A sought-after speaker, leadership guru, and successful entrepreneur with his own podcast, More Than Beauty, Daniel Mason-Jones is a force of nature. One with a thick southern accent. He’s the owner of Muse Salon & Spa, a high-end teaching salon in Johns Creek, Ga. Johns Creek is a wealthy Northern suburb of Atlanta where he works styles socialites, reality TV stars and all the Braves’ players’ wives. “We’re a unique model for salon or beauty business. Hundreds of stylists and salon owners come to tour our space and learn from us. We have had 120 salon owners that have come through. We call it the Shadow Project.”
But Mason-Jones wasn’t always making seven figures, hanging out with the wealthy and flying all over the country to speak to thousands of hair stylists who adore him. Before he was a successful entrepreneur, he grew up with very little, raised in the Pentecostal church in Easley, South Carolina.
Daniel’s grandma died when he was three, but before she did, she bought him a Miss Piggy doll. He would put Miss Piggy’s hair in pink sponge rollers. “I didn’t want any loose ends,” he says. “Miss Piggy didn’t have Kerastase.”
Growing up in the Pentecostal church actually led Mason-Jones to his profession. “In the religion I was in, the women couldn’t cut their hair. I was fascinated by how they could pile it up on their heads like that. They had their hair jacked up. I would stare at it in church and think, how did she do that?” he recalls. “Sometimes if I’m bored, I’ll look up #Pentecostalhair and see the hair that’s down to their toes. Still to this day, I’m fascinated. Modern Pentecostals do a bubble braid and they’re very trendy.”
Growing up in a small Southern town taught Daniel to be kind to people. “I love the small-town sense of community. I long for that here. I’ll never have it like that again, but it was so awesome. If someone passed by on the street, you’d stop in the street and talk to them. You don’t do that now.”
His family is still in Easley and still in the church. He’s one of the most talented hair stylists, certainly in the Southeast, but also in the country. He has given countless time and tithes to children’s cancer charities and is just a good human all around. Here, we delve into what his Southern roots have meant to him:
When did you open your own salon?
I was 27. In 2005. It was scary. I was kind of forced to start my own thing. Everyone’s salons in Atlanta kept closing. I kept having to find new jobs. I don’t do insecure work and we ended up opening own salon. When I say “we,” I opened it with my husband Jody Mason-Jones.
What was like in Easley compared to Atlanta?
It’s attached to Greenville. It’s doubled in size since I was there. About 20,000. They have a Kentucky Fried Chicken now. So that’s big.
Do you use Southern charm in your profession?
1,000%! Oh honey, in addition to being a hairstylist, I’m a coach and educator for our industry. People are always second guessing themselves. I use Southern charm to get people to believe in themselves and to build them up. I tell them how amazing they are, because they ARE amazing. There’s nothin’ fake over here. Except for these lip injections.
Most Southerners are kinda slow. You move fast. You talk fast. Even though it’s with a strong Southern accent. Yeah no. I’ll make eight laps around you, and you thought I made one.
What’s one of your favorite Southern sayings?
When people are tellin’ a lie I always say, “Lord, have a mercy. That girl’d rather climb a tree backwards than to tell the truth.” That or when I’ve got puffy eyes from the pollen. “That’s Satan’s dust.”
Can I tell you some of my favorite sayings you’ve said to me over the years? I write them down sometimes:
“Is he funny? Well he can be when he drinks.”
“You want swoopy bangs? Swoop there it is!”
“I’m getting fat. So I’m moving from a smedium to a marge in this shirt. I refuse to be in a large.”
What makes you Two-Sided Southern do you think?
Well, I’m wearing a $3 Wal-Mart shirt with Gucci loafers. But when people read about me, they think that I’m this super fancy over-the-top sophisticated person. I’m in Miami, Manhattan and L.A. every other week. And I am. I can hang there. But my favorite place in the world is our lake house up on Lake Blue Ridge listening to the rain on the back porch. We’re on good, deep water.
