Mental Health Awareness with Daniel Mason Jones

Nancy and Daniel discussed the format and content of Nancy's podcast, "Salon Talk", focusing on mental health and personal experiences. They also explored the importance of mental health in their respective industries, the role of hairstylists in supporting clients' mental well-being, and the triggers and management of anxiety. The conversation concluded with discussions on the impact of nature on well-being, the importance of self-care, and resources for mental health support.

Nancy and Daniel discussed the importance of mental health in their respective industries. Nancy, with over 20 years of experience in the hair industry, shared her personal experiences with stress and the challenges of starting out. Daniel, who has struggled with anxiety and OCD, emphasized the need for open conversations about mental health, especially in their industry. He highlighted the increasing prevalence of mental health issues and the need for coping mechanisms and support. Both agreed on the necessity of discussing mental health more openly in their industry.

Daniel and Nancy discussed the importance of mental health and self-care. Daniel recommended Nami (nami.org) as a valuable resource for mental health support and encouraged Nancy to research local resources. He also emphasized the importance of reaching out to 988 for suicide prevention. Nancy expressed her appreciation for Daniel's insights and plans to include these resources in her podcast's show notes. They both agreed on the significance of caring for oneself and others, with Nancy mentioning her upcoming podcast episode and her admiration for the hairstyling industry.

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Nancy: 00:00

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Salon Talk. I'm Nancy Vogler, and I'm your host for this show. And I'm Nancy. There you go. So the whole point of this podcast is to, is to elevate, inspire, and empower the beauty professional, Daniel.

Nancy: 00:15

So I wanna say thank you for being on my podcast because it's new. I'm super excited. It's like, I just wanna be able to share and, like, pretty much save every hairdresser in the world and make them feel happy and be successful. So thank you for joining us. Can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself?

Daniel: 00:33

Sure. Thank you for having me on. I'm excited for this conversation. I always enjoy our time together. So my name is Daniel Weason Jones, and I've been a hairstylist now just over 25 years, and it's been an amazing ride for me.

Daniel: 00:45

I feel like there's always something changing. Things are always coming our direction. And speaking of, over the past couple of years, there's been so much come our direction, that we've I don't even like the word pivot anymore, but we've learned to pivot so many different directions. So I think it's crucial that we have these kind of conversations, that we can always empower the hairstylist and beauty professionals to know that change will always be, and better equip them with how to deal with it.

Nancy: 01:10

So this whole thing, I so you recently had an event down in Atlanta, Georgia, which I was at dinner with Beth and Bruce that went to your, event Yes. A couple months ago, and it was amazing. And you talked about mental health, and we're gonna talk about that a little bit today. And that was really what, like, inspired me to wanna make sure that on my you know, on this show, everybody knows about it and that there's resources. So but before we begin, Daniel, I'm gonna ask you 2 random questions just so our audience can get to know you a little better.

Nancy: 01:44

Okay. And I'm just saying that I did not prep Daniel for this at all, which is my favorite part people say. So, Daniel, what's the most unique job you've ever had, and what did you learn from it?

Daniel: 02:01

Most unique you just hit me with a loaded question. I've got 2 in particular, but

Nancy: 02:06

I guess,

Daniel: 02:07

learning experience, the one that I learned the most from was I was a funeral director. And so I worked in the funeral business for 7 years before I got into the hair industry. And, it was an amazing ride in that it really taught me empathy, and it taught me how to protect myself, I guess, to protect myself from what was going on around me and just to really show up for other people. And I've always had a heart for other people anyway.

Nancy: 02:32

Yeah.

Daniel: 02:32

Definitely did. And and I started working. I might add that I I started working around the funeral home when I was 14 years old. So, you know, that's it's quite an impressionable time in your life and especially when you're a teenager being silly and all the things. I grew up a lot earlier maybe than I should have, but it did teach me a lot of responsibility and how to care for others.

Nancy: 02:52

So I commend you on that because, you know, it's really takes a special person to be able to do that. And isn't didn't you learn, like, really learn how to do hair and makeup? It was it that you're that you're like, oh my god. I'm actually pretty good at this. Right?

Daniel: 03:06

Yeah. It was it was a total accident. It it wasn't until the latter part of my, time in the industry that I discovered that because I was doing all the other work and Oh, yeah. Work. And so, we had an elderly lady that would do the hair and makeup.

