As someone who has worked in the beauty industry for a while, I’ve come to realize something. It’s a pretty hard shtick to deal with sometimes. I understand that in a workplace that’s usually pretty female dominant, you can get some cattiness. Why? Is it human nature? Do we want to protect what’s ours in every aspect of our lives? Is it too hard for us to compliment someone else’s work in fear that it will diminish our own shine? I don’t know. What I do know is that I have a LOT of friends and family that are hairstylists, nail techs and/or makeup artists. Basically everyone I know is in the industry and they all take a lot of pride in their work. They work hard. They make time for their clients. Their clients become like family. It’s actually nice to have something in common with so many women. Sadly though, there are a few that slip in the cracks that can’t help but talk about others work in a negative way and I don’t really understand it. Now, before all my friends text me, I’m not talking about a certain instance. I just hear it or witness it. Most of the time I don’t even know the people involved. You can go into any salon and watch it happen and it makes me sad. Why are we still doing this to each other?

The thing about being in the beauty industry is that word of mouth shouldn’t count. You can actually see someone’s finished product with your own two eyes. This is the part I don’t understand. Go on a hairdressers page or profile and look at their work for yourself. Don’t look at their own hair or makeup because once you’ve been in the industry for a while you’re super flexible to trying new things. Now, you wouldn’t necessarily try those things on your clients. Take a browse through their portfolio and see for yourself if their results mix well with your own vibe. Don’t listen to your sisters cousins best friend about how they went to that person five years ago and hated the end result. You could be missing out on some of the best hair, makeup or nails of your life because you listen to someone else that could have an unexplained grudge against that person. That’s not fair to either of you.

Don’t get me wrong, if I go to get my hair done and I end up with something I don’t want, yes, I have an anxiety attack. However, how they go about fixing it is what I really care about. If measures are taken to get me where I want to be, then we can definitely get over the bad process hump. I don’t know if it’s because I also work in the industry, but the way that I look at it is everyone can’t be perfect all of the time. Mistakes can be made. I’ve been to restaraunts where they’ve burned my toast (a pretty simple order) and haven’t felt the need to trash them into the dirt. I’ve accepted the waitresses apology and waited for my new damn toast. So my question is, if a restaurant can get an order wrong and you still go back, then why is it that in the beauty industry when a mistake is made its ok to try to affect their career? Better yet, why if you’re a hairdresser yourself can you just walk around calling down everyone else’s work for no reason? You’ve never been to them, you’ve never seen their work, you just dislike them. It’s super not fair and it happens way too often.

Like I said earlier, this is just an observation that I’ve made. There are tons of people that work in the beauty industry that embrace you and your work whole heartedly. I watch hairdressers or makeup artists become best friends because they have such a good connection. If you get to have that in your workplace, then be very thankful. Although, I bet you’ve worked somewhere where that wasn’t the experience. It’s ok to be different. It’s ok to have a different process. It’s ok to have a different style. It’s ok if every client you have doesn’t walk out of your door jumping up and down because they love what you’ve done so much. It’s not ok, however, to try to damage someone’s clientele or business name just because maybe, just MAYBE someone might prefer how they do something.

In my own personal life, I don’t hear cattiness a lot between hairdressers or makeup artists. My friends aren’t jerks though lol. They have no problem sending a client to another hairdresser in town because they can’t fit them in. On numerous occasions I have passed clients on to other people to have their makeup done because I didn’t have the time to do it myself. The way I feel is its in my clients hands after that. If they prefer how someone else has done their makeup then what can I say? It’s not up to me and I never want someone to not feel one hundred percent comfortable with what I’ve done. So if they can find someone who’s work gels better with what they’re looking for, then great! I thought the whole point of doing these things as jobs was to help people feel better about themselves. Getting your hair, nails or makeup done is exciting. It’s supposed to be fun and make you feel great when you’re done. You don’t want to feel like you’ve been unloaded upon because your hairdresser has spent the whole time calling someone else down. That’s what therapy is for, not your clientele.

At the end of the day I look at it like we are all in this together. Just because one person goes to someone else sure as hell doesn’t mean that they are taking food out of my child’s mouth. However, if I were to trash the makeup artist that they went to just because I was mad my client went there, then I am going out of my way to make things harder for them. If twenty people believed what I had to say (even though I had no grounds in saying it), then that is twenty people that they could have been banking on. This is a career. This is how people pay their bills and pay for their children. Don’t be that person just because your ego took a hit. Smile, do a great job on your next client and let your work speak for itself. That’s the thing about the beauty industry. Your work will always do the talking, no matter who else is.

Let’s be kind to each other ladies. We are pitted against each other for so many other reasons that we shouldn’t be doing it just because we are in the same field of work. If anything, we can be learning techniques from one another or telling client horror stories over a bottle of wine. We don’t need to be making life harder than it has to be. Hair, nails, makeup, these are all things to make women feel better about themselves. Making another person feel good will make you feel so much better than calling someone down just because you feel like it. I know that I’ve always appreciated it when I get love from other stylists or makeup artists. Relieved even. So let’s try to be better to one another. If you’re a women that already is living her life like that, then good for you. You’re one of the special ones. Please don’t ever change and keep shining your light on those around you. You have no idea how many women love you and respect you for it. We are part of a special sisterhood. Let’s start to act like it.

xo Stephanie