INTRODUCING SHARP SCISSORS: MENTAL HEALTH IN PROFESSIONAL BEAUTY

I expected many nights like this on Bubba the Love Van Tour, calmly sitting in a tent amongst the swirls of Mother Nature that only come out in the dark; the unforeseen vista I longed for covered by the blankness of the dark. Each crackle from the outside making King the Bougie Dog hope it’s a playmate. Meanwhile, I am dancing between scribbling vigorously and scratching out violently, repeatedly failing to capture the majesty I had seen throughout the day. But now those long nights will have a far more important reason.

When I was preparing to announce Bubba to the world, I reached out to a number of my closest beauty professional friends — my family, really. What I failed to appreciate is how devastating the pandemic had been to them, not only to their families but also to their lives, their businesses. We are all dealing with not only keeping food on the table, being the primary caregiver for their loved ones, and keeping ourselves healthy and upbeat. For too many of my friends, it also includes the worry that favorite businesses will never actually return as they used to be — that fear exists whether you are an independent beauty professional or the owner of a 20-chair salon.

So I’m proud to announce the tour has been Bubba the Beauty Love Tour — an opportunity to open a dialogue about mental health in our industry. I am excited to partner with incredible independent professionals and brands on this project. — those who are committed to creating safe spaces for honest conversations about our struggles. The first of these projects is “Sharp Scissors: Mental Heath in Professional Beauty,” an anthology of real stories from a diversity of beauty professionals across North America. It is being co-written by a crew of some of my favorite people in the industry.

Once completed, the ebook of Sharp Scissors will be completely free to any beauty professional that wants it — and we will be encouraging brands and distributors to subsidize the production of the project. If you would like to tell your story in Sharp Scissors — or learn how you can be a sponsor of the project, please dm me.