Daniel: 03:22

She broke her hip, and we we had we're very busy to save the details. But there were a lot of bodies that we had here, and I just stepped in. I was like, you know what? I can do it. And, I did it.

Daniel: 03:32

And what I discovered was I actually had a natural knack for that. And so, after it became kinda known that I was able to do constructive work, people said, you should go into the beauty business. I'm like, sounds terrible. But I took their advice, and here I am.

Nancy: 03:47

So, yeah, working on live people is a totally different experience. Right?

Daniel: 03:52

Yeah. Sometimes I have to be honest and I'm not

Nancy: 03:55

look different.

Daniel: 03:55

The other side. It's very quiet.

Nancy: 04:00

Right. Right. Okay. So next question. And I actually was, years ago, I, somebody interviewed me for something and asked me this question.

Nancy: 04:11

So when AI gave me this question, I was like, oh, I totally have to ask it. Okay. If you could have one person over for dinner, they'd be deceased or living, who would it be and why?

Daniel: 04:21

Oh, gosh. We can't open this up like this, Nancy. It would be my Yes.

Nancy: 04:27

We could.

Daniel: 04:28

It would be my mom. I lost her in May this year, and Yeah. I am in the trenches of grief right now, and it's it's terrible, and holidays are approaching.

Nancy: 04:36

Aw.

Daniel: 04:37

I would give anything Yeah. To have that moment.

Nancy: 04:43

Aw. Aw. That's sweet. I think so I think I would have my dad. I didn't get to see my dad before he died.

Nancy: 04:51

There was, like, some family issues, and, I hadn't seen him for a few years. And he passed away, and it's my one big regret that I didn't get to see him before he died.

Daniel: 05:02

Yeah. That's hard.

Nancy: 05:03

So yeah. No. I feel you on that. Okay. I'm gonna try not to cry because I have to go by a bunch of meetings after this.

Nancy: 05:09

Okay. So tell me about so anyone that is just jumping on and and listening to this that doesn't know me because, you know, having a podcast can have is it really will reach a totally different audience. And I, myself, have been in the industry for over 20 years, and I knew at 9 years old when I met a hairdresser, I was going to be a hairdresser. So I love our industry. I'm die hard passionate about it.

Nancy: 05:34

I've done anything and everything you could ever imagine in it. So what does mental health look like to you? Because I will live the roles and I know the chaos. I know, like, how stressful it can be. And especially I think especially when you first start out, like, I remember going in the back room, hiding in the bathroom and crying because I'm like, I don't know what I'm doing.

Nancy: 05:56

You just have to be like, I don't know what I'm doing right now. It's perfectly correct. You're like, oh.

Daniel: 06:02

Yeah.

Nancy: 06:03

Yeah. So So what does it mean to you?

Daniel: 06:06

Mental health for me is something very personal. You know, I've struggled my entire life with anxiety. And, sadly, as I get older, the anxiety seems to creep in a little bit more. And so I had it had to be something that I would eventually have to recognize and just be like, okay. This is weird.

Daniel: 06:24

I can't keep ignoring what I'm feeling here. And, so mine comes in a different form. Mine is in the form of OCD. So with anxiety, and I also am very highly ADHD. So when you put that together, you kinda have a cool it's almost a cool tornado.

Daniel: 06:41

There are many benefits there. However, the anxiety portion is not fun. And, mine comes around flying in airplanes and sometimes, not all the time, germs. And so, as silly as that may sound to someone is is really the same as someone that maybe or I won't say it's the same. I'm not gonna take that away from someone that's battling addiction.

Daniel: 07:03

But if someone has a serious addiction to work or alcohol or maybe a chemical substance, you can't control that. You know, you can you can get up against it. You can fight it, but it's always there. And so is anxiety and depression is something that comes in and out, not for me personally. But so many people battle with these particular things.

Daniel: 07:24

And so I was like, you know what? If if I can stand in the face of anxiety every weekend because as you know, I'm on an airplane literally every weekend Yeah. This one Mhmm. Which is horrifying for me. I I do it.

Daniel: 07:36

And, you just have to get in the face of it sometimes. And certainly, there are coping mechanisms, whether it's breathing techniques or, doing different types of therapies, talking to a therapist, maybe even medication in some instances. There's ways to get around that. But mental health to me is something that is just critical that we have this conversation. And then as we're seeing more and more today in particular because we're bombarded with so many feelings and so much information.

