BEAUTY “THERAPY”: THE EMOTIONAL LABOR OF COMMERCIALIZED LISTENING IN THE SALON INDUSTRY

Abstract

The concept of personal image is ubiquitous in culture, and hairstyling as a subset serves as a tool for self-expression. Salons, as a venue for this image self-expression, offer insight into a unique practitioner-client dynamic in which the practitioner must empathetically listen as a function of her work, to assist the client in creating this visual form of self-expression. This act of empathetic listening, denoted as commercialized listening, at times requires the practitioner to commit emotional self-suppression in deference to the client’s needs. This self-suppression may extend to the intellectual realm under the “trade professional” paradox in which the practitioner is expected to be educated enough in her trade, but not as educated as the person she services. This self-suppression in exchange for paid work constitutes emotional labor which may bear heavy psychological cost to the practitioner.