Take care of your body

We all want to look good while doing our job, us chicks love our heels and will stand in them all day at work! We don't pay attention to our stance or what the position of our arms are at and all this will catch up as the years pass.

So how do we keep our bodies healthy? Workout, stretch and keep your weight at a healthy range, heavy weight wears on joints and puts pressure on your knees and ankles. Get plenty of sleep so your body repairs it's self and yes eat healthy! Sometimes we are so busy at work we grab snacks and most of the time they are not the good kind so be aware what you put in your body.

I now really have to work with not living with pain every day because when I was younger I didn't take care of myself and now I have to do double time to do so. Yoga is a wonderful tool to use and had helped me a ton and just getting back into the gym keeping the muscles working and strong also have made a huge difference. This job is really hard on us over time so if you start paying attention now it will make all the difference down the road.

Varicose veins and Spider veins also become a problem because of standing for long periods of time. Compression socks or tights can be a huge relief though not very fashionable but will look a lot better than a vein road map on your legs and not to mention some can be very painful. Here is a link that tell you a bit about Varicose veins and what to do if you have them.

http://www.webmd.com/healthy-beauty/tc/varicose-veins-topic-overview

Being a stylist is a hard job no matter what others say, we are on our feet for hours and have to be mentally on at all times to be present for our clients, it can be draining so take a few mins. when you are crazy busy and just take a deep breath and center it will make a huge difference on how your days go. We only have one body and mind so take care of it!

Tip of the day- To Bang or Not to Bang

Ladies don't cut your own bangs unless you are a master at it. Most stylist will give free bang trims to their clients or at least they should! And if you're thinking "I don't have the time to go see my stylist" well do you have the time for your bangs to grow out because you have jacked them up?

What's the worse???

So what is the worse that has happened to you in a hair salon? Me personally it was when I was in beauty school in the 80's I decided to go from Jet Black to White Blonde and my little band of beauty school friends are gonna help me!! Now when we told the head instructor what we had planed she was like ABSOLUTELY NOT! But one of the other instructors was like I'll help ya do it and so we did it and boy it went wrong in so many ways! First we put off the scalp lightener on my scalp and stuck me under a dryer forever!!!! My head was swelling, boiling and I thought I was going to pass out! When I couldn't deal with the pain anymore we washed my hair a Wa-La!!! My roots were white, but the rest was a lovely shade of peach! And we don't even want to talk about how my hair felt! Slimy wet cotton comes to mind so not cute! Thank God I had short hair if it would have been long I would have lost most of it! So after school we go to the Mall and I look like a damn hot mess, my scalp has blisters all over it and I know when I walk into school the next day I am in deep crap! The next day I walk up to the head mistress I have a hat on and slowly pull it off and when I do she about chokes on her cigarette! (Remember it's the 80's they could smoke in the school) So I ask if she would help me and she said she would but only if I dye it a "Normal" color :/ I wanted to go back to black I mean that is a normal color right? But Hell no it was gonna be crap brown and I was going to take it or look like a damn peach! So we dyed it the crap brown which set my head on fire with all those tiny blisters!!! Oh the Joy!!!! So my hair was turned brown but still felt like gooey cotton but my family was happy because holiday photos where being taken and it was the first time in years I actually had a normal hair color. So pictures were taken and that night I went to the drug store bought a box of blue/black hair color and was right back where I started! Needless to say my teacher told me she would shave my head next time I do something she tells me not to do and my family realized me looking "normal" in the hair world would be far and in between. Now what did I learn? Listen to my teachers? Well sometimes...........I learned what NOT to do when someone wants to go from black to blonde and tell people the truth about what may happen no matter if it means the answer is a No I wont do it because you are gonna look like a peach!!!

It always sucks when you have a bad experience in a salon, it could be a bad cut, color or chemical service and my advice is remember why it was bad and the next time you go to a salon you explain to your stylist what happened so it wont happen again, and if you don't feel that stylist doesn't "Get it" then get the Hell outta there!

Great link for Golden Globe Hair Styles

http://www.ourhairstyles.com/best-hairstyles-of-golden-globes-2012

Some of my fav's from the Golden Globes

Charlize Theron's flapper style and Nicole Richie's false half up sweep to Angelina Jolie's beautifully wound chignon.

Amazing Color Job on Salma Hayek

Zoey Deschanel with a 60's retro look

Tilda Swinton Rocking a more modern look

Tip of the Day

If you don't know what you want in a hairstyle or color DON'T just go into the salon and say I dunno to your stylist especially if it is a new stylist!!!! If you want to be happy with the results then give the stylist something to work with and then you both can work together. Take pictures with you, have ideas and this goes for women and men! And with color what you may think is a Chocolate brown I could think it's a caramel brown so looking at swatches or bring in a pic can really make sure you are both on the same page. I have heard some stylist say "I never let the client see the swatch book!" WTF is that? Why? you scared they are going to formulate better than you???? Be proactive it's your head!