Daniel: 08:02

Yeah. We're We're seeing people take their lives at record record levels. We've never seen such. And in particular since 2020, it's become worse. So, I feel that in our space, there there needs to be more conversations around this.

Daniel: 08:14

However, before I give any information in this podcast, I just wanna say that what gets me around this topic is I went to college prior to becoming a hairstylist for funeral science, obviously, but in that I studied psychology and grief psychology. So when I speak around these topics, I'm not just freely speaking about something that I'm passionate about. This is something I've studied in the past because Yeah. A lot of people are talking about mental health, and maybe they do have a natural gift to get someone to unpack trauma. And it's fine to get someone to unpack it.

Daniel: 08:49

But we have to understand what happens after you unpack it because

Nancy: 08:53

Right.

Daniel: 08:53

That's an emotional toll on someone. You could actually cause more harm in a situation like that. So, before we get started, I wanna make sure that mental health is something that's always handled delicately and with white women.

Nancy: 09:04

So I don't often talk about my personal life. And, I, you know, I have a family member that's very dear to me, and I'm not gonna really, like, hint too much about who it is that since they were young, really struggled with it and it it started with, you know and it's amazing, you know, having young daughters like and paying friends that have teenage daughters and seeing them grow up and the stress level of them. And, you know, there were a lot of kids there's a lot of kids that are, like, trying to take care of it themselves. And and and parents don't know about it, but there's symptoms to it. And it's just such a common thing.

Nancy: 09:44

And I'm it's hard enough, you know, growing up and and and, you know, if you have 2 parents trying to figure it out and a lot of times, you know, people, they, you know, parents got divorced. I was a generation that everyone got divorced. So, you know, our poor kids suffer from it, you know? But it's it's it is such a rampant thing and it it definitely needs to be, people should feel comfortable being able to talk about it. And me too, Daniel.

Nancy: 10:11

I went to college, I say as a grown up, I was like 35 and decided to take, to go to school because I wanted more and I want to learn more. And I was a communications major, so psychology classes were my favorite. And don't you think, like, doing what we do, it's like, it was such a great choice? You know, we are here to mentor. I hairdressers are like superstars in my eyes.

Nancy: 10:34

Wow. You know, they're they're so much more powerful than we give them than they give themselves credit for. Because I know I look at them in in, you know, like superheroes. And, so I guess when I was little, I wanted to be my superhero would have been a hairdresser. Right?

Nancy: 10:47

Because they empower people. They I always tell them, you know, when you talk to them, they listen. And so what you say with greatness comes comes great responsibility and you should really take that, you know, seriously. You know, somebody's talking about their anxiety in your chair and the way that they're feeling. What are some of the things that as a as a service provider, whether it's like a lash technician, you know, how do you think that they should handle situations like that if their customers are starting to talk about things like that?

Daniel: 11:17

Yeah. So number 1, kudos. Good for you for having conversations because 40% of people are not getting the treatment and help that they need. Yeah. Stigma around mental health.

Daniel: 11:26

So Yeah. Conversation having those conversations is step 1. If someone's having just simple anxiety, like, I'm running late for work. Yeah. It's terrible.

Daniel: 11:37

I'm not gonna make it in time. Internet connection is failing. You know, things can trigger, of course, and depending on where our mental state is on that particular day. You know, something is as small as that, which could be large for someone else.

Nancy: 11:52

Yeah.

Daniel: 11:52

Thing would be the first thing that I would say is let you know, just take a moment here, and I want you just to close your eyes even if it's 30 seconds. Obviously, not if you're driving a car, but close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths in. Yeah. We say take those deep breaths in. I think that's one of those things that's just kinda like we hear it, we're like, whatever.

Daniel: 12:10

But no, truly, if you take a deep breath in where you really, you're intentional with that and you're filling your lungs to full capacity with air. And maybe you're you're being intentional of breathing in for 5 solid seconds, holding it for 5 seconds, and then slowly releasing as almost if you're blowing through a straw. Yeah. Releasing that for 5 seconds can really start to change the body, the mindset, and what's going on there. Yeah.

