 Well, that's tragic. Good thing I took all the footage off of this already. Hey, good morning. Welcome to Vlogmas number seven. It's Tuesday morning. I just got the last vlog. Well, I'm in the process actually of uploading the last vlog. I just need to finish filling out the description, but I thought I'd pull out the camera because it's just one of those days so far and I really hope this doesn't continue all day and that it's just this morning. I'm gonna go to the gym in a little while and I'm hoping that that will kind of help me release because I just woke up really, really irritable this morning. And as someone who, I have mesophonia, which is like an intense sensitivity to sounds to the point where it makes me, like it creates a physical response where like my blood pressure rises and I get really angry and it's an uncontrollable thing. If you have it, you totally understand. If you don't, I probably sound crazy. My senses in general are like very sensitive and some days it doesn't really affect me that much. I don't really think that much of it, but then there's some days like today where it's like debilitating. And like that probably sounds so dramatic, but oh my God, even like the sound of my bracelets right now, every time I move my arm, it like makes me cringe. Like you know how most people are like, oh my God, it's like nails on a chalkboard. It's like that, but like times 1000. Oh my God, so annoying. And it's like every little thing and my dog has just been like, I took him out this morning for his walk. He's all good now. He went to go lay down, but he was just out here like pacing around as I'm trying to work on the computer and like the sounds of him just like walking around. Then he was eating his food and I was like, oh my God. And what he loves to do too is he will go over to look outside, but then this thing, the blinds, oh my God. Oh my God, I could like throw up literally. This is, I probably sound so insane. Anyway, that's how my morning's going. I'm gonna put on some like meditative sounds or something. Usually that will help me. Just wanted to share that cause I don't think I've really shared it before. Maybe I've mentioned it a little bit here and there, but yeah, that's one of my quirks. Anyway, I'll check in with you a little bit later and let you know like what's going on for the rest of the day. It's a little while later. I did not end up going to the gym because I ended up passing out on the couch but I'm feeling a lot better. So I think that's what it was, but I made myself a little bit of espresso. I had decaf this morning and now I'm feeling like I could use some caffeine since I need to leave the house and I just like I need a little extra help. So yeah, I am getting ready. Just gonna do a little bit of my usual like light makeup because I am going to the salon. I'm doing my friend Haley's hair. We've been doing this like deep wine red color on her, but she's been kind of contemplating recently going back to just like a really dark like my hair color. So I don't know if she decided what she wants to do. So we're either gonna be refreshing the dark red or she's gonna go dark like me and then cleaning up her haircut. But before I do that, I have another client coming back in who I did this girl's hair on Saturday. I had added a few highlights on a bunch of low lights to her hair because she was previously going somewhere else and just getting like a full head of highlights and she wanted her hair to look more like a balayage. She wanted more roots. She wanted more depth, more dimension. So that way it would blend more and grow out nicer, be more low maintenance. She didn't wanna have like that harsh obvious line when highlights grow out. So I did a lot of blending, a lot of low lighting and when she left, she was really happy with it. I got tons of pictures and videos of it. I thought it looked great. She was happy, but one thing that I always do, especially if it's a newer client or if I'm doing something different, if we're changing up their look, doing something that we don't normally do, I always remind them at the end, even if they say that they're happy with it in the chair, I always let them know, hey, if when you go home, you just feel like something's kind of bothering you and there's anything that you wanna tweak or just anything that you have any questions or concerns about, don't ever hesitate to reach out to me and let me know. Like I want you to love your hair no matter what. So keep me in the loop because I've experienced this growing up long before I ever went to cosmetology school where I would go get a service down at a salon and either I wouldn't like it, but I would be too shy to speak up and say anything in the moment or I would think it looked okay in the salon because a lot of hairstylists will kind of do that thing where they just immediately throw a bunch of curls in your hair and then they don't really show it to you up close and the mirror is kind of far away and the lighting in the salon is like not necessarily the same as the lighting you have at home and so you're like, oh, I think I like it, okay, thanks, you leave and then after you go home and you're like messing with it, styling it yourself, looking at it in different lighting then you realize, oh, wait, this isn't really what I wanted or I see a spot that could be blended a little bit better or something, but if your hairstylist isn't making you feel comfortable to speak up and come to them, you might be afraid to say something and I don't ever want a client of mine to feel that way. I try to not take things personally ever and I totally understand that it can be hard sometimes to not take certain things personally because as hairstylists, we're working with our hands, we are essentially creating art and we're trying our best. Like I would hope that I'm not gonna do something that I feel looks