The Scalp Solutions Podcast Episode 34 Feat. Will Quaye of Scalp Nation
WILL QUAYE exploded on the smp scene in 2019 where he quickly became recognised by his peers for his hunger and passion to his craft. Will first found himself stepping into the industry due to his mother battling hair-loss, keen to find a solution he came across smp whilst his partner Claire was at one of the UK’s leading Micropigmentation conferences ‘MPUK 19’ Claire believed Will had the qualities to succeed in smp; Four weeks later it was go time! Will’s crusade for continued personal development burns bright, with his constant drive to achieve excellence. Will has fast become one of the uk’s well respected artists, his attention to detail is second to none, producing soft, natural and detailed smp for his clients each and every time. In 2020 we saw Will become a finalist for Best scalp tech at the MPUK’20 awards, Best scalp tech UK at the Teresa Wild PMU conference, and Rising star at the Meeting of Minds ‘20 and walking away as the winner for ‘Best SMP’ at the PMU Circle awards.
To get in contact with Will Quaye:
https://www.scalpnation.co.uk
IG: @scalp_nation
Below you will find the podcast transcription. Click on the photo to view the full interview on YouTube, don't forget to like and subscribe to our channel.
David Santiago 0:02
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David Santiago 1:28
What's up everybody. Welcome back to the scalp solutions podcast. I am your host David Santiago. And today I have with me my man Will Quaye from Scalp nation representing Sussex United Kingdom, what's going on Will?
Will Quaye 1:44
And again, David, thanks for having me, man.
David Santiago 1:46
Thank you for coming on the show. My brother has been a long time. I know we try to get this going. You know the last round. You know you were too busy for me. You told me Dave, it's all good. But we back here. We back here. Let's dive right in brother. Let the audience know I already introduced you and your location but you know your clinic? Where you represent? Where you from? Brother.
Will Quaye 2:13
Yes. So I've got a small clinic in the UK called Scalp Nation. I'm also a pro artist create scouts, which is in Crawley in the UK. So my time split between the two.
David Santiago 2:29
You are big dog that's where you didn't even let me get to the quote you just like it. I mean, let them know we talked into it. We talked to serious SMP artist here.
Will Quaye 2:36
I'm trying.
David Santiago 2:38
Nah, you badass brother. How did you come to know about the scalp micropigmentation industry?
Will Quaye 2:45
Yes. So it was back in 2019. So originally, the story was I was looking I was actually looking at hair loss solutions, right? For my mom. So I was looking at all different types of ways we could help her and at the same time I was looking my misses and her colleague right. There was a conference in Nottingham, in England called MP UK. I'm not sure. Do you know that one?
David Santiago 3:16
Not, sir.
Will Quaye 3:17
Yeah. MP UK. So it's like a it's a micropigmentation conference for everything. Micro pigmentations, SMP, PMU, lips, eyebrows eyeliners you name it. She was there. And she see people doing SMP. So she phoned me up and said to me, we'll have you know, I've seen these guys here doing this demonstrating this, I think, you know, you'd be good at it. But at the same time, I kind of half had a clue about it because of my research with my mother. So I just thought to myself, like, this is weird, you know, I mean, like all these things that are happening like all the roads that sort of pushing me into this industry that I'm half aware of but want to know more about so she came back from the conference and within a month I'd done my fundamental training and the rest is history.
David Santiago 4:11
You were ready to go so you one of the fortunate SMP practitioners that has a his original full head of hair, huh?
Will Quaye 4:19
Yeah, yeah.
David Santiago 4:20
Not me. I don't want to take my [Inaudible 04:21] then I got to mess up. I got to mess with my-
Will Quaye 4:25
Keep on that.
David Santiago 4:26
Yeah, I forgot what I call these. I keep touching them. I don't know the earphones. There we go. All right. So what were you doing prior to SMP?
Will Quaye 4:35
So, by trade, I was taught by trade. I'm a welder, fabricator. Yeah, man.
David Santiago 4:43
You're crafty, dude.
Will Quaye 4:45
I'll make sure that all up from nothing.
David Santiago 4:47
That's awesome.
Will Quaye 4:49
Yeah, so it's a bit when I tell people as you know, I like telling people that as well because-
David Santiago 4:55
Because they let them know you're artistically inclined.