Daniel: 12:35

A lot of this comes from the vagus nerve. You know, a lot of anxiety comes from that nerve. So understand how to how to reset the body when you're you're starting to feel this way. Sometimes if you're in a situation, I I often give this advice, getting something cold like a cold compress or maybe a bag of ice or something and holding it on your chest, that also will help you in a moment of anxiety. But if you need a quick fix, one of the things that does work for some people is a sour candy.

Daniel: 13:04

Just so it's something sour into your mouth because it it rewires the brain temporarily, and it does help just kinda retrigger that moment. So so there's lots of small coping, like, coping mechanisms. But setting setting yourself up in a basic foundation is just making sure, like, what are you reading? What are you watching? You know?

Nancy: 13:22

Oh, yeah.

Daniel: 13:22

If you live especially in today's world, if you live in front of the news 247, I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, you probably are a very anxious person.

Nancy: 13:31

Yeah.

Daniel: 13:32

And you probably aren't living your best happy life. And so not not saying to be, like, a hermit crab and just, like, hide from what's going on in the world, but be careful of what you consume. Same thing with our food. Our food is so highly processed here in the United States. There's so many chemicals and poisons in our food.

Daniel: 13:49

Those things also releasing your toxins into the brain, and they're they're helping a lot of the anxiety as well. It's becoming worse and worse. So just start being conscious of that. And one of the most simple things that you can do and as silly as this is gonna sound is just drink water. If you stay hydrated, when the body gets into a dehydrated state, you can actually kick off and really kick off those those anxiety feelings in.

Daniel: 14:14

So just make sure you're staying hydrated. It's something I always say I did a podcast last night around this topic also, and I was like, if you weigh £100, divide your body weight in half, so 50. And then that's how many ounces of water you wanna consume a day. That way you're consuming enough water. So these are things I mean, and your body's made of 80% water anyway.

Daniel: 14:36

So you make sure sure that you're staying hydrated. That's just keeping everything working, and you're flushing out those toxins that we're consuming.

Nancy: 14:42

So I wanna talk more about, like, what we expose ourselves to because I actually don't watch the news. And I

Daniel: 14:48

That's why you're always happy.

Nancy: 14:50

I know. I know. It's so funny. And I would say so when I have when I meet with a new client, that has never worked with me before, I actually warn them that this is so authentic. Like, I truly am this bubbly all the time.

Nancy: 15:03

And I'm convinced it's because I don't watch the news and I don't watch now. I'm so, I can't even scary movies, I actually like so a funny story. My ex husband got the met those meta glasses. So he he goes, oh, Nancy, you gotta come over. It's so cool.

Nancy: 15:20

So him and I have a good relationship. And so I'm like, okay. So I told my husband, like, I got the better glasses. So no joke, I put them on. And this is how, the point of this is how sensitive I am.

Nancy: 15:31

So he gets, like, a scary one, and I'm like, oh, okay. Whatever. Like, it's just a video. How scared can I be? Put them on, and a zombie jumps out at me and starts I literally screamed and turned around and didn't realize the wall was right there, smashed off the wall.

Nancy: 15:48

So she of course, he's laughing. I was like, that's not funny. So I'm so sensitive to even stuff like that. Like, I don't watch the news. My but my husband does.

Nancy: 15:58

But the mindset since I, like, cut all that out of my life, I really am like this happy all time because I don't have that fear. And I'm completely convinced, like, when COVID happened and we were watching the news, because, you know, everyone wanted to stay connected.

Daniel: 16:14

Yes.

Nancy: 16:15

I've never felt so anxious in my life and it wasn't even because of what was happening in our home because my husband and I agreed, thank God we like each other because we were like 24 hours a day together. But I was like, I can see how, like, I actually told him. I said, I I need you to understand you can if I'm in my office because that's where the family room was. Like, you need to turn the TV off. I can't have the news even talking.

Nancy: 16:41

And I really realized I understand why people walk around judging each other, violence, feeling the scarcity of like mindset of like scarcity, and then this fear. And I'm like, they you know, all people are watching and they're thinking they're learning division, they're learning like all this stuff. And I'm like, why would you wanna watch that? Like, why? So I agree with you.

Nancy: 17:05

I'm like, you know, being careful what you watch, even music. So, like, I'm very high energy. So as a kid, I was super anxious. I definitely had anxiety. I remember crying with such anxiety.

