The Game-Changer for Blowouts

Feeling like your shoulder might fall off after a day of blow drying? What if your dryer could feel completely weightless? That game-changing salon technology exists, and it transformed how we work.

When we installed the Freestyle System in our salons, everything changed. These suspended, counterbalanced blow dryers eliminate the wrist and shoulder strain that threatens stylist careers while creating a sleek, cord-free environment clients can't stop talking about. The system works through an ingenious counterbalance mechanism that makes heavy professional dryers feel virtually weightless. Pull it down and it automatically activates; release it and it turns off while retracting to its resting position overhead.

Beyond the physical benefits, this system created an undeniable "wow factor" that distinguished our salon from competitors. Clients and visiting stylists were immediately impressed by the high-tech, professional appearance. The clean aesthetic of having no tangled cords on stations, combined with the efficiency of stylists smoothly transitioning between services, elevated the entire salon experience. 

For salon owners serious about creating a sustainable business that protects stylist health while delivering premium experiences, the hanging blow dryer system represents more than just a fancy tool – it's an investment in longevity, efficiency, and distinction. Whether you're building a new salon or upgrading an existing space, consider how this technology could transform both your team's physical well-being a

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Weightless Blow Drying
• 3:25 Common Stylist Struggles with Blow Drying
• 6:12 Exploring the Freestyle System Features
• 9:55 Installation Methods and Compatibility Options
• 14:04 Professional and Financial Benefits
• 17:37 Final Thoughts and Episode Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:42

Have you ever hit the end of a long day in the salon and felt like your shoulder might just fall off from blow drying? What if I told you there's a way to make your dryer feel completely weightless, like it's floating in your hand? Today we're talking about a high-tech tool that's redefining what comfort, efficiency and elegance look like behind the chair. I think you might want to stick around for this one. Welcome to All About Hair, where we talk shop, share stories and spill the secrets behind great hair and a great career. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former salon owner, educator and a lifelong hair crusader. Whether you're a new stylist building your book or just someone who loves learning about all things hair, you're in the right place. Each week, we dive into real techniques, honest career advice and inspiration to help you grow behind the chair or just fall even more in love with the world of hair, because around here, it's not just about looking good. It's about learning, evolving and having a little fun along the way. So grab your coffee, your shears or your dry shampoo and let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Just recently, I received an email. You know we all receive emails junk email, whatever but I did receive an email and it reminded me of something in our salons, we had something that really stood out from the competition, and it was the blow dryers that are hanging from the ceiling. Yes, uh, we use the freestyle system and today I want to tell you why we chose it. But I have to say it, really I'm going to go over all these pros and cons of it but really it made us stand apart from all the other salons. The best part was when people came in all the other salons. The best part was when people came in. Wow, it was the wow factor and it made our salon look really clean. It was, it was a game changer when we went to that.

Speaker 1: 2:56

Now they're not cheap, I have to tell you. They are not cheap. However, once you make the investment, they pay for themselves. So let's just get into this. Let's just be real. Okay, blow drying is one of the most physically demanding parts of our job. Day after day, it takes a toll on our wrists, our shoulders, even our attitude. Right, because the repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel aren't just annoying, they're career threatening.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Now, why do stylists struggle with all of this? Well, one is that heavy dryers can cause a lot of fatigue on your wrist, your hands, your shoulders. And then what about the tangled cords all over the place? It's a mess and you know you're tripping on the cord or you're making the cord wrap around your client's leg or over the chair or whatever. And then you also have the lost time by setting your blow dryer down, picking it back up, setting it down, picking it up. You also have that dreaded feeling of just one more blowout to go. We've all been there, right? So there's a lot of fancy blow dryers on the market, beautiful blow dryers, expensive blow dryers but even the lightweight ones don't solve the movement strain. You know what I'm talking about that movement on your wrists and when you're going around with the round brush and the blow dryer and cordless dryers. They do have cordless dryers, but they still don't fix the problem of where to put it, how to get it quickly, how to manage the cords effectively. These are all just common problems, right? These are all just common problems, right?

Speaker 1: 4:43

When I talk to other salon owners about this because you know people ask my opinion on things all the time Most of all they say the expense. It is expensive. Is it really worth the investment? My answer would be yes. You have to answer that within your own four walls. Another thing that I hear is it's too complicated to install. Yeah, if you were installing it yourself. But I had a wonderful electrician and I gave him the challenge of installing these things in our drop ceiling. He did a magnificent job and he'd never seen anything like it before. But he did a fabulous, fabulous job and they send all the directions, so any electrician could probably figure it out.

