How Do You See Yourself?
As I work with my clients in my chair and on my online course Cultivate Your Curls w/ The MAP Method I realize the journey many of us are on and find it fascinating what we can pursue what is reality based or fantasy based....or even more. We are putting our energy into 'something' and the goal of this article is to see what we are doing is contributing to something that is of value.
Lets take a peek at what resides in our being - this is based on a writing example I learned years ago:
There are four levels of an individual self:
The Public Self: This is the level that you communicate to the world.
The Private Self: This is the emotional and internal world of an individual.
The Fantasy Self: This level is where daydreams, night dreams and fantasies reside.
The Ideal Self: This fourth and final level of self wants perfection.
(Breathing Life Into Your Characters by Rachel Ballon pg. 220 Hardbound ed.)
Take out your Curl Journey Journal...
Curly Hair Artistry - What Makes Us Unique?
One thing I have noticed in our industry that is different and determines the success of your business is not being considered much and that is the power and voice of your client.
For people with wavy/curly hair - the 'consumer' - the 'client' - is over-riding our industry with knowing how to work with their hair. Yup - read that one again.
There are so many communities, website forums, Facebook groups/pages, Instagram influencers and local meet ups that have been created and perfected based on one thing: LACK OF SERVICE & HELP FOR WHAT THEY DESIRE.
Lack of service to help and serve them has driven the desire for help and shifted this from hairstylist/salon to EACH OTHER.
Let me explain a bit - I noticed that I was learning EVERYDAY a lot of great tips from my clients that sat in my chair. I noticed that other stylists - that did this as well - had a deep passion for serving and assisting others that was different than brand based knowledge or from the...
Salon challenge - learn to embrace curly hair in your services.
Your salon gets a call asking, "Do you work with curly hair?" and you say, "Sure - we all work with curly hair." and she books an appointment in 23 seconds.
The client shows up and there seems to have an 'energy' to starting out that 'just doesnt seem right' and the salon/stylist works with the hair from a 'fix' it training - using a comb, cutting hair technically correct and using tools to smooth out the frizz and leave with hair 'fixed' and retail is recommended to keep the hair straight and smooth to not be frizzy or in a triangle.
This is what happened to my client Kim - who is featured in the pdf of this online course I have about working with curly hair - to help our clients embrace their hair and to not fix it.
This is her hair from years of hair stylist helping her and recommending products to her hair: 
Using a flat iron to reduce frizz MELTS products into her hair producing a coating of repelling water and preventing hydration of conditioners to melt...