Beauty Abounds {Dayton Guide to Best Salons and Spas}

How does beauty factor into self-care? This is a question I often ask myself as I finesse and scrunch my messy bun each morning.

I have concluded that, in fact, yes, it does factor into self-care. But not how most may initially think.

Having a routine that fosters confidence and beauty is absolutely self-care, but beauty is defined by your own standards. 

I am an avid listener of the Happiness Lab podcast. One of my favorite episodes discusses routines and rituals in our lives. The study conducted by the Happiness Lab revealed having a routine or ritual can reduce the grief we carry and provide that little bit of uplift to get through our toughest day. (If you’re interested in listening later, the podcast episode is linked here.)

Salon time is my cognitive decompression time. While my hair processes, so does my mind. I think about the lists, the friends I need to call, and, most importantly, I revisit the struggles that have surfaced in my life and how I feel about them. When we don’t devote time to knowing how we feel about the struggles in our lives, we create cognitive barriers that prevent us from growing and moving through the negative experience.

My salon time starts with some mental troubleshooting (5-10 minutes), then I devote the remainder of the time to focusing on turning it off and quieting my mind.

That to me is the best form of self-care, the kind that enables resiliency.

Here are some places in the Dayton area that can provide you with space, relaxation, and, for those of us with persistent anxiety, permission to turn it off. (Gift Idea – Consider giving your fellow mom friends a gift card to a local salon this holiday season so they can relax and enjoy some me-time, too!)