You’ve Been Lied To: The Salon Beliefs That Aren’t Even Yours

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Challenging borrowed beliefs is the key to salon success. We expose how industry propaganda shapes reality and provide tools to flip the script, replacing limiting thoughts with powerful discernment.

• The history of propaganda through the "Torches of Freedom" campaign that transformed smoking for women
• How common salon industry phrases like "no one wants to work anymore" become limiting beliefs
• The difference between propaganda (pressure) and discernment (power)
• Why understanding the difference between borrowed beliefs and personal truth is transformational
• Practical examples of flipping negative industry narratives into empowering perspectives
• Marketing becomes more powerful when grounded in discernment rather than fear
• The timeless fundamentals of beauty services remain unchanged despite evolving tools and trends

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What if the biggest thing holding your salon back
isn't your team, the economy oreven your location?
What if it's a belief youpicked up that was never even
yours to begin with?

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
So this episode is going tochallenge some of the things we
hear every day in the salonindustry and expose how
propaganda is shaping yourreality without you even
realizing it.
But don't worry, by the end ofthis episode you'll know how to
flip the script.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yes.
So let me take you back for amoment, not to a salon floor,
but to a sidewalk in New YorkCity in the 1920s.
It was Easter Sunday and agroup of women dressed in their
finest clothes marched proudlyin the city's annual parade.
But this time something wasdifferent, that's right.

(01:04):
They lit cigarettes right there, in public, something that
until that moment was consideredscandalous and unladylike.
But the headlines the next daydidn't shame them.
They celebrated them, torchesof freedom.

(01:24):
The papers read you know, itwasn't an accident, you guys.
It was a campaign carefullycrafted, masterfully executed,
you know.
And man behind it was a mannamed Edward Bernays.
He was the father of modernpublic relations.
You know, he was hired by atobacco company to increase

(01:48):
cigarette sales.
The problem at the time it wastaboo for women to smoke.
So he didn't just sellcigarettes, he sold empowerment.
He sold a belief.
You know, he connected lightinga cigarette to liberation,
independence and freedom.

(02:09):
So it had nothing to do withtobacco and everything to do
with positioning.
And here's the kicker it worked, not because it was true, not
because it was healthy, butbecause the message was repeated
over and over until it became abelief.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, such a good story.
I love that and that's actuallypropaganda.
And you know Lindsay wastalking about the 1920s.
What is his name, is it?
I forgot, yeah, he later changedthe word propaganda to public
relations.
But if you look at the wordpropaganda itself, it comes from

(02:55):
the Latin propogare, whichmeans to spread or grow.
And while we often think ofthis word propaganda in the
context of like politics or war,propaganda shows up everywhere,
you guys.
It's in media, it's inmarketing and, yes, it's in the
beauty industry too.
You know, it's when a messageis delivered so consistently, so

(03:17):
emotionally and so repeatedlythat people stop questioning
whether it's true and they juststart living as it is.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Man that is powerful when you, when you recognize
that.
You know, because in the salonworld the pop, the propaganda
doesn't sound like torches offreedom, like we just talked
about it.
It sounds like no one wants towork anymore or there's no one
good left to hire, or styliststoday don't have drive, or

(03:51):
guests only care about price, orpeople won't pay that anymore.
You know these ideas are beingrepeated in Facebook groups, on
social media and conversationsat the back bar until they start
sounding like the truth.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Yeah, but if you think about it, are they really?
You know, are they really thetruth?
Because that's wherediscernment comes in, and it's
the difference between runningsalon based on fear or leading
one from power.
You know, these are not truths.
They're actually borrowedbeliefs and if you're not using
discernment, they actually,quickly and quietly, will be

(04:33):
running your business.
You know, I was coaching aservice provider not too long
ago and she said something we'llbe running your business.
You know, I was coaching aservice provider not too long
ago and she said something.
We were actually working on hertiming and she said you know,
jen, things are so much morecomplicated now than when you
did hair.
I was like what?
Let me say what she said again,just so you guys are listening
Things are so much morecomplicated now, jen, than when

(04:54):
you did hair.
Well, guys, I haven't beenstopped doing hair, like maybe a
year and a half, two years ago,so things haven't changed that
much.
And she said it several times,and it wasn't the first time I
heard her saying this and wewere working on her timer, so it
just stuck with me in thatmoment and so I asked her hey,
where did that belief come from?
And it was like her whole bodychanged, like she stopped and

(05:15):
she said, oh, my goodness, youknow what?
I know, someone said it to me,we were talking about it,
someone said it to me not toolong ago and I just believed it.
And see, that moment for her wasthe release.
She had been carrying someoneelse's fear as her own and it
was so beautiful, like you couldtell.

