I've been doing hair for the last 7 years. I also do make-up, manicure & pedicure and I love to style brows. I have never thought in my wildest dreams that I will work in the beauty industry. Me, an introvert at heart, in an extrovert friendly domain. Me, a person who really dislikes small talk and too much social interaction. Me, the book nerd 🤓
I began to see differently the way I was perceived and the way I perceived people. There is a lot of talk about hairdressers and many see this job as being shallow. What I have heard from people about my job, some knew me, some were strangers.... Surprised me. Anyway, their perspective has hurt my feelings, but I learned to get over it as when people express malice towards you it is usually not about you at all, but about them. It took me years to get that.
Some of the remarks I have been told:
Your job is sitting all day waiting for clients
You have so much free time because your job requires no effort and you slack around
The world is filled with hairdressers like you, pretty much a useless job where drool comes out of your mouth because you are stupid and pretentious
When will you get a real job? Doing hair can't really become a career
You will starve when the world will be in war because no one needs hairdressers then
You probably have no higher education and you did this because it was easier
You don't need too much knowledge to do what you do. I can also buy a dye and put it on people's head
You probably love to gossip all day
You do what you are told and you are motivated by the good money because beauty sells
There are many more remarks which piled up over the years. People judge everything that they do not understand. I have had clients who expected royal treatment despite acting like douchebags, I had people raising their eyebrows when I have told them I graduated from University and then laughed in my face :haha, look at you now, you with a diploma are doing my hair, what good is having that paper now?.
Although I can agree that papers do not make us better, I can also agree that not all humans are human. Pun intented.
I am sure that I will become more than a hairdresser and this is only a journey. I am very talented and I see how I can grow professionally in the upcoming years. I have big dreams and plans for myself❤️
After the pandemic I have noticed a massive shift in people's mentality: suddenly, haidressers were needed. Not for the beauty, as you might be tempted to think, but for the soul. When friends and even relatives became more distant because of the virus, people seeked comfort at their hairdresser. Maybe there they will get compassion. Interesting right? As it sounds like doing hair is not about hair at all? Hmm... Let's dig deeper.
You see, I don't just do hair. I hear stories and I listen souls. As years passed by and I personally have changed as a person, I started to attract different kinds of people. I can now sit with clients and have a talk about books, about trauma, about death, about love. Yes, deep meaningful conversations I don't even have with my family members! Mind blowing right? I can laugh, smile, cry with my clients. I can heal and I can dream with them. Some people tell to their hairdresser what they never dare to tell to their family. Some of you reading this now... You know. You know what I am talking about🤫
I have clients from all domains: doctors, lawyers, housewives, business owners, chefs, sellers, students, janitors, factory workers,therapists, teachers, military personnel, retired people etc. You name it, I have seen it all. When clients open their mind and they find out more about me they are in awe. I paint, I write, I draw, I do handmade stuff, I am well read and I can talk on various topics, I know english quite well, they never expect such a person to be a hairdresser. They remain surprised as they expected something else in a beauty salon.
I know that putting a label on a person is easier as it saves the brain the work to analyse a person for real. I know this because I have also did this mistake in my life: labelling people. I can now tell you that I have met people with no degree who had the most beautiful character while I have also met people with a high rank job with an ugly behavior. I believe that this pandemic has shown to people that, rich or poor, we are all the same at a bigger level. We are all humans longing for genuine connection, for affection and understanding.
