Editor's Note: Be a Healthy HairdresserThis time last year, a long-time salon owner friend dropped me a note that said, “We hairdressers are really great at taking care of other people and making sure they feel good, but lousy at doing the same thing for ourselves.

“We skip meals,” she continued, “and barely make time to go to the bathroom— except when we have to, because we drink too much caffeine. Our own hands and nails get dry, cracked and sore. Our back, knees and wrists give us grief. Allergies and respiratory issues nag and won’t go away. We’re too exhausted after a long day at the salon to work out like we should, and most of us shift right into focusing on our families after we finish our clients.

“The longer I do this career I love so much,” she concluded, “the more I feel the ‘wear and tear.’ I think MODERN should do special issue or article to help us salon people get on a healthier track. The holidays are coming, and are especially hard.”

Everything she said rang true to what I have heard and seen from many of you in the MODERN community. Her words echoed again in the details of this year’s “Hope is in Style” campaign to raise awareness and funds for diabetes, a serious career threat for salon professionals (see page 76). So we’re taking the advice. This month, MODERN previews a new Healthy Hairdresser series of content to “help you take care of you,” focusing on Diabetes Awareness Month.

In addition to adding monthly articles on health education, inspiration and peer profi les to the magazine, this January we will launch a Healthy Hairdresser resource center on modernsalon.com, a Healthy Hairdresser Tuesdays e-letter and Healthy Hairdresser tips and encouragement on our social media, all designed to help you maintain a healthy body, healthy spirit, healthy mind. We are also planning expanded sections on key wellness topics, a special MODERN SALON Healthy Hairdresser guide and a Healthy Hairdresser challenge. Stay tuned!

We are creating MODERN SALON’s Healthy Hairdresser series to be for and about you, but we also want it to be from you. Do you have a Healthy Hairdresser question to ask, tip to share or inspirational story to tell? We want to hear how are you staying healthy, what help you need to get healthy, and what would you like to see in our new Healthy Hairdresser series and special sections in 2014. E-mail me at mmusgrove@vancepublishing.com or post your ideas of “being healthy” pics on our MODERN SALON Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest feeds (#healthyhairdresser).

The Hope is in Style campaign is still accepting donations at cityofhope.org/hopeisinstyle. Just click the “Donate Online” button to make your or your salon's donation.

To your health,

Michele Musgrove
Associate Publisher and Editorial Director
mmusgrove@vancepublishing.com

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