In this episode Nathan Plumridge is joined by Hayley Jepson, a mental health coach for hairdressers, who works with individual hairdressers and salon owners. Previously she was a hairdresser who suffered from depression and, after her own therapy, became a therapist herself, which puts her in the perfect space to talk hairdressers through their mental health problems. In this episode the tow talk about noticing the signs of burnout and how you can combat it. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

BEST MOMENTS

‘The pandemic gave everyone some sort of mental health awareness.’

‘How you feel – you’re going to bring that to work.’

‘The opposite of depression is not happiness, it’s hopefulness. When I think about life and I’m hopeful for the future, I know I’m doing well.’

‘Joylessness and resentfulness are the big red flags for me for burnout. They signify that your boundaries are being pushed, or you have too much resting on you.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Hayley Jepson started hairdressing at 17 at a salon while attending college one day a week. She quickly decided to be a colour technician and worked hard as an apprentice for two years… then Toni & Guy came to town.

Hayley jumped ship and worked her way up to Art Director. She worked for T&G for 10 years at branches in Manchester, Brighton and Belgium and taught in their training academies and on stage for them and even taught NVQ in their training schools.

For the next nine years she worked at an independent salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, working hard and playing hard, which eventually led to burnout.

She found it hard to manage the day to day pressures of busy salon life on top of her depression, so she went to therapy which she says changed her life.

After two years of therapy she became interested in it beyond what it was doing for her, which coincided with her getting disillusioned with the culture of hairdressing, so she decided to train to become a psychotherapist. 

After qualifying four years later, Hayley quit hairdressing and began working as a psychotherapist full time, specialising in teenagers. But after three years started noticing that the solitary nature of the job was starting to affect her mental health, so she went back to work as a hairdresser one day a week in a salon. She eventually went back into working in the salon full time. 

Her aim is to arm hairdressers with the tools they need to avoid the stress, anxiety and burnout that she suffered with and making sure salons make resilience training as important as keeping up with new techniques.

Website: https://www.theresilienthairdresser.co.uk/ 
Instagram: @the.resilient.hairdresser

ABOUT THE HOST

Welcome and thank you for reading this, I’m Nathan Plumridge salon owner and Hair Stylist. I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30 years and have been a salon owner for 23 of them. I have been fortunate enough to work and learn with some of the biggest names in the industry and this has given me the experience and drive to now be here with you sharing my experiences.

CONTACT DETAILS

www.hairlifeshow.com
Instagram is @nathan.hairlife 
Email me at [email protected]

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