Three decades ago, Flowers made it his mission to offer Black women the depth and quality of professional beauty services which they had been denied for so long. As Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin so famously sang, it's all about "R-E-S-P-E-C-T', for the client and for the hair itself. His passion for this vision and its vast social and political implications brought him all the way to the White House, to care for the locks of America's First Lady of color.
George: I understand you have 3 years of Pre-Med school?
Michael: Yes, I had all the intentions of becoming a psychiatrist I wanted to pursue it, but I had read about a white guy - I'm African American - who had a Ph.D and couldn't find a job as a psychiatrist, this was in about 1973. I thought, if he couldn't find a job, what would my life be like? So, I found out I had an aptitude for hair design. I went to the library and did some extensive research and I found out that in 1929 the stock market crashed and that the beauty profession was the last to be affected by the economy. This has certainly held true.
George: How did your parents & family feel when you chose the beauty profession over the medical profession?
Michael: My father was OK with it, but I have a sister who has many degrees. She didn't like it at all, she thought of it as a step down. She clearly thinks otherwise now. I am really glad you're pointing this out as an example to others, because college is not necessarily the way to go for everybody. There are a lot of different avenues that one can take, and I'm glad I pursued my dream of cosmetology.
George: Can you share something about your relationship with the First Lady?
Michael: It's been a pleasure working with them, Michelle and her family for the past 25+ years. It's been wonderful to watch them grow and develop and change into a group of people that represent our country. Which is really amazing. It was very interesting doing the Inauguration. It was a pleasure working with them in a very intimate way. They are just what they seem to be in their public life. Barack is really an amazing person.
George: Where did you start out in our profession?
Michael: I went to Pivot Point full time then after Pivot Point I checked around to see what I wanted to do and what options I had open to me. At that time, Johnston's Products had a huge salon on 95th Street in Chicago. I went there first, but for whatever reason I wasn't hired, so I went to Vidal Sassoon. I thought, why not, just go ahead and give it a try, and I was hired. I really enjoyed working there a lot, I learned a lot, it sort of perfected my skills in terms of professionalism and time management.
George: What advice would you give someone just starting out in our profession?
Michael: Do as much research as you can about the Industry such as I did. Talk to people in the industry. I think it's always good to shadow someone. I did that as well, I went to talk to people who had salons. Talk to someone who is successful at it, someone you think of as a "role model" as the type of stylist you want to be.
George: What inspires you in your work?
Michael: This sort of goes back to my roots in psychology. I'm very much a people person, which is kind of a necessity being in an Industry that deals with people, a service Industry. You need to like people, and I'm very much a person that likes people. I get so much from my clients, I learn from them, I grow from them, I laugh with them. They share a lot of good information with me. They help me in so many ways and I in turn try to help them in many ways. It becomes a really amazing bond that we have. With that said, I end up having clients for several generations. Like, I'll have a young lady who trusts me and grows up with me. She goes to college, gets married then has her children and her children come in. Then I've got their parents and their grand parents. It's an amazing thing, so that's what Inspires me. It's the relationships that I develop as a result of my job, it's really, really an amazing thing.
George: I can feel what you're saying, that's fantastic. What is your preference in doing hair? Like up-dos, or cutting, or...?
Michael: The only thing I really enforce with what I do is healthy hair. That's it, I am really good at listening. Some clients like to wear color that's a bit more flashy. Other clients, like business-women, don't want to be flashy. I do what they like, but better than what they can do for themselves. And I make it healthy and that is really, really important because all too often hairstylists are so busy trying to make the hair look good that they neglect the health of the hair. So I am very clear about how specific blowdrying techniques and how the use of certain products help maintain the health of the hair. All too often, African American women don't take care of their health in terms of exercising because they don't want to ruin their hair. The one thing I really impress upon them is that I make sure the hair is healthy and stays healthy.
George: What is your definition of success?
Michael: Success to me personally means I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have done my job in the most professional, expedient, courteous manner possible and having done that I reap the benefit of having a job well-done. People show me all kinds of love in terms of - they bring me home made cookies. I have some mature ladies that have given me five dollars in a holiday card. Just the fact that I have made someone feel good about themselves, and that we have had great conversations, means so much.
George: You have already accomplished so much, what is your next goal?
Michael: Retirement, I don't mean like complete retirement like just one day stop and do nothing. It's like an exit plan, I'm at my peak now. I work anywhere from 8 to 14-hour days. I start anywhere from 4:00 o'clock in the morning and I finish around 6:00 o'clock at night. There are other parts of me I would like to explore. I have thought of playing the piano, I want to play the guitar. There are different parts of the world I want to see. There are parts of me I want to discover, I want to do different things.
George: What do you do to stay focused?
Michael: Every year. I have what I call a strategic planning trip, and basically I go away and I plan out my life. I plan my life on a personal level, on a business level and a financial level. I'm very competitive in a invisible kind of way, but nobody would know that. I am technically competing with myself, meaning that if I set a goal to try to do something in 6 months, I try to either reach that goal in 6 months or maybe I can reach that goal in 5 months, things like that.
George: Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers?
Michael: You have to make sure you treat clients with kindness and respect. In your voice and your behavior. Remember that they don't have to come to you. They have many options! You have to earn your client's respect. And you never stop having to earn it!
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