I wish I was a gorgeous mixologist, but that was not my god-given strength.
Gorgeous exfoliants are expensive.
So often, grooming is meant to make you feel better about yourself, and a lot of times, we use it to make ourselves feel worse.
If I could only have one grooming tool, it would be floss. I don't want to have broken Cheetos in my teeth. To protect myself from the sun, I can find shade under a tree. To moisturize my skin, I could get really sweaty and then just rub it on myself. But how are you going to clean between your teeth without floss?
I'm good at following my own grooming advice.
I love changing hair color. I love doing hair shape. I love the social aspect of salons. I love clients, and because of doing hair, I've heard so many life stories.
I used to be pretty hard on myself, like, if I didn't like a haircut I did on someone, I would think about it a lot and second-guess myself. But after therapy and a lot of work, I know how to dust myself off a lot faster, and those things don't knock me down as much as they used to.
I've had the honor of working with so many trans people as a hairdresser over my career in some way.
My family was really big on college, and it was hard for them to stomach that I was going to be a hairdresser.
Even though I'm a hairdresser and I love doing hair, I feel like I don't look like a groomer. When I think of how a groomer would look in relation to the first version of 'Queer Eye,' I feel like I don't fit in that box.
You want to be more hairy, that's beautiful. You want to be more clean-shaven, that's great.
If you're feeling a little down, you're never fully dressed without a strong heel. But only if you're depressed - if you need a pick-me-up.
Typically, you're not gonna find me out at night; I don't go to industry parties. Like, I will go sometimes if I'm invited, but usually, I'm, like, home by 11.
If I read something on the news that really irritates me, I get my rageful venting out on Twitter. I'm more of my light side on Instagram.
I think my ability to joke and laugh about things is because I'm forced to. I've been through a lot of things in my life that, if I didn't make light of it, I would literally keel over.
I just - I come from a very little town where the militarization of the police force is a very real issue.
I grew up in a little town where my family owned a newspaper and the TV station, so a lot of people knew who we were, and I never fit in.
I'm from a really little town called Quincy, five hours southwest of Chicago.
I wanted long hair my whole life. When I was a little kid, my mom would be like, 'We get our hair cut once a month.' So I just always got my hair cut.
When you've been on Instagram and Twitter long enough, you know how mean people can be.