Catwalk Coiffeur

You could say Hannah Lynne, owner of Beauty Bar Boutique, came to styling hair by the back roads. As a child, she was more interested in having her hair done than doing someone else’s.

“It wasn’t until graduating from undergrad at UNCW, not immediately finding a job in my major (communication studies), and watching my friends go off to grad school that my friend, Jamie, suggested I try hair school,” Lynne says. “For the record, I rolled my eyes at her!”

Still, she started cosmetology school in August of 2009, three months after graduating from University of North Carolina Wilmington. During that time she assisted at the Steven Ward Hair Salon, which is when her passion for styling began.

“I met my mentor, Whitney Lewis Bell, who had just moved back from a successful career stint in NYC as a colorist. She will always have had the greatest influence to my career, and I moved to NYC the week completing my cosmetology exam. I worked at Oscar Blandi Salon as a color apprentice for a very short time, because my eyes were set on training for cutting and styling under Rodney Cutler at Cutler Salon. He had just cut Emma Watson’s hair all off, and it was inspiring and visionary,” she says.

It was as an apprentice at the Cutler Salon that Lynne trained to work at her first New York Fashion Week in September 2011, eight months after finishing hair school.

“I started working for the company in a March 2011, two months after being in New York,” she says. “Six months later I was assisting the owner and other top stylists backstage.”

Since then, she’s participated in nine New York Fashion Weeks, including the most recent one earlier this month, and has worked on over sixty shows with different designers.

It’s not always smooth sailing, though. During her second season at NYFW, she was working with a tiny curling iron and a very tired model who kept falling asleep.

“She nodded off right at the time I was rolling down to the ear, and 400 degrees singed her ear like bacon. She started yelling and crying,” Lynne says. “Not knowing what to do, I looked around at how I could help and spotted Sea Salt hair product spray. I knew the ocean was a natural healer, so I grabbed the product and sprayed down her ear – and side of her face I’m sure – apologizing repeatedly hoping she would quiet down.

“Of course the hair team, make up team, and models turned to glance at the noise, but thankfully it didn’t last too long. I’m pretty sure I was traumatized and let someone else finish her look.”

When she was ready to return to Wilmington, which was due to a desire to settle in North Carolina, Beauty Bar Boutique was her focus.

“While still living in NYC, b3 as we call it, was the closest representation to a city salon offering an environment I was most used to, and knew before moving back I wanted to work there,” she says. “I worked at the salon as a stylist for one and a half years before taking over as owner. The previous owner, Roxanne Bigoness, created a beautiful space and a culture of amazing clients and artists that I graciously took the reigns over hoping to only strengthen its name and reputation through our customer service, education for excellence in our craft, and community involvement.”

Lynne has worked on campaigns for Cynthia Rowley, Lilly Pulitzer, Levi’s, Tadashi Shoji, Rolling Stone Magazine, and Real Simple Magazine among others. She also styled the Rachel Antonoff Spring 2016 collection, which is on Vogue.com and will appear in the magazine’s October issue.

To view more of photographer Chris Brehmer's work, go to www.chrisbrehmerphotography.com