By Lori Nagel
For the last eight of her 15 years in the industry, Phylesha Mirelez, aka Phlea, has been offering a variety of salon services to the Crestone community, catering to each client based on their individual hair styling needs.
“I do everybody in the family’s haircut and I also do hair color,” she explained. “I do braids and extensions and most everyone knows me for my loctician work—dreadlocks.”
Touting that valuable service for Crestone, Mirelez helps people start new dreads, perform maintenance on existing ones, will thoroughly wash them, or comb them out for people who want to restore their hair.
While she does have experience with chemical treatments like relaxers, perms, and keratin, Mirelez relayed there’s currently not much of a demand for those in our community. If people request them, she will offer those services as well.
Something Mirelez has often encountered in Crestone is people applying henna to their hair, which deposits metallics into the hair, then asking for highlights. “It’s very dangerous because putting bleach on metal will activate and it can turn your hair all kinds of colors,” she warned. “It could rot your hair. It can do a lot of damage that I’m not comfortable doing. So, I do strand tests before fully going into something like that.”
If a client wants to lighten severely damaged hair, Mirelez suggests conditioning first, since lightening fragile hair could cause irreparable damage. “I’ll want to do a repair before I go in with the heavy-duty stuff, to see how their hair reacts to the repair. If it doesn’t improve, you’re going to have to cut it and start over. That’s just how it is!”
Mirelez is comfortable working with all hair textures. “I grew up in Texas,” she joked, “so every kind of hair would walk in the door and I had to know how to do it.”
Client consultations depend on the type of service being requested. Color consultations are more in-depth, as she considers the condition of their hair and its potential in regards to their coloring request. She also asks clients for example photos for all consultations to ensure conceptual congruence.
When asked how she keeps current with hair trends and techniques, Mirelez responded, “I always listen to the kids! The kids are always telling me what is good, what’s not good.” She also watches hair videos constantly. “My feed on the internet is hair all day, so I’m always up to date with what’s going on.”
Client interaction and customer service
When Mirelez has a client who is dissatisfied with her services, she strives to fix it as soon as possible. “If it’s a coloring that’s not quite right, I’ll offer to repair or change it. If it’s a cut they’re not happy with, I will generally give it to them for free, or I will do something to make it up to them,” she said.
Admitting she gets a couple difficult clients a year, she explained, “I’m just very cool as a cucumber. If they’re unhappy and it’s happened repeatedly, it just means we’re not a good fit and that’s okay.”
Mirelez has built long-term relationships with many clients, asking them how they feel and what’s coming up for them. “I think everyone knows that your hair stylist is kind of like your therapist, just a little bit cheaper,” she laughed. “So, I just let them go on and on about what they want to talk about and I get a lot of compliments that they can tell me anything or they feel safe telling me things. I like that.”
Creativity and style
When asked what inspires her creativity as a stylist, Mirelez quipped that she’s a very creative person and everything she does is artistic. “Everything I involve myself in has color or pizazz or something to do with that. I inspire myself all the time. I’m inspired by nature, color, art, anything like that.”
Sometimes she gives clients a complete transformation, saying people come in with dreadlocks they haven’t maintained in years or scruffy facial hair, etc. “I’ll redo their roots and make them feel all brand new and washed,” she explained, “or I will completely remove the dreads and trim their beard and they’re like a whole new person.”
Mirelez asks her clients how they will wear their hair and what products they’re going to use, so she can cater services to their lifestyle. If they don’t use products, she won’t give them a pompadour, which needs styling. She even asks questions like, “How much do you sweat?” since that tends to make hair greasy or heavy. She takes face and head shapes into consideration as well.
When asked what she’s been enjoying most lately, Mirelez responded, “I’m doing a lot of hair color—highlights, hand-painted. Fall is coming, so a lot of fun fall colors are happening—pumpkin orange, raven red. That’s fun for me. And I love layers. Anything with layers.”
Work ethic and professionalism
Mirelez has worked on teams in salon environments, recognizing the importance of working together and being professional in those situations. When she taught a mentorship at the Crestone Charter School, she often emphasized that with her students. “I do really well in a team environment, but I’m a Virgo, so I work really well alone, too!” she joked.
In regards to cleanliness at her salon, Mirelez explained her license renewal every year requires a refresher course on sanitation. She is meticulous about having a clean workspace and sanitized tools, and uses Barbicide, which she said kills everything, including COVID. “I also have a UV ray cleaner, which kills bacteria on metal and glass instruments,” she continued. “And then of course, rubbing alcohol, bleach and all the regular household cleaning things. And laundry!”
Products and appointments
While not currently retailing products in her salon, Mirelez plans to carry products she’ll use on her clients and offer for sale, using natural, organic products as often as possible.
Currently, products are available for purchase on her website, https://studio-828.square.site, where Mirelez would also like to encourage everyone to book their appointments, as it’s the most streamlined process for her. A list of services is also on the website.
Mirelez’s salon has been located in the Professional Building at 46 Camino Baca Grande since January of 2024, and she’d like to stay there a long time.