Jane Your Tartan!

December 13, 2018 ·

I woke up this morning to a comment on my Instagram that went something like this: “Tartan in your knickers doesn’t line up…..not well made.” Hmmm, first I had to stop reading with one eye open and recall what the hell tartan was, Oh, right my underwear. WOW, someone is looking at the seams in my UNDERWEAR noticing they don’t match up? LOL I have made it!

Jane Your Tartan! — Photo Credit: Rick Gomez Photography

I laid in bed looking at the ceiling thinking it’s amazing I am even taking pictures in my underwear at forty-three. It’s ironic because when I was shooting this shot, I would run over to my photographer Rick and say let me see how these are coming out. I then would proceed to tell many insults about my body or how the robe was laying. Rick always rolls his eyes and says something to the effect that I am foolish and not practicing what I preach. It’s the truth, for some reason we women like to beat ourselves up over little imperfections that in reality WE can only see.

I am just like you with not always being positive about my body, hair, skin you name it that is why I am so passionate about writing and speaking about being yourself, embracing your age and finding the silver lining that we all have inside.

It’s not so much about the tartan or my ridiculous thoughts about my body in this photoshoot but how women are so quick to point out the negative, the flaws in each other. Why is that? I know the comment about my dysfunctional seams on my underwear isn’t a huge deal and maybe it’s true that the seams are beyond screwed up, but it’s the underlying energy and example that this statement creates. Perhaps the woman that wrote the comment is very unhappy with her life, maybe she is sad around the holidays, and this made her feel better, or maybe she is coming apart at the seams (pardon the pun) and needed to say something that was just true and obvious? Whatever it was it wasn’t positive no matter how you try and lessen that comment.

So what is the lesson today? What’s your take away? Think about what you are saying first before you say or write it. The holidays are a very highly emotional time for a lot of people. Think about how your comment might make someone else feel. Do you think it will empower that man or woman? Do you think it makes you a better person if you say it? Get real with yourself, find out where your intentions are with the words and comments you say.

Words are powerful make yours be a reflection of who you are.

5 Things To Remember When You Stop Dyeing Your Hair

November 2, 2018 ·

Do you know what to expect when you stop dyeing your hair? I didn’t and I suspect the majority of women don’t either. Let’s keep it, real Ladies, we have dyed our hair for decades why would we think about all the pitfalls when we stop dyeing our hair?

I think it’s essential anytime before you wander in an unchartered territory such as the gray hair transition to get an overview of what to expect. I filmed a video a couple of months ago called What To Expect When Going Gray. I receive dozens of DM’s and emails a week from women telling me they had no clue on what to expect and wished they had some idea before they kicked their dye box to the curb.

I have rounded up five things to remember when you stop dyeing your hair.

Go into this exciting and unique time in your life with the knowledge of where the challenges and emotional pitfalls are, so you are prepared when you hit those rough patches. I feel the more you know, the more successful you will be with your gray hair goals.

How I Keep My Gray Hair White

October 31, 2018 ·

I am always getting the question “How do you keep your gray hair so white?” and the simple answer is I am not so sure. Seriously what kind of response is that? Keep on reading.

I feel its a combination of your genetics and what hair products you use. I have used hair products that make my hair look dirty and give it a yellowish cast. When I see my hair looking yellow from hair products it’s almost like kryptonite to me, I will literally do whatever it takes to keep my hair bright white. I have experimented with tons of hair products over that last three years some amazing and some I threw away after using just once.

Let’s first consider the fact that I had a white stripe show up right above my right eyebrow in my twenties but I refused to allow my hair to be grey, so I dyed it for years. Then I noticed that this white stripe would not take the dye and turn a reddish color which looked terrible with my brown hair. I let the white line claim it’s territory on my head at around the age of thirty-four. It was a love-hate relationship going back and forth dyeing it and making it my friend. So I started with a white stripe not yellow or ashy. I equate this to genetics this super white stripe is what color my hair is no matter if I used a purple shampoo or not. My grey roots came in just as white. When I was first transitioning to grey, my hair was white roots and dyed black hair, not the ideal look, but I made it work. I cringe just thinking about that time.

