I don’t know about anyone else but I absolutely LOVE Christmas. It’s hands down my favorite time of the year and I bloody love Christmas week in a salon, everyone is in such good spirits and all excited the Christmas tunes are blaring it’s such a vibe. Until the last day where we can barely speak and feel like your heads going to explode if you hear rocking around the Christmas tree on the radio one more time. The lead up to Christmas in the beauty industry is always the busiest most hectic time of the year and if you’re self employed it can be a struggle. I always used to feel so torn between the hours I wanted to work and how much time I needed outside of work to actually buy presents and get ready for the day myself as well as spending time with my family. But now I feel like I’ve found a good balance which is really good and I’m seeing a lot of people talking about Christmas hours that they will only be doing maybe one extra late night to make sure they have time with their families and I LOVE that.
In my first few years of beauty I would work late every night in the week leading up to Christmas because I was just buzzing to have the clients and also be making the money which when I was a single mum came in bloody handy at Christmas let me tell you. But now as I’ve got older and Zekis older I feel like I don’t want to come to the end of Christmas week and be absolutely shattered and have had made no memories or done exciting things outside of work. Believe it or not I actually don’t want to work till 9pm every day in the week leading up to Christmas I want to be at home with my family watching films and chugging a bottle of baileys thanks you very much. The past couple of christmases have been weird for me work wise, last year we were renovating the salon so i was there more than working and the year before that I was still going to uni (lol) so I’m SO excited for this year and the first Christmas in my own salon. It feels so surreal and I feel so so lucky to have the salon and create my own Christmas buzz this year with all the girls and our clients.
September is usually the time us in the industry like to open our Christmas diaries and get people booked in and you just know there are always clients that say oh it’s ages off yet and then when they want to book in moan because your full. We aren’t trying to trick you into booking in for any other reason than we won’t be able to fit you in if you don’t. I feel like as the years go on us girls have boundaries now and no Karen we will not squeeze you in at 9pm on the end of our day because you didn’t want to get booked in when we asked you. On your bike love. Without a doubt every year someone will make a smug little remark to me about not working a certain day before Christmas to get them in when it’s more convenient for them, forgetting that I also have a life and a child at home that I also would like to see over the Christmas period. The Saturday before Christmas is always a tricky one, I don’t work a lot of Saturdays anymore because it just fits in better with my family and guess what, I don’t bloody want to ( perks of being self employed). This year Christmas falls on a Wednesday so I’ll be doing extra hours the week before & working the Monday but the weekend I will NOT be working so I can have days out with my son and boyfriend and make sure I’ve actually done some Christmas shopping.
I feel like when it comes to Christmas clients just suddenly see you as this working beauty robot who should just be there to fulfill their every need ( not all of them). I’m so lucky to have a long term loyal clients base now who get booked in and actually encourage me to work the hours I need to to fit in around my life, those are the kind of clients you want! Every year me and my sons dad alternate who’s house he sleeps at. It’s a great little set up we have and zeki gets to spend equal time with both sides of his family. As good as it is, I still cry either every Christmas eve when he’s not here or Christmas Day after he’s left because I’m a soft ass. And also it just doesn’t feel right not being with him every second of Christmas, but that’s life! So before anyone moans at me for not working the Saturday before Christmas because I’m with my son, just don’t.
Christmas is such a good time to be in the industry and let’s be honest we do bloody well at Christmas. But I think it’s also important to make sure we have plans outside of work too, we look after ourselves, eat when we can and get to enjoy this time of year with our families and not just sat behind our lash beds / nail desks! Whatever your plan is for Christmas I hope it runs smoothly! I’m now off to work after another good brain dump. Thanks for reading my lovelies, Lydia Lee xxx