Today we’d like to introduce you to Nyla McKraken.
Hi Nyla, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am relatively new to Baltimore. I moved here at the very beginning of the hellscape we call 2020. For the last 1o years and the whole of my career, I lived in Seattle, WA. Seattle got too expensive and so I started my search for a new place to live. I would take little weekend adventures to cities that clients recommended to me and Baltimore had the right vibe. Moving cross country during a major pandemic was quite the adventure and I haven’t been able to explore my new city to the extent that I would like but my girlfriend and I are enjoying being here and building a life.
Hair is what I have always wanted to do. I kind of just made a proclamation when I was 12 and backfilled all my reasons. Hair is art and chemistry, and people and identity. I went to beauty school in 2010 and worked in a co-ed barbershop where I did some color but primarily shortcuts and then I worked in a fantasy color-focused salon in downtown Seattle.
I absolutely love my background. Being able to confidently do masculine and feminine looks has given me a great platform to work with people in the queer community. I absolutely love working with trans and nonbinary individuals because there is something amazing about the first haircut that fit’s their identity.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
A big challenge in my eyes is keeping up to date with how to market yourself. To be busy you have to be on Instagram. And Instagram likes videos now. Hair used to be doing pretty hair, pass out your business card, done. Now I have had to make a website for myself and learn how to take good photos and be a personality on the internet.
It’s not so bad but sometimes it can be tiring. All that stuff is background so that I can make people look and feel their best.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I like to call myself a Style Witch and Fantasy Colorist. I absolutely love playing with the rainbow and glitter. I have plenty of clients who like to stay in the natural sector and I love that for them.
The best head of hair is the one that makes you happy. I don’t really feel old enough to have been in my career for over a decade. I think that’s growth though. Education doesn’t stop when you finish beauty school.
Classes and watching my coworkers have been instrumental to me. I could never do what I do now if I thought I didn’t have more to learn. I work at Lock and Hue in Whitehall Mill. The space is bright and lovely and I get to have a lot of freedom with the projects that work on.
How do you define success?
Being able to help people feel like their truest selves. The shortest answer I could give but it’s the best. Hair is a big part of someone’s identity and confidence. Just think about that time you got a style that wasn’t you.
I do my best to listen to what is being said and what isn’t. And the best feeling is when I can make the vision in my client’s head come out on their head.
Contact Info:
- Email: nyla@mckrakenhairmagic.com
- Website: www.mckrakenhairmagic.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/mckraken.hair.magic
- Other: www.vagaro.com/prismhair
Image Credits
Bekah Kay Evergreen
