Local’s Choice BEST IN BEAUTY: 🌪️PLOT TWIST DRAMA for Artisan Parlor
- Lauren Petrich
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
"The Artisan Parlor’s Salon Controversy,
I Didn’t See Coming" - LaurenSlaysHair
Before we start >DAILY VOTING LINK>
view Local’s Choice story
scroll to 'Best in Beauty'
click Artisan Parlor to cast your vote!
Vote EVERYDAY November 17-23rd. We need your perfect attendance! 🫡
If you were around for last year’s Local’s Choice Awards… you already know it was a lot.
We walked away with Best in Beauty 2024, but it did not come without drama. While we were over here playing keep to ourself, wishing every business well, and trying to keep things non confrontational, there were friends of ours who’s businesses were getting threats of protest just for supporting us.
Let that sink in: people were harassed for voting for a hair salon.
As proud as I was of our team and our community, the mental health toll it took on us was real. My team heard terrible things said about me, about our salon, and about anyone who dared to stand with us. And I had to look them in the eyes and remind them:
Win or not, nothing is worth our dignity.
So going into this year, I was… honestly? Pretty over it.I told myself, “If I put in zero effort to promote nominations this year, then the opportunity can go to the next amazing salon. Let someone else enjoy the spotlight and recognition. We’ve had our moment.”
And I meant it.
“We’re Sitting This One Out”… Or So I Thought
Then the notifications started rolling in.
DM after DM. Tag after tag. Texts. Comments. People from every era of my life — clients, friends, strangers who’ve followed my journey, stylists I’ve educated — all letting me know:
“I nominated The Artisan Parlor.”“You better be on that list.”“You’re my Best in Beauty every year.”
I was honestly honored (and a little emotional) that so many of you remembered us and took the time to nominate, especially after the year we had.
So I put up a reel kindly thanking everyone and letting you know we would not be pushing hard for a nomination this year — just gratitude, no campaign.👉 Watch that reel here:https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQzkKBOkspU/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
I truly thought that would be the end of it.
The Post Goes Up… And We’re Not On It
A few days later, nominations go live. I’m at my phone like the little competitive gremlin I am, excited to see which salons made the list.
Within six minutes of the post going up, I found it.
And guess what?
We weren’t on it.
And honestly? I wasn’t shocked. I had made peace with it early. I screenshotted the nominees, wrote out a message to congratulate them, and thanked our supporters who had taken the time to nominate us. Because even if we weren’t listed, the love still meant everything.
I shared that as a reel too:👉 Watch the me that one time I endorsed my competition reel 🤣🤣🤣
Closed the app. Went to the gym. Moved on with my life.
Or so I thought.
“YOU WERE ACTUALLY NOMINATED.”
You could imagine the words (and maybe a few spicy expletives) that flew out of my mouth when my best friend Sarah Buckley called me on my way out of the gym.
She goes:“Ummm… babe. There was a miscount. You WERE nominated.”
🤯
I literally stopped in the parking lot like, I’m sorry, WHAT?
Shoutout to Sarah (you can find her at @nottheworstmom) for being the official breaker of plot-twist news.
After everything that happened last year… after deciding to sit this year out… after congratulating everyone else… to find out we were actually nominated?
Only God writes stories like that.
A Little Competition Never Hurt Anybody
If you follow me for any amount of time, you already know:I am a savage and I LOVE a good, honest competition.
So what did I do next?
Immediately called my friend Michael & Lisa at Salon MK (@myhairsalonmk) and we just laughed and laughed about how wild this all was.
Since this is Salon MKs first year being nominated, and a long time peer and contributor to our industry, we are genuinely excited to run against each other and even more excited to celebrate together, jokingly and joyfully chear eachother on, and partying together at the after party. This year is going to be fun.
If you want to come hang with all of us that night, you can buy tickets to the Local’s Choice Awards here:👉 https://www.the-localschoiceawards.com
This is what healthy competition looks like:Respect. Humor. Excellence. Community.
How to Vote for The Artisan Parlor (Best in Beauty)
So here we are. Accidentally nominated. Fully grateful. Ready to show up.
If you’d like to support The Artisan Parlor for Best in Beauty:
Go to @locals_choiceawards on Instagram
Watch their Stories
Look for the “Best in Beauty” category
Tap The Artisan Parlor
Do it once a day for 7 days 🙌
Every single daily vote matters. You don’t have to live here, you just need an Instagram account and 3 seconds of scrolling finger power.
Stay in the Loop (And Get Daily Reminders)
If you want to come along for every twist, meme, meltdown, and victory lap:
👉 Follow me on Instagram:instagram.com/laurenslayshair
👉 Want daily vote reminders?Text us “VOTE” to 951-428-4234 and we’ll add you to our text list for gentle (and occasionally unhinged) nudges to vote each day.
From the bottom of my heart — and from a team that has walked through both public hostility and overwhelming support — thank you.
Thank you for nominating us.Thank you for standing with us.Thank you for letting us do what we love in a city we adore.
No matter what happens this year, we’re choosing:
Dignity over drama
Community over competition
And excellence over ego
…But if we’re being honest?
Yeah. We still want that trophy. 🖤
Let’s go, Artisan fam.