Will Quaye 5:00
Just not even that, to be honest, it's just especially for like people new to the industry, you know, they may come from all sorts of different walks of life, you know, III don't necessarily in my opinion, you don't necessarily have to be a barber or a tattoo or a traditional tattoo artists, you know, if you've got the will and the drive and you know, you want to learn something you could, you know, you could be anything and-
David Santiago 5:26
Absolutely, totally agree with you. I'm glad you, I'm glad you went that route with that, um, that's awesome. So now let's transition over to mortar into SMP. Right? What was one of your biggest failures as a practitioner? And what did you learn from that experience?
Will Quaye 5:46
So failures?
David Santiago 5:50
So many coming up. No failures?
Will Quaye 5:54
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't really see failures, right?
David Santiago 5:58
So I like your style. But I already see what is gone..
Will Quaye 6:02
It's true, man. Because like, everything's like a lesson, right? So, yeah, I've failed along the way. But I don't see it as failure. I sort of test and measure things all the time, even now. I test the major things all in different aspects of the business. So some things work really good. Some things, you know, take a little longer, or I've got to be in there and try something else. So yeah, I just, you know.
David Santiago 6:28
No failures, just lessons.
Will Quaye 6:30
Yeah, man.
David Santiago 6:31
My man, I like your style. You're prolific dude. I'm glad we finally jumped on the podcast. So if you could be remembered, in this industry for one thing, what would it be? What would you want that to be?
Will Quaye 6:43
So when you say that, do you mean, in regards to my work, or just me as a person?
David Santiago 6:48
In general, whether it be your work or just, you know, your character, your professionalism?
Will Quaye 6:53
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I try to keep everything I do is with honesty, integrity, and I just try to keep it like, 100 with my clients, like, no matter what, I'll tell them the truth. You know, if someone comes into me, and they've got quite a bit of hair, but it's missing on the crown, and they want a density job, I'll try and steer them away from that, for example, whereas others may not they may-
David Santiago 7:17
Take that money. Let me take that money.
Will Quaye 7:19
Get the money, right. So with me, I'm just totally honest, you know, just straight down the line all the way. And that's what I'd like to be remembered for. Dude, I mean, just be honest.
David Santiago 7:30
Outstanding, a stand up guy. What was one of the best compliments a client has ever given you?
Will Quaye 7:35
I don't get many but like when it comes to work, I mean, we've had tears. We've had tears a few times.
David Santiago 7:45
How was that for you? How was it a matter of fact, let's go with that. How was that? How did you receive that man, the first time you saw and I'm gonna assume was it another man? That you saw you actually brought him to tears because the transformation was just so like, wow.
Will Quaye 8:01
Yeah. So, you know, obviously, you know yourself being a sculpt artist, like, you know, you get different people come into your clinic. Some may be just purely for vanity reasons, right? And some might be because they're genuinely suffering. So this particular guy, he had a case of alopecia. So yeah, quite long hair, but yet the patches, you know, in hair, and we managed to disguise them like really well, and he was just blown away. Because, you know, you can imagine for him, he's walking around every day, completely conscious to that, and for him to just walk out and not have to worry, it just brought him to tears, man. So that's why, you know, that's why I do it. Because for them reactions.
David Santiago 8:45
Absolutely. So now I'm gonna bring him flipping back a little more for you. How about in regards to an insole? Have you ever received an insult from someone or client that you're proud of? So tricky one. Should I give you an example? I'm going to give you an example. So coming up, I used to, you know, one took me under the wing Wonka Yellow from Jerome. And I actually, you know, this past two, three weeks ago, when we were at the SMP Expo, I was on stage with him, and I told them about this. So I told them, listen, I need you to be 100% transparent with me when I send you my work. I need you to tell me, am I is it good? Or is it bad? You know what I mean? Like, so one time he tells me, he goes, Yeah, you know, it wasn't a completed first session. I was like, halfway, so I think he thought, so he was like, yeah, man, that looks like shit. Like he just kept. Yeah, yeah, he kept and I respect that's what I wanted. But it was one of those. It was one of those like, you know, I was proud of that because it was like, You know what, this dude is gonna help me get better. So that's what I mean. Like, did anyone ever you know-
Will Quaye 10:00
[Inaudible] Yeah, yeah. I mean, I can take on criticism like, I'm not like, I don't, it doesn't get my backup. I'm quite happy for it. And I mean, so as long as the person that is criticizing me-
David Santiago 10:19
Is better than you.
Will Quaye 10:20