Salon Confessions Podcast

In this episode, we are talking about travel.  Jen and Harper both love to travel, and we both married men who love to travel.  We are constantly planning our next trip, and it’s rare for either of us to go more than 3 months without getting on an airplane to fly somewhere.  Because it’s so normal for us, we don’t really think about how unique that is, but then we realized that we always have peop...

In last week’s episode, we started exploring our questions and confusion and a-ha moments that we’ve had so far about being in perimenopause.  Full disclosure, we have way more questions than answers, but we also think that’s the whole point of having this conversation. At every significant phase of my life as a woman - puberty, getting pregnant, post-pregnancy hormones - all of those times offere...

Jen and Harper are both approaching 50 years old, and in the past couple of years, everything we thought we knew about how our bodies worked is flying piece by piece out the window. For the next two episodes, we are going to be sharing our very candid, very complicated, real-life experiences with perimenopause, and what we know, don’t know, or are not sure we know. We believe that talking, shoutin...

Harper's friend Michael joins us in the Confessional to get his very first manicure, and shares his experiences and perspective on midlife dating, using ALL the apps, and what relationship means at this stage. As Michael will share himself in this episode, he’s over 50, and after his divorce a couple of years ago, he re-entered the dating world, which is now a world of confusing and sometimes...

Hey Confessionistas!  Welcome to Season 3 of Salon Confessions Podcast, the podcast recorded live in my friend Jen’s nail studio while she’s giving me a manicure. As we kick off Season 3, we are starting with our 2024 Words of the Year.  Jen and Harper rebuke resolutions, but have each been choosing a theme word of the year for many years.  Choosing a theme word is a fascinating journey, and each...

 In this episode, we talk about dating our spouses.  But really, it could be a spouse, or a long term partner.  We are both happily remarried, and this time around put a lot more thought and intention about spending quality time together.  For Jen and her hubby, that is often weekend travel dates, or an afternoon biking or going for a walk.  Harper and her husband Hudson tend to plan dates that ar...

A unique part of the spa and salon service industry is a category known as “MedSpa.”  these are minimally invasive medical services are provided for cosmetology purposes, and include things like Botox, lip and cheek fillers, laser hair removal, Hydrafacials, and micro-current.   These services tend to be more expensive and require special licensing and training.  And they also tend to be services...

Once upon a time, we loved going to the mall. Shopping from store to store for hours on end? YES PLEASE! These days, that sounds a bit like torture. The stores at the mall either feel too frumpy, or they make clothes that don't fit our aging bodies quite right. Worst of all, we get into fashion ruts buying the same 4 pieces over and over again from the same stores. Jen got asked by a listener...

As women in our upper 40s, Jen and Harper are regularly surprised and horrified at the growing list of health issues, wrinkles, and maintenance required to feel well. But we refuse to buy into the following : - Everything that acts up mysteriously is somehow as a result of menopause, hormone imbalance, or some version of an autoimmune disorder. We refuse to buy into the idea that physical issues t...

This week, we are sharing a short but sweet Thanksgiving episode, talking about all of the things and people we are thankful for today. To our patient and wonderful husbands - we love you! Thank you for your unending support. To Rue Spence, our wonderful production support for the past 4 months - THANK YOU!! We are so much better because of you! To our Confessionistas - Your Engagement Makes This...

The holidays are here again! And so is the stress of over-booked schedules, seeing people you don't always like, and crossing paths with strangers when one or both of you is at the brink of screaming. Stress is part of life, and according to the book "The Power of Full Engagement" by Jim Loehr, it's not actually all bad.  But we need balanced amounts of healthy stress to perform at our best.  Harp...

Hooray! It's November and the holiday season is upon us! Family time and parties galore! But wait...that also means high potential for drama, the annual dredging up of past conflicts, and that one person that drives you to the brink (and beyond). Holidays can be filled with wonderful moments and challenging memories. They may come with a side of grief, a heaping helping of manipulation with gu...

