Treasures in Our Hands

"Grandma how do you deal with pain?"

"With your hands, dear. When you do it with your mind, the pain hardens even more."

“With your hands, grandma?"

"Yes, yes. Our hands are the antennas of our Soul. When you move them by sewing, cooking, painting, touching the earth or sinking them into the earth, they send signals of caring to the deepest part of you and your Soul calms down. This way she doesn't have to send pain anymore to show it.

"Are hands really that important?"

"Yes my girl. Think of babies: they get to know the world thanks to their touch.

When you look at the hands of older people, they tell more about their lives than any other part of the body.

Everything that is made by hand, so it is said, is made with the heart because it really is like this: hands and heart are connected.

Think of lovers: When their hands touch, they love each other in the most sublime way."

"My hands grandma... how long since I used them like that!"

"Move them my love, start creating with them and everything in you will move.

The pain will not pass away. But it will be the best masterpiece. And it won't hurt as much anymore, because you managed to embroider your Essence.”

~ Elena Barnabe

Interestingly enough the blog I am about to write has been a collective of fragmented pieces I have been holding onto for some time. What better place to share than here. I’ve included a poem I found a while ago for a future moment. This poem encompasses what our hands represent in our lives and those we touch both physically and emotionally around us. As well as the impact we have on someone else’s wellbeing. Our hands are the center of an industry that services the needs and care of our communities. Whether grooming to prevent disease or a complete color transformation to lift someones psyche. Our hands despite what COVID declared; are an ESSENTIAL part of everyones lives. During COVID, salons had to temporarily shutdown causing severe financial hardship, forcing many to shut their doors for good. Salon Owners and Stylists are still feeling the residual of this unfortunate circumstance.


Hands have always been an interesting topic for me. Growing up my mother and still to this day would make comments on my hands, calling them man hands and very large. Now I am not sure if she truly knew what those words would do to a young growing girl. As I grew I never viewed my hands as pretty or even nice for that matter. I believed my hands were ugly, knobby, and big. My nails didn’t grow pretty like the women’s nails I saw growing up. They were short stubby little fingers that were in my opinion, less desirable and of course ugly. Pictured above is a photo captured by cousin, photographer, D. Dix. This photo touches me emotionally as it exhibits the story of my hands.


It wasn’t until I started my journey in hair school that I learned to love my hands. I had a teacher who would always talk about building dexterity in our hands as professionals. That meant as we grew into our craft, our hands would become stronger and more capable of performing the technical skills needed to succeed in the beauty industry. It was there that dexterity became an important underlying theme in my career. It was also where I grew a profound love and respect for my hands. They were perfectly designed for the work I was destined to do.


I made sure that I practiced, practiced, and practiced some more to perfect my dexterity without causing harm to my body. I made certain I knew how to hold and use my shears properly, that I was ambidextrous when blow drying hair, and that I stood with correct body positioning. Ergonomics is very important in our industry, companies like ergo styling tools who are ergonomically friendly to the body, have intentionally designed styling tools to help hair stylists prevent pain after a full day in the salon.


Our hands are a treasure, they have raised children, comforted our elders during their last breath, and most importantly they have been an integral part of our financial success. In this brief snippet with celebrity stylist and Beauty Editor of World Bride Magazine, Debra Harebey, we delve into the internal feelings and overall love we feel about our hands.

Works Cited:

https://jiffyhair.com/the-impact-of-covid-19-on-the-hair-industry/




https://ergostylingtools.com/