry your hair why it's so important to me how when I consult my clients about their personality I don't just ask them what color you want ask them what you do for living or what do you do for life you like to go out do you like to party right what kind of men do you like all these things come into play how I address what look I'm going to give to that woman.

So this misconception is, oh, men like blondes.

No, men love women who carry themselves with confidence.

Wow.

And so my job is to give them the look and the color that brings out the confidence in a woman.

Whether it's purple, pink, blue, or orange.

If that's what they feel and that's what their personality addresses, that's what I'm going to address.

Because that's going to bring it out, which is going to make me look good and make them look good because they're going to own it.

I love that answer.

It's all about how the woman feels and how that person is and how I address that color to that person.

Yep.

There's a lot involved in just doing hair, you guys.

Trust me, don't come here and just tell me you want your hair color because I'm gonna have you fill out a chart, tell me what you do.

Do you like it big, you like it small, do you like it from behind, you like it from whatever?

It doesn't matter.

The truth is, you wanna feel good about yourself, right?

Yes, you're gonna feel confident in yourself.

Is it?

Do you think it's true when a girl comes here, like let's say she's blonde, there's like, oh, I want to color my hair pitch black or the other way around?

Do you think there is an ulterior feeling for such radical changes?

Totally, it could be Kim Kardashian just went platinum.

She did?

So you want to be like, no, that was years ago.

Oh, I think that's a good idea.

I missed that one.

I caught your attention, though, didn't I?

See?

How I caught your attention.

Yeah, because if you think of it,

you think, oh, that's what's going to happen.

I got to do that.

But that's not what it is.

They're just following the penguin line and walking the line of everyone else because they're not defining who they are as an individual.

So it's never a good idea to copy.

Do you have a lot of clients that ask for celebrity copies?

I do.

What I tell them is I'm going to give them a version of that that suits you.

Right.

Because I still don't want them to lose their identity.

That's fabulous.

I want them to

embrace something like, you know, we all have idols.

We want to be like that, but we don't want to lose our inner self.

I know.

So my job is to create a look that they don't lose themselves, but they accommodate something else that they're looking for.

It's complicated as shit what I do.

No, I know.

I agree.

I agree, but that's what I'm saying.

When women, when we talk about hair, I never think it's just like, oh, my hair.

A few girls are like, I'm going to wash it and leave it alone.

Yeah, right.

I think most women, we carry all this weight of our personality.

Do we feel sad to do nothing?

I can be having, I can have the shittiest outfit, but if my hair looks fantastic, I swear to God, I feel like a million bucks.

Oh, yeah.

And if my hair looks shitty, you're not going to see that.

That's why you girls can't go cheap on your hair, okay?

Don't cheap on the hair.

You have $20,000.

$20,000 bags.

I would say go cheap.

Don't go cheap on the hair.

Don't go chip on the shoes.

Go chip on the outfit, but don't.

I think the shoes are shaped.

The shoes are important.

The shoes are important.

I agree with you.

If your hair looks phenomenal and you have great shoes, you can be wearing jeans and a Target t-shirt.

You're going to look.

You know why the shoes are important?

Because we look at you from the head.

So the toes.

Maybe.

Maybe.

But if the hair is shitty.

My toes are always done.

I'm obsessed.

My toes and my nails, well, today they look shitty because I'm

good.

But my hair is going to look fabulous, thanks to you.

Don't worry about the hair.

I got the hair.

But listen, it is true.

If your hair looks shitty, there is not much you can do, right?

So take care of the hair, girls.

For sure.

So you said you like personally brunettes.

So I guess I know the answer to my next question, but I have to ask anyways.

Is it true that blondes have more fun?

He's thinking, he's thinking, he's thinking.

He's more fun.

Well, it depends who you're hanging out with, because if a brunette's hanging out with me, she's having a way out of a good time.

But brunette's have more fun?

No, not necessarily, I would say.

It's the girl that, like, again, back to what I said before, the girl who owns the look.

Has more fun.

Has more fun.

So the stereotype blondes have more fun.

I'll tell you right now.

Don't fly.