Speaker 1: 5:30

And then another question is was what if I don't like the blow dryer that this system comes with? Well, they have a wide variety of choices, but they also have it so you can wire your blow dryer onto it. I believe we never went that route. You can wire your blow dryer onto it. I believe we never went that route. We just selected a blow dryer. We thought, uh, everybody would like and that the controls on it were nice and easy. I think we went with the Elsham and it was fabulous for us.

Speaker 1: 5:57

So so what is this system? Okay, if you've never seen this system, you could just Google it online, or we use the free stylist system so you can go on their website. I'll leave a link. I'm not getting paid for this or anything. I just had this email come across and I was like you know what people have asked me about this before. What is the free stylist system? Well, it's not just a dryer. Yes, it is a blow dryer hanging from the sky, but it's not just a dryer. Yes, it is a blow dryer hanging from the sky, but it's not just a dryer it's suspended and it's got counterbalance support system that transforms how you work. And I have to tell you, when we first got these in, it was very different to use and at first we were all like, are we going to like this? And I said, well, it's too late now because we've already paid for it. But it is a little bit different and what happens is the blow dryer is suspended from the air and you pull it down and it automatically comes on and then when you put it back in the air, it turns off and it's out of your way and it's just hanging above your head and you just blow dry like that.

Speaker 1: 7:05

Let me just talk about some of the features and the benefits of it and I don't know, maybe it's something you might want to check out First. The dryer feels feather light, like you don't. You're like you're not even holding anything. There's no strain, there's no soreness on your wrist and it really does reduce the risk of carpal tunnel and fatigue, which is huge in our business, because most people that I hear about that's what their concern is is their risks are giving out. We're in this for the long term and we want to be in this for the long term, so the last thing you want is for your body to give up on you.

Speaker 1: 7:39

One of my favorite features is that there's no cords. You're not tripping on cords, there's no tangles, there's no mesh, you're not like having to unwind everything, and it just keeps the whole salon and your station just looking very sleek and very professional. I absolutely love that feature. And, like I said before, the automatic activation reach up, pull it down, it turns on automatically. There's no buttons, no fumbling, just pure ease of just pulling it down and it comes on. It also saves you time, especially if you're back-to-back blowouts, and clients notice this. They notice the difference in the speed, they notice the difference in the polished look. It's a win-win. And then, of course, the wow factor Holy cow, it was a game changer, I kid you not, when you walked into our salons and you saw that it was just like dang, this is like a big city salon and we weren't in a big city. It just creates a modern, high-tech look like hey, this place means business, clients love it and they talk about it and they, they tell their friends about it and guess what? Referrals? Hello, just from having hanging blow dryers. Love, love, love it.

Speaker 1: 9:01

So they do have two different system options. They have one that's fully remote controlled. You can adjust the height, the weight, the feel, all with a wireless remote. We didn't have that one, we had the manual version and that's just you adjust the resting height with a screw and then the weight calibration's already preset. And so basically we had all of our blow dryers set at the same height and if we had, like a shorter stylus, we could go up into the mechanism and change where the height is. But basically you want it high enough so you're not bumping your head on it, but low enough so when you reach up, just reach up and grab it from a drop ceiling. That's what we had. Actually, one of our salons didn't even have a ceiling, it was one of those exposed ceilings, but you can adapt this system anyway to for your salon setup. So they have well, they have five different standard installation methods which you could see on their website. I'm not going to go through all of those, but you can also customize the options for a unique look.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So what we did in one of our salons, and we had the same system in two of our salons one of our salons had a drop ceiling and so we had to hook it up and then wire it within the drop ceiling. And then another salon it had one of those open ceilings that were painted black with all the you know you could see the duct work. It's very industrial looking and our electrician had to come up with some kind of plan to hook it up and then they painted everything black. So it all looked like it all went together and you couldn't see any of the cords up in the ceiling. It was fine. You would just have to talk to your electrician or to your contractor whoever's installing it, and also, if you go to the company itself, they'll give you recommendations on how to install it. It's all laid out there black and white, but you do probably want to get an electrician to do this for you.