In this episode, we take a bit of a detour. Instead of manicure, this time we are recording while Jen's giving Harper a pedicure, which makes it a little different. And most of the time we have a specific in-depth topic we are covering. But this week, we changed it up. See, Jen had given me this cute little bag of cards for Christmas last year called “My little bag of sweary affirmations.” You may...

It's October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we are bringing you a special episode with Harper's lifelong friend Alison. They grew up a block away from each other, and have taken care of each other through thick and thin. Alison was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2013, and is 10 years past that diagnosis and the years of treatment that followed. She is in remission, but still...

Raise your hand if you have recently diagnosed youself with ADHD! [Harper raises her hand]. In this episode, Jen welcomes another client Bets, and her partner Kendra into the confessional to talk about ADHD. Kendra has been diagnosed with ADHD, and Bets is a professional in special education with experience working in this area. Together, they are adorable, and helped us understand how ADHD can im...

What are Popcorn Days? Jen & Harper describe them as the days when times are tough, money is tight, your soul is in disarray and you have some growth to do. In times like that, nourishing your body with healthy nutrition is pretty low on the priority list. Having a bowl of freshly popped popcorn and a glass of wine for dinner is easy, satisfies the "crunch" factor and the "warm...

We talk about A LOT of difficult topics on purpose, but one that we rarely mention is weight. Or more specifically, our mindset about our size, shape, and the number on the scale. While we'd love to have a pure and pristinely positive outlook on our bodies, that's not how it works in real life. In real life, shame comes and goes, comparing ourselves to others comes and goes, and moments we...

Hashimoto's. Peri-Menopause. Mom-Bod. As we approach 50, health issues and hormones and LIFE can change how we feel in our bodies. But what if...WHAT IF we choose to love our shape as we are today, and preserve our current form forever in a sexy boudoir photo shoot? That's exactly what Harper did, mom-bod and all. In this episode, Harper shares the entire experience, from finding a photogr...

Here at Salon Confessions, we are committed to discussing things that may be uncomfortable, embarrassing, or hard to discuss.  And we try to do it with both insight and humor so that you have a chance to hear other women share their real-life experiences while also having a giggle to keep these topics from getting too heavy.  So this week, we are going share a BRAND NEW EPISODE and talk about colo...

The word of the day is Hemorrhoid. Yes, those nasty butthole bummers that itch, burn, and embarrass the literal S*** out of us. This episode is for the curious, the fellow sufferers, and the support teams of sufferers. Join us for an enlightening and funny discussion of what a hemorrhoid is, what it feels like, our experiences with treating them, how they interfere with seggsy time, and funny as h...

Harper was having a weird emotional day and when Jen asked what topic they were going to cover, she said "I just want to tell funny stories and laugh." So that's what they did. And it was very therapeutic. In this episode, we tell stories that made us belly laugh at the time, and we are still laughing about later. Several of them involve peeing. For some reason, that $h!t is hilariou...

In Part 1 on friendships, we talked about parting ways. In this episode, we explore how to make new friends in mid-life. How deep do you want to get with a new acquaintance? Is there such as thing as "friend-dating?" It turns out there is - Harper even got friend-picked-up by a woman in a liquor store and 4 years later they are still close friends! But what about Friend Groups? There can...

Friendships! These relationships are so important to us, yet sometimes we don't pause to consider whether we've outgrown each other. We hang on to "friends" even when the relationship becomes unhealthy or one-sided. In this episode, we welcome our friend K to the show, and talk about breaking up with friends. We've all had the experience of breaking up with a friend, and it h...

In this episode we explore the differences and similarities between giving up and letting go, and realize sometimes the most grown up thing to do is let go , which our hyper-responsible ego sometimes thinks is quitting, aka BAD, letting myself and others down, failure of the highest form .   But it's not quitting to leave the job that's killing your soul, or the relationship that is harmin...

Are you sensitive to the energy of Mercury in retrograde?   We are!  In this episode, we share what we know about this mood-bending phase that happens 3-4 times per year, and share stories of what happens when the emotions run hot and wild.  It's one of Harper's funniest stories and involves a Christmas tree, a tent, and a midnight meltdown.  Maybe you have never heard of it, or maybe you...