A few years ago, Patty Naegele, master stylist and educator, was asked to speak at Aveda Congress about what it’s like to be on the other side of Daymaking.
“I was a recent cancer survivor, so I talked about how impactful it was to receive that love and care from my co-workers,” she says.
Recently, she had the opportunity to give a client that same treatment when she got a call from a friend one evening asking her to help another friend going through chemo.
“This young woman was only 20 and she and her boyfriend attempted to shave her head with disastrous results—it was a mess,” Naegele says. “I squeezed her in the next day, and she was so relieved she cried. At the end of the service, I asked her if there was anything else I could do.”
It turns out, there was. The client had ordered a wig that was arriving that Friday morning and she had to attend a wedding Friday night. So on Naegele’s day off, she came in and did a wig trim.
“She told me she now had the confidence to go to the wedding,” Naegele says. “It touched my heart because I’ve been through it. I made her day because she could now go out in public and participate.”
Naegele says she had to contain her own emotions while shaving the guest’s head and doing the wig trim, but was able to do so because she knew the service was all about the client and giving her confidence.
“I sent her out with a lipstick, too,” she says. “And a friend of hers bought her a Stress Fix Oil, so it turned into a really special service.
“I became not just her hairdresser that day, but also her mentor,” she says. “The service she received was complimentary at Juut—we call it a sanctuary haircut. It’s a head shave and shoulder massage. It’s something David takes a lot of pride in,” she says.
But Naegele says it wasn’t just about the client. “She made my day through her appreciation,” she says. “I felt so good after doing this for her.”
Daymaking is a way of life Naegele carries with her through her days whether she’s at work or home. “If I’m feeling negative, I do a simple act of kindness for someone else,” she says. “I am a very good listener for my clients and always give a smile to everyone.”
Recently, when Naegele was leaving the salon to go on break, one of her co-workers asked, “What are you going to do other than make people’s day?”
Having a bad day herself, Naegele says it made her day when someone else recognized her as a Daymaker.
“If you are consistently a Daymaker for your clients and everyone around you, it starts to transform your feelings, too,” she says.