(05:36):
It just transformed her Um and,and you know, I just reminded
her like the truth is.
Things are not more complicatednow.
You know hair principleshaven't changed, the color wheel
hasn't changed.
The guest desire to feel seenand beautiful is it hasn't
changed either.
I remember going back I'll takeyou back to 2002, when I did my

(05:58):
senior project on the art ofhairdressing, and even then I
was fascinated by where it allbegan.
You know where humans actuallyfirst started dressing the hair
as a symbol of identities,status and self-expression, and
even diving into that ancienthistory status and
self-expression, and even divinginto that ancient history, even
my grandmother's salon stories.

(06:19):
And you know, after looking atall that, I discovered this the
tools might have changed some.
No one's using a iron, anactual iron that you aren't
close with to iron their hairnow, which they might.
But you know, the trends mayhave evolved, but the
fundamentals, the purpose, thetransformation, the, they've

(06:40):
always been the same.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
I love those stories, jen, and I remember you sharing
that, you know, with yourteammate, and it's just
incredible, you know how we dolet beliefs run our life, and
truly, this isn't just abouthair, you know.
It's about who we help theguests become when we stop

(07:03):
letting propaganda distort thetruth, you know.
And when we do that, we leaddifferently, you know.
And so let's talk aboutdiscernment, you know, first
let's define it.
Discernment is the ability topause and ask is this belief
true for me or did I just absorbit?
You know, because discernmentlets you question is my team

(07:27):
underperforming or have I beenoperating under a limiting
belief about what's possible?
You know, we, we hear that allthe time.
Oh well, that might work inyour town, but it doesn't work
in mine.
Well, I'm in a small town, jen's, you know, in a suburb of a big
city, and so, uh, you know, alot of times we, we, we cling
onto some beliefs that aren'ttrue, you know.

(07:48):
And so another question to askyourself is are there really no
good people to hire, or have Istopped showing up like the kind
of leader they want to workwith?
That's a powerful question toask yourself, you know.
Or another one.
Is our clients not booking?
Or am I projecting my scarcityonto my pricing and onto my

(08:11):
messaging?
You know, because discernmentis power and propaganda is
pressure.
You know, one leads to burnout,the other one leads to freedom.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
The other one leads to freedom Awesome.
So, with all that being said,it's time to flip the narrative.
So propaganda sounds like, hey,no one wants to work anymore.
But discernment says you knowthe right people are looking for
the right leader.
Isn't that so freeing?
Another flip the narrativeexample would be like clients

(08:44):
propaganda.
Clients are saying are theretoo price sensitive Probably
seeing that on social media tooprice sensitive.
But really, when you look at itfrom a place of discernment,
it's really like a value drivenguest will invest in the right
experience.
So good, you know the anotherbelief or propaganda that people
might project onto you is thatyoung stylists aren't loyal

(09:04):
through you know.
The another belief orpropaganda that people might
project onto you is that youngstylists aren't loyal through
you know, they're just not loyal, they don't want to work
anymore.
But really the discernment tothat is loyalty is built through
culture and leadership, andthis is what we hear a lot.
It's hard to grow now.
It's harder to grow now.
The discernment of that is likeit's never been easier to stand

(09:24):
out.
When you have clarity and whenyou believe differently, you get
to market differently.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, I love that.
It's like, you know, all of asudden you stop leading with
discounts and you start leadingwith value.
You stop settling for survivaland you start building
sustainability.
You know, because if you scrollthrough Instagram or TikTok,
you'll see clients saying thingslike it's too expensive, I can

(09:53):
do it myself, I found someonecheaper.
But the truth is, people willalways look for reasons to
justify what they alreadybelieve, you know, and if we're
not careful, we'll start makingbusiness decisions based on
their fears, not our truths.
You know, because marketingbecomes more powerful when

(10:14):
you're grounded in discernment,because your confidence.
It truly becomes contagious,you know.
So the question isn't should weuse propaganda?
It's what belief are wechoosing to spread?
Because when you market fromfear, you repel, but when you

(10:36):
market from belief, you repel,belief you attract.
You know, you remind yourcommunity that, yes, this is
still sacred here.
You know that getting your hairdone isn't just self care, it's
truly self-worth, you know, andthat you, walking into a salon,

(10:57):
should still feel like walkinginto your next chapter, you know
.
So let's spread that.
Let's be the kind of propagandayou know, the kind of uplifts,
the kind that's based in beautyand belief, not fear and noise.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Yeah.
So here's a final thought thatwe want to leave you with is
like you weren't called to echowhat's wrong with the industry.
You were called to lead what'snext?
Let me say that again, causeit's so good.
Like you weren't called to echowhat's wrong with the industry.
You were called to lead what'snext?
I mean, we even see saloncoaches going at it um, you know

(11:39):
, putting their beliefs on eachother, saying their beliefs are
crazy.
It's just like wow.
Like to have someone to know,like, hey, here is the beauty in
the beauty industry.
Or let's bring the beauty backto the beauty industry.
Beauty means good.
Like that's, what you get to dois like to lead what's next?
So think about this what beliefdo you need to stop caring and

(12:03):
what new truth are you ready?

Speaker 1 (12:05):
to build on Awesome.
Thanks for listening.
We'll catch you next time.