NEW BEGINNINGS By Liz Stokes
I’ve been a salon owner now for over 12 years, starting out in a tiny studio wanting to change the industry. I had worked for a few “bad bosses”, knew what I didn’t like about the industry, and had a dream to change it. I had always believed even as a young apprentice that the one thing we do as hairdressers that no one else can do in a short time frame is change people’s lives. It’s a magical thing we do. When I decided to open my first store, my intentions were clear, to make my guests feel amazing and to create a legacy of making people feel better. 12 years on, I’m still doing that, in ways I’d never ever dreamt of back then. However, it hasn’t always been glitter and rainbows… The end of 2018 and 2019 was the time my life and career would change forever. At the height (or so I thought) of my career and business success, I had opened 4 salons and had a huge team. Loving life and loving my Job, I had my first heart attack 3 weeks before Christmas. I struggled with many hurdles including being taunted and sexually harassed by people I depended on in leadership roles, staff not exactly doing the right thing, my family screaming for my love, travelling at all hours and times of the day to keep the peace in each place, and my heart constantly having issues. I’d drop (hypotension blackouts) at least a few times a week for the duration of that entire year. I lost my spark, and I lost the ability to lead, worst of all my marriage suffered and so did my 3 gorgeous girls. No doubt with the amount of stress I was under trying to juggle everything, stay the strong entrepreneur I was, not let anyone else take what I’d worked for, and try my best to stay afloat and be there for my
family… What a mess hey! This whole time I thought I needed to stay in control, I needed to stand strong and hide how I really felt, (lost, scared, broken, uncertain, unloved) so many horrible feelings, yet I spent my whole career and life making others feel good. I absolutely pretended everything was okay, when so many around me knew I wasn’t. Long story short, I had been trying so hard to keep ‘the dream’ alive… and then that day happened, the one I barely ever talk about… Turns out, that day was to be one of the best days of my life! Why? Because that’s when the weight lifted, that’s when I saw the brightest light and I began a new journey to find myself and my love, and that’s when I found my health and happiness was the most important thing to look after. That’s when I saw that little 19-year-old self again, and I realised something! She was still here, more than that …SHE WAS BACK! I changed my whole lifestyle, and I found a new happy place. One in which I will never give away the magic. My place, The Hidden Hare - Hair Wellness. I found the time to work and live. I think they call that ‘balance’. I have time now to watch my babies grow and be a good wife to the most amazing man a girl could wish for and still create an energy to teach and learn every day and do what I love.
Let me explain “The Hidden Hare – Hair Wellness” (my happy place) Hidden – Escape from those things that we need to be away from at times – to our happy space that not everyone knows about – it’s like a little secret oasis that’s just ours! Hare – The Rabbit (I was born the year of the rabbit) A Hare resembles so many things. Change and strength plus new beginnings and freedom, as well as nature and wellness. Cruelty free and super powerful. Hair Wellness – Wellness is in everything I do. A holistic approach to hairdressing using only high-performance natural goodness made from plants and flowers by Aveda. This salon isn’t just your average salon – it’s a place to escape, to breath in the natural goodness, and to love yourself in ways of true selfcare and enrich your journey a bit at a time by the services we offer. While I believe in self-worth it is important and we need to see ourselves as heroes, we also need a few caped crusaders along the way. Young me, looked up to my parents, although I really haven’t told them enough. I have seen pain through their eyes. Seeing my Mum and Dad struggle financially, having 7 great but crazy children (2 with autism and another with muscular difficulties). They have fought sickness and been through the most horrible situations but the one thing they never neglected to show
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Hair Biz Year 15 Issue 5
