The Connection
Making the connection between beauty and spirituality is powerful self-care. It can be nurturing, supportive and bring meaning into the day. There’s no extra time that needs to be schedule in, just a little added thought and intention.
Having a spiritual practice doesn’t mean one needs to transform into some different kind of person to be spiritual. Being spiritual is simply putting some intentional practices into place that help facilitate self-actualization through the connection to personal and divine truth. Beauty care is an optimal place to do this and here’s why.
A spiritual practice has regularity. So does a beauty routine. Everyone had daily grooming habits like brushing teeth, showering and putting lotion on. When the connection is made between these two things, one can experience the benefits of a regular spiritual practice like lower stress, reduced depression, longer life span, lower blood pressure and improved social connections.
A spiritual practice is intentional. A beauty routine can be too. The intentions are obvious for something like a shower (getting clean) or putting lotion on (moisturizing). They address physical results. But what if there was an added intention that spoke to the heart and soul? EX: intention for today’s shower is to get clean and clear away unresolved anger. Or putting on lotion is for moisturizing and connecting deeply with the self and gratitude for the physical body.
A spiritual practice connects us with the divine. So can a beauty routine. Whether the divine, or God, or whatever one calls it, quietly reflecting is a solid way to be in communication. A beauty care routine can be a place to quiet down, still the mind and open up that channel of connection.
Discovering Spirituality
I remember being in my early 20’s and hearing the word spiritual in a context that was unrelated to religion. It resonated so deeply in my bones, from that point on, I staked my claim as being a spiritual person. I didn’t fully know what that meant, and I had no doctrine to follow, but listening to new age music and hanging esoteric paintings on my apartment walls was good enough at the time.
At that time I started to explore yoga, meditation and dove deep into my own personal emotional healing which involved leaning on “a God of my understanding”. These things gave me a peace and steadiness I had been longing for in my life. It wasn’t long before all of my life began to align with my spiritual principles. I shed relationships and gained new ones, I moved, and my health even improved.
Getting into Alignment
The one place I had trouble getting into alignment was at work.
I could easily practice spirituality in my personal life, but how could hairdressing be spiritual?
I was embedded in a toxic culture of shaming and gaslighting and I was starting to recognize it the more I was spiritually waking up. And when I looked around at the hair and beauty industry to see if there were other options for a spiritual person like me, it all looked bleak. I realized I had to create what I was looking for. So that’s what I did.
Re-imagining a hair service, soon became re-imagining a different kind of beauty industry. One that helped people along path of self-actualization and transformation, vs the current model of exclusivity, oppression, and fear. Blending spirituality with beauty has brought me, my clients, and many other beauty professionals purpose, peace, and an understanding that beauty is so much more than what we look like. It’s an easy combo that seems so obvious after beginning to practice it. I truly can’t imagine it any other way now.