Salon’s Golden Heart Campaign silver lining of crisis

Lisa Brady’s business was listed as non-essential in the executive orders issued by Governor Greg Abbott to slow the spread of COVID-19. She owns and operates Twist Hair Studio and Spa at 809 12th St. in Marble Falls.

“It made me think; it made me focus,” Brady said. “I had to rethink what I could do to stay in business.”

From that determination, VIRTUAL Twist was born. Brady and the 15 stylists at her salon started doing appointments online. No, they don’t make appointments online; they actually have appointments online. Clients meet face to face with Twist stylists via social apps like Zoom for guidance on cutting bangs, coloring roots, or having a facial. They are also delivering and mailing products.

“We offer little tidbits to help you get through this time, which is, hopefully, only a few more weeks,” Brady said in mid-April. “It’s only online for now, but we need to see each other’s faces. We need to check on each other.” 

Clients have been calling to check on her, too, and her beauty business, some offering to send money.

“I suggest they buy a gift certificate,” she said. “I want my customers to get something for their money. This is not just our livelihoods, it’s our passion. We will get through this together, which is a strange thing to say when we are forced apart, but our hearts are bigger than this virus.”

Once a celebrity hair stylist, Brady tends to think big and keep busy despite health issues that have kept her mostly at home during this pandemic. She started a Golden Heart Campaign to recognize people who are taking care of others, even when they need help themselves.

She was inspired by what was happening around her. In Meadowlakes, someone set up a table filled with household supplies and a sign that read: “Take what you need, leave what you can.” A plumber finished a big job and offered to wait on payment until the business could reopen. A single mother heard a noise in her front yard and, when she looked out the window, saw a young man mowing her lawn.

Brady also saw her stylists making masks and donating them to nursing homes, the Boys & Girls Club, and each other, even though they were struggling financially themselves.

“People all over the community who have lost their jobs, who have no money coming in are still out there helping others,” Brady said. “I’m trying to seek out those lovely people giving all they’ve got to keep the focus on the good. I want to say, ‘You’ve been nominated for the TWIST Golden Heart Campaign! Thank you for everything that you do to support community, to share love, to offer a helping hand.’”

suzanne@thepicayune.com