I have seen my white hair turn yellow by using DryBar’s dry shampoo it comes out of the bottle a yellowish/brown color which is the worst product I could have ever used on my hair. A little trick I use if my hair needs to be washed and is looking not bright white, I will spray this dry shampoo into my hair, and it makes my hair fresh, absorbs the oil and super white. I used this trick when I was trying to lessen the demarcation line at the beginning of my grey hair journey. I would spray this dry shampoo in strategic areas to create streaks of white, so my hair looked more even, and my white roots were a little more blended.

I experimented with so many different shampoos and conditioners that were made specifically for grey hair. I was getting frustrated with the lack of improvement that these “grey hair” products were supposed to do to my hair. I didn’t find that they were improving anything from texture, hydration, manageability, so I stopped and saw this shampoo and conditioner that I feel has been the best for cleaning and volumizing my hair and keeping it amazingly white. My hair has more manageability, texture and an overall hydrated fehttp://bit.ly/2EU0Zzoel. I use two products after I shampoo for smoothness and anti-frizz one is a spray oil and the other is a blow dry cream. I have been very happy with the results of these two products. Here is also a fantastic shampoo and conditioner that I love using because it’s an oil shampoo and conditioner a powerhouse of hydration which most gray hair needs but most importantly does not weigh down your hair.

I am always open to trying new products but like the saying goes “If it ain’t broke.” I go into more detail in chapter eight of my new book launching December 1st, 2018 called Beauty Reinvented–How to Embrace Gray Hair, Upgrade your Self-Confidence and Redefine your Beauty. I detail hair products to the best haircuts when going gray.

I think that you should experiment with products and find what works for your hair. Everyone has a different texture, weight, thickness, etc. It’s not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to your hair products. Ask for samples when you are at Sephora, order travel sizes and see how your hair performs with different formulations. It takes time so be patient, but when you do find the perfect combination for your hair, it’s total nirvana.

Book Launch December 1st, 2018

October 18, 2018 ·

I am so excited to announce my first book launch on December 1st, 2018. Writing a book has always been on my radar, I wasn’t sure how my book would take shape would I write on infertility or going gray or both? In January, I made the decision that I would write a book to help women all over the world FINALLY have a Bold, Fierce, and encouraging step-by-step guide on how to embrace their natural gray hair in a modern and empowering manner. Beauty Reinvented encourages women to live authentically with an unapologetic attitude toward society’s view on gray hair and aging.

I had zero help when I started on my gray hair journey; I couldn’t find one woman in her thirties that had a blog or had written a book on how to go gray. I wanted a little insight, guidance, and raw information so I could be prepared but google search after google search I came up with nothing. I felt so alone and unattractive, but I pushed forward and made it to the silver lining two years later. I designed my book to be a workbook format that will help prepare you for all of the ups and downs of going gray. Some of the highlights of Beauty Reinvented include Developing Your Gray Attitude in chapter 4, and down-to-earth informative advice in chapter 5: My 5 Strategies to Going Gray. The book is rich with personal anecdotes and infused with my expert beauty advice on how to upgrade your skincare and makeup routines throughout your gray hair journey.

Beauty Reinvented will be available on Amazon and Kindle December 1st, 2018. Don’t forget to sign up for my Newsletter for exclusive invites, offers and discount codes.

You Are Not Broken Just Bent

May 7, 2018 ·

One of the many reasons I love spinning is that my mind runs free. I can think clearly, and many blog posts were created right in the saddle mid-song. I am inspired by music and working on my body so much that I filmed a video on my Peloton Hack if you haven’t seen it check it out, I save you thousands of dollars with this hack, and you get a sexy summer body, you’re welcome.

