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40 | BEAUTY LAUNCHPAD | APRIL 2016 WNDRLND delivers road-trippy educational installations designed to inspire budding stylist superstars and support charitable causes across the country. —TRACY MORIN Live & Learn/ Learning Curve Road Warriors RUSSELL DREYER K risto, the mononymous creator of WNDRLND (thewndrlnd.com), laughs that he's always "dipped his hands in different things," but it doesn't get much more renegade than fi ring up a retro RV and using grassroots elbow grease to seek untapped potential in salons across the country. Accompanied by his best bud and like-minded stylist Burke, Kristo shuns superfi cial social media connections and staid seminars in favor of an intimate "getting to know you" approach—not only sharing business boosters with stylists, but hanging out with the group at every salon, invading their communities with pop-ups for charitable causes and chatting over drinks at night. "We're two normal dudes, and we just ask the staff questions: What do they need most?" Kristo details. "We talk about the why, not the how." Kristo and Burke still work behind the chair to ignite their creativity and passion, but when a tour strikes (generated by salon requests or Kristo's personal picks for visits), it's time to hit the road. Kristo likens WNDRLND to a traveling record label, with two road-warrior stylists who create educational "jam sessions" everywhere they venture: from schools and salons to parking lots and bars. "The installation is completely free; we just want to share and be at the stylists' level," Kristo muses. The program is kept so accessible through support from beauty brands such as Keune, Ergo and Hattori Hanzo Shears, but remains brand-neutral to offer the widest scope of information possible. "When you remove the fl uff and simply talk to people, you build great relationships with them and their communities," Kristo says. Going off the beaten path, WNDRLND's "tour bus," a sweet 1984 Fleetwood Tioga Arrow, hosted three-day installations last fall in a slew of small-scale Southern cities and towns like Athens, Georgia—where, after in-salon education, the RV was set up on a roadside promising "free sh*t haircuts" to benefi t The Humane Society. The duo eschews mega salons in favor of smaller venues, which are often overlooked in an industry that values glitz and over-the-top personalities. "We want to fi nd undervalued people and get other voices out there—we can't do it for them, but we give them a soapbox," Kristo explains. "And it gives people hope, that you can still 'be somebody' no matter where you are." ÅON TOUR WNDRLND's 2016 schedule (so far) includes the following cities: Portland, Oregon Seattle San Francisco Austin, Texas Chicago New Orleans Denver Philadelphia Tampa, Florida Brooklyn, New York WNDRLND offers in-salon, brand- neutral education and raises money for local charities by hosting pop-up cut-a-thons, above right.