Month: March 2022

Anxiety decomposes thought. And there are COUNTLESS instagram and social media ‘gurus’ who suggest ways that we can get rid of anxiety as if it’s as easy as doing a couple of deep breaths.  At KIT we’re not here to tell you we can get rid of it for you, we’re doing the research and offering some other ways to handle your anxiety and offering advice on how to navigate it all and to remind you you’re not alone. 

During these turbulent times the last fucking thing we need is anxiety.

WITH MENOPAUSE OR PERIMENOPAUSAL the serious fluctuation of estrogen and progesterone in your body can make you feel anxious.  And some women can develop a panic disorder during menopause. IF you think you’re developing a panic disorder it’s important to discuss it more with your GP. 

PERIOD ANXIETY AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PMS AND PMDD 

Never heard of PMDD? NEITHER HAD WE. (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder) It’s really important that if you recognise five or more symptoms that you know you’ve had to handle, seek medical advice and discuss with your GP ways of handling PMDD.

PMDD has the following symptoms:

• Feelings of sadness or despair, or even thoughts of suicide
• Feelings of tension or anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Mood swings or crying often
• Lack of interest in daily activities and relationships
• Trouble thinking or focusing
• Tiredness or low energy
• Food cravings or binge eating
• Trouble sleeping
• Feeling out of control
• Physical symptoms, such as cramps, bloating, breast tenderness, headaches, and joint or muscle pain

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  

KIT TIPS:

• When you begin to feel anxiety creeping up, write down anything that’s on your mind to try and combat that feeling of being overwhelmed. 
• Download an app – for example FLO
• Keep a period or menopause journal, with your symptoms and triggers.  This really helps your GP work out the best course of action for you. 
• Know you aren’t alone.  Minimizing our pain and suffering is just what society has trained HER+ women to do.  DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE.
• Cultivate a workplace environment where people can TALK. And be acutely aware that symptoms vary from person to person. 

And, if you’re interested in this then we suggest reading our previous article LET’S TALK HAIR LOSS on HER+ EXPERIENCE.  

By Sophia Collins

At KIT we’ve researched charities, drop off points in Ireland and the UK. 

Additionally, many charities that are based in the USA.  Please consider donating resources to the Ukrainian mothers, or donating to charities that directly help Mothers and children. 

Here are a list of Charities: (All these are linked):

Donate to Sanctuary Foundation

Donate to Save the Children

Donate to USA for UNHCR

Donate to UNWOMEN

Ukrainian London has also compiled a list of the various collection points for humanitarian and medical aid items.

See here for a full list of the locations around the city and there are many Drop off Points in Ireland:

Drop off points in London

Drop off points in Ireland

For those who want to donate, the organisations is seeking donations of the following:

• Clothes, all ages and sizes
• Blankets, sleeping bags and bedding.
• Non perishable food and baby formula with a long best before date
• Toiletries and toothbrushes
• Sanitary pads, tampons
• Batteries and flashlights
• Nappies for babies and kids toys and colouring books
• Cosmetics and body wash/face wash
• First aid kits
• Disposable plates and cutlery
• Pet food for animals
• Disposable gloves and face masks
• Towels
• Survival Blankets 

Please reach out to us on INSTAGRAM if you have any ideas on how we can help Ukraine. 

By Sophia Collins

Andy Dix is making some serious moves in SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION and has MADE  BICYCLES FROM TREES – Who wouldn’t love that?

Cardiff-born Dix spent seventeen years as a furniture maker. In his downtime, Dix found the ideal playground for his mountain bike adventure: Brecon Beacons and began to explore sustainable development and innovation when it came to bicycles.

He explained his genius idea:  ‘It’s great to push for more bikes and fewer cars on the road, but you can’t escape the fact that the bike industry is pretty energy intensive.  Rather than relying on processed metals, or layers of plastic that will one day end up in landfill, I’m building bikes from captured carbon, in a process powered by sunlight’

Dix selects ash planks from a local sawmill, before joining them by hand. Planks are shaped and hollowed by computer-controlled machinery to create the bicycle’s familiar front triangle. Dix adds the other frame elements in his workshop. To the doubters, who may be concerned about the durability of a bike made from ash, Dix is quick to point out that wood has a better weight-to-strength ratio than steel or aluminium. He’s clocked up more than 3,000 miles on his own wooden bike, ‘riding it hard in the mountains and on routes it’s really not designed for’, and Dix has had the frame subjected to fatigue tests, which simulate high impact crashes and a decade of riding – ‘the frame passed with flying colours!’

THIS IS WHAT WE NEED MORE OF.

Make sure you follow us on INSTAGRAM for more stories like this.

By Sophia Collins

HER+ EXPERIENCE 

HAIR LOSS is a symptom from:  PERIODS.  POSTPARTUM.    MENOPAUSE.  PERIMENOPAUSE. 

Yeah, we are pissed off too. Apparently, hair loss can be a symptom with all of them. Well, at least there is equal pay for women… oh wait.

We’ve been having a real think here at KIT of ways we can implement change to help support women+.  Below we explain why this happens, and some ways you can implement support in your salons.

