Mary Jane Niven: Why I Had to Stop Doing Hair

“I used to love the last cut of the day,” muses Mary Jane Niven, co-owner with Lora Batiste of Vine Street Salon in Berkeley, California. “I could take a breath and enjoy it without seeing the next client waiting on the bench. I could enjoy just creating a look and pleasing someone.”

 

But that big exhale came at the end of a long day of standing, with double bookings packing Niven’s already busy schedule. After 30 years, nerve damage to her neck and upper back forced Niven to step away from the chair. That was a year ago, when Niven was 57.

 

“I worked through it for a long time,” Niven says. “I also started developing a tremor, which is hereditary, but my profession probably worsened it. I went to a pain clinic and I’m doing better, but there’s no way I could stand all day anymore. I think hairdressing is one of the hardest jobs out there. It’s not only physically stressful but emotionally stressful.” She turned her clients over to another stylist and, in focusing on management, Niven finds much to be proud of both in her team and her own career.

 

“I’m a bystander now, and I get to look in at the salon and the profession—how frightening it is!” she exclaims. “It’s a big obligation! Your clients are putting trust in you, depending on you to deliver. It’s a huge responsibility, because it’s the way they look. I did the color education in the salon, and color is the most critical. Even when you know you have it right, there’s that little chance that something can go wrong. Every time you see that client you have to give it 100 percent. That’s what turns a good hairdresser into a great hairdresser—giving 100 percent through the very last haircut of the day.”

 

Niven urges her team not to repeat her mistakes. To help ensure they will have as long a career as they desire, she encourages them:

• Take breaks! “I would rather see stylists work four or five days a week than to cram all of the clients into three days,” she notes.
• Don’t double-book without help from an assistant. The salon employs an assistant who’s available to help Niven’s employees. Independent contractors also work at the salon, and Niven encourages them to hire an assistant if they plan to double-book.
• Avoid dermatitis. “Some hairdressers have to end their career because of dermatitis,” Niven observes. “I advise our one employee who has developed dermatitis to wear vinyl gloves, use certain creams and never get her hands wet. I suggest that she blow-dry the hair a little first so the hair is not wringing wet when she’s drying and touching the hair and have the assistant shampoo the hair if possible. 
• Eat well and exercise. Niven finds her staff having an easy time following this direction. “Berkeley is sort of the organic capital of the world,” she says. “Most people here eat well; many on our team are vegan. Younger staffers really want to take care of themselves. They go hiking, do yoga—they’re active as part of their lifestyle.”