Sustainability: Living Well

With 40 years in the business, an eponymous salon in Manhattan and an impressive body of work as a session stylist in Paris, Mark Garrison is arguably one of the most gifted hairdressers on the planet. He’s also one of the most disciplined. “I’m 58 years old, and the reason I can still bounce from chair to chair with high energy every day is because I am committed to staying fit, eating right and, above all, living in faith, not fear,” says Garrison, whose three-pronged approach to living well includes living in a state of gratitude at all times and staying connected to the source that allows him to find balance in an often chaotic world. Garrison thought he might become a dancer someday—he’d studied ballet for years—so when he worked for Yosh Toya in San Francisco right out of beauty school, he went straight from the salon to study dance. “I did nothing but shampoo clients all day long, and I made the connection pretty quickly that my back didn’t hurt as long as I was practicing ballet,” he says. When he moved to New York City in the 1990s to work for Frédéric Fekkai, Garrison discovered yoga, which not only worked his core but also improved his posture just as dance had done. “I try to keep my spine as straight as possible while I’m working,” he says. “I’ve learned not to bend over to cut someone’s hair. Instead, I have them stand up. I remember this older guy who worked at Yosh. He looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and I swore I’d never end up like that.” For years, Garrison did all of his errands on his bicycle, which kept him fit and trim. Nowadays, he prefers to take spinning classes instead of risking his life on the streets of Manhattan with “the traffic and the crazy New York drivers.” Garrison goes to Flywheel because it’s so competitive. He’s referring to the proprietary TorqBoard, an in-studio display that provides riders with the option to compare their performance against the rest of the class in real time. “The thing I like about spinning is the cardio workout, which you don’t get with yoga,” he says, though after further reflection he allows that hot yoga can get pretty intense. “I have to admit that when I leave Bikram I feel like I’m going to die,” he laughs. “They really crank things up.”

At five o’clock, three times a week, something amazing happens at the UNITE San Diego Headquarters. Everyone—from the CEO to new interns—meets together on the lawn and practices yoga together for an hour. “It’s a part of our company’s culture,” says Andrew Dale, UNITE founder and CEO. “It builds a tighter community and creates wellness. If you haven’t found inner peace within yourself, how can you be expected to perform well at your job?” Even though the event isn’t mandatory, hardly anyone ever misses it.

Mark DeWitt is a Los Angeles-based certified yoga teacher and massage therapist, who has developed a program of yoga poses specifically for hairdressers. “Think of how much time you spend with your arms lifted, which tightens the chest and neck muscles,” says DeWitt, who suggests holding your arms behind your back, interlacing your fingers and lifting your hands toward the ceiling in order to open up the chest and back. Anterior head carriage—essentially, your head is in front of your shoulders—is another problem that seems to plague hairdressers. ‘The ears are supposed to be in alignment with the shoulders,” says DeWitt, who suggests standing with your back against the wall. Now try to touch the wall with the back of your head. If you can’t, you need to work the neck muscles until you can. Our heads, says DeWitt, weigh about 14 pounds. Now imagine adding an extra 10 pounds for every inch you hold your head forward. That’s a lot of weight to carry around all day. DeWitt’s two-hour workshops include techniques for using massage balls about the size of a soft ball to relieve muscle tension. “If you use self-massage to release trigger points, which are specific areas in the muscles that hold tension, you’ll find relief,” says DeWitt, who also uses aromatherapy in his practice. To relieve muscle spasms, he suggests massaging the area with a combination of essential oils, like wintergreen, peppermint and clove. To boost your immune system during flu season, he recommends Thieves Oil, a powerful combination of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus radiata and rosemary with a pleasant, spicy scent.

Van Council, Artistic Director for Intercoiffure America/Canada, is a self- proclaimed “country boy.” That’s why he bought a mountain house in northern Georgia. While there Council noticed people biking on some nearby trails. “It looked like a great way to get in some cardio, so I bought my first bike,” he says. “It was perfect, being in the woods, not seeing any cars. I loved it.” Never one to dabble, Council threw himself into the sport—eventually competing in world-class mountain bike races, typically finishing first. After mountain biking for 20 years, Council fully understands the benefits the sport gives him, both personally and professionally. “Pushing myself athletically—I ride for at least 15 hours every week—recharges me, it helps me accomplish more than I ever thought I could. As a salon owner, it’s helped me focus on coaching day to day—instead of reverting to coaching after the fact, or months later,” he says. Another positive effect, it keeps him feeling young. Council often goes riding with his teenage children, and they can barely keep up with him. He knows the day is coming when they’ll surpass his biking skills. “But for now,” he says with a wry smile, “I’m going to fight old age as hard as I can.”