Learning to Trust Myself Changed How I Experience Beauty
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Sasha Lindsey
For a long time, I believed confidence was something beauty delivered. If my hair looked right, if I kept up with trends, if the results impressed others, confidence would naturally follow. As a hairstylist, I helped create those moments for clients every day. What I did not understand then is that confidence actually determines how beauty is experienced, not the other way around.
When confidence is shaky, beauty becomes a fix. Change this. Hide that. Do something drastic. I see it when clients sit in my chair unable to articulate what they want, only that they want to feel better fast. In those moments, beauty feels transactional. When confidence is present, beauty feels intentional. Clients ask different questions. They want to know what will last, what will feel like them, what will support their lifestyle rather than disrupt it.
The practice that helped me feel most at home in my body was slowing down and learning to listen to myself. Early in my career, I equated success with speed and dramatic results. The bigger the transformation, the more valuable I felt. Over time, that mindset created burnout and a subtle disconnection from my intuition. I was producing beautiful work, but I was not grounded in it.
The shift came when I started choosing sustainability over spectacle. I stopped chasing every trend and began asking whether something felt aligned. Did it support hair health? Did it feel honest? Did it allow room to breathe? That shift did more for my confidence than any external change ever could. I trusted myself again, and that trust showed up everywhere, in my work, in my boundaries, and in how I experienced my own beauty.
What I experienced personally is now showing up as a broader shift in the beauty industry. There is a clear movement away from extremes and toward longevity. Clients are prioritizing scalp health, lived-in color, and extension methods that protect natural hair.
We are seeing less interest in constant reinvention and more interest in refinement. Beauty trends are becoming quieter but more intentional.
This shift is closely tied to identity. People no longer want to look like someone else. They want to look like themselves on their best day. That is a powerful redefinition of empowerment. Beauty is no longer about becoming someone new. It is about feeling secure and confident in who you already are.
At the same time, there is tension. Social media still rewards dramatic before and afters and instant gratification. What performs well online does not always reflect what is healthiest or most sustainable in real life. As professionals, we feel that pressure. Confidence becomes the filter. When you trust yourself, you can opt out of trends that do not align and choose practices that actually support you long term.
Media has an opportunity to reflect this reality more accurately. When beauty coverage focuses only on transformation, it reinforces the idea that something is always wrong and needs fixing.
Stories that highlight maintenance, restraint, and long-term care better reflect what clients are actually seeking right now. Stability. Ease. A sense of belonging in their own bodies.
Confidence does not make beauty louder. It makes it clearer. When beauty practices are rooted in self-trust, they stop feeling performative and start feeling grounding. That is the future of beauty as I see it. Not about chasing perfection, but about creating a relationship with yourself that feels honest, supportive, and lasting.
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