 Good morning guys, welcome back to another video. So if you have been following me for a while, you know that I've been doing hair for the last several years. I took almost a year off from doing it and I recently, a couple weeks ago, started doing hair again. And I've been sharing that whole journey in my vlogs but I wanted to just do a video and chat with you and share what things I am doing differently this time around because the reason why I ended up taking such a long break from doing hair in the first place was because I was just really burnt out from doing it. And this time around, I'm doing things a little bit differently. So I wanted to share what I'm doing to hopefully avoid the burnout this time around. And I thought rather than just having a boring video of me just sitting talking to the camera, I have some things that I need to do like some beauty refreshes I've been wanting to do. So I thought let me do all that stuff and chat with you while I'm doing everything. So I need to do a gloss on my hair because my color is starting to fade on the ends. You can see that. I also want to do a conditioning treatment because just feeling like a little dry. Before I start though, this video is sponsored by dossier. If you've never heard of them before, they make dupes or replicas of popular brand name designer fragrances. So it's the exact same fragrance, same high quality, but for a fraction of the price. My absolute favorite for months now, you guys know is the Ambrice Saffron, which is a dupe for the Baccarat Rouge 540, which is a very expensive perfume. I believe the name brand is over $200 for a bottle, but the dossier one is only $49. So a much, much better price point. And I'm telling you this, like I said, I've been wearing it for months now. This has been my go-to like everyday staple scent. I get compliments every time I wear this and it really lasts a very long time on me. Like it's a really potent fragrance. With the holidays approaching, I know that I am trying to like get ahead on all of my Christmas shopping and I will be gifting dossier to quite a few people because it just makes such a good gift. And dossier now has a rewards program. So if you select catch at the last step of checkout, you can start earning points, which you can use a store credit on future purchases. I also have a discount code you can use. It's SAM10 that will save you 10% off. Definitely recommend checking out dossier. I will have a link in the description. Thank you so much dossier for sponsoring this video. Now let's go get the hair color to do my gloss. So we're gonna do Redken Shades EQ. Originally when I did my hair, I did a level four. I don't have any level four gloss at the moment. So we're gonna do a level three instead, three N, which is gonna be a little bit darker, but it'll be fine. It's a gloss, it's demi-permanent, it fades and all that over time anyway. And I'm gonna mix it with the Redken Shades EQ processing solution. I'm gonna put that in a bottle for quick and easy application and definitely gonna need gloves so I don't stain the crap out of my hands. So this needs to get applied to clean damp hair. So I'm gonna hop in the shower and wash my hair really well. And then I'm gonna towel dry it and mix up the color and apply it. Be right back. Just hopped out of the shower. Just gonna squeeze the excess water out of my hair and brush through it. So I'm just gonna take the three N Shades EQ. So we're gonna do equal parts processing solution. And I'm going to literally just stick my head in the tub and apply the color in the tub. Since I'm doing it all over, I just feel like that's gonna be the easiest, least messy way to go about this. Mix up the color. This is going to process for 20 minutes now, like 15 to 20. Okay, so how I am avoiding burnout this time around doing hair. My number one tip is, first of all, find a salon that aligns with your values and what's important to you. A salon that allows you to have control of your schedule, that allows you to be flexible with your schedule. A salon that encourages and provides education. A salon that has a healthy work environment. You know, if you're in a salon where there's constant drama and you're feeling like unsupported by your coworkers and you just feel like it's a toxic environment, like who wants to work somewhere like that? Like you wanna be in a salon that encourages growth. When I first graduated beauty school, like I had worked at a salon where it was very clear that they didn't really care about me growing or becoming better as a stylist. Like it was just all about quantity over quality. They just wanted to make a quick buck. They just wanted me to do services that I was not interested in doing rather than me like take the time to grow and get better at color and the things that I like doing. And then once I left and I did start getting more education and I started getting better and growing and becoming like more successful in my field, I was getting so hated on. Like I literally got blocked. I think I'm gonna do a story time on my podcast about my experience there because it was just bad. But if you feel like the salon that you're at right now is just making you miserable and not allowing you to be the best you can be and do the kind of work that you wanna do, look for somewhere else. You know, like it might be time to move on. I shampooed the color out of my hair and now I'm gonna do my conditioning treatment. This is the Joico K-Pak Hydrator Intense Treatment. I love this stuff. Take a good amount of that. And that is a sit for a few minutes. So while that's doing its thing, my next tip is to be more selective about the services that you do and the clients that you take on. So in the past, I had online booking, which was really convenient because clients could just book their own appointments and it saved me time