You spend all day making your clients look great and helping them feel great, too. Everything from your technical service to your caring consultation to your professional product recommendation is focused on creating a great experience. This all takes a great deal of physical and emotional strength.

That’s why October's Healthy Hairdresser Challenge, presented by sponsor Great Clips, is all about identifying what makes you feel great and replenished.

According to a 2014 Healthy Hairdresser survey of salon professionals, at least one in 10 hairdressers say mental and emotional health issues are a primary area of concern.

The Mindset Matters feature in the Healthy Hairdresser Guide shared strategies on using mindfulness techniques (like meditation, visualization, breathing exercises) to help manage unhealthy levels of stress, citing that one’s thoughts are proven to affect everything from moods to motivation to overall physical condition.

People who are emotionally healthy are better able to handle life’s challenges, build strong relationships and recover from setbacks. But just as maintaining physical health takes commitment, so does building emotional and mental health.

Spending time doing what you value can ease stress, as can improving your daily mindset. A simple first step is to find your “great”—an experience, moment, setting or activity that brings you joy or peace. Then, do your great every day, even when you don’t have time for the actual activity or experience. Visualize what you love, close your eyes and imagine it. Engage all your senses. If your great is a walk in the woods, then listen to the crunching leaves under your feet, smell the damp soil, feel the breeze. Use this me time to refresh and refocus.

Last but not least, share your great. Take the October Healthy Hairdresser Challenge at modernsalon.com/healthy. It’s an easy, five-minute process and will help you take time for great every day. 10 lucky participants will get a new Fit Bit from Great Clips.

For details, go to modernsalon.com/healthy. For more information and resources, sign up for the Great Clips Talent Community at salonjobs.greatclips.com.

 

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