Copyright: Rick Gomez Photography Top: Polo Ralph Lauren (similar here) Pants: Oscar de la Renta vintage (similar here, here and here) Shoes: Frontline 105 by Tamara Mellon

One of the songs on my ride today was by PINK called “Just Give Me a Reason”. I have heard this song a million times but never actually listened to the lyrics. Isn’t that so typical? I am listening to the song and most the time humming what I think are the words, and yet I am missing the entire meaning of the song. Pink sings about being not broken but bent, how incredibly beautiful is this statement? I go around thinking I am broken because I haven’t been able to conceive, I go about figuring I am broken because I went gray early on in life. Thinking this way is incredibly harmful self-talk a topic I have been researching and found this book to be very helpful. It has shown me ways to understand why choosing healthy positive thoughts is crucial to balance and happiness.

As I was climbing my hills this morning I thought back to a show I saw on how they make steel drums. That captivating sound that only a steel drum can make doesn’t come easy, there are multiple steps from stretching to create enough space for the notes, pounding with a sledgehammer to create the concave shape (sounds painless lol), cutting, burning the list goes on. Without all these steps to refine the steel to make beautiful music, it would just be ordinary steel. I started to think that if I didn’t experience infertility, I wouldn’t have been stretched, refined, put under the fire to ignite my desire to help women with their journey, to get to know myself and what I was capable of doing. Going gray in my thirties was just a little bend in my steel, a refinement if you will.

Ladies, look at what you think are imperfections in your beauty, your life as just a little bend something that makes you different and unique. That is how we each enrich the lives of everyone that gets to know us. No two women will have the same bends in their steel; no two women will have gone through the same process of refinement. Honor that, own that and set yourself free. This summer every time you see or hear steel drums you will think of how one-of-a-kind, special and deserving you are to the world.

Transparency In a Social Nation

May 1, 2018 ·

Look up the definition of transparency, and you get “the condition of being transparent.” OK, so what does that mean? I think in our new social media distorted nation no one knows what transparency means anymore. Transparency means being yourself? Being true to your values? Letting the world/strangers/followers see YOU as a hot mess on certain days, living room/kitchen/bathroom, not Instagram perfect? Being truly real as in no filter on yourself, your words, your personality?

I don’t know how we got so far away from being real but what I do know is that I wasn’t genuinely transparent when I first started out on YouTube in 2010. I felt I had to be this “perfect” beauty guru, look a certain way, do videos like everyone else, make my life seem so amazing it was draining and made me very unhappy. From 2010 to 2014 I was doing the same thing everyone else was doing just with my twist on beauty videos it wasn’t until the fire aka infertility got so hot under me that I couldn’t keep up the “my life is ah-mazing” façade. It was a scary place to be not knowing if I wanted my true story, my true self to come out and meet the perfect social media world but I did. I came out of the “my life is perfect” in December of 2014 and shared with the world why I couldn’t keep up with my videos and blogging production. Can we say UNCOMFORTABLE!!!!!

It was at this time I started a separate blog called “Not Just A Beauty Blogger” and YouTube channel to document my infertility journey because again I didn’t want to turn people off on my main Fresh Beauty Studio blog with real-life struggles. I went through my first four years of making beauty videos on YouTube with little interaction from my followers it was almost like an abyss, one big black hole of silence until I became transparent and real.

The moment I opened up and told my truth about my life, not the so-called “perfect” life that’s when I found my tribe of women that supported me, could relate to me and gave me the strength to keep going through IVF. I made connections to women from all over the world, I met some of these women in person and had developed beautiful friendships. I am still in contact with many of these women today. On my fourth IVF cycle, I decided enough was enough with the hair dye, and I made the bold decision to allow myself to go gray at forty. Ladies, I get it IVF is not for everyone, going gray is not for everyone, but that was what was happening to me so I could either keep fighting it, covering up, trying to be someone I wasn’t or allow. There is a lot to learn about acceptance and letting go when it comes to your life. It’s not easy or painless, but there is beauty in both.