IT’S ALL ABOUT HORMONES:

Female pattern hair loss and facial hirsitism (the growth of excessive dark or coarse hair in a male-like pattern) can often be seen in menopausal women. The reason for this?  You guessed it …hormones.  And during menopause, a woman’s estrogen and progesterone levels drop dramatically. 

During pregnancy, the body ups its levels of progesterone and estradiol (a form of oestrogen) – both of which are amazing for your hair. Fast-forward to around 3 months postpartum, when progesterone and estradiol levels undergo a monumental decrease as they head back to pre-pregnancy levels.

FEAR NOT.  While pregnancy hormones are different for every woman, generally any hair lost during the postpartum months will eventually grow back.

RIGHT, when it comes to PERIODS it’s a whole different story:

When you experience a heavy menstrual flow every month, you are more likely to become anaemic. This type of anaemia develops slowly and over time, so you may not recognise the common symptoms of fatigue and an increased heart rate, but you may start to notice some hair loss.

WE. WANT. YOU. TO. BE. HEARD.  

SO we’ve outlined a few ways to embed a better framework in place at your salon for women+ suffering with hair loss.

KIT TIPS:

• Create a narrative where women+ suffering with hair loss are able to rely and talk openly with you and your team.
• Establishing policies and practices that aid, and protect specific needs to those going through hair loss.  
• Research yourself to try and understand their difficulties.
• Talk about uncertainties, the support needed, and be aware that this is really common. 
• Offer guidance and possible solutions to clients who have vocalised their struggle.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any suggestions on how you have learnt to work with clients in these experiences.

If you’re interested in this then we suggest reading our previous article LET’S TALK MENOPAUSE on HER+ EXPERIENCE 

It’s a big deal for us here at KIT to make you live your fullest life, and this means talking about stuff that is stigmatised.

By Sophia Collins

HER+ EXPERIENCE

Here at KIT, we will continue to follow our HER+ EXPERIENCE campaign, which will continue to appear every week in our newsletter. 

‘Women issues’ is now a phrase that is thrown around in ironic and fucking hurtful ways. It’s 2022, and we’re bored of these issues not being taken seriously. Frankly, we sometimes feel like we get  zero respect for literally just being ourselves. With discrimination and sexism rife in so many male-dominated sectors, it’s important we break the taboo, silence and straight-up neglectful culture that surrounds menopause for women in the workplace.  

Let’s give you some numbers:

There are 3.5 million women above the age of 50 working in the UK right now. This doesnt even include the millions of preimenopausal women (referring to the transitional period leading up to menopause).  

For about every 1 in 100 women, menopause starts before 40, and perimenopausal symptoms can start before. 

And the symptoms of menopause alter from person to person, hot flushes, brain fog, anxiety, and 25% of women will experience severe symptoms. 

Click here to look at more stats and just revere these fucking incredible women who are trying to change the stigma:  

We’ve also explored and done the research so we can provide  some tips and tricks to embed a better framework for women struggling with menopause at your workplace.

Lets Break the Silence of Menopause in the Workplace

KIT tips and tricks to embed a better framework for women struggling with menopause at your workplace

• Cultivating a psychological safe work culture.  A culture where employees can disclose there menopause journey both preimenopausal and menopause. 
• Establishing policies and practices that aid, and protect specific needs to those going through menopause
• Have more of an understanding on the symptomatic effects menopause have for women 
• Talk about uncertainties, the support needed, and be aware that every woman is affected different to menopause, some more severe than others
• Adopting a culture in the workplace where women are respected and understood 
• Be an ally – a supportive manager or teammate goes a long way

INCLUSIVITY IS KEY. END OF. We’ve been looking into the significance of promoting neurodiversity, and how this will allow apprentices to be able to reach their full potential in salons.

The term neurodiversity refers directly to differences within our brains. There is no one way to experience and interact with the world, and neurodiversity is the umbrella term for all of the diverse ways people can think, learn, and interact. A few of these conditions include Autism, Dyslexia, ADHD and OCD, as well as many others. 

“Neurodiversity is the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are the result of normal, natural variation in the human genome… Everyone is to some extent differently abled – an expression favoured by many neurodiverse people – because we are all born different and raised differently. Our ways of thinking result from both our inherent “machinery” and the experiences that have “programmed” us,”  explains John Elder Robinson, a scholar in residence and a co-chair of the Neurodiversity Working Group at the College of William & Mary.  Here’s all his research in this YouTube clip.

Given that up to 1 in 3 learners are estimated to have hidden needs, it is important that salon owners are aware of signs and steps to take that will support the apprentice and allow them to reach their full potential. 

KIT’s Signs and Steps that will support apprentices and allow them to reach their full potential:

• Ensure every apprentice receives the same high-quality experience and an equal opportunity of success (According to the National Achievement Rates Tables (NARTs), learners with identified learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD) are more likely to drop out of their apprenticeships.)
• Cultivate an environment where apprentices are able to discuss their identified learning difficulties
• Discuss with the apprentices what support they will need to achieve their full potential
• Provide an open narrative within your salon and provide practices that aid and support any learners with identified learning difficulties and disabilities
• Consider mentorship and guidance for apprentices

If you have any insights on how we can grow this list, please feel free to get in touch.