Hummbled Part 2

So I move cross country leaving all my clients who I worked so hard to build up to be back in CA where the weather is fantastic! WTF did I do???!!! Leaving a almost full book, company health insurance and a pretty decent paycheck is Damn scary! And I thought I had everything all hooked up job wise and that was being pushed back and I needed to get a damn job because my bank account is getting lower and lower! So Craig List here I come! I find a few postings and send my resume and NOTHING is getting back to me UGH!!!! But after a few days I get a few responses and set up interviews. I really wanted to stay in the realm of men grooming so a place called The Chop Shop-Todays Barbers peeked my interest so when they called I was on it. Went for my interview it was very casual, didn't even want me to do models or check references................ahhhhhhh ok good for them I know WTF I'm doing!!! So as you can see it's a bit more laid back than what I came from and that was cool it was actually a nice change...........at least for a short time. The place had no structure, the stylist came and went as they pleased and they were commission not renters! Supplies were not stocked so the first time I did color was very interesting thank God I know how to make it work! The shop did ok but could have done better the owner at the time had another salon that was connected to ours and that basically was his main concern so The Chop Shop was left to it's own devices and that wasn't good! One of the stylist was a know it all girl who had been fired from her last 3 salon jobs............yea she told everyone all about it and didn't see that maybe she had a problem. Nope she just acted like a damn nightmare and 2 weeks into me being there she decided to tell everyone I was stealing clients!!! WHAT???!!!! Hahahahaha I found that insulting and just plain stupid! So we had a talk if you could call it that and it amazed me that because I sat at the desk answered the phone and booked the stylist with clients "I" was stealing clients? I was not busy I got walk in's when everyone else was busy I always asked who they saw blah, blah, blah.........UGH BUT because I know wtf I'm doing, worked a full day and I was the only one who worked on Sunday I was building a clientele fast so in her head I must be stealing clients! So now my co-workers are being all weird and I ask what is going on and once I'm told I flip!! First thing I do is go to one of the girls and explain why I did her color client she was booked with me by someone else and I had no idea she was her client until halfway through the service and then I asked her why she didn't ask for her stylist???? The woman was like ohhhhhhh I don't know???? UGH!!!!! So I got that smoothed down and the other stylist was like "Oh Ok" then I had a talk with another stylist who had also said I was stealing clients and basically asked him if "I was stealing your clients why did I call you this morning when one of your clients came in and wanted a cut and as I was getting ready to come around the desk to do it I asked if he had been here before and who was his stylist and he said YOU why didn't I just do the cut?" These people were so damn whacked and couldn't recognize someone being professional it was CRAZY!!! They never asked who the clients stylist was, they answered the phone sounding like they hated that they were bothered so when someone came in and was being professional and polite to the clients they thought I was trying to steal them!!! It was Fucking CRAZY!!!! And that one stylist that just knew it all was about to make my life a living fucking Hell!

To be continued!

Hummbled Part 1

April 29th 2011 I started my drive by myself from NYC to LA it took me 3 1/2 days with 2 small dogs and 2 cats in a truck with everything I own and towing my car behind. It SUCKED!!! The weather was scary at times, tornadoes were crazy that year and the things I saw were hart breaking and all I could hope for was the people survived the devastation. The trip was costing me a lot more in gas than I thought and I was now living off savings and the move was about to take a BIG chunk of it. OH and did I mention I was basically moving back to LA without a job??? I did interview a few months prior at a few places so I felt pretty sure I would be ok...............I'll speak more on that down the line. Stressed every time I had to get gas, stressed from the boredom of just driving though miles of NOTHING and just wanting to get there!!! I get there I am beat and it's HOT as Hell!!! I pass out for a few hours get up bug the crap outta a friend to get his butt over to my place so we can unload in 100 degree weather!!! Yep it sucked!!! But I got it all done with little damage to myself and my stuff :) So now I want to take the month of May off and just chill, I mean for the past 4 1/2 years I busted my ass building a great book with amazing clients.................yea trust when I type this I kind of wanna cry!! So my plan is chill May and one of the jobs that I interviewed with that sounded like the PERFECT job would be hiring in June.............HAHAHAHAHAHAHA well once my bank account started purging from getting my car switched and all the moving expenses I was like Oh no I need to work..........so I get in-touch with the "Perfect" job and they have pushed back till Aug...........SHIT!!!!  This is when I reflect on my job in NYC and all the clients I had that were crazy loyal to me, and the health insurance I gave up that the salon paid half, and the 3 week paid vacation I also had...........Yep! Oh and lets just say I made really Good money to put the cherry on top!!! So WHY did I leave that??????? Well truth be told my job wasn't perfect and living in NY can be depressing and hard as Hell with all the crazy weather and it is not cheap to live there so a big chunk of that great money I made was all spent on living and you tend to live to work not work to live so my life was my job and that gets a bit old. I think the biggest thing was realizing that my job was my life and that wouldn't have been a bad thing if I thought I had more of a future in the company and at first it looked like I would but a few years into it I realized it wasn't for me, I felt I was told what they felt like they needed to tell me to keep me happy but bottom line the way they ran the salon wasn't how I would like to represent myself if I did become a bigger part. So I had some thinking to do about where did I want to be in 10 years...........And the thought of growing old in NY was not cute! And as much as people don't want to admit it the beauty industry is a ageists business unless you can bring a huge book with you and make that salon a ton of money they aren't too interested and when you move cross country guess what your clients don't commute that far!!!! So it was like "ok I still look good for my age and I build up clients pretty fast so I need to get a move on" So that's what I did I moved.

More to come on where my life has taken me in my career.......

I Don't know do what you want...........NOT

People when you come to your stylist for the first time have something in mind what you want, bring pictures if ya have too it will make your experience so much better and your stylist wont have to play the guessing game and you won't leave thinking it's just not what I had in mind................Yep so always remember your stylist isn't a mind reader and the more help you can give them the better the outcome.

And stylist have look books, magazines and even pages bookmarked on your computer/Ipad to show your client that way you both can collaborate together. You give them what they want the first time around you will have a second visit also from them, but also be sure once you snag that client don't get lazy and assume you know what they want, always revisit the consultation during each service to make sure you're always on the same page.