One Team. Expert Color: Meet Versus Salon’s Certified Matrix Color Experts
From left: Alé, Niecy, Le’Stancia, Madison, Michelle, and Bria—the Versus Salon team and Virginia Beach’s newest Certified Matrix Color Experts. This achievement reflects our continued commitment to advanced education, professional hair color, and healthy results for every hair type and texture.
At Versus Salon, education is not something we complete once and leave behind. It is part of how we serve, how we grow and how we hold ourselves accountable to every guest who sits in our chairs.
That is why we are proud to announce that every current member of the Versus Salon team is now a Certified Matrix Color Expert.
This achievement represents more than another certificate for the wall. It reflects a shared commitment to stronger consultations, more thoughtful color formulation and better-informed decisions for every hair type and texture. Whether a client is considering dimensional highlights, custom color, gray coverage, blonding, a vivid transformation or corrective color, our team brings an expanded foundation of professional color knowledge to the conversation.
For a Virginia Beach hair salon known for understanding curls while serving all textures, that matters. We do not believe a stylist ever reaches a point where there is nothing left to learn. Hair trends change. Color technology evolves. Product formulas advance. Our responsibility is to keep learning with them.
What is a Certified Matrix Color Expert?
Matrix describes its Color Expert program as an advanced, hands-on education experience designed to deepen a stylist’s knowledge of color theory, formulation, custom shade creation, hair coloring, and correction.
The program focuses on skills that color professionals use behind the chair every day, including how to:
build a stronger understanding of color theory and precise formulation;
create customized shades based on a client’s starting point and desired result;
identify and address common color challenges;
strengthen hair color correction knowledge; and
apply innovative color techniques in a practical salon setting.
Color is both creative and technical. A client may arrive with an inspiration photo, but the path to that result depends on much more than selecting a shade. A colorist must consider the hair’s current level and tone, previous chemical services, porosity, condition, density, texture, maintenance needs, and long-term health.
Our article on why professional hair color formulation is part chemistry explains how toners, pH, porosity, and a client’s color history can influence the final result. Matrix Color Expert education gives our team an even stronger shared language for evaluating those factors and developing an informed plan.
What this color certification means for Versus Salon clients
For our clients, a full team of Certified Matrix Color Experts means that advanced color education is not limited to one chair or one specialist. It is part of the collective knowledge inside the salon.
That shared foundation supports:
more detailed color consultations;
customized formulas instead of one-size-fits-all color choices;
stronger communication about realistic results and maintenance;
informed approaches to blonding, toning and corrective color;
color plans that account for texture, porosity and previous services; and
greater collaboration when a complex color service benefits from another professional perspective.
No credential removes the need for consultation, experience or professional judgment. Instead, certification strengthens the tools our stylists can use to make those judgments. At Versus Salon, the goal is never simply to create a beautiful color for the day. We want to consider how the service fits into the health, lifestyle and long-term hair goals of the person wearing it.
That approach is especially important when coloring textured hair. Curls and coils can have specific moisture needs, and chemical services may affect the strength, elasticity or pattern of the hair when they are not planned carefully. Our guide to professional color techniques for curly hair explores why placement, hydration and the integrity of the curl pattern should all be part of a curly color service.
Clients can also explore our current curly hair color services in Virginia Beach, including balayage for curls, individual highlights and Pintura highlights, or view the salon’s broader range of color, curly, natural hair, haircut and styling services.
At Versus Salon, education is the culture
Completing Matrix Color Expert education is a milestone, but it is also part of a much larger culture of professional development at Versus Salon.
Our stylists participate in continuing education at least once a month, whether that learning takes place inside the salon or through an outside class. Over the years, our team has trained with professional brands and educators on balayage, cutting, clipper work, curls, color, product knowledge and other techniques that help us serve a wider range of guests.
We also create opportunities to learn beyond the salon. Hair shows and professional trade shows allow stylists to see emerging techniques, connect with educators, experience new tools and products, and return to Virginia Beach with fresh ideas to practice and share. Inside the salon, that knowledge becomes collaborative: one stylist’s education can strengthen the entire team.
This is not a new idea for Versus. In 10 Fast Facts About Versus Salon, we shared that monthly continuing education has long been part of our standard. Our behind-the-scenes look at what clients may not know about their hairstylists also explains why ongoing education, professional tools and product knowledge are essential investments in a stylist’s career.
We believe the best salon culture makes room for questions. It encourages experienced professionals to refine their techniques, growing stylists to build confidence and every team member to remain teachable. There is always another texture to understand, another formulation to study and another way to make the guest experience stronger.
Well-rounded stylists for every type and texture
Versus Salon has served the Hampton Roads community since 2001 and has been Virginia Beach’s first curl-focused salon since 2012. Our curl expertise is central to who we are, but it has never meant serving only one kind of hair.
The name Versus was built around range: curly versus straight, relaxed versus natural, heat styling versus protective styling. Our team works with waves, curls, coils and straight textures while offering services that include custom cuts, silk presses, natural styles, color, locs, braids, extensions and more.