from having to do like all the back and forth. But the thing with that is then people can just book appointments with you and you have no idea who they are, what their hair looks like, what they actually want done. And then you might end up with clients that don't really align with you or hair that you just don't really feel like doing. So what I'm doing differently this time around is I created a Google form. You can make your own custom form and select like what kind of questions you want the form to have, what the questions are. If you can have people submit files, my form asks for the client's information and that way makes it so much easier. If I do book them, I already have all that information so that saves me some time. And then I ask for like a detailed hair history over the last year, everything they've done to their hair and then I ask for photos of their current hair and photos of their inspiration. And I ask like, in detail, what are you looking to get done? And that way I can look through those. It saves me time during the consultation because it's kind of like a pre-consultation. And that way if I feel like I'm just not the right fit for that client for whatever reason, whether it's like what they want to do with their hair or maybe their hair is super damaged and done a lot to it in the past, they seem like the type that is constantly changing it and doing stuff to it at home, then I can just choose to not schedule them with me. And I've really been enjoying that. That's been working out really well for me and I decided that I don't want to do standalone haircuts and single process colors or men's cuts. Like those are things that I just don't enjoy doing and they just, I don't know, it's just not what I want to do. It doesn't really feel like worth my time at the moment. And I think that's super important if there's a certain type of service that you want to specialize in, do that. It's going to be a little bit of a transition and it's going to be hard having to say goodbye to some of your other clients. But part of what contributed to my burnout was I had a lot of single process colors like gray, root, touch-ups. And I just didn't enjoy doing them and it didn't feel worth it to me because I was like, I can't even really get pictures of this. This isn't like anything like impressive or exciting to show off. Oh, my hair feels so much better. I also totally forgot that I wanted to trim my face frame. So I'm going to do that really quick too while my hair is wet. And I already have a tutorial on how I do this. So I'll put a link in the description if you want to check it out. My next tip is to establish a cancellation and late policy and make sure that you are communicating it with every client and that you are sticking by it and not letting people get away with things because I will say from personal experience, if you have a client that is like regularly late, to their appointments or they cancel last minute and you let them get away with it and you're like, oh, yeah, no big deal. That's totally fine. I understand. They're gonna keep doing it because they're gonna think it's no big deal and it's totally fine and they either don't realize how it's negatively affecting your schedule and your income or they just don't even care. So they're gonna just keep doing it and then eventually you're gonna get to the point where you become extremely frustrated and it's gonna be way more awkward and uncomfortable to have to address it later on down the line. Like if you've been letting them get away with the same behavior for so long and then to all of a sudden be like, hey, I'm gonna have to charge you a fee because I have a cancellation policy and they're gonna be like, this is the first time I've ever hearing of this. What do you mean a cancellation policy? It's never been an issue in the past. It's a little bit tougher but if you from the very beginning are like, hey, just so you know, I have a cancellation policy, this is what the policy is and you enforce it or even if you do wanna let someone get away with it, like if they have a legitimate reason and you're like, okay, they're a good client, I'll let it slide. But remind them like, okay, well, I'm gonna let it slide this time. I understand, but just remember like, I do have a policy and normally I would have to charge you for this or you know, whatever, but that's a huge one because I felt like I was getting no shows left and right at one point and it was extremely frustrating and it was just making me become like kind of bitter also, which isn't good, you know, like I don't wanna feel that way. I don't wanna resent any of my clients. I feel like if you just let people walk all over you, you're gonna get tired of that after a while and that will definitely lead to burnout. Okay, now I'm gonna do a face mask. I got these breakouts right here that have been so painful, like cystic breakouts and I've been doing this mask a few times a week and I think it's been helping. They're definitely going down. So this is the Origins Original Skin retexturizing mask with Rose Clay. This just has to sit on for 10 minutes, but my next tip is don't give out your personal number to clients. I never did this. Luckily, I don't know. I always, I think because like I've had my YouTube channel since before my cosmetology career started. So like I just always felt uncomfortable letting people know where I live or giving them my personal phone number. But when people have your phone number, they feel like they just have like quick direct access to you and I feel like they will just think that they can reach out to you whenever. And I know that a lot of stylists prefer clients having their number and texting them rather than calling the salon or if you have like a salon suite and maybe you don't have a salon phone, I get that. And when a client is