If you’re a woman who wears a cropped cut, you are probably following The Cut Life on Instagram. With over one million followers—and counting— The Cut Life has become a fan-favorite for stylish women with short hair. From bold big chops to funky pixies, there’s something for everyone. The story of The Cut Life began organically in 2013, and today the team is producing content for professional stylists, celebrities, and salons. We caught up with co-founder Tahira Joy to learn more about this growing force in the hair community and meet some of the all-star stylists who create cute cuts.
Why did you create The Cut Life?
The Cut Life happened because I have short hair for about eight years now. I would go on my friends’ Instagram pages and I always felt we needed a social media site for short hair. I searched and there was nothing that celebrated the styles and inspiration that I wanted to see, so I started The Cut Life. The name literally came out of nowhere. It was the first name I thought of. I had a business partner at the time and I brought the idea to her to start an Instagram page featuring short hair and we said we’ll just see what happens.
We started with about 2,000 followers on Instagram when we officially launched in August 2013. It’s crazy to see how the community has grown to over 1 million today. It just goes to show that there was a void out there for people with short hair or with a desire to cut their hair.
When did you first launch the Instagram page?
We started in June 2013.
Now that you’ve grown to over one million, where do you see this movement going?
We just launched an online directly for stylists who specialize in short hair all across the country and globally. There are people who come to our Instagram page and think that we are a salon, so now those people will be able to have resource to find a stylist in their area. People contact us daily trying to book appointments, and we have to tell them we are not stylists, we are a community. The blog, Live the Cut Life, has amazing video content, tutorials and celebrity interviews. We want to position ourselves as the authority for short hair. It’s about a lifestyle, so we are doing other content and topics such as food, entertainment, fitness, education and more. We want to build the brand as an authority for short hair and beauty.
Finding a hairstylist you love is no easy task. How do you see The Cut Life helping to solve that challenge?
When it comes to hair for Black women, it’s serious! Word of mouth and referrals are key. It’s rare that a Black woman will blindly go to a new stylist for her hair. She wants to know at least one person who has had a pleasant experience there. Our new directory will bridge that gap. You can’t deny that social media has become a huge force in our industry. Social media creates content daily. Our platform exists to curate the best of the best and help people find a stylist. We want people to know that they can come to The Cut Life and trust our recommendations. The directory is hand-picked by our team. Not just anyone can join. They have to be vetted and reviewed by us directly so we know they are the best of the best.
In addition to creating a brand for short hair, in a way, we have reopened the door for professional stylists. During the natural hair movement the past few years, the focus for hair styling became very DIY and bloggers were showing women how to care for and style their hair at home. That’s great, but, with a short hair cut, a trained stylist is key. This is especially true for short hair that is relaxed or has color treatment, which many women with short hair have. The Cut Life has received great feedback from so many stylists who are seeing a huge surge in clients or now they are booked for two months in advance because they were featured on our page or mentioned in our network. That has been really awesome to see and is a major blessing.
Click here to see 30 Fierce Haircuts and the Stylists Who Create Them