like crap, right? So then to hear that someone's not happy with something, especially after I just spent a lot of time on it, it can be a bummer, but I try to not take it personally because it's like, yeah, that's my work, but it's their hair and they need to love it and there's a lot of room for error, whether it's miscommunication during the consultation or maybe everything was super clear and you were totally on the same page and you totally nailed to the inspiration picture but they didn't realize what that hair would look like on their head and maybe now it's just not what they were expecting or I don't know, I mean, there's a million different reasons why something could go wrong and a client would end up wanting a redo and it's not always necessarily because you did something wrong as the hairstylist. I feel like client customer service and communication has been like my number one priority and that's something that I've constantly been working at since day one is like, how can I communicate better? How can I make sure that I am making my clients happy? How can I make sure they're comfortable? How can I make sure their expectations are realistic, et cetera? But even still, things happen. I don't think there's a single hairstylist out there in the world who has never had a client question what they do or say that they weren't happy with something. You just have to kind of get a thick skin and realize like it's gonna happen. It doesn't mean that you suck at your job or that you necessarily did something wrong. It just is what it is. We're humans. We're not robotic. Like it's impossible to nail it every single time with every single client, especially if they're a newer client because it takes some time to understand their hair, how their hair takes the color and what they like and don't like. So anyway, with all of that said, that client had reached out to me later that evening. I'll read some of what she said and then I'll read you what I responded with word for word. But she just said like when she got home this afternoon, her husband pointed out that the back of her hair, she says wasn't quite as blended as she was hoping for. And she sent me a picture. To me, I don't think blended is the right term. To me anyway. And that's the thing like art and hair and all of that is subjective. To me, I don't see like a harsh line anywhere. That looks very diffused and blended to me. And she said she loves how the front looks. She just thinks the back needs a few more highlights. And I feel like no matter what, as a hairstylist, when you see you have a text from a client that was just in your chair earlier that day or like the day before, you always get that like feeling in the pity or stomach like, oh God, what happened? So whenever I get a message from a client like that, I don't respond right away. I take a second to read their message carefully, try to understand like what exactly the problem is, what they're trying to say. Cause obviously they're not hairdressers. So we're not always necessarily speaking the same exact language. Like when she says, I feel like it's not blended enough. In my hairdresser brain, if somebody says, oh, this isn't blended enough, I would think like, oh, there's a harsh obvious line. There's stripiness, there's splotches, something like that. But then reading her message a couple of times over, I'm like, okay, she's saying she wants more highlights on the back. So she just doesn't like that there's so much depth back there. I think I understand what she's asking for. And if I need any more clarification, I will ask questions, but I try to not do it in like a defensive, accusatory way. I don't ever want to come off as defensive. I always want to keep it super professional because if I start getting defensive, then it's gonna become more hostile. And then the client is gonna not feel comfortable or then they're gonna start getting more on the offense. And then it can kind of turn into this argument when it doesn't need to. Obviously there are times where you're gonna have clients that are just being like a little bit ridiculous. But in this particular situation, I was like, okay, this really isn't a big deal. It's a pretty easy fix. And me getting defensive and trying to argue with her is not gonna do anybody any good. And honestly for me, especially because she's a newer client, I know this is a moment that's gonna be a make it or break it. I can either keep her as a client or lose her for good. And I really like this client a lot. So if I tried to argue with her, then that's it. Like why is she gonna wanna keep coming back to me? But if I'm very open and receptive and solution based, that's gonna show, oh wow, okay. She really cares about making me happy. She cares about her work. She's honest. A lot of the times I feel like clients will stick with their service provider because of the person themselves and the way they make them feel, the way they treat them, the human connection they have over the actual like technical skills they have. And honestly, who knows? There's never a guarantee. Like I might not end up keeping this girl as a client in the long run. But I can sleep better at night knowing that at least I tried and I did everything that I could. So after reading her message and taking a second and feeling like, okay, understood. I get what she is saying. I told her, yes, I can definitely do that. And then we tried to figure out a time when she could come in. And then she said, yes, that's great. Thank you so, so much. And I said, no problem at all. I'm happy to fix anything you're not satisfied with. Sorry that you have to come back, but we'll get it perfect on Tuesday. See you then. And maybe I shouldn't have used the word fix because then that insinuates that like, I did something wrong and I don't necessarily think that I did. Like if I notice, and I've, I mean, I've