It’s incredible, a year ago I started this blog with a mission to share experiences and stories in cosmetology. Within the past year I’ve researched trends, products, events, education, hair structure, psychology, and sociology surrounding hair and makeup. I’ve watched this platform grow from 10 readers a week to over one hundred in a single day, I’ve expanded my own knowledge by maintaining this blog and hopefully have shared some interesting knowledge with my readers.
              
In the course of the last year I have molded and played with a variety of topics, I’ve received positive feedback and constructive criticism, and going into the future I’m excited to continue to grow and expand this blog. The future of this blog will continue to explore hair and makeup around the world, my goal is to add more styling techniques, tips and tricks. With this the content will become more in depth, more photographs, and perhaps videos that will take more time than just a week to compose, because of this the content may drift away from weekly posts to bi-weekly or monthly. The idea is to create more interactive content that will serve your hair needs.
              
Your feedback and continued support are the driving forces behind this blog and I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support. This has been such a fun side project and I am really grateful to share my passion with you all outside of the salon.
              
Moving forward into another year of blogging I hope that I can continue to provide helpful, insightful, and educational information.
              
Thank you all so much and until next time.
              
​DJH

Good morning you beautiful human beings! The blog this week comes to you a few days early, the reason being is I will be out of town for the next little while, I will be on the outskirts of Portland taking a long overdue vacation. I could’ve thrown something together in the few days before I left, but I did not want to sacrifice the quality of the writing or topic and feel rushed to complete it.

Instead, this week I would like to open the conversation to you all!

If you have any hair or makeup questions I would love to hear them! If you are wanting to know the trends, product recommendations, styling tips and tricks, anything, let me know. If there are topics you would like me to cover, let me know, as you may have noticed I cover history, psychology, trends, sociology, hairdressing throughout the world, and there is still so much to cover. If you have anything specific, you want me to cover reach out and let me know.
Send in your questions within the next few days and I will answer them next week, everyone will be kept anonymous, if you have a blog topic let me know and I’ll be sure to cover it soon.

I look forward to reading your comments when I return!
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Stay beautiful!
DJH

This week my friend and colleague Kennedy participated in Project Homeless Connect. Project Homeless Connect is a one-day event in Salt Lake City that brings together community volunteers to provide services for individuals and families at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The services provided are haircuts, legal advice, financial advice, health care, pet care and so much more. Kennedy and her salon volunteered providing haircuts for individuals in need.
              
Unfortunately, this year and last year I’ve been unable to participate in this event, however I do participate in volunteering at Queer Prom in the beauty bar providing free hairstyling for LGBTQ youth who attend the prom, and I teach a free yoga classes every Wednesday at the Maliheh Free Clinic for their patients and volunteers.
              
Volunteering is a beautiful gift to offer to the community and yourself, I once read that if you are unsure what to do with your life or need direction to go and volunteer. Not only do non-profits need volunteer help and support, but what a person can experience from volunteering can shift their perception dramatically. There are multiple benefits to one’s mental wellbeing by volunteering, it can help combat depression and counteract the effects of stress, anxiety, and anger while providing a sense of well-being. It can also improve one’s self confidence and give and individual a sense of purpose.

Volunteering is a fun and easy way to explore different interests that can lead to passions. Doing volunteer work, one may find meaningful and interesting or it can be a relaxing or energizing. Volunteering is a wonderful way to mix up the day-to-day routine of work, school, or other commitments. Volunteering can provide a renewed sense of creativity, motivation, and vision that can carry over into your personal and professional life, not to mention colleges and the work force love to see volunteer work on a resumes and applications.
              
In the world we live in of social media and how many followers we have, online dating, Uber Eats, online shopping, Siri, and the instant gratification of the 21st century, I feel that individuals live in this idea of ‘what the world can offer me’ rather than ‘what can I offer to the world’.  There is not a single person in the world like you or me, no one can offer what you have to offer, whatever that maybe, instead of standing around, waiting for the world to offer you something, offer the world something. You’ll be surprised of what can happen when you give a little. To receive you need to give, and give for the sake of giving, not for the return of payment, good karma, or anything else, give because you can, and for no other reason.
               
The world is difficult enough as it is, let’s help each other out. My dear friend Heidi spends time taking care of cat colonies throughout Salt Lake, Kennedy gives back to homeless youth and the LGTBQ community, my friend Charlie helps adopt, foster, and care for dogs, drag queens volunteer their time to have story hours for children at local libraries. There is so much work that could be done, give a little to others and be surprised by how it can transform your own life.
              
To learn more about volunteering and the benefits it can offer, check out https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-living/volunteering-and-its-surprising-benefits.htm
              
Warmest regards,
              
​ DJH

The nights are becoming longer, there is a crispness in the air, and the leaves are changing colors, that means the most wonderful time of the year is upon us. You guessed it, Halloween! Being a hair and makeup artist, this is the most extraordinary time of year, this is a time of creativity, inspiration, fun, and playfulness. Over the years I have had so much fun doing special effect makeup for clients and creating some badass looks from myself. Doing traditional Halloween horror looks like zombies, ghosts, Bride of Frankenstein, to some more unique looks like mad scientists, drag queens, killer clowns, and Freddy Kruger.
              
When I discuss Halloween with others it seems people love it or hate it, I don’t understand why people dislike it. This is a time, once a year a person can live their wildest fantasies for one night, Halloween doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do something scary (although I love the scary factor), you can be whatever you want! If you are not a Halloween person, I would stop here, this entire post is about Halloween and costumes.
              
It’s so much fun trying to figure out what to dress up for as Halloween, helping others in their looks and taking my skills and pushing it in a way I don’t get to on a day to day basis. When I’m out and about during October, not only do I have fun in my costumes, but I love seeing what other people create and learning how they created their hair and makeup to fit their costume. I learn so much every Halloween from others, whether they are professional makeup artist or passionate people who dress up, it’s inspiring seeing what people create out of everyday household supplies to high grade, professional makeup.
              
This week I decided to help those who are not sure what to be for Halloween or where to go for inspiration or artists to help create the perfect makeup. Below is a short list of makeup artists and supply houses to help get you quality education and tools. Disclaimer, I have a love/hate relationship with YouTube makeup tutorials, the reason why is because for every few great makeup artists on YouTube there is an equal amount of, to say it nicely, unqualified makeup artists. Over the years I have found a few artists who I love to follow and learn from, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
              
Also, I wanted to attach a link that goes into details about why we dress up for Halloween and culturally appropriative Halloween costumes that you should never wear. We should be aware of others culture and understand why we should not appropriate another’s culture for the sake of a Halloween costume.
https://www.bustle.com/articles/190544-why-do-we-dress-up-for-halloween-the-origin-of-this-tradition-is-pretty-interesting

YouTube Makeup artist:
Petrilude (I’ve been following him for years! But he doesn’t post much now a days)
Victor Nogueira (My FAVORITE! He is amazing, now he is Portuguese, so you may get lost in translation, but if you’re a visual person, you’ll do fine!)
ellimacs sfx makeup (These are some badass videos! Some are very difficult but still fun to watch)

Makeup suppliers:
These stores sell theatrical makeup like liquid latex, high pigmented colors, bald caps, etc. These stores carry high quality brands that surpass the Halloween store makeup.

University Pharmacy 1320 E 200 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Taylor Maid 255 W Center St, Provo, UT 84601
Oasis Stage Works 249 S Rio Grande St, Salt Lake City, UT 84101

I hope you enjoyed exploring these articles and makeup artists, have fun in creating a Halloween look, and have a spooky season!

DJH