KEY TAKEAWAYS: Not sure how to manage your stress this holiday season as a beauty pro? Don't sweat it – that's what this blog (full of tips and insights) is for! We'll share how to relax, unwind, and actually enjoy the holiday season without losing your mind – a feat once thought impossible for cosmetologists, barbers, and all beauty pros.
Updated: December 11, 2025
Whether the weather outside is frightful or you live in a balmy tropical paradise, one truth rings true during the holiday season, no matter where you’re located—things are bound to get chaotic.
As a beauty pro, you’re accustomed to juggling multiple jobs at once.
From building a salon business to managing customer relationships to having a healthy life outside of work, you know a thing (or two) about controlled chaos.
Then, the holidays come around. They bring an added list of demands and feelings of franticness that can overwhelm even the most battle-tested beauty pros. So, how do you stay sane through it all?
Conquering the Chaos: How to Manage Your Stress This Holiday Season
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve (and everything in between), the holiday season can make even the toughest (Christmas) cookie crumble.
If you’re dreading the stress and freneticism that comes with the most wonderful time of the year, we have a few tips and tricks to help you maintain your sanity.
Prepare Ahead of Time
You always overcome when faced with challenges—that’s how you got to where you are. Whether it was excelling in beauty school or building a beauty biz from the ground up, you have a lot to be proud of.
When you reflect on your victories (both big and small) don’t forget what helped you achieve them. Traits like persistence, hard work, and preparation.
With the holidays bearing down on you, setting yourself and your salon up for success ahead of time is crucial. Prepare for the rush by boosting your inventory, readying top sellers for holiday gifts, scheduling as many of your loyal clients as possible, and handling your end-of-the-year necessities.
The more preparation you do before the floodgates open, the better. You can never predict and eliminate all of chaos, but you can greatly reduce it and make it less intimidating by preparing beforehand.
Take Time to Destress
The end of the year tends to be dominated by the holidays. In some ways, this is nice. After all, who doesn’t enjoy a little Christmas spirit and holiday festivities?
As a beauty pro, you are familiar with being busy and giving of yourself for the benefit of others. The holiday season only accentuates this aspect of your life, making it easy to become overwhelmed with stress and fatigued on physical and emotional levels.
To stay sane during these tumultuous, demanding months, it’s vital to set aside time for yourself. Enjoy your hobbies, pencil in some much-needed downtime, spend the holidays with your loved ones, and immerse yourself in the joy that the season is all about!
Need a suggestion? Think about treating yourself to something you never do–the same beauty service you offer. (Go ahead, get your nail done, get a facial, or get your hair styled!)
A Few Tips for De-Stressing During the Holiday Season
The end of the year tends to be dominated by holiday hustle, packed schedules, and endless demands on your time.
And as a beauty pro, you’re used to being busy. Setting aside time to destress isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity for your wellbeing — physically, mentally, and emotionally. Here are a few ideas for how to make that happen.
- Practice mindful breathing: Just a few minutes of deep breathing (such as inhaling for four counts, holding for two, and exhaling slowly) can help calm your nervous system and reduce anxiety on even the busiest workdays
- Schedule micro-breaks: Set aside small blocks of time between clients (even 5–10 minutes to stretch, walk, or just sit quietly!) to prevent your energy from tanking
- Hydrate and snack smart: Carry a water bottle and healthy snacks so your energy stays more consistent throughout a long shift. Hydration and nutrition play a bigger role in stress management than many pros realize.
- Keep a daily planner or checklist: Holiday tasks (personal and professional) can easily overwhelm your brain. Writing things down and crossing them off reduces decision fatigue and clears mental clutter.
- Prioritize sleep: Quality rest is one of the strongest buffers against stress. Try to keep a consistent sleep schedule, wind down with a quiet night routine, and avoid screens right before bed.
- Practice gratitude: Ending the day with a moment of gratitude, even just recognizing one small positive thing, can improve perspective and emotional resilience
- Tell yourself it’s okay to rest: The holidays are filled with expectations – but perfection isn’t one of them. Giving yourself permission to pause when you need it is one of the most powerful stress-reducing tools you can have
"Setting aside time to destress isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity for your wellbeing – physically, mentally, and emotionally."
Choose Your Battles
The holiday season is known to pull people in all directions until they are stretched far too thin. Beauty pros are a prime example of this, as you likely know very well. Running your business, caring for clients, and diving into all of the facets of the holidays is a big ask.
Even if you want to be involved in as many holiday events as possible, now is a good time to practice saying “no.” We know the holidays are saturated with worthy charitable causes, local festivities, and family activities, but sometimes, you have to pick your battles.
Remember, saying no doesn’t mean you’re being selfish, dismissive, or rude. It is simply acknowledging that you are human with limited time, resources, and energy. You have to prioritize, especially if you want to stay sane, so choose how you allocate your time wisely this holiday season!
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
When you’re in the midst of the holidays, the chaos and stress can seem never-ending. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and feel overcome with anxiety and pressure. In times like these, perspective is everything.
Yes, the holiday season can be challenging and seemingly drag on forever, but the reality is that it tends to climax quickly and then fall off relatively dramatically. You should experience a deep reprieve from the madness as soon as the new year arrives, giving you an opportunity to catch your breath, reset, and recover.
So, no matter how crazy the holidays get, try to maintain a healthy perspective. The chaos will soon pass, and there’s peace waiting on the other side.
The holidays are meant to be a time of joy, love, and beautiful memories. Don’t let the chaos and stress derail and spoil those cherished moments for you. With a little preparation, intentionality, and use of the word “no,” you can give yourself the holiday season you deserve.
For more beauty pro tips, subscribe to EBS and check out our regularly updated blog. We work hard to share the best, most current industry insights with our community of go-getter beauty professionals, and we’d love for you to join!
Meet Hanna Marcus, the Founder and Head Copy Gal behind Boundless Copy, a one-of-a-kind copywriting agency that specializes in big, bold brand voice and industry-disrupting copy that’s all about resonating with the right audience.
Hanna has proudly teamed up with Elite Beauty Society for several years as their go-to copywriter on all things beauty, small biz marketing, and brand voice development. She’s big on feeling-first writing–her personal soapbox is that the best copy starts with telling a story.
When she’s not writing cheeky, converting copy for clients, she’s mentoring other aspiring copywriters and creating digital copywriting resources designed for service pros and focused on taking the stress out of DIY copywriting.