Nancy: 17:19

I couldn't even stand it. And, probably about 10 years ago, I learn I started meditating. And it is the most and it's really good when you have ADD too because I have that. It's it's so good, and the breathing part is such an important factor. And even now if I catch myself, like, feeling anxious or, like, you know, in work, if I'm you know, it's it's a real, you know, I'm I may make it look early easy, but it's a real corporate role.

Nancy: 17:50

Right? And, and there comes anxiety with that. And I've just learned, like, the breathing. Like, you sitting in your car and just breathing and focusing on your breathing, you can feel your heart rate go down. And, yeah, I I really think that that trick works for sure.

Nancy: 18:06

What are some other things people can do?

Daniel: 18:09

You know, I think a lot of people forget just to go out into nature.

Nancy: 18:12

Oh, yeah.

Daniel: 18:13

Just grounding yourself, you know, now sadly, as as I say, walk outside barefooted and touch the grass, but there's so many chemicals in the grass. If you can find grass that hasn't been treated Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And touch that grass.

Nancy: 18:25

The grass has been treated. It has a lot of weeds. So just look for weeds.

Daniel: 18:29

Yeah. Exactly. Find the weeds.

Nancy: 18:31

Find the weeds.

Daniel: 18:32

But then The beauty of the I heard people talk about tree huggers. You know, they often make jokes about people that are tree huggers. There's actually energy that comes from trees. So, just going out being in the forest, I can tell you if I were to go walk through the forest, I'm automatically calm. Like, I just feel calm.

Daniel: 18:50

And if you get next to a tree or if you sit down next to a tree, there is definite truth to that. Yeah. So nature, you know, we have this amazing canvas of everything that we ever needed was provided for us, and we somehow seem to disregard all those wonderful things and try to come up with something that we felt was better than the creator of whatever. And, it's kind of bizarre, isn't it? So getting out of the beach was big.

Daniel: 19:15

I personally love to be near a river. Oceans don't really do it for me.

Nancy: 19:21

Okay.

Daniel: 19:23

Yeah. I mean, that's that's really amazing. And something I'll say about people that are and I took a class with a young lady that told me this. People that crave the ocean are people that crave renewal in their spirit, and people that crave mountains are people that crave energy, and they typically are a little bit more empathetic. So, I love to be in the mountains.

Daniel: 19:41

I love to be around a river. Lakes are pretty. I have a lake house. I love to go there. It brings me calm.

Daniel: 19:47

But if I can hear the water moving in the form of a river

Nancy: 19:50

Yeah.

Daniel: 19:51

It does something to my soul. So you have to find what works for you, but nature is always the best thing.

Nancy: 19:57

I agree with you. I have 3 daughters, and one of them loves to forage. And she always finds the most amazing mushrooms and she brings them to me and we cook them. It's really awesome.

Daniel: 20:07

That would be cool.

Nancy: 20:08

Yeah. And she is the most chill. Like, she's got peace in her soul and she was anxious, you know. Again, I think just in school in general, being girls, like, with, you know, the pressure of looking the part and being the part and especially in that middle school age anyways. She's really found beautiful peace with herself and she, and she loves nature.

Nancy: 20:32

And she like, I need to live near the water because I am definitely that water girl, and it's when you say that renewal because I take all my vacation days in the summer. I tell people, like, I didn't I I'm going missing for about 3 months just, you know. And I do. I find that renewal, so that's really interesting. Uh-huh.

Nancy: 20:50

You know? For sure, I find that renewal of my soul with the with the sound of the ocean and the, you know, the smell of the salt water. So, Wonderful. So what is you did mention, like, what is it? The the a nerve that it stems from?

Nancy: 21:08

And does it that nerve

Daniel: 21:09

Vagus.

Nancy: 21:10

That connect to your gut? So So when they say follow your gut, is that something

Daniel: 21:14

the heart, actually.

Nancy: 21:15

Okay.

Daniel: 21:16

So, yeah, I I encourage everyone to look it up. It's called the vagus, v a g u. That's the vagus nerve, and it's it's a very large nerve in the body. And as we start to study that nerve and understand how it works and how it can be manipulated, is pretty powerful. I I suffer from something called vasovagal syncope.

Daniel: 21:35

And, that was how I started researching this nerve personally. So, vasovagal syncope is something that a lot of people have, and there's no treatment for it, unless you get into the holistic approach of learning how to simplify and, like, control a little bit of the vagus nerve.