Speaker 1: 10:57

And then people always ask about the dryer compatibility. You can use your favorite dryer. What you do is you send it into the company and they will hook it up to their system and mechanics on that end they make it so it comes on and off. I don't know what they do. It's for a fee that you can do that. Most people just pick from their list of supported professional brands, and I think that when we used it, I think they had like I don't know, six or seven different brands you could choose from, and different colors too, and if yours, the one that you want is not listed, you can always submit your own dryer and they'll adapt it to the system.

Speaker 1: 11:36

Like I said, when we first switched over, it was a big and even myself it took a little bit of getting used to, but less than an hour, I mean one blow dry. You know the first blow dry that you're doing with it. Yeah, it's a little bit like whoa. I don't really know what I'm doing, but to tell you the truth now, it's harder to do a blow dry with it plugged in than it is from pulling down the ceiling. I forget how easy it was. So some of my stylists what they'd say after we switched is they didn't realize how much strain they were under until they weren't under strain anymore, which is kind of cool, I mean and it is true, I remember that too my shoulders didn't hurt as bad, my wrist didn't hurt, their posture is better, their blowouts were faster and, like I said, the clients were just wowed by the fact that we had pull-down blow dryers. I just thought they were in the salon. Really, my team loved it and honestly I think it extended their careers and my career too. I mean, because you're just not getting as fatigued.

Speaker 1: 12:43

And, as a salon owner, some of the bonuses of having this less stylist turnover because guess what they really like to work in a salon that looks like it means business. Yeah, cause if you're going to invest all that money to put those systems in place, then they know that you're in it for the long haul too. And also less stylist turnover, because we get more referrals from people looking at our salon, thinking that it looks very professional and they want to be there. You also had fewer equipment repairs. Every once in a while a blow dryer would stop working, just like equipment does, because you know you're using it eight 10 hours a day, seven days a week. So what you would do is you would just disconnect it from the cord and you would send it in and I think they had different maintenance packages or programs, but I think it was like under a hundred dollars and they'll repair it or send you a new blow dryer and you just connect it back up. That's all it was. And another bonus you just look more professional looking and it attracts attention and you can take pictures and put it on your Instagram pages, your social media.

Speaker 1: 13:47

And when people see those hanging blow dryers, I don't know. There's just something about it that just looks high end. How much money do they cost? You know, I don't. I don't know the prices now, but I think when we did it it was, I want to say it was like $1,200 a station. But okay, let me clarify this.

Speaker 1: 14:10

We went with. It was like a big box that had lights in it, because lighting was a big issue for us because, uh, we didn't have very much natural light in our salon. So instead of putting more I don't know those tube lights and stuff, we just opted for the unit that comes with the lights overhead and then the blow dryers in the middle of it. So we had to actually put the whole unit up into the ceiling with the lights coming down. But they do have units. That is just the blow dryer hanging up on a mechanism and it doesn't come with lights. So those would be a lot cheaper than the lighting units.

Speaker 1: 14:49

So do your research. I don't know, but you know, you think about it. One of our salons had eight stations. The other salon had 12. So that's 20 times 1200. Yeah, yeah, that's a lot of money.

Speaker 1: 15:02

But let me just say, if you're serious about creating a sustainable career in this industry and delivering a premium guest experience at the same time, I think this Freestyle Assistant might just be your next best investment. And no, I don't get any commission or anything for saying that. I just really, truly enjoyed that whole feature in our salon. It just really made us stand apart. It made us look different. Even when stylists came in to interview they would be wowed. So not only the stylist, but the clients, other salon owners, I tell you it just really, really elevates your whole salon.

Speaker 1: 15:45

So I will leave the website in my show notes. So if you want to explore it a little bit and if you know Freestylist is listening to this, hey, contact me. We can set something up together. Anyway, I hope this helps you. I don't even know if you're thinking about the Freestyle System, but if you were, hopefully it answered some questions and always remember when you know better, you do better. Thanks for tuning in to All About Hair. If you loved this episode, hit, subscribe, leave us a review and share it with a fellow stylist or hair-loving friend. You want more tips, tools and tools and behind the scenes goodness? Follow me on YouTube or head to my website at denisekeilitzcom. Yes, I know it's hard to spell, so don't worry, the link is in the show notes. Until next time, keep learning, keep creating and keep loving what you do.