done this in the past. Like there are even times where I notice a spot that I'm like, oh, that is not blended well. And I will go back through and I will fix it right there. I don't even let them see it first. I'm like, hold on, I'm seeing a spot that I just wanna fix really quick. I try to really be good about that. Or if I don't have time to do it right there and then I will ask them to come back because maybe they won't ever notice it. But if they do, that's gonna, it's not a good reflection on you. And I will show people their hair when it's straight before I style it. I will give them the hand mirror so they can look up close. I will spin them around. I will ask them if they wanna go look outside in the natural light with the mirror. Like I like to be fully, fully honest and transparent. So I don't really think that anything was done wrong and needs to be fixed. So maybe that wasn't the best word to use. Maybe I should have said tweak. Happy to tweak anything. But like I said, it's a constant learning experience. I just feel like this kind of stuff, they don't usually teach you this in beauty school. And I think a lot of hairstylists with furthering their education, it's all about technique, the technical skills, the application, color formulation, et cetera. But I think that your people skills can be even more important than all of that, honestly. So that is how I handle the situation. So anyway, yeah, she is coming in and I need to leave kind of soon. She is coming back in this evening. So I am going to just pop a couple more TZ lights just in that back section for her. And a fix like that, I don't charge anything again. If it was a situation of like, she came in asking for these low lights and then all of a sudden she decided, oh, actually I want to be copper instead. Or, oh, actually I changed my mind. I want it like a full head of platinum. That'd be a different story than I'd be like, okay, well that's a separate appointment then because that's not at all what we discussed the first time around. But if it's like, oh, I don't really love the tone of it. Let's do a different toner. Oh, this one spot, I'd like it a little bit brighter. I just want to add a couple more highlights just in one spot. Then that is like a tweak, a fix. I wouldn't charge anything extra for that. So she's coming in first. Then I'm going to do Haley's hair. Then I want to try this NYX brow glue that I got yesterday at Ulta. The spoolie is so tiny. I think I do like it actually because I feel like you can get a little bit more precise and then you can keep the brow gel just on the brows and it's not like getting all over the perimeter of them. So yeah, I don't know, it stuck them up. They look pretty good. I did get my brows laminated like a month ago. No, I don't even think it's been that long yet. Maybe three weeks ago or something. So that definitely helps them fluff up. And I have that new Tarte mascara, the tubing fiber mascara. But I think I am gonna save that for another day because I don't really feel like wearing mascara today. But I have to do some filming later this week. So we will test that out in a different vlog. Yesterday in the last vlog, I used it tonight. And first of all, I didn't realize I meant to get the one and a quarter inch size but I'm pretty sure the one I got, I forgot to check the box. Pretty sure it's just a one inch because when I was looking at it, I was like, wait, this looks really tiny. And I don't really love, sorry, I left it in my car because I'm gonna exchange it tomorrow. I don't really love it. I mean, it worked great. It got super hot and heated up really fast. But I don't like a one inch. I feel like I need one and a quarter or one and a half. Unless I'm working with like really short hair, it just, I don't like the size of the curl you get. It's just more of a tight curl. And the barrel itself, like the length of it feels shorter to me than the one that I used to have. So I feel like you can't wrap as much hair around it. And I don't love like the design of it too because when I'm curling someone else's hair with like a regular spring curling iron, I like to grab the top of it. And I like, I work like, I don't know. It's hard to explain. But I just felt like I wasn't able to do the curls as seamlessly and I wasn't able to like work as quickly. So I think I'm just going to bring it back to salon centric and exchange it for the same one that I used to have. Cause the only reason why I got a new curling iron was cause my old one died, but I really liked it a lot. So I don't know, I really wanted to like this one but I think I'm just gonna go back to my OG hot tools. And they're only the same price anyway. So I'm going to exchange that tomorrow but the client who came in for the like touch up that went really well. I literally just did like four foils in the back like in a V shape. And then just like one that draped over the top. So she seems really happy with it in the end. I blow dried the back. I let her look at it again, like up close. She was really appreciative. So, you know, and I was like, of course, like thank you for coming back in allowing me to, you know, make it right, make you happy because that's my goal. So that was all good. And then my friend Haley's hair came out really pretty but I was sad because I really, really, really loved her dark red color, but the dark looks good on her too. And her hair ultimately like is going to look pretty much exactly like mine cause I use the same color on her that I do on my own hair. It's just mine hasn't been refreshed in a few months. So mine's a little bit faded and it just looks a little bit lighter and warmer. And it always looks like super dark and intense when you first do it. It looks good on her cause I mean her natural color is a dark brown, but I just love the red. But I did a haircut, freshened up her layers. She had like a few