Nancy: 21:51

Yeah.

Daniel: 21:53

But for me, personally, I can it doesn't happen very often, but I can black completely out. Like, I can completely black out and, over certain feelings. So if something is completely overwhelming for me, I literally I can feel it happening. I get super light headed, and then everything goes completely black. And I hope that I'm close to the floor because that's where I'm headed anyway.

Daniel: 22:19

And I'm

Nancy: 22:19

didn't do that the day that presentation. You had to do that first big one that I sat in the front. I'm like, you said how nervous you were. I'm like, oh my god. I can't believe you didn't do that.

Daniel: 22:29

Yeah. Right. You just have to, you have to learn to control it, you know, in a lot of, like, I feel it's been breathing. But I discovered, that particular diagnosis from my son. So my son also has vasovagal.

Daniel: 22:43

And when he was 16 years old, he he had he had a reaction to something and down he went. And, I was like, what happened? We took him to ER, and it was a whole thing. A series of tests. The doctor came back, and she goes, it's something very common.

Daniel: 22:56

It's called vasovagal syncope. And I'm like, what is that? And, then I started to research, and then I was like, I have the same thing. And, then I looked back. My mom had the same thing.

Daniel: 23:08

So as I started to read more about it, it's very common. Some people call it white coat syndrome. They get really nervous or anxious. They go to the doctor. They feel this feeling.

Daniel: 23:17

Sometimes they blackout if they're, taking blood or if they're having a shot. Yeah. But my son's is he can get really excited. Like, he lost a tooth, and, he wasn't sad. He wasn't scared.

Daniel: 23:30

He was excited because the tooth fairy was gonna come to him. But what happened, he literally almost went into a seizure first and then blacked out. So it can be brought on by many different things depending on the person just like anxiety.

Nancy: 23:43

Wow. Yeah. Jeez. This is so funny.

Daniel: 23:46

It's very complicated.

Nancy: 23:48

It is. Well, the thing you know, now I look back, like, why people used to meditate, why they like, our society has complicated things. And, again, don't get the whole news thing, it's like and the

Daniel: 23:59

so bad.

Nancy: 24:00

It's so bad. I'm like, why are you watching that?

Daniel: 24:03

Yes.

Nancy: 24:03

I always tell my husband, I'm like, okay. If it's we're gonna get a snowstorm, tell me so I'll plan for it and I'll do you know, make my all my meetings virtual. Or if, like, a her like, I literally don't watch the news. Like, he I go, just tell me if I need to know something. That's it.

Nancy: 24:18

And I

Daniel: 24:19

live in

Nancy: 24:20

my little bubble of happiness, and I love it. I'm happy every day of my life, and, so I like to roll. So I like to roll.

Daniel: 24:28

Here's an example of the news. So on Sunday, we went to visit family, and, my husband was telling me, he was like, oh, so they're call they, I quote, they are calling for wintry mix on Thursday, this coming Thursday. And I'm like, that seems very bizarre because we're in Atlanta, and it's just not cold here. And he's like, yeah. There's, like, a cold front coming through and blah blah.

Daniel: 24:52

And so I started to look at them, like, it's gonna be 49 degrees. Wintry mix does not happen at 49 degrees. The news people Yeah. Literally are grasping for straws. But I

Nancy: 25:01

say that. They make stuff up because they it's the only way that people pay attention is if they talk up a big storm and then create the spear and panic. And I'm like Yes.

Daniel: 25:09

And that's how humans respond to the negative, which is bizarre. We need to rewire that and respond to the positive.

Nancy: 25:15

I agree. I know they said statistically, people don't wanna watch happiness. I'm like, I just agree. I do. I do.

Nancy: 25:22

Speak it out. Right? I'm like, okay. I don't mind, like, the storm, but tell me the happy ending. Like, I wanna feel good when I'm done, not feel terrified.

Daniel: 25:32

Exactly. Go

Nancy: 25:33

laughing over the stupid meta glasses. I was so scared. My I'm so sensitive to that stuff now. And it I'm just like, I can't. I just accepted the fact no scary movies, you know, whatever.

