Ollie’s Hair Studio: I Want Hammond to be Funky
Though today is rainy and cold and we all want to be cozy at home, we took a short walk to find some warmth and brightness at a new business in downtown - Ollie’s Hair Studio.
Olivia Cranfield is the face behind Ollie’s Hair Studio, a groovy and youthful salon on Cypress Street by The Red White & Brew. We met with Olivia today to talk about her dreams, goals and plans for Ollie’s and downtown Hammond. Spoiler: she said we all need mullets.
DDD: Thanks for meeting with us! Let’s get started, Olivia. How long have you lived in Hammond?
Olivia: I’ve been in Hammond for almost 5 years, moved here to start working in hair. It was a nice middle ground because my husband was commuting to Baton Rouge and we were in Folsom. It was a better option for us.
DDD: Are you a Louisiana native?
Olivia: I am! I grew up in Mandeville, was there my whole life and I lived in Lafayette for a couple of years. Then, I dropped out of college to play dress-up in Disney World and then went to cosmetology school.
DDD: What are you business basics? Why did you choose to go into hair?
Olivia: I’ve always been interested in hair. I was cutting my Barbie Doll’s hair when I was little, I was cutting MY own hair when I was little. That made my mom mad. I had a lot of bad haircuts as a kid that were a result of fixing my own mistakes. For a while I leaned into chemistry [in college] and when I went to work at Disney, I would sit in the wig rooms and watch them style the hair and create this art with something so flimsy and malleable and that was so beautiful to me. I think hair can really make you feel good about yourself. Just washing your hair can make you feel like life is worth living again. I hated my hair for so long because I didn’t know what to do with it, I hid behind it. Now I’m expressing myself with it and I want to help other people be able to do that.
DDD: How long have you been a business owner and when did you, when working in other studios, decide you wanted to be the owner and become the person people wanted to work for instead?
Olivia: So I worked in a commission based salon for about a year and a half and then I switched over to a booth rental. I worked at the Atlas Hair Studio, my best friends own it. I was kind of my own boss there, making my own hours, schedule, clients: everything. This was kind of a dream, I feel like as an artist, you always want to step out and do your own thing and one day there was a For Lease sign up in this window and I was like maybe now is the time to do it! We opened December 3rd of last year [2024] and ever since things have been going pretty smooth. Got a month down, no hiccups. I don’t know, I kind of always wanted to be in charge. I’ve never been much of a follower. I don’t like being told what to do.
DDD: I know you saw the For Lease sign in the window, but what made you decide this is the place? I want to do Downtown Hammond?
Olivia: I love the energy downtown. It’s a small town, but still feels so big… I’ve seen some businesses in this location not succeed, so I was like maybe if we try something different, like there’s never been a salon in here before. I know there’s a lot of salons in Hammond. We have our own clients, it's not a competition to me. I want people to feel good about themselves. I didn’t want to do this anywhere else.
DDD: What are your goals for Hammond? What do you feel like you can bring to downtown?
Olivia: I want to make Hammond weird. I want weird, cool, funky hair walking around. More mullets! Fun colors! Not your typical highlights and bobs (I do like a bob though, the basics are cool). I just think Hammond can be funkier. I love it.
DDD: What do you want people to know about your salon?
Olivia: It is always a safe space, there’s never going to be any judgement when you walk through the door. Even if you’ve cut your own hair and have been using box color. I started there, I know. It’s okay, there’s no shame in it. It just depends on what stage you’re at in your life, but if you’re ready to stop doing those things, I’m ready to help you transition out of that. Come in here and feel a little bit of relief!
DDD: What do you have going on tomorrow on January 11th?
Olivia: Tomorrow, I’m doing a little grand opening party from 1PM to 3:30PM! Gonna have some champagne, charcuterie and cookies. Hopefully have people come in and see the space and get to know me a little bit better. Maybe get some new clients out of it or hangout with my current clients and build better relationships. Celebrate all of this! It’s wild! Every time I walk in the door I can’t believe all of this is mine! I feel like the space really reflects me. I wanted pops of bright color and weird art on the wall! I just wanted something quirky and different that isn’t around here. I want to celebrate that tomorrow, a new space for people to come hangout.
We hope you’ll join us at Ollie’s Hair Studio’s grand opening tomorrow on Saturday, January 11th from 1 to 3PM! If not, Olivia has a lot of plans to help you branch out and try new and fun hairstyles and colors. Downtown Development District is excited for this addition to our downtown area and we look forward to all the bright and funky mullets we’ll hopefully see strutting down Thomas Street.
