W hen it comes to feeling yourself, sometimes it’s a new outfit, passing as female, after a good workout, after a drink, or for many of you, after a fresh new ‘do. Steph McNair of Maneland Non-Binary Beauty has thoughts on why.
“There’s a lot of people who struggle to self-love but need to. With the salon, I want people, myself included, to learn to love themselves,” says McNair. “I’m doing my best to create a space that allows me to do that for myself and help other people to be comfortable to do that wherever they’re at with themselves.”
Promoting self love in the beauty industry has not always been easy. Its influence is undeniable, with the average individual having 1.2 detergent brands in contrast to 12 beauty brands in their household. However, up to 70 percent of audiences have reported feeling alienated by the traditional white, straight-sized, cis women models in beauty advertising.
“Starting out, I didn’t feel like I fit into what the beauty industry was. Now, I hope that I’m helping to broaden it from within,” says McNair. “Beauty is as you are.”
As classic standards of beauty continue to adapt, spaces like Maneland are vital for continuing to promote this inclusion and self-love for all folks.
“One of the most important things that I’ve learned is that I have to be confident outside of the chair so that I can give confidence to the person in it,” says McNair.
This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2020.
Is this another one of those places like One Block Barber Shop where no one has a licence to actually cut hair?