Nancy: 25:45

I can't do it. So this has been so informative because this is such a, a pa you know, such a a predominant thing. But, again, you can look at it 2 ways, either me as the service provider really identifying it in my with my customer or me being the service provider and the anxiety that, you know, I might already be wired with it. And and, you know, the holidays are coming and people are gonna feel anxious because they're, you know, whatever their situation is. And, you know, there's a lot of means of of that the stylist put on where, you know, they you know, you'll watch a a video and they're, like, laying dead on the after and they're, like, this is me after my 12 hour day during Christmas time.

Nancy: 26:29

And but I do believe people need to take care of themselves, and it's finding that balance. And, you know, it's it's definitely the discipline of of understanding and I believe making yourself a priority, you know, like and and again, I don't I don't it's hard for people to be disciplined when you're always in the mindset of caring for other people. So as service providers, you are naturally a caregiver. If you went into this because you wanted to, not because you were forced to. I'm saying the average service provider, like, wants to actually help people and make them feel beautiful.

Nancy: 27:05

And, so it's hard for us to, like, stop and look in the mirror and go, okay, I need to take care of myself today. Right? So we're giving, giving, giving, but we're never recharging our batteries. And, you know, like before I even came down and I'm in a hotel right now in Massachusetts because, you know, I've got clients to see. And, I before I even went on, I made sure that I took literally 5 minutes to meditate before the day to put out my intention and to make sure that I had the right clear mind before I even started.

Nancy: 27:36

And just that one practice, if people could do just the one practice right off the bat, start your day with it. Don't end it that way. You know, if you can do it twice, do it twice. But when you wake up in the morning, I really believe since I've been doing this practice of just setting my intention and calming and clearing my thoughts because life's gonna happen to me. Like, it's gonna happen.

Nancy: 27:57

I can't control if I get used get stuck in traffic. You can't control if a client calls and they're late. Like, but you can control how we react to it. Right? So that was the one thing.

Nancy: 28:07

If I had to give any suggestions on, you know, mental health and, like, it's how do you start your day. What is some advice you can give some people? So I definitely do like, if you had to give some advice, to somebody, what would it be about this if they feel that they have it or haven't even identified it?

Daniel: 28:28

As far as starting out your day?

Nancy: 28:30

Well, just mental health and, like, live yeah. Like yeah.

Daniel: 28:34

Sorry. Something's making me choke this morning. So, yeah, if you feel that you have anxiety or you feel that maybe you are battling with depression, and they're not the same. Anxiety are absolutely not the same. Neither is a panic attack versus an anxiety attack.

Daniel: 28:51

They're all very different. So first, educate yourself on what these things actually are so that you can identify if you are having the signs of those particular things. Anxiety can come out of nowhere for no particular reason. I literally can can be completely fine this very moment. And at 3 o'clock today, I could be, oh my gosh.

Daniel: 29:14

Like, I feel in my gut, I feel like something's gonna happen. I'm uneasy. Depression. I think I may have experienced it for a day, just one day. And that was after the loss of my mom.

Daniel: 29:27

And I physically could not get out of the bed. My body would not it would not allow me to get out of the bed. I I couldn't move. I felt like I was almost paralyzed. And typically, I'm up out of the bed.

Daniel: 29:38

If I'm at a day that I'm at home, I may literally shower 3 times a day because I love to be in the shower. It relaxes my muscles. It feels

Nancy: 29:47

Yes. Yep.

Daniel: 29:49

That particular day, I didn't care if I showered. I didn't wanna get up. I didn't wanna eat food. I kept trying to find funny things to your point earlier. I kept trying to find funny things on TV.

Daniel: 29:59

Nothing was satisfying that. I was searching funny videos on YouTube, and I I the the sheer sound of the TV was making me insane.

Nancy: 30:09

So I

Daniel: 30:09

probably just turned it off, and I would just in my mind, just say a prayer that I could go to sleep. Because if I could go to sleep, I wouldn't have to think about it. And I immediately started to think about the people that have to deal with this on a daily basis. I can't imagine living life this way. And, of course, there are medications to help, and the medications are quite wonderful if holistic practices aren't working for you.

Daniel: 30:28

But there are so many incredible resources. One that I love to share with people and maybe link in the notes, below the podcast is Nami, nami.org. Nami is an amazing resource. It's free, and these people are highly qualified, and they're non biased. So what I say about non biased is if someone is struggling with, gender dysphoria or maybe they're struggling with their identity of who they are, you might go to a particular organization for help, and that organization may make it worse for you because of their ideas and their ideals they're trying to to force you with.