Becoming a curl specialist requires education beyond the basics. Traditional cosmetology training has not always given textured hair the depth it deserves, which means stylists must intentionally seek out additional techniques, tools, practice and product knowledge. Our blog, What It Takes to Be a Curl Specialist, explains why adaptation, hands-on experience and continuing education are essential when learning to care for curls.
Now, with every current team member completing Matrix Color Expert education, we are strengthening another part of that same mission: building knowledgeable, versatile professionals who can think across texture, cut, color, condition and lifestyle instead of treating any service in isolation.
You can meet the Versus Salon team to learn more about the specialties, experience and creative perspective each stylist and apprentice brings to the salon.
Building the next generation through the Versus Salon Hair Academy
Professional development at Versus Salon is not reserved for established hairstylists. It also begins with the next generation.
Through the Versus Salon Hair Academy and Apprenticeship Program, aspiring cosmetology professionals can develop their craft inside an active salon environment. Apprentices gain exposure to real salon systems, guest care, consultations, technical education and the daily discipline required to grow from a student into a confident professional.
This type of salon apprenticeship offers something different from learning technique in isolation. Apprentices can observe how experienced professionals assess hair, communicate expectations, solve problems and adapt services for different types and textures. They can build practical experience while receiving mentorship and working through the training required on the path toward eligibility for Virginia’s cosmetology examination and state license.
That distinction matters: completing an apprenticeship is part of the pathway, while the cosmetology license itself is issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia after the applicable training, examination and licensing requirements are met. Our article Does a Cosmetology License Matter? explains why professional licensing, sanitation, chemical knowledge and client safety are foundational to responsible salon work.
For someone searching for a hair salon apprenticeship program in Virginia Beach, the right environment should do more than teach how to complete a service. It should help build professional habits, technical versatility, client confidence and a long-term career mindset. That is the kind of foundation we are continuing to develop at Versus Salon.
Looking for hair stylist or cosmetology jobs in Virginia Beach?
Versus Salon is growing, and we are building a dream team of knowledgeable specialists and well-rounded hairstylists who want to keep learning.
If you are searching for hair stylist jobs in Virginia Beach, cosmetology careers in Hampton Roads or a salon that invests in professional development, we want you to know what makes a career at Versus different.
Team benefits and professional opportunities include:
Education and technical growth
Monthly continuing education and regular skill development
In-salon education with national professional brands
Curly cutting and textured-hair training
Multicultural and diverse hair education
Trade-show and professional hair-show opportunities
Mentorship inside a team with experience across curls, color, cuts and natural hair
Career and financial support
Paid vacation
An IRA retirement plan
Retail sales commission and bonus opportunities
A cancellation-fee policy designed to help protect stylist earnings
Systems that support the work behind the chair
Free online booking services
An established salon brand serving Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads
A collaborative team environment built around education, service and continued improvement
Opportunities to grow inside a salon that works with all hair types and textures
Specific benefits, eligibility, and position terms may vary by role and should be confirmed during the application process.
We are interested in professionals who are curious, dependable, and serious about their craft. You do not need to arrive knowing everything. In fact, our culture is built on the belief that none of us ever will. We are looking for people who are ready to learn, contribute, practice, accept coaching, and help create an inclusive salon experience for every guest.
Start by getting to know the stylists, curl specialists, and apprentices at Versus Salon, then visit our Versus Salon hiring page to learn how to apply.
A certification worth celebrating—and a standard we plan to keep building
We are proud of every Versus Salon team member for becoming a Certified Matrix Color Expert. This achievement recognizes the time, attention and commitment it takes to strengthen a technical craft—and it represents the level of care we want every client to feel in our salon.
But education does not end with this announcement.
We will continue learning in monthly classes, attending industry events, training with professional brands, mentoring emerging talent and sharing what we know with our community. That same education-first spirit was on display during our sold-out Curls Night Out 2026 celebration, where our team brought curl education, live demonstrations and honest conversation beyond the salon chair.
At Versus Salon, we do not just do curls—we understand them. We do not just apply color—we study it. And we do not just hire stylists—we invest in professionals who want to keep becoming better at their craft.
That is what it means to grow with the original curl-focused salon in Virginia Beach.
FAQs
What does it mean to be a Certified Matrix Color Expert?
A Certified Matrix Color Expert has completed advanced professional education in areas such as color theory, formulation, custom shades, color challenges, corrective color and application techniques. Every current member of the Versus Salon team has earned this Matrix credential.
Does Versus Salon offer color services for curly and textured hair?
Yes. Versus Salon offers professional color services for all hair types and textures, including balayage for curls, individual curly highlights, Pintura highlights, custom color and corrective color consultations. Every service begins with an assessment of the client’s starting color, hair history, condition, texture and goals.
Does Versus Salon have a cosmetology apprenticeship program in Virginia Beach?
Yes. The Versus Salon Hair Academy and Apprenticeship Program gives aspiring cosmetology professionals an opportunity to develop practical salon experience, technical knowledge and professional habits while working toward the requirements for Virginia examination eligibility and cosmetology licensure.
Is Versus Salon hiring hairstylists in Virginia Beach?
Versus Salon is growing its team of knowledgeable, well-rounded professionals. Licensed hairstylists, experienced salon professionals and prospective apprentices can review the salon’s current hiring information and application instructions on the Versus Salon website.