I have met people who became my friends. I have heard stories which touched my heart and challenged the way my mind thinked. I believe that doing hair is actually a byproduct in my beauty salon. I hear stories and listen to people. In the meanwhile, hair is getting done. Do you get that? I no longer feel like I am working, I feel like I am in a big learning class every day about HUMAN NATURE. When a person enters my salon, I tell myself I wonder what's his/her story. The human mind is a fascinating subject for me so I never get bored. At the beginning I despised my job because I have felt I had to do all the talking. Now I understand that I only have to listen. I now value a person who knows how to listen more than I value a person who has verbal diarrhea and can't stop talking. Listening is powerful
I have free time because I manage my time. What do I mean by this? In some jobs, some people kill time with petty stuff: watching netflix, gossiping, smoking, sitting around to just slack, scrolling through facebook /instagram giving random likes and spying on the false happy lives of others. To sum it all up, some are doing nothing in their free time. In some other jobs, they are forced to continuously work and they lack any free time. I am fortunate enough to be my own boss. I never worked for anyone not 1 single day in my life. I realize that I was blessed in this matter as I reject authority and have a problem with someone telling me how much MY time is worth. I CHOOSE to use my free time (dead time, when I have no clients) wisely: I draw, I write my articles, I read read read, I listen to podcasts, I watch beauty stuff, I look at nature and motivational videos. I feed my mind with good stuff. I have so much free time because I make use of it and this can be seen. This was a source of envy for many. I don't understand why, because you can choose to drop netflix and get a book instead. Who is stopping you? Me or you?
Being your own boss is not as glamorous as it seems. It is harder. I have paid a high price for this and my story.... My story is bigger than being just a hairdresser and maybe one day I will fully share it on Hive with all of my real struggles.
But what I want to say in this post is that we all have made this mistake of putting a label on a job. If he is a doctor, he must be a nice person. If she is beautiful, she must be shallow and stupid. If he works there, he must be like this. The parable of the story is that I am more than meets the eye. Every person that you meet is more than you can perceive and grasp. People need time to be known. You have to give people time and genuine attention. I know that I do not expose easily the story of my life. I like to be discovered and uncovered layer by layer, with patience, kindness and respect. Being a hairdresser is part of my journey now. God only knows where I will be in the upcoming year. What I want for every person to take from this article is that people have stories underneath the official story they tell others and to themselves. Be gentle, kind and truly connect with someone beyond their professional status and appearance. You might throw away a diamond of a person thinking it was just a random pebble and you will bite your tongue for screwing it up.
I am not your average hairdresser and nor is any other professional you will ever meet. I am Mary, an artist, a writer, a dreamer and I have a story. What's yours?
I cut my own hair once. It started well although I messed it up and as I tried to fix it my hair got shorter and shorter, and worse and worse. Eventually it looked so bad I just clippered it off to about a number two. Didn't look so good. Learned a lesson.
Lesson:
When you mess up cutting your own hair don't try and fix it. Just own it, and rock out that terrible hair cut!
I haven't been to a hairdresser in about 15 years. It shows.
Kitchen scissors.
That's what you're going to do when you cut your first men's hair cut. You'll probably get a bowl that's too small and the poor bastard will end up with a small circle of hair right on the top of his head! 😊
Lol. Men aren't that picky from what I've heard. It depends on their personality. Women are much more concerned about their hair than men. In times of distress a bowl will do the trick lol.
How do you feel about hairdressers as people?
I tend to put a cap on and let my hair remain hidden...Not at work if course, at those times I rely on plain old fashioned good luck when it comes to my hair. Lol.
I guess I don't often think much about them in the main. They tend to be creative though, most able to converse with many, or at least pretend to be interested in what's being said, and tend to also get told a lot of things. I think good ones not only know how to cut hair but are also empathetic and somewhat caring by nature.
Uh my, why? Can you do your own haircut? Or your wife does it for you? Do you miss going to the barber at all?
I can only imagine how much money you saved by cutting your own hair. I cut my own hair just because I don't trust anyone touching my curls lol
Is your wife a big fain of going to the salon? How about smallsteps, who gives her the haircut?
Maybe going to the salon means a different thing in different country. From my experience I have noticed that many people need the social interaction that goes with it more than the actual service
Hahaha. Funny. I guess that with guys it is easier. I don't cut men's hair, I only do ladies.
A bad haircut can be fixed immediately.... Shaving your head lol
Some of my best hair cuts are from when I cut my own hair...and it grew back and then someone other than me cut it properly. I take the credit though, for starting the process.
Oh really? You've got the skills then. Niice!