8 Stress Management Tips: How to Deal With Stress at the Salon

One of the hardest things about being a hairstylist is dealing with stressful situations. It’s not always easy to deal with difficult people or get mad, especially when you’re trying to do your job and keep everyone happy.

According to recent surveys, stress at work is a very common problem for people. Actually, in 2019, 94% of American workers reported experiencing stress at their workplace.

It’s important for you to know how to manage stress, as you don’t want your salon productivity to be affected. It’s no secret that work stress is one of the most common causes of unprofessional behavior in the salon. It can affect your attitude, outlook, and ability to perform your job well. 

Stress becomes a real problem when it influences the way you interact with clients or coworkers. Even if it is generated by your boss, some clients, or simply by the environment you’re working in, you have to immediately identify the source of your anxiety and get rid of it. To help you manage stress at the salon, I’ve listed 8 practical stress management techniques for hairstylists.

What are the symptoms that you work in a stressful environment?

Working in a toxic environment has some visible consequences. If you don’t do something to improve your working conditions, you’ll end up having health problems, antisocial behavior, and even anxiety. 

Some of the symptoms that you’re working in a stressful salon are:

• Tiredness;
• Anxiety when you think about having to go to work;
• Headaches;
• Muscle aches;
• Insomnia;
• Panic attacks;
• Eating too much/ not eating at all;
• Lack of self-trust.

How to deal with stress at the salon

1. Focus on what you do 

When doing a hair service on a client, avoid thinking about your personal problems or what you have to do after you finish your working day. Thinking about something other than work can make you feel nervous, anxious, or even sad, affecting your service quality.

A great way to manage stress at the salon is to practice meditation to focus on what you do at the moment and avoid thinking about after-work things.

There are some meditation techniques destined to increase your focus, which could help you a lot, especially in your salon job. Some of them could be analyzing in your mind every single detail you’re doing or seeing, listening to relaxing music, control your breathing, etc.

2. Adopt healthy habits

Adopting healthy habits is the best way to dealing with stress. Doing sports, eating healthy food, respecting your sleep hours, and sticking to your goals will create a healthier lifestyle.

There’s also a book, Atomic Habits, that talks about how to set goals, how to build healthy habits in your life, and how to avoid stressing about what you shouldn’t. 

Focusing on what you feel is the first thing you do when starting with your stress management plan. Once you know what’s going on inside you and what makes you feel bad, it is very easy to take action and improve your mood. The most common activity people do to focus deeply on their mind and body is running.

3. Automate your salon tasks

Time management can be a stress factor, especially if you’re a professional working with appointments. A great idea to resolve this problem is using an appointment scheduling app that does all the job for you. 

Goldie is a free appointment scheduling app for salons that will help you keep track of appointments and reduce your client no-shows by using text message reminders and by taking online payments and deposits. Plus, you can let your clients book online via your own online booking page without having to call you any more to schedule. 

“I have been using Goldie since having my own hair salon…for almost a year. I love this salon booking software. It helps me to keep my clients in order. Also, I can go back to check what was charged and the service per each appointment.” – Keisha Wallace, Hairstylist at Blessed Hairstylist.

You can download the app for free from the App Store or Google Play and reduce your work stress by having more time for yourself. 

4. Smile often

Did it happen to you to see a person smiling and having the instinct to smile yourself too? That’s because smiles are contagious, and they can change your mood immediately. 

According to statistics, smiles work just as well as a doctor does.  Helpguide says that laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Well, what better way to manage stress at the salon than smiling all day long? 

5. Maintain good communication with your staff

We all know how toxic it is to work in an environment with people you don’t interact with or agree with. Having a good relationship with your salon colleagues is critical, and you can do it just by being open to others and by working altogether by the same values. 

You can face many difficult situations in your beauty salon every day, and you need someone there to listen to you when you feel stressed or anxious. Speaking about your problems and fears will make you feel free while knowing that you always have someone there who cares about you gives you psychical comfort. Also, speaking with your team about pleasant things like the latest hairstyle trends, skincare treatments, and other things can give you a good vibe.

Therefore, one of the best ways to manage stress at the salon is developing your relationship and communicating more with your staff members.

6. Avoid procrastinating

This is probably the hardest thing to do for everyone: to avoid wasting time, to avoid letting it for tomorrow. 

Educating yourself to do things at the right time, avoid procrastinating, and respect your schedule will improve your productivity and make you feel less stressed. When you constantly postpone tasks, you always have in your mind that you have something to do, and you become anxious for something that you can probably resolve in just a few minutes. 

Well, here’s a gold stress management technique: stop procrastinating and keep track of your daily tasks and appointments so that you can have a fixed schedule to follow every day. 

7. Clearly define your availability hours

If you make a habit of working over schedule, responding to emails and messages late at night, or making compromises in your personal life to make an appointment will have bad consequences in the long term.

This vicious cycle of always being available for everybody no matter what will make you feel at a certain point exhausted and stressed. 

To manage stress at the salon, you should clearly set your limits and define your work availability hours, making your clients understand that. 

8. Reward yourself with pleasant activities

A salon is a place where stress can sometimes reach an all-time high. Between dealing with demanding clients and the stress of maintaining a well-presented yet creative look, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by stress at work. But there are many ways you can manage stress at the salon – from taking care of yourself to having a well-deserved break from time to time. 

Occasionally rewarding yourself with a spa day, a game night, or a lunch with friends is a must. Work time is just as important as your rest time, so don’t feel guilty when you’re on a day off or want to spoil yourself a bit.