Arianna Ledington

Arianna Ledington will tell you the baseball cap is not what is thinning your hair. That is the kind of straight answer you get in her chair. She has been licensed nine months, spent seven of them at a local shop before joining Salon Kreed, and trained at TIGI Hairdressing Academy in Colorado Springs.

She cuts women's and men's hair with equal comfort, and she is happiest with a razor in her hand shaping a textured mullet. Color and extensions are the lanes she is building into next. Nothing starts until she has asked you a pile of open ended questions and the two of you are looking at the same photo.

She finishes smooth and polished with a flat iron, or reaches for texture products when you want lift and movement. Her advice between visits is unglamorous and it works. Use products actually made for your hair type, go easy on the heat, and keep your trims on the calendar. The moment she is proudest of is small and says everything: her first repeat client asked for her card on the way out.

Off the clock she is at a comic convention, deep in a horror movie, or on the floor with her puppy Webby. There is R&B playing while she works, which explains the handle, spine chilling styles. Ask for Arianna at Salon Kreed in Colorado Springs.