I wanted something new for Why Hello Beauty in 2016 and I can finally present to you, the first in a regular feature ‘A Day in the Life Of’.

As a beauty lover who doesn’t work within the industry (yet!), I am curious and also envious of those who do and thought I could live vicariously through them, within this platform. I have beauty therapists, nail technicians, makeup artists and various others working within the beauty industry all lined up to contribute throughout the year but first up, I have a Kristy Rattray, a local Tasmanian hairdresser sharing a typical day doing all things H.A.I.R!

“Hi! Kristy here; hairstylist, wife and mumma to my 7 month old daughter Evie. I live in beautiful Devonport, Tasmania and work 3 days a week in my fathers family business Get Smart Hairdressing. I’ve been invited by Emily to write a blog post detailing a day in the life of me. As you can imagine, with a little baby it can be fairly busy but I think I have everything pretty much down pat now after a couple of months of practice – and the days it all falls into place, I feel like supermum! For a typical day of a senior hair stylist, keep reading on!”

6 – 6:30am: This is where my day usually begins with Evie waking up ready to start the day. If it’s not a work day, I go and get grab her and pop her into bed with me for another couple of hours snooze, but today I’m off to work so I get her up and give her a feed. When she’s finished, I usually express the other side (I am still breastfeeding so my days usually involve some pumping between clients!), then I change her and pop her on the play mat with her toys while I get ready for my day to start.

7:30am – Once I’m showered, I always do my makeup before my hair. My hair takes ages to dry so I pop some Kerastase Ciment Thermique heat protectant in and let it air dry as much as possible while I finish the rest of my routine. Breaky time consists of weetbix and banana most of the time, this is also when I prepare Evies breakfast for her to have later on in the morning, usually whatever fruit I have in the fridge pureed with some yoghurt. I also pack her bag for the day ahead.

8:30am – Now to do my hair, I’ve already put my heat protectant in so I use a round brush to blow-dry and straighten my locks and I’m ready to start the day. Now it’s time to drop Evie at her at Nanny or Grandmas house for the day, I usually feed her one last time before I head off to work.

10:00am – Finally time for my working day to start – I must say once I walk through the door of the salon I can breathe a huge sigh of relief! My first client for the day is a ladies haircut, my apprentice had already coloured her for me earlier in the morning, so when I walk in she’s being rinsed off at the basin. Following her, I have a mens haircut to do, which both of these clients I have been doing for over 4 years so it’s a great start to the day.

11:15am – Next up is another womens haircut, this client I haven’t seen for over 12 months as she has been travelling around Australia, so we have a great catch up! I cut her hair into a gorgeous concave bob, she rebooks for a cut and colour in 6 weeks time, just in time before she heads off again on another adventure.

12pm – Lunch time! On a Monday I usually head up to my mother in laws to see my daughter for a feed and grab some lunch, they live very close to town and it only takes me 5 minutes to drive there.

1pm – From now on my afternoon is filled with blonde clients, I like to think of myself as a bit of a blonde specialist – it’s definitely my favourite thing to do!

First up is a full head of foils & toner and while that’s processing I complete another ¾ head of foils and tint.

Once these have processed, I then tone and cut their hair. Over the years I’ve tried many different foiling techniques in order to perfect my blonde retouching, it is one of the hardest things to get right, and being blonde myself I know exactly how I like my colour to look. It is so important to get the highlights nice and close to the root and totally seamless and natural looking. I have now developed my own technique that I have been using for around 4 years, which some of other staff also use on a daily basis.

5pm – My final client is a little boy whose hair I’ve cut a couple of times now, his mother is also a client at the salon. Once that is completed, we shut up the shop and I head off to pick Evie up and head home.

6pm – Dinner time for hubby, Evie and I, she has vegies and we have whatever is going on that particular night. Next up for Evie is a bit of play, bath time, story time and bed, sometimes while she’s playing and being bathed I head to the gym or go for a walk, for that bit of me time. The rest of the night usually consists of other house hold chores, a bit of Facebook and Instagram updating, chats with the husband, TV and then bed around 10:30pm.

So there you have it, a working day in the life of me – extremely hectic but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Please visit my Instagram @kristyrattrayhair to check out some of my work and inspiration.

For appointments, call Get Smart Hairdressing on 64243833, visit our website at www.getsmarthair.com or simply email me at [email protected].

With love, Kristy x