“People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel”
Slightly taking a left turn on this weeks blog, moving away from the motivational spiels & going into a topic that’s of equally high importance for us all to remember before going back to work in a few weeks. Well, hopefully going back to work…
In my biased opinion – we have one of the best jobs in the world. Apart from the fact that we get to hone a craft, express our creativity & be our true selves – we, more importantly, get to spend valuable time with people from all walks of life & build genuine relationships through our work.
If you delve into self-development podcasts or videos or if you do a lot of self-development reading you’ll find there’s one common point when it comes to our truest form of happiness. That is the building & sustaining of genuine relationships with people. No amount of money, clothes or anything materialistic is going to determine your long term happiness. Sure we are all happy when we get that new pair of shoes or that pocket full of cash – but that’s momentary happiness, them shoes will get trashed & that money will disappear.
I believe that we as hairstylists are very fortunate, not lucky, fortunate to be in a position like we are. Apart from the fact that we will be one of the only professions that robots cannot take over any time soon, but we will never become socially inept.
We get to spend quality time with people in a neutral space, where trust is built & we see people in one of their most vulnerable states. Think about it, how many people do we allow to touch our head & be in our personal space like that? Little to no one. That requires a hell of a lot of trust or comfortability in which it is down to us to build.
People come to us to feel good about themselves. Nobody comes for a haircut to feel worse, so I feel it’s our responsibility to be aware of our energy & approach as it can be detrimental to how it can affect not only our day but everyone who sits in our chairs day too.
Now I know it can be hard sometimes, we all have shit going on from time to time & it can be difficult to be fully present or in a good mood every single day, however, we have to give it our best.
My tip would be to put making people feel comfortable as your main goal before any “sick fade” & I promise you you’ll have the best job in the world. As Mark Hayes from Sassoon once said – “The best haircuts are true collaborations between stylist & client..” I believe that this goes much deeper than the product of a haircut but rather the overall experience.
Ever hear the saying “Do what you love & you’ll never work a day in your life”? In my opinion, the literal meaning of this is nonsense & slightly misleading – no matter what we do it’s gonna be hard work, nothing worth having comes easy – especially if you want to reach your maximum potential in your field. However, in a different context, I can see the point that is trying to be made. Either way, we’re going to spend the majority of our lives at work “stacking cheddar” as Conor McGregor would say, but we may as well be stacking that cheddar doing something that we love & enjoy rather than something we feel less passionate about.
I’m not going to lie, as much as I love our wonderful industry, we all have our hard days behind the chair. The days we just can’t be arsed or we’re overly tired & rundown. Damn, I’ve even been in work hungover a few times too many & hair repulses me! However, even on our worst days – we still have the opportunity to make someone else’s day. To change how they feel & in turn that will positively impact us.
I love the majority of my days at work & I miss it a lot right now. Throughout this time I feel like it’s been important to realise how impactful having that human connection can be & I am very grateful for it. Think about the people that for the foreseeable future will be working from home. They will rely on us to help get them through socially. I will certainly never take these connections for granted again after this mad time.
Lastly, remember that it’s about so much more than the haircut itself. People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel. Take this mentality into work with you on September 13th!