You know what else? I would rather hang with the cashier somewhere than the owner. My neighborhood is nice. We live in a country club in Johns Creek. But when we go to the clubhouse for dinner… all those people would bore me to death. My favorite reason to go there is to talk to the people that work there. This one little girl that works there as a waitress squatted down next to our table and she goes ‘you’re a hairdresser and you live in here? My family told me being a hairdresser I’d never make any money.’ I told her that was not the case. My happiest times are with people that work in hotels and restaurants. Service workers. I am those people. I love service workers. Yes, we have acquired a really nice life, but I’m as country as cornbread.
Do you monogram things like Southerners do?
Let me send you something. I am sending you a photo right now. (Below is the photo Daniel texted me.)
I have DMJ on everything. It is a Southern thing. But also, when I go live, I want it to be imprinted on people’s minds. I may not monogram a fancy shirt, but I’ll monogram a hoodie.
What are true South Carolina dishes or food items you love that you can only get in your home state?Breakfast foods… I love a big ol’ cat’s head butter biscuit. They’re huge. And you put as much butter on it as you can. Let it melt. Then stick two tablespoons of brown sugar in there. You will slap somebody. Someone’s goin’ down at the table. It’s the best thing you’ll ever put in your mouth. It will be Atlanta United in your mouth.
What’s your favorite high-end, hoity-toity dish? I’ve been known to order two and three entrees at a dinner. Honey, this body didn’t build itself. At Chops, I’ll get the fried lobster tail, 8 oz. filet medium with that butter. At Umi, the tuna is my favorite. That soy butter lobster that you fry. It’s a miracle in my mouth.
Favorite southern dish? Fried chicken. South City Kitchen has some of the best. Get those biscuits at South City Kitchen. You get a little thing of molasses and scoot that biscuit through it. We’re about to have a Baptism right here! This biscuits’ gonna get saved. But I’ll go tear up that Publix chicken too. I’ll eat all the drumsticks. I love the dark meat. White meat… I can’t swallow that mess. It’s nasty.
Favorite high-end, hoity toity dessert/sweet: Chocolate molten lava cake. That has to happen. The favorite is Jean Georges in Vegas. I almost gave that waiter a standing ovation.
Favorite low-brow dessert/sweet: This is how you know you’re really Southern. Irish potato candy. It’s made from Irish potatoes. You have to find someone to make it. You won’t even know you’re eating a potato. And some vanilla flavoring. I’m about to bust an artery. Hashtag Lipitor.
Favorite low-brow restaurant: Hole-in-the-wall diners are the kinds I like. I love Fox Bros BBQ.
Favorite high-end fashion store: I’ve been a huge Gucci supporter. Not gonna lie. Big supporter for the Guch. Equal parts Gucci and Prada.
Favorite low-brow fashion store: Zara
Do you believe in thank you notes as a rule?
I do. Everyone needs hand written thank you notes. It’s a lost art. I write thank you notes to my employees for being amazing humans.
If you bring someone a casserole who is sick, just had a baby, family member died, what is your tried-and-true casserole: Sweet potato casserole
Favorite high-brow entertainment: I love Broadway all day long. All. Of. Them. Hashtag Tony Awards. I love theater. I don’t know what opera is doing though. It’s like putting the washing machine on a spin cycle.
Favorite low-brow entertainment: I love to go to apple festivals in the mountains. Good people watchin’.
Most eccentric Southern person you know (now or from the past)? Please include why.
I have to say Leslie Jordan is my favorite. He’s so much. He’s always on extra. This was 15 years ago, we took our salon team out in Atlanta and Leslie Jordan was there. Just hanging out.
What are some misconceptions you’ve encountered about people from the south?
That we’re unintelligent. Drives me crazy. Honey, I will outsmart you so fast. While I put my brown sugar on that biscuit, I was planning out your future.
