3 mins
KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
We joined L’Oréal Professionnel Paris for a Mindfulness Evening in association with their Head Up programme
For World Mental Health Day (10 October), L’Oréal Professionnel Paris hosted a mindfulness evening for their Head Up community at their brand new L’Oréal Academy in West London.
The evening was hosted by founder of The Resilient Hairdresser, Hayley Jepson who commented: “It’s so important to have events like this in the hair industry. We have to keep talking about mental health, and we’ve got to agree that things are a problem and a struggle in order to solve them.”
Hayley opened the evening by sharing her journey from being a burnt-out hairdresser to making a career change and retraining as a psychotherapist. She began by discussing common stressors such as long hours and dealing with client problems. It is with this in mind that Head Up was launched, after L’Oréal Professionnel Paris conducted a survey of hairdressers which revealed that 65% of hairdressers globally cite mental health as their primary issue. “I think that’s fascinating. Not money, not more business skills - mental health. When I saw those stats I was sad but I wasn’t shocked because I was working with hairdressers and their mental health every day. L’Oréal decided to do something about this mental health crisis and invited me to help and that’s how Head Up began,” shared Hayley adding: “The programme offers free mental health education by providing tools for better mental wellbeing.”
Adam Reed, ARKIVE by Adam Reed, and Harriet Stokes, Global L’Oréal Professionel Artist, joined Hayley on stage to share their experience and advice. Adam shared his struggles with social anxiety, ADHD and manic depression. He emphasised the importance of your community and having open dialogues not only for yourself but to also change things for those entering the industry: “I’m used to being in communication with people – if one person takes on what you talk about and feels like they can carry on for another day then you are doing a really good job.” Adam also highlighted the need for society to view mental health issues as seriously as physical health. When asked about protecting her own mental wellbeing,
Harriet spoke about the impact of work environments and how important it is to have a supportive manager that understands the needs of today’s workforce. She also opened up about her personal experience of being diagnosed with ADHD and how overstimulation in a busy salon can affect her mental health: “I struggle with so much happening each side of me. I want to listen to every conversation and be everywhere, so I put myself in a corner, but when it comes to being fully booked and busy and having no lunch breaks, when you do eventually get five minutes, where are you going? Where are you sitting? Every salon that I've worked in has never had a staff room with somewhere to sit down."
The evening concluded with a mindful sound bath, after Harriet and Adam shared what they find brilliant about hairdressing. As well as the community of hairdressers, Harriet spoke about the safe space that clients can provide: “I hold a safe space for them, and they hold a safe space for me. I get to be with my people, and they make me smile.”
SELF-CARE STARTER PACK
These tips from Hayley Jepson are designed to help you focus on three key areas: body, safety & security and relationships.
1 BODY: Looking after your body for mental health includes small things such as eating a healthy lunch and staying hydrated.
2 SAFETY & SECURITY: This can be physical safety as well as financial security. Financial security enables you to make decisions that are not based on panic and fear e.g. you’re less likely to be scared of saying no because you’re not worried about money.
3 RELATIONSHIPS: When we’re burnt out and busy we can get into the habit of taking a lot from our relationships. Think about how you could be investing in your relationships every day.