The stereotype about like short hair, long hair.

I'll tell you right now.

You know what makes a girl sexy and attractive?

Is a girl who shows fierceness and is not scared to provide a look.

So those girls to me that that have the short haircut and that undercut are the ones that get more attraction from men and females and females why because females don't have the the courage to go that extreme that other girls will go so short so they draw more attraction to me a neckline is very sexy mm-hmm the attitude is very sexy so when a girl with a short hair shows me the attitude yeah not to say a girl with long hair doesn't have attitude depends how they rock and how they wear it I think it takes a lot of personality for most girls to cut their hair short and I admire them.

I saw a cut that you did this week.

It's on their Instagram.

She looked so hot and I looked at the picture.

I'm like, wow, I, me personally, I'm never gonna be that girl because I'm not that calm.

She said, me personally, not that girl, but that girl.

But I was so impressed, and the cut looks so insanely hot.

Oh, he was fired.

I completely agree.

Yeah, and she has a gorgeous face, and the hair just looked insane on her.

So, what would it say I would be a short-haired girl, long-haired long-haired girl.

It's a sexy girl.

It's the sexy girl.

A sexy girl can be long, short, bald.

Does it break

bones?

Yeah.

And has the confidence to rock it means everything.

Yeah, amazing.

So what would you say for girls out there that are not used?

Because there are a lot of women out there that are like, oh, I'm afraid of going to a hairstylist.

They're going to ruin my hair.

What would you say?

I would say come to OLS and see Orlando Elsa and earn your trust because that will make you trust me.

Got to earn your trust first before I do what I want.

Yeah.

But it's like

finding a good mechanic.

When you find a good mechanic that you trust, find someone that you trust.

Don't find someone that sells.

Right.

Find someone that sells, you're in the wrong place.

But the one that you find trusts.

Yes.

That you know guides you and gives you guidance.

Like you go to a doctor.

You don't go to the doctor to tell them what you want.

You allow the doctor to tell you what you need.

Yeah.

So allow the hairdresser to tell them what you need

and don't argue back with them.

But

it's the key is finding the right hairdresser that is going to accommodate who you are within.

Absolutely.

I'm about fixing people people within,

without.

Yeah.

You know, it's like.

And I have to say, I love you guys because you have the Luciana, your partner and the owner of OLAS, the co-owner of OLAS, she's right here behind us as we do this.

She's a badass.

She's a badass.

She's gorgeous.

She's my pick.

She's my pet.

Yeah, and I have to say, you guys have the most fun vibe.

You make everybody feel so welcome here.

And I'm really, I mean, I have to say, congratulations.

This place is amazing.

You're getting stuck.

And I found out he's also a DJ because I saw this DJ equipment when I got here so we have to do some parties here yeah don't worry we do some petty dropper parties

look this place is like you drink you can have champagne whiskey whatever they have this little mini bar here you you you get your hair done by the hottest guy the hottest team in town and you can do parties here what else do you want

okay put me in line because i'm ready for our next one.

I'm the first one in line.

Let me know.

Do a little bit of everything.

Botox, PRP, hair, tattoo.

You guys, so we leave.

Like I said, even if a guy broke your heart, if you're having husband, we, wife, girlfriend troubles, you forget all about it by the time you're done with these guys.

Oh, don't worry, I'll fix you.

And I'll find you a boy.

Don't worry.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

My pleasure.

I mean,

Orlando, you're amazing.

Thank you so much.

And I'm definitely going to do videos and post my photos after he's done with my my hair because I know I'm going to look fantastic.

You're amazing.

Thank you.

In Brazil and Brazilian.

Beijing.

Beijing.

Spacious.

Spacious.

Orlando Lop is from LS.

And this closes our second season of Caronde Luz.

I'm going to come back this summer on Fuego.

And hopefully Orlando will come back because I know you guys are going to send me, they're going to send me dozens of questions.

for you.

Bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it, bring it.

Open book.

I'm an open book.

You are.

That's why I like you.

I have the secrets, don't worry.

Shameless.

Thank you so much.

These are so much fun.

Yay!

Awesome.