inches on the ends that were just feeling really dry and kind of crispy. It was a good, easy night. And then I stopped at Trader Joe's and just got a few things. I am leaving in a few days to go to Pennsylvania like I keep mentioning. And it's like always awkward because I have no groceries right now. So I need to stock up so that I would have food for these next few days, but I don't want to have anything left over that's going to go bad. So I was trying to figure out what do I need? What am I going to eat? So I got a bag of broccoli. I also got another box of these protein pancakes. These are so good. They have a decent amount of protein in them. And I have pancakes in a hot minute and I was really craving some this morning. Also got some salmon. I'm about to make that for dinner tonight. I also got more maple syrup for the pancakes. I got Alfredo sauce. I've been obsessed with making chicken Alfredo with zucchini noodles instead of regular pasta. So good and so filling. And I have zucchini, right? Yeah, I still have some zucchini noodles in the freezer. And then I got these vegetable yozas. These are so good and a nice easy, like quick thing that I can eat for lunch and they go in the freezer. So if I don't finish them by this weekend, it's totally fine. Then I got fennel, which this is so random. I don't know. I mean, I must have had this before. I feel like I had to have in food that I've gotten out, but I've never made it myself at home. I don't even know what it tastes like. Oh, it kinda smells like celery. But I was just watching this thing this morning that was talking about how fennel is supposed to be really, really good for you. And supposedly it tastes really good if you just roast it in the oven with like olive oil, salt and pepper. So I was like, oh, I saw it there in the produce section. I was like, oh, let me get it and try it. So got that and then some chicken. That's my Trader Joe's haul. Actually, you know what? I was gonna make the salmon tonight, but now that I'm talking about it, I am really in the mood for the chicken alfredo. So I'm gonna make that instead. So let me clean up a little bit and put this stuff away and take Benny out for a walk and then we will make dinner together. Dinner was delicious and it's 10 o'clock now. So I am ready to just wash my face and get in bed. So let's do the questions of the day. At the end of each Vlogmas vlog, I am answering questions that, sorry if the dishwasher is loud. At the end of each Vlogmas vlog, I'm answering questions that you leave me in the comments of the previous vlog. So if you have a question that you would like me to feature an answer in the next vlog, leave it down in the comments. I had two questions about my dad. Someone asked, why don't you ever show your dad? And then another question says, you've told us your mom's Italian, but if you don't mind asking how about your dad? And then somebody else asked if I'm Hispanic. So yeah, my mom is fully 100% Italian and my dad is from Trinidad. And I don't know. I don't really feel like I show my family in general that often. It's not really for any particular reason. I just like usually when I'm with my family, it's like, I don't usually pull out the camera and vlog anything because it's like, it's just personal time. I don't know. Best part about being a content creator. I just love it because I've always been a really creative person. Like even when I was younger, I always was making recordings and really into photography and videography. And when I was in high school, I was really into media and like production. I was the yearbook editor. I worked for the school newspaper. I was part of like the student broadcast. I was just really involved in like all of those kinds of things. And then when I went to college, I got my bachelor's in media and communication. Before I ended up going to cosmetology school, I was working at an internet marketing firm doing like social media marketing. And before I got that job, I was considering either doing like broadcast journalism or graphic design or something like that. Like I'm just really into being creative, different forms of media. I love that I can do what I do for social media because when I was working for the internet marketing company, I was doing a lot of the things that I do now for myself, but I was doing it for other companies and it just wasn't as fun. Like I love that I can do the things that I love and be creative and it's all for me, like my own brand. I think that it's amazing that I can combine my love for production and content creation and all of that in media and also my love for hair and beauty. I love helping people and teaching people, sharing tips and tricks and all that kind of stuff. So it's like, it literally is the most perfect job for me because it brings together, it brings together all of my skills and all of my passions into one. I mean, it's obviously a dream job too because being able to just like work for yourself, work from home, have a super flexible schedule, work with brands that I love, like it's the coolest thing ever. Okay, one more. What's on your Christmas list this year? Honestly, I just asked my family to get me gift cards because I was like, I know I'm gonna be moving into a new apartment and I wanna get a lot of stuff from Amazon, like more stuff for organizing and some furniture and stuff like that. There was a purse from Zara that I emailed to my mom. So I don't know if she got that for me or not, but that's it really. That is gonna be it for this vlog. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'm so glad that you're enjoying Vlogmas. Thank you for watching all the videos and for commenting and engaging. I can't believe that Vlogmas is already halfway over now. But yeah, I will see you guys tomorrow with a new hair video and in two days with a new vlog. Bye. Say bye. Rainy night. Oh, okay.