TikTok star @MerMegHair answers rapid-fire hair questions
The Enquirer chatted with Meg Hardee, known as @MerMegHair online. Watch our conversation with the social media star here.
Meg Hardee is on The Enquirer’s list of Cincinnati’s Top Content Creators of 2026. To see the full list, click here.
She’s a salon owner, hairstylist, mother, wife, podcast host and one of Cincinnati’s Top Content Creators of 2026: Meg Hardee, or better known as @mermeghair to her 348,000 Instagram and 762,800 TikTok followers.
Hardee’s journey to owning her salon was anything but ordinary. The 30-year-old began her cosmetology journey before she even graduated high school. She planned to work in the bridal industry before quickly realizing it wasn’t the right fit.
A few years later, the West Chester native met her husband, Brandon Hardee, and in 2019, the two opened her cozy and eclectic Madisonville salon, Olive + Ivy Salon. Shortly after, the couple renovated the other side of the building, where its sister salon, Poppy Studios, resides.
Playing a key role in her salon’s success is Hardee’s social media presence. She not only shows off stunning hair transformations, but Hardee, a new mother, keeps it real, sharing about topics that include postpartum, owning a business and more.
“It has really supported our salon a lot,” Hardee said of social media while inside Olive + Ivy. “I feel like even before I had big numbers, I might have had (around) 10,000 followers on Instagram when we opened here, and even that really supported the salon and got a lot of clients in the door and got people to work here.”
So, how did Hardee’s rise to social media stardom begin? Check out The Enquirer’s conversation with her below.
These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
Meg Hardee opens up about running a salon, content creation and more
Can you give a brief introduction of yourself and where you’re originally from?
Hardee: I was born in Florida, but I grew up here in West Chester. I went to hair school before I had even graduated from high school and that’s how I kind of started social media. I had an account called “Beauty by Meg,” and I thought I was going into the industry to do weddings. I thought I was going to be a bridal stylist.
Turns out I hated it.
Then I worked in a commission salon out of school, and I lasted there for about two and a half years, and I opened a studio. That’s kind of when my social media started doing a little bit more, and then I met my now-husband in 2018, and in 2019, we opened (Olive + Ivy).
During COVID-19 is when I made a TikTok account. I kind of focused on (my salon) and hair, but when I got pregnant, I started posting lifestyle stuff, (and that’s) when I really took off on both Instagram and TikTok.
Did you have a thought process or a transition into how you would post more motherhood and lifestyle content?
I’ve always posted a good amount of fashion content, and so I feel like me getting ready in the morning shifted when I was pregnant to me doing morning vlogs, where that was still included. But Gabbie (Egan), (another winner of Cincinnati’s Top Content Creators of 2026), had encouraged me to start posting more lifestyle stuff.
At what point did you realize you could actually make something of content creation?
It has really supported our salon a lot. I feel like even before I had big numbers, I might have had (around) 10,000 followers on Instagram when we opened here, and even that really supported the salon and got a lot of clients in the door and got people to work here.
But I would say when I hit maybe 200,000 (followers) on TikTok, that’s when I thought, “Maybe I’m gonna be an influencer now, or creator, or whatever.” I hate the word influencer.
Do you have a strategy at all? Did you try to post a certain amount of times a day or week?
I used to try to post like six to eight times a day on TikTok, and I don’t even think the algorithm likes that anymore. I try to post six or seven times a week on there now. I don’t know how I would go back to what I was doing a while ago, especially with a kid.
You posted about your followers only seeing a sliver of your life, so how do you balance everything, especially with a young child?
The question of balance, especially after having a baby, I’m like, “How does anyone know what they’re doing?” Because I don’t feel like I’m balancing it all. I’m trying to focus and stay present on whatever’s on my to-do list that day, but that does not always equal balance, if I’m being honest.
What’s your favorite content to make? Do you prefer the hair content?
That’s a good question. I think I like vlog-style, period. Whether it’s me behind the chair with a client, not necessarily being an educational video, but like ASMR, or the pretty little corners of the salon that you see in videos, or us laughing, or (my daughter) sleeping on my back.
I think cooking content is really fun, too. I don’t do that a ton, but I love watching and making cooking videos.
Do you ever have moments where you think, “I can’t do this anymore”?
Yeah, this morning. All the time.
How do you snap back after those moments?
I try to remember what being a creator has given my life. Whether it’s clients in the chairs of my business − it’s given me my business. The opportunity for partnerships and stuff is really life-changing, and I think about my baby.
These people are probably making me feel bad, but they don’t actually know the real me. The people who do know the real me are the ones who count.
What are your thoughts on authenticity and how that helps with social media?
I think that’s what connection thrives on: the relatability. Specifically, how I try to show up online is important, especially (with becoming a parent), because I think sometimes online, being a full-time working parent and a business owner (who is) a parent, can look a lot easier than it is.
So, being authentic in both directions, like things are better than they seem and things can be worse than they seem, too.
What’s your Cincinnati hot take?
I love OTR. That’s where I lived when I first met my husband. That’s where I first moved when I moved from West Chester. I loved my time in OTR. I loved walking to the dog park. And I love the food scene. I think all the restaurants and stuff down there are inspiring, whether it’s their dishes or their branding, or the experince that you get.
I think maybe that’s my hot take: (Cincinnati is) a lot cooler than other people know.
What is the best experience content creation has given you?
It’s not necessarily something that was given to me, but I would honestly just say the salon. I wouldn’t have been able to expand this many times and have this big of a community or a piece of community in the Cincinnati hair world if it weren’t for that.
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