Each year, we end our special HOLIDAY edition with a wish, reminder and encouraging nudge to please “take care of you” this season.

Small Steps Matter!

Building stamina for the busy holiday season can be like training for a marathon. You have to start with small, realistic steps: drink more water, eat breakfast every day, keep healthy snacks like nuts and protein bars at your station or in the break room, avoid the holiday sweets and remember to stretch, breathe, walk.

Seek Support

The next milestone is to commit to making real, ongoing lifestyle (and workstyle!) changes to your habits and routines. To help you in those efforts, MODERN SALON launched the Healthy Hairdresser initiative in 2014—a regular series of columns in the magazine, articles online and weekly Healthy Hairdresser Tuesday eletters—all with tips, info and inspiration for a healthier, happier you! (Visit modernsalon.com/healthy for more info and to sign up for the eletter.)

Know Your Issues

To keep us in sync with real-salon health issues and concerns, MODERN conducted a research project underwritten by City of Hope research hospital. We learned from stylists and salon owners across the country that they neglect their health more than they’d like and worry about multiple health issues. More than half see “back problems” in their future and worry about other work-related challenges, including carpal tunnel syndrome and dermatitis.

Ready for a Change?

About 30% of respondents to the 2014 Healthy Hairdresser survey said they are “happy with my health,” and more than half would like to be healthier and are making changes to improve. Another 25% would like to be healthier and say they resolve to make changes in the future.

In 2015, MODERN SALON is expanding the Healthy Hairdresser program, focusing on all the topics salon professionals like you told us matter most to their daily lives. We will be issuing a monthly “Healthy Hairdresser Challenge” and incorporating an interactive, social media component to help you stay on track and engaged with other like-minded, healthfocused professionals.

Consider it our gift to you! It’s the least we can do to give back to a beautiful community who

gives so much to others. Salon professionals tend to be so focused on taking care of others that you often neglect your own needs to sustain your body, spirit and business. You chose a wonderful, satisfying, beautiful career in the professional salon business. Your work makes a difference in people’s lives. It fuels your passion, creativity, social nature or nurturing self. But it is also physically demanding and can be emotionally exhausting.

Excerpted from MODERN SALON HOLIDAY 2014, an exclusive custom edition with CosmoProf and Armstrong McCall to help salon pros plan and grow holiday business. See the complete digital edition at modernsalon.com/holiday.