Two years after deciding to let my gray hair shine I found another fantastic tribe of women that supported me. All the women that feel the same way I do about dying their hair and wanting to break free from societies beauty rules showed up on my YouTube video My Gray Hair Journey. Since then I have connected with amazing women all over the world that is going gray, wanting to go gray or wanting support with aging. I feature one of my readers each week on my blog called Silver Sister Spotlight. None of this would have happened if I pretended my life was perfect, pretended that I didn’t struggle, pretended that I was someone I wasn’t.

“This is ME a forty-two-year-old woman with gray hair being raw and real.” Nikol Johnson

It’s overwhelming scrolling and swiping through social media just to see everyone being paid to push a product or service. I don’t know who to believe anymore with #ad, #sponsored we are so inundated with the pressure to buy, look a specific way, swipe up. Why are you valued on the number below your name, how ridiculous is that? A number makes you valuable to a company? To yourself? How did we get so far away from what matters? A digit doesn’t define you as worthy especially when a lot of these so-called numbers are just smoke and mirrors. I have these conversations a lot with my clients and friends. Some of them have decided that it’s not worth their mental health to keep seeing fake and unrealistic visuals on a daily basis, so they have taken a break from social media. The question is: Where are the thought leaders? Why is everyone doing the same thing and pushing the latest “It” top or butt enhancing pads because a company is paying them? Do they even like the top, skin care cream or butt plumping pads (sorry I have to laugh)? There is no originality in doing that. I recently read an article in the New York Times about how celebrities, politicians, and want-to-be influencers are buying followers; I mean seriously where is the transparency?

Why did I choose to post a picture of myself in a bra and underwear for this blog post? I have nothing to hide, it’s untouched, no fake eyelashes, minimal makeup, no self-tanner, not filtered, authentic, just ME. I am breaking away from what social media says is beautiful. I could sit here and pick apart the entire photo based on Instagram guidelines, but I choose to represent women in a new light. This real woman is me, a forty-two-year-old with gray hair that works hard to achieve a healthy lifestyle and bring my followers authentic and transparent content. I turn down companies every day that want to send me free product in return for a video or blog post. I don’t do that never have and never will. I find no value in spending time and effort creating blog posts or videos just for the sake of writing a blog post/video because a company gave me free products. I research and use products that I want to use, that I find beneficial to my skin, body, and mind. I reach out or accept companies products that are in line with my values, vision, and brand.

I don’t know if the way we look at beauty, ourselves, other women will ever be the same because of social media and how warped it has become. I know one thing to be real, I am committed to showing up in this world as my true self and honoring my unique style and delivering valuable raw content to my readers no matter what my virtual numbers say.

How To Get a Gray Attitude

April 25, 2018 ·

Ladies I get it, going gray is not fun no matter what your age. All the stereotypical statements go through your head that people say from “I am so old,” “Grandma Hair,” “Frumpy old lady.” You name it you’re thinking it. So what are you to do? Default to what society says is beautiful and young? Allow your negative self-talk to keep you from being true to yourself? Or keep on dying your hair, so it looks entirely unnatural for your age? Maybe give up and add more toxins every two weeks so that you can feel accepted? I think NOT.

I know gray hair is not for everyone, but I don’t think I need to remind everyone that Beauty Reinvented is all about women that WANT to go gray.

Photo Credit; Rick Gomez Photography

When you are feeling down, and very unattractive how do you pick yourself back up and get in the game? How do you feel confident when all your peers are sporting golden locks or rich chestnut hair? I have created a list for you ladies to print out and post to your mirror or somewhere you will see it on a daily basis. I am your biggest cheerleader because I felt everything you are feeling. I didn’t have a gray-haired role model that did videos or wrote a blog about it when I was first going through this crazy gray transition over two years ago.

When your gray hair journey gets hard, and you are at your last dark hair strand NOW that’s when you need to push for your gray and own it even more. You need to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself “This too shall pass.” Ladies, it’s a hair color that means nothing except for a bold, fierce and downright powerful attitude. If you dyed your hair pink, purple or green like a lot of women, not just teens are doing do you think anyone would care? So why do they care about gray? Think about that for a second.

