Transforming the (Wo)Man in the Mirror
What exactly does one even mean when they use the word transformation? It’s a word that is sort of a buzz word, in my experience—especially here in Encinitas, it seems. The term has influenced me over my career as an AVEDA artist for obvious reasons such as a huge change in someone’s appearance. The beauty world allows us to transform the way a person looks and feels, even if only temporarily.
Growing up with a mother who taught high school level art classes, I grew a love for the creative process pretty early on. One of the mediums that spoke to me was acrylic painting. I loved how I could scrape even two to 3 colors around on a palette and create a whole new set of hues within minutes. A blank canvas became a story after a few hours and it never ends because you can layer over and over again. That’s transformation right there. So I found a career where people actually pay me to transform the (wo)man in the mirror. It’s an unbelievable honor, believe me. If you’re also a hair or makeup artist, you feel me, right!?
I’ve always loved that about makeup. A clean face is a playground to me. It’s a little different with haircutting and coloring, in terms of permanence, anyway. It lasts longer than painting a face, which brings meaning and impact to the process for me.
For me, there’s a lot of beauty and joy found in the artful process of creating a color and cut design for the people that request to collaborate with me. Hear that? Collaborate. That’s a really important part to me and I take it seriously…the relationship part.
You’d be amazed how much my role as a cosmetologist has taught me about relationships. I’ve learned just how critical communication, trust and commitment really are in life and in business. With that said, isn’t business really just an illumination of who we are being in life, anyway? How we present ourselves and who we show up as in situations really matters, does it not? More on this idea to come!
Back to the process of creating a look for and with you; what I wanted to elaborate on is the idea that in some way, most people come to me to feel and look different and that it often seems to me to be more than just about the hair. It always has been. Often in the initial sessions of meeting a new guest, I find out you’re coming to me because you don’t already have someone you trust to do your hair or you just wanted a change. At that point, I have a new set of eyes and my experience in the beauty and wellness biz gives you a fresh outlook to start our journey with. In the newness of the relationship, we get to know what you like and want to enhance or change about your look and how we can make the appearance goals come true!
Later into the journey, some sessions are focused on working through something that’s going on in life and maintaining what image we’ve already found suits you well at this phase in life. It seems to happen naturally in my relationships with my clients because of the nature of hair sometimes taking a few hours to complete a look. Not to mention, it’s a “captive audience” sort of situation. I like to create a space where people can unwind, unplug and have the self care time that seems stripped from our daily lives so regularly now with never-ending notifications and to-do lists that sometimes auto-fill. Know what I’m saying?
Point at the beginning of this article being, the word transformation. True transformation, to me, is on both the inside and out. It’s not just about the hair. The forming of a trusted relationship, albeit professional, is transformational in itself. We carry this success with us into our lives when we learn to trust and communicate and be committed. In this sense, I mean commitment in a few ways, but mainly commitment to self. When you take the time to get a hair, mentorship or any other wellness service, you are in committed action and taking care of yourself. Maybe you’re someone who doesn’t get your hair done all the time, but when you do, you realize how good you feel. Maybe you’re someone who comes to the salon every 3 to 4 weeks (many people do) and sometimes it feels just routine and mundane. Let us try to never take that self care time for granted. I know I try not to! That’s why you’ll find me offering to try a different style on you, some new products that came out, perhaps a new skincare product or cosmetic. It’s important for us to take the time to enjoy these opportunities to transform not only the bigger picture, but from moment to moment.
Think about the word transformation and what it means to you today. Is there anything you want to transform about your current look? What about your results in your life? Is there a relationship you want to improve? An area of life that you know isn’t where you want it to be? Only you truly know. Ask the (wo)man you see in the mirror and I’m happy to listen and be of service however I can when I see you soon at our next hair and/or hart session.
