What does that mean?
Cindy Lupica
Founder of iBbeautiful
Recently I had to attend a very hip women's conference for top influencers in the 'mommy blogging' and social media industry. This event is pretty over the top with tons of super fashionable + creative people. I've always made great connections there for our brand, iBbeautiful and I was very much looking forward to it.
I had gone in previous years but this year in preparation for it I thought I'd do a little makeover on myself and instead of getting the same haircut I've had for years, I would ask the stylist for something a bit more "hip". Shorter, some purple streaks and lots of wisps. I had my little magazine clipping to show the stylist where the woman in the picture looked young, carefree, and most of all "hip".
Well......that is not what happened at ALL!!!
Since I'm at the age where a few grays are starting to show I asked the stylist to take care of that too. I thought it would be a simple 'touch up' to my roots. Well, as the stylist literally started dumping mud brown dye all over my blonde highlights I was concerned but didn't speak up.
Needless to say instead of the wispy, highlighted blonde with streaks of 'hip' purple that I had envisioned I left the studio with what can only be described as a total HELMUT of solid mud brown hair that looked like Moe from the Three Stooges. If someone had put one of those little clippy pink bows on my head I honestly would have resembled an giant baby.
Now I'm a pretty secure and independent person but the fact that an outside physical element was rocking my world (as an adult) made me realize, "oh my God, this is exactly the feeling that the teens + tweens that receive our monthly subscription boxes fight everyday!".
When you've been an adult running your own life and making your own choices you forget sometimes how you felt in middle or high school, and having someone inflict this horrific hair cut on me brought all those feelings back, and honestly, I had forgotten how powerful and all encompassing those feelings can be. They reach right down inside of you and make you doubt EVERYthing about yourself.
This is the place where this month's theme stemmed from. "Always Wear Your Invisible Crown". In other words despite what you feel, or how you look, or how you 'wish' your life was, hold your head high. Stand firm in WHO you are and what you stand for. Get clear that what you look like doesn't hold a candle to who you are on the inside.
These are tough aspects of our lives to master and it's really being able to have confidence and believe in ourselves that gets us there, but that usually comes with life experience and maturity which our teens and tweens don't have the advantage of.
This is why we do everything we can within our monthly boxes for young girls to try to give them a confidence boost and get them closer to being able to hone in on what makes them great and that the very things that make them unique or different is what makes them special.
So, needless to say if a simple bad haircut (it really was WAY beyond bad, if I'm being honest) can throw me entirely off my game then we've got to give these kids the empathy and support to get them through these tough years.
I really hope that all our efforts to inspire your girls and lift them up is working. They all deserve to feel like they are the Meghan Markle's of their own lives.
P.S. I made it through the concert and most importantly,I got a full refund for the hair debacle.Love + Sunshine, Team iBbeautiful
Monthly Subscription Boxes for Teen + Tween Girls