Here is the plan, read this list below, print it out to give yourself the encouragement you need to get through each day. I promise you it gets more comfortable you have to commit and not look back.

I designed a couple of hats like the one I am wearing in this photo that is available on my website. Perfect for the days where you are just like I can’t take it anymore. It’s a fashionable statement to help you through the growing out period. You have seen me wearing this hat a lot on my Instagram. I love how I make a statement without having to say a word.

Ladies with a Gray Attitude

April 18, 2018 ·

Let’s face it you have to have a fierce attitude when you go gray. Now, this is not a negative attitude, it’s not an unattractive attitude it’s an attitude that shows confidence and self-worth.

PC: Rick Gomez Photography

From my experience, I felt very uncomfortable when I first decided to ditch the dye. I would look in the mirror and separate my hair and say OMG what are you thinking? What are you doing? I would flip through magazines and see hair campaigns with girls my age sporting gorgeous brunette glossy locks and then I would see commercials with girls in slow motion running with their beautiful freshly dyed hair waving at me. I felt so alone, so weird and so unattractive. Can you relate?

“When Society Says NO, You Say YES!”

PC: Rick Gomez Photography

In life, we all know the saying it’s not what happens to you it’s how you handle it or something along those lines. I decided to start looking at myself as lucky, lucky that I had hair, lucky my hair was gray, lucky that I could be an inspiration to other women wanting to embrace their gray hair. That’s when it all changed for me and my gray hair and I became friends. How long did this take? Probably a good year into the transition. What made my hair journey so much easier is that I didn’t try and stay the same with the style of my hair. I cut it to a chic bob and kept cutting it every six weeks so the black dye would quickly disappear. You can’t half-ass going gray you are either in or out. There is no “Let me kind of see how this looks” or “Oh I will just do gray a little bit.” Cut your hair and get over it. It’s not cute to have hair on the ground and gray roots that will never catch up. That’s, where the fierce part comes in you, have to grab your personal gray movement by the roots and go for it. Ladies hair does not define you and cutting your hair is a necessity to your gray hair journey.

“You Can’t Half-Ass Going Gray, You Are Either In or Out.” Nikol Johnson

Maybe you have a boyfriend, spouse or partner that is not supportive. You and only you have to Own Your Beauty. Your gray hair journey is not for anyone else to decide Period. You are running this race no one else. So if you don’t have a support system head on over to my private Facebook group called Beauty Reinvented and join the other ladies that are going through the same thing you are. Remember it all starts from within.

Don’t Look Down

March 9, 2018 ·

I find it very curious that the more I encourage women to allow their beauty to be whatever that is, gray hair, wrinkles, a bold lip color I get passive aggressive comments, nasty comments or just ridiculous negative comments. This post on negativity is going to be my first and last post about this nonsense.

I cycle three to four times a week, and I am an animal in these classes. I have been cycling since 1996 yes, I know can you believe it? And I honestly am obsessed. It has always been a way for me to release stress, get mental clarity, think and come up with the best business ideas and blog posts. The music and beat just hits me in class in such a profound way that if I were listening to the same song driving, it wouldn’t have the same impact. In this mornings class, there was a song on that just ignited me to write this post.

I didn’t put a lot of thought into how women would react to my Beauty Reinvented website or message, but it seems that it does ruffle some wrinkles out there. Let’s be clear I am not driven by what others think because if I were, I would never have gone gray at forty. I am not here to please everyone, I am here to share my journey, to be bold and fearless in a world that dictates what beauty means, what beauty is and what beauty should be.

Going gray is like walking the line some days you are on point and don’t fall off and other days you can’t get your balance. It’s all about your mindset, and YES everyone can go gray, but if you don’t change your makeup, hairstyle or wardrobe than you are right, you can’t go gray. Women write all over my videos saying how they can’t go gray or that gray doesn’t look good on them. I am not sure what that means. Would you decide to be blonde and not change up your style? Do you think you can just rock blonde hair and not change up your makeup? If you are looking to make a significant beauty change and feel that it’s easy and there is no effort required on your part well then I have nothing else to say.