DMing you on social media, sometimes you don't see it, it gets drowned in your inbox or it ends up in like a request box somewhere. But what I did was I made a Google voice number. So I have my own personal phone number that I can call clients from, I can text them, they can call and text me from that number, but it's not connected to my actual cell phone. It's just through the Google voice app. That way they can text and call me but they don't have like my actual personal phone number. I don't want my phone blowing up. It annoys me even when like my phone is blowing up because it's like my friend's group chat going back and forth. I don't want clients texting me all day, every day. Like I just don't need that, it would drive me insane. So don't give out your number, get a Google voice number instead if you would rather interact with texting and don't respond during your off time. Your time off is your time off to be with your family, to just relax, have time alone, get errands done, do what you need to do. And I mean, do whatever works best for you, but personally I don't want to be getting texts from clients at 11 p.m. I just don't. So I will only respond during business hours and I feel like that's a great way to establish boundaries. Here's the finished hair. Color doesn't really look that much different. There's not a huge difference honestly between a 3N and a 4N, but it just looks more refreshed and even. I don't know if the camera was really picking it up before, but it was starting to fade on the ends and I was starting to get a lot of red tones. I'm just gonna put on some sunscreen and eye cream. I'm working the front desk tonight at the salon, but just for a few hours. So I'm not gonna bother going crazy with a full face of makeup. But my next tip is raise your prices if you feel like you need to and do it periodically. The reality is that everything has gone up. The prices of everything are higher than they were a year ago, two years ago. So it only makes sense that the cost of hair services should go up as well because I mean, your rent is going up, your gas is going up. The cost of the products that you're using is going up. So you have to charge more. Like if you're doing a full highlight on someone and the cost of a tub of lightener and foils is several dollars more than it was a couple years ago, then why is the cost of that service not more than it was a couple years ago? If you're not raising your prices while everything else is going up, all that's gonna happen is you're gonna be overworking yourself and stressing financially and having to work more in order to make more just to get by and that's not fair and it doesn't make any sense. So implementing price increases will definitely help you not get burnt out as quickly and just charging your worth too. Like if you feel like your prices are lower than they should be in your investing time, in practicing, again, better at your skills and investing money in education, taking classes to get better, then you should charge more. Okay, my last tip. Schedule times for breaks and vacations. Block out 30 minutes each day on your schedule to eat lunch. Like I don't know what the hell is with hair stylist or people in the cosmetology field in general normalizing this idea of having no breaks and just working all day long and not eating and just living off of iced coffee. Like that is not healthy and it takes a toll on your body and your physical health and your mental health as well. Especially if you're working all day long you need a break to sit down and eat a actual meal. And if you automatically go in and you block out a half hour every single day then you can't schedule anyone during that time so you don't have to worry about like, oh, we'll only have time to eat in between people or while this person's processing, whatever. Like no, have time that's blocked out where you don't have any clients and you can just relax and not have to worry about going to check so and so's foils. You can just sit and eat, do that. It is like we need to start doing that. And also take time for vacations. This is a hard industry. We work really hard and it is so important for our physical health and our mental health to have breaks. Especially if you know that you're somebody that you will have clients book out like way in advance block that time out ahead of time and tell yourself even if you aren't actually going anywhere but like give yourself some time to be with your family and just like be alone, relax and not work. That's the beauty of this industry and that was a big thing about it that appealed to me was the flexibility of it. The fact that you can work super, super hard and be really busy for a few weeks and then allow yourself a week to just take off and relax if you need to. That is what I'm doing for Christmas this year. I'm taking two weeks off and I'm gonna go visit my family and just enjoy time with them and not worry about working, clients, anything like that and I'm not gonna be checking my phone. I am not gonna be responding to client messages during that time. They can wait till I get back but that is it for this video. It feels so good to have fresh hair. Let me show you what I'm wearing real quick. Here's the work outfit for the day. Just have a plain gray cami, mom jeans from Abba Cromby and this silky top from H&M and H&M sandals. But I hope that you guys enjoyed this video and found it helpful. If you also work in this industry and you have any additional tips that I didn't talk about, please feel free to leave those in the comments as well. I love when we can get kind of like a forum going in the comments and I'll just like share advice with each other and relate to each other. Don't forget to check the description for my link and discount code to dossier and I'll see you guys really soon in my next video. Bye.