This is a hairstylist's busiest time of year, as everyone wants to look their best for the holidays. I absolutely love making people feel beautiful. This is one of the reasons I became a hairstylist. If you are one of my clients, you know it is also really important to me that you feel like yourself. We always chat about lifestyle and hair routine before a service. That way I know I am giving you a style that will work for you after you leave the salon.
I want you to feel comfortable in your own skin, in your own hair. I think the holidays can be a double edged sword in this regard. We take the time to get our hair done and look our "best". On the one hand, that feels really good! But it can also feel like pressure...pressure to look a certain way, to impress certain people. (Your grandmother who always comments on your weight. That one cousin who always looks so pulled together.) It's exhausting!
When I provide a hairstyle that works with the hair you've got, improving on what's there naturally, rather than fighting it, my hope is that I'm also planting some seeds of self acceptance and love. We human beings were never meant to fit a mold. The beauty of this life is its variety and nuance. We are unique--that in and of itself makes us beautiful. This goes so much deeper than hair.
Some of you may know I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. My favorite thing in art school was figure drawing. If there was a career to be had drawing naked people all day, I'd have followed that dream. Alas, that's the path to starving artist! But in all the classes and art groups I've been a part of, one thing is consistently true: All bodies are beautiful. When you look at a bare human form, and create a drawing or painting, you develop a new appreciation for how amazing human beings really are. When you study art history and see all the different ideals throughout the ages, you see that "perfect" is a social construct, but beauty is eternal. All shapes and sizes have been in fashion at some point, and they are all still beautiful. That means you, too, are beautiful, exactly as you are, right now. Yes, it is true.
So yes, let's get dressed up and feel fabulous for the holidays! But let's also love ourselves bare-faced, bed-headed, in PJs on Christmas morning.
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