When Sam Villa returned to the International Beauty Show for the first time in several years last March in New York, he led two advanced cutting classes with his protégé, Roger Molina.
He also taught a third class on a more enigmatic topic: “Sam’s Pursuit of Knowledge: The Value of Education and Health,” at the event’s wellness-focused Say Yes to You Hub.
American Salon caught up with Sam during the event — along with Molina, fresh off winning a 2024 Hairbrained Award for Dry Cut Video of the Year.
Here’s the jist. (You can watch the full interview here.)
AS: You’re teaching a class about personal growth for beauty professionals. Why this topic?
SV: I think the industry has changed since that long period of vacation that we had (in 2020).
A lot of mindsets are different; they’ve shifted to where people are very concerned about how hard they work. And they are now putting more value in their personal life.
What’s most important about that is (pursuing) education. I really believe as hairdressers, we must never cease to learn. And as teachers, especially, we must never cease to learn. So the value of education is important to self-care.
What’s interesting is you’ve got two resources for education. You’ve got the digital side and the live side. I want our community to remember: the computer cannot touch your heart like something live, like (the International Beauty Show) can.
Education is a must. But how do you take care of yourself — the wellness side, the health side?
When you enter the salon door, whatever is going on in your life — I highly recommend, for your wellness and your health — that you leave whatever is going on outside the door.
AS: You developed ergonomically correct shears and other pro tools designed to prevent injuries common among stylists. What led you to create these?
SV: About 10 years I started to have some issues with my wrist and my thumb. I was recommended to a particular doctor. He said, “You're on your way to carpal tunnel syndrome.”
He said, “Look. You hairdressers need to understand —" and he pulled this shear out, that had an even-set handle — he said, “Hold your hand out, Sam, shake it naturally. Now I want you to watch what you're going to do with your thumb,” when cutting with a traditional styling shear.
He said, “You can probably feel pain a little bit of pain here because you’re putting your thumb in in a position it does not organically belong. You need to create a shear where the thumb doesn't move like that.”
So in order to do that you had to move the handle forward. And the difference that it made — it just took the whole pain away. So that was the reason for the shears.
It’s been amazing. People are coming up to me saying, ‘Your shears have saved my career, because now I don't feel pain. ‘
(Sam demonstrates his ergonomic benefits of his shears in this TikTok.)
AS: You also created super light hair dryers.
SV: The dryers! Some dryers weigh a couple pounds. They’re heavy. And it definitely takes a toll on your shoulder eventually.
What I love to say about my tools is: you have a hairdresser making tools for hairdressers, for all the right reasons.
AS: It’s been a while since you’ve been at International Beauty Show. What made you come back?
We were inspired. Roger was asked to do the Las Vegas show and they asked me, “can you come and do the New York show?” I said yeah, but I want to bring Roger.
I haven't been here in a while, I thought, let's come back to it in New York. Being with Redken and working a lot of the Redken Exchange, I thought we need to get back into the salon game.
We had two great successful classes, and Roger did the Look and Learn Stage.
AS: What is a rule you follow when teaching?
SV: Simplicity is brilliance — it really is. Keep things simple.
AS: You’ve talked about your excitement over the growing movement state by state to require texture education in cosmetology schools.
SV: Texture was something I’d never learned, and I’m really sad about that. I’m playing catch-up with it. I highly recommend that students out there learn on every (hair type). I think it’s valuable, and it’s important to embrace it.
There’s someone out there who I love, Keya Artistically Neal with Texture Vs. Race. I love what she’s doing. If you don’t follow her, you need to.
AS: You said one of your recent inspirations is K-Pop. What about it inspires you creatively?
SV: Right now it seems like that’s where the energy is coming from, for trends.
What they’re doing is fresh. What they’re doing with hair, and what they’re calling these looks, that’s the juice. That’s where we’re all going. They’re taking over TikTok, and that is a great resource for inspiration.
AS: What advice can you give to stylists on how to keep creative juices flowing as artists?
SV: Find as many ways as you can keep it real simple. Find as many ways as you can to cut a one-line bob. It keeps you stimulated behind the chair. It keeps you motivated. It challenges your skill set.
And what’s really important is education. Learn, learn, learn. Learn as many ways as you can to do things.
There’s always something to learn, always the journey. There’s bound to be times you’ve made mistakes. Stay down there. Don’t stand up immediately.
Why? Because there are other things down there you can pick up.