Life challenges you in ways you never thought possible, and I am not just talking your beauty. Living and having it all together is hard ladies, we all are dealing with something so the next time you say you can’t do something, start complaining as I have been for the past week that has altered my flow take a step back and whip out that gratitude journal. Writing down what is going right in your life will change your vibe and energy. Focusing on what is happening right this second will give you a new perspective and a fresh outlook.

To all the women out there that are lashing out at my bold, fierce message take a look inside and figure out what is lacking in your life. Where is that energy coming from, how can you change? Be a light in this beauty darkness, self-acceptance, self-love journey. You are only bringing yourself down, making your vibe run low.

I only have time for like-minded women in my journey, and I thank all of you that have commented and been so supportive! You are my strength to keep going. I will NOT alter my message because it doesn’t sit right with whoever. I am here to be a bold, unapologetic force of beauty.

Take your focus from looking down and set your eyes on what’s right in front of you.

Woman Interrupted

March 8, 2018 ·

There is a definite feeling being a woman right now. Independence, power, boldness, opportunity, freedom, options, rocking gray hair right this minute at forty. I understand that International Women’s Day is about social, economic and political achievements of women but I feel celebrating your unique beauty and confidence is just as important. Self-love is significant and shouldn’t be overlooked. I never considered myself a feminist, but I have always had a bold personality with little filter. Being raised by a Greek father (need I say more) my defiance for control started at a very young age. I have a strong sense of independence maybe being an only child promoted this independence, at eighteen, I was on a plane headed for Europe to further my modeling career and determined to succeed.

Starting my own company in 2006 with less than the ideal savings to start a business, I was always pushing for more, expecting more and wanting more. Celebrating my ten years in business this year I was unapologetic about my decision to go gray at the age of forty and to reinvent my beauty. I wanted to empower women. What does that mean precisely “Empower?” It says to me that you do it first and share your experience, you encourage women to take the fear out and crush it. You blaze the unchartered dye-less hair strains and show other women that they can do it too. You lift women up and celebrate them. Until I broke out on the social media scene with my gray hair journey I didn’t think about the impact gray hair would have on others. The negative comments from women, the looks of disapproval or shock was a surprise to me. How could a hair color provoke such reaction? Its amazing to me that women will write negative comments on a daily basis on my YouTube channel voicing their disapproval of gray hair, aging and shaming another woman in a time when women empowerment, women supporting women is so relevant.

I am not interested in concentrating on the negative, giving life to this dated thinking and comments anymore. My mission is about lifting women up and helping them Own Their Beauty no matter what the reaction.

There is a rebirth within yourself when you allow. Allow your beauty to be what its meant to be to defy all beauty limitations and do YOU. I felt a rebirth, reinvention if you will when I stopped fighting. Fighting to force my body to get pregnant despite seven babies transferred through seven IVF procedures. Quit fighting the white roots with my black hair, stopped fighting against the flow of my life. The beauty, freedom, and acceptance started when I decided to let go.

“It’s not easy to let go, but until you do, you will always stay stuck.”

Women face incredible pressure to get married young, get pregnant at the right age, have the perfect career. Women are demanding more from societies limited thinking and beauty rules. Now more than ever women are feeling liberated with their age. Women are allowing wrinkles to be part of who they are, honoring gray hair as a power move, not an age-related stigma. Living authentic and accepting themselves.

Woman Interrupted - On Air Makeup Artist Nikol Johnson

Photo Credit: Rick Gomez Photography

On a day like today make it a point to give another woman a compliment, a smile, a positive comment on her social media feed. Together we lift women up; united through our unique beauty and acceptance.

Look in the mirror today and tell yourself, You are worth it! Tell yourself You are beautiful, Tell yourself You are Fierce and believe it.