Daniel: 31:06

NAMI is an organization that simply sees the person holistically no matter who you are and and treats the problem or helps get you the the help that you need. And so I'm a huge I'm a huge fan of them, and that's at large because of L'Oreal professional. You know, L'Oreal partnered with NAMI and with Calm, and that was when we've been a critic head up, the mental health program for hairstylists. And, so I'm a big fan of them Yeah. That work.

Daniel: 31:33

There's there's so many resources. And if you feel you're getting into a really critical mode, you're in crisis mode and you need someone to speak to 988, I can't say that number enough. 988 is just like 911 except for 988 is suicide prevention. So this is if you feel you have no hope. No one around you in this very moment to speak to, 988 is definitely a great resource for you.

Daniel: 31:58

But I encourage you to research what's, you know, what's available in your local community. Obviously, a larger city is gonna have more resources than maybe a small town, but there are resources everywhere. And NAMI is an organization that can almost get you those resources where you are. Of course, there are tons and tons of resources available, but I'm so passionate about this mental health and Yeah. Care for ourselves that we we learn how to harness all these feelings and things and understand that you're not broken just because you feel this way.

Daniel: 32:28

Yeah. That this is just part of it and also understand mental health. When we talk about mental health, you know, something that stood out to me when I really started digging into it a long time ago was just like a cold. You may be completely fine today. Tomorrow, you may wake up with a stuffy nose or maybe a sore throat.

Daniel: 32:46

And then the next day, you're completely fine or maybe that cold lasts for 3 days. And if it's terrible, maybe it lasts for a week. This is mental health. So just because you're in it right now and you feel like there's no hope, there are always better days ahead. Even in the darkest hour, there's better days ahead.

Daniel: 33:02

So I hope this encourages someone, somewhere just to really care for yourself. And and don't feel that you're being selfish by doing so. In fact, it's the most selfless thing that you can do by caring for yourself because Yeah. The more we pour into us, the more we can pour into others.

Nancy: 33:17

Right. Oh my god. I love that. I didn't know that 988. That's really I will be putting that in.

Nancy: 33:24

Well, it'll be in the show notes for sure, but, you know, this is once I air my podcast, I'll be doing, you know, social media posts, and I'll make you know, that those will be, like, the important notes for sure, that we put in there because most people have lost somebody. I actually have lost a few, over the years, people that I knew or cared about very much due to to suicide. And it is a real thing and and, you know, I commend you and and I'm very proud to be a part of, you know, an industry and a company that cares so much about the mental health of the stylist and the service provider. Because again, one hairdresser inspired me when I was 9 years old. Yeah.

Nancy: 34:10

She made me feel pretty and she made me feel special, and it every day after, I pretended to be a hairdresser. So

Daniel: 34:16

I love that.

Nancy: 34:17

Yeah. If people don't know my story, please watch episode 1 that's airing December 2nd at 3 PM Eastern Standard Time. And, again, I don't I'm not gonna do any, like, editing on on my, podcast just like I didn't I couldn't do on my live Instagram. And it kinda tells a little bit about me. So, you know, I was I really love our industry, and I believe hairdressers are superheroes for sure.

Daniel: 34:41

It's true.

Nancy: 34:42

It's true. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.

Daniel: 34:46

I love you literally from the depth of my soul. You're such an amazing

Nancy: 34:49

It's it's so mutual. We were talking about you last night. I was like, I just smile. I'm like so I was with Sal, and I was like and I turned to my girl. I paid for myself to go.

Nancy: 35:00

I paid for my own room because no way was I missing Daniel's class. Because he didn't even know that. I go, what wasn't a it wasn't a Sloan centric thing. It was Daniel was doing it and you know? So I I look forward to next year and supporting you with that.

Daniel: 35:14

Very powerful next year. I'm very excited.

Nancy: 35:16

Yeah. And I'm start I talked to my husband again. I was like, yeah. So, Atlanta, Georgia is so pretty, so don't be surprised someday if I move down there. So but thank you again.

Nancy: 35:26

I appreciate you, and I appreciate your time and you sharing this knowledge and wisdom, Daniel.

Daniel: 35:32

I appreciate you. Thank you so much.

Nancy: 35:33

Thank you. Bye.

Daniel: 35:36

Bye bye.