Nina Nguyen

Nina was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, but she was also born into beauty. Her parents were Vietnamese immigrants and salon owners in the nail industry. Seeing her parents operate their salon taught her the value of great customer service, prepared her to become a leader, and gave her the vision to educate clients, which she absolutely loves to do. 

 

She did try her hand at nails, but couldn’t keep it up due to an allergy to some of the products or nail dust. And besides, she realized her true passion was doing hair. In 2019, she graduated from Leon’s Beauty School and never looked back.

 

Nina’s journey to Alkali was an interesting one. She had two opportunities to join the team but felt the timing wasn’t right. She had a studio in Greensboro and was determined to make it on her own. After a few years, she had a third opportunity, but this time, she took it as a sign. She met with Amber Woodall, Alkali’s owner and CEO, to learn more about the salon and decided to take a leap of faith. She couldn’t be happier with her decision and loves that she has a great new family to call her own. 

 

Her favorite hair services are blonding and haircuts She loves the instant gratification she and her clients get with a new cut and the amazing transformations achieved with blonding. Nina also loves all her LBGTQIA+ peeps and is especially passionate about ensuring they always have a safe and welcoming space in her chair.

 

As far as products are concerned, Nina’s all about Oribe’s Curl Control Silkening Creme. It does a fabulous job of enhancing her natural curls. But she can’t just pick one! Another one of her faves is Maximista Thickening Spray and Royal Blowout—they’re the perfect prep combo for a magical blowout!

 

Nina’s greatest hair challenge has been color-correcting an at-home black box dye job for one of her clients. Her own biggest hair no-no was getting a bob. Not because it was a bad cut, but because it just didn’t look good with her round face. Perhaps that’s why her favorite style is a beautiful blowout with curtain bangs.

 

When not doing hair and making people beautiful, Nina loves going to museums, spending time outdoors, and trying new restaurants and dishes. She also loves knowledge drops—whether it’s about hair or something else—she can never learn enough about anything! ​​