Local to the Southeast Texas area, Kara always envisioned being able to offer her clients a space that resembled herself and all the things that she loves, while giving off a “lowkey luxury” aesthetic. Her goal was to create a brand that was unique, and beautiful. A symbol that represented her journey and reflected her burning passion and dedication to her work. A company that’s ever-changing and growing alongside herself. An experience that’s a state of mind more than a place. That’s where KP Styling, and Kara’s dreams, came to life.

Kara specializes in creative lived-in color and hand tied extensions. If you know Kara at all, you know that dull and boring is just not her style. With every head that sits in her chair, she strives to construct something more than just jaw-dropping hair. Kara’s clients are family to her. She’s always felt that her purpose in this line of work is to make women look and feel beautiful. She craves giving her clients a fabulous veil of hair that inspires confidence and self-love within themselves.

With over a decade in the business, Kara is tremendously educated. At the beginning of her career, Kara was working as a receptionist at a local commission based hair salon. After almost a year, she was asked to be an “Associate Stylist”. Most commission based salons, like KP Styling, are set up with levels. Each different level requires the stylists’ to reach different goals in service and product sales. Leveling up means making more money for yourself, and for the salon. Because of her unbelievably strong work ethic and drive, Kara was the first stylist in the history of the 30+ year old company to reach the top of the ladder in under two years.

After reaching this goal and wanting to soak up as much education as possible, Kara immediately dove into researching opportunities to stretch her limits. Kara’s always had a passion for hair color. So when she came across the Wella Master Color Expert program, held in New York, New York, she thought this was the perfect opportunity because she was heavily familiar with Wella’s color line. This program provides information going deep into the chemical makeup of hair color, touches on lipids and bonds and technologies within each color line, hair structure, the way the human eye perceives color, consultation, color line choice, placement, and so much more. Basically, it’s like getting a Masters’ degree in Wella’s hair color line.

The Wella Master Color Expert Program (MCE) consists of four prerequisite classes lasting two weeks. Once those are completed, the stylists’ have to be accepted into the MCE program where they will complete two phases and an at-home project in between the two. No surprise, after completing her prerequisites in December of 2016, Kara was accepted into the program. She passed with flying colors and graduated in June of 2017, becoming one of the few elite artists in the nation that hold the Wella Master Color Expert title. 

Following her return, Kara looked for more ways to gain experience in the industry. She wanted something that inspired her and pushed her out of her comfort zone. As if it were fate, she came across an online ad for a tryout in NYC for a New York Fashion Week Hair Team with Aubrey Loots. A few clicks later, she was signed up and the flight was booked. She was going back to the Big Apple. 

Kara auditioned for two days at a workshop where she had her first taste of runway high. The audition was a mock runway show with Project Runway finalist, Christopher Palu, showcasing his newest collection and then a full-on editorial shoot with New York Photographer, Ksenia Poulber. After the audition + four long months of waiting, Kara received an email stating that she would be going to New York Fashion Week. Anyone knows, this was the opportunity of a lifetime. Anyone who knows Kara Shaver knows this was a dream come true.

During New York Fashion Week, Kara and her team did hair for Dan Liu, Han Wen, Matopeda, and LaQuan Smith. This experience was like a spiritual awakening for Kara. She learned so much about herself as an artist. She learned how to collaborate and combine creativity with complete strangers, how rewarding it is to see your work changing someone’s life. The people she met, and the magic she experienced doing hair for New York Fashion Week was something indescribable and added an experience to her repertoire that she won’t soon forget. 

On top of these exclusive trainings, Kara has been certified in, and was previously an educator for, Natural Beaded Rows (NBR) since 2019, and she was recently certified in Invisible Beaded Extensions (IBE). She has plans to become certified in more methods next year, and maybe eventually come up with her own method. Over the course of her career, Kara’s learned how immensely important it is to invest in your career. She’s spent thousands on flights, hotels, time off work, education, and exposure. Her goal is to be able to offer her clients the absolute best service possible.

In her local area, Kara feels like it’s important to support other small businesses. She always preaches “community over competition”. As a business owner, she knows how important it is to have support flowing in consistently. In the past year, Kara has helped local boutique, Ella + Scott organize and put on a fashion show to celebrate their ten year anniversary. She purchased a “liquor locker” at Beaumont’s brand new rooftop bar, Pour09. Weekly, Kara orders a new flower arrangement from Valentino’s Floral & Events to show off to our clients in the salon. In today’s world, it’s so important to help others and build each other up, instead of the opposite and Kara strives to do that daily.

Kara Burrow has found a way to make an income while making an impact. She is quite literally a natural force to be reckoned with in the beauty + hair industry. Whether you’re in the market for a total transformation for your locks or extending your hairstylist education, Kara’s your girl. KP’s always been a “what’s next” kind of girl...and she’s not near finished yet, so stay tuned.