The Company

HairDirections provides exceptional professional education and consulting services for Salons, Spas, and Cosmetology Schools. The company was founded in 2003 and has since taught classes around the country in areas such as Milwaukee, Madison, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Atlanta.  Our talented educators and unique approach to Continuing Education (CE) routinely receive rave reviews (click here to see what people are saying). HairDirections has provided state approved Continuing Education for thousands of licensees at open training events, private in salon classes, and online. Click here to read more about our state approvals to provide CE classes.

HairDirections has a unique and powerful blend of practical experience in nearly every aspect of the cosmetology industry, spanning education, business ownership and operations, distribution, technical systems, salon and spa services, management, and business development expertise. We also have in-house writing and publication, large event planning, course development, graphic design, web site creation and maintenance, end to end video production, recording studio, engineering, and in-depth analysis capabilities. Our staff is truly innovative with a long history of leadership and hands-on success in the cosmetology industry.

The Owners

HairDirections is privately owned by Dan Gramer and Kristin Allison: 

Kristin Allison, Education Director and Co-Owner is a leader in the cosmetology industry.  Her diverse cosmetology background and her over 12 years of experience successfully managing all aspects of salons and spas makes her an invaluable HairDirections asset.  She founded and continues to own Four Seasons Salon & Day Spa and HairDirections (co-founder). She also created the nationally accredited Four Seasons Cosmetology School and served as the school's Lead Instructor and President for over 8 years before selling this division of her company to Paul Mitchell the School in 2009.  The success and rapid growth of her companies are a testament to her leadership, business, and management expertise.  She is also one of the friendliest people you will meet.  

Kristin leads the development and presentation of HairDirections’ courses. Her in-depth cosmetology expertise, creativity, sense of humor, and incredible dedication have spurred the development of amazing CE classes that our customers rave about (click here to see what they are saying).  She has established herself as one of the most effective and dynamic educators in the business, where comments such as "The instructor Rocked! Great Class!”, “We love her!”, “The best educator I have seen”, and “The educator was amazing!!!” are common after people take one of her classes.

Kristin has been hired by professionals across the US to provide advanced education in hair color, hair design and cutting, state administrative code, safety and sanitation, hair extensions, spa services, and business development and operations. She has served as a professional educator for Kadus, Wella, Dome, Four Seasons Cosmetology School, and HairDirections.  Kristin is a hair color expert who has worked for two of the top hair color companies.  She was invited by Thomas Delmar Learning to serve as a returning reviewer for the Milady Standard cosmetology textbook, and has been responsible for the preparation and execution of professional hair shows and training DVD’s. Kristin has also designed the layout for salons, spas, and cosmetology schools, and has been responsible for structuring their operations.  She currently holds Wisconsin State Managers and Instructors licenses, and has received advanced training in coloring, cutting, perming, hair extensions, nail enhancements, sugaring, teaching concepts, and business and leadership methods. 

Dan Gramer, HairDirections President and Co-Owner worked as a rocket propulsion engineer (aka rocket scientist) with ORBITEC for over a decade, where he innovated, developed, and managed new technologies for NASA and the Department of Defense.  He has been responsible for budgets of several million dollars, and pioneered multiple innovations from conception to reality. He discovered that his strong technical background and the methods he developed in the corporate engineering world directly translate into success in the cosmetology industry.

Dan has a passion for helping individuals and businesses in the cosmetology industry thrive. As the President of HairDirections, his vision and leadership maintain the company at the forefront of excellence.  Dan applies his expertise in business development, operations, logistics, and management to ensuring that our customers’ and partners’ expectations are exceeded.  He also serves as the primary HairDirections technical guru where he designed our recording studio, developed our process for creating state of the art online courses, planned the infrastructure for our live training events, and an array of additional technical tasks that have helped to distinguish HairDirections as a premier CE provider. Dan also plays a key role in course innovation, the creation of multi-media course materials, and planning and managing large training events.  

Dan served as a Board Member and Vice President of the nationally accredited Four Seasons Cosmetology School for 8 years before it was sold to Paul Mitchell the School in 2009.  He played an integral role in nearly every facet of the school’s growth and operations, creating several innovative systems and methods that resulted in rapid expansion of the business.  Dan was also directly responsible for the school’s budgeting, information technology, marketing and advertising, and  writing and publishing departments.   

Dan continues to serve as the Vice President of Four Seasons Salon & Day Spa.  Together with Kristin Allison, they established and refined several systems that have a proven track record of success in salons and spas.   

Dan’s work and innovations have been featured several times in nationally distributed publications. He has received numerous national awards from AIAA, and was also featured in the AIAA Young Professional Newsletter.  Dan has been granted four patents, has over 50 publications on a variety of topics, and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has also received continuing education in management, business, and technical topics related to both engineering and cosmetology.