Why I Look to Nature for Inspiration When Creating Hairstyles
One of the most important things I value as a hairdresser is
“not clinging to fixed ideas.”
That means setting aside labels like gender, age, or nationality
and truly facing the person right in front of me, just as they are.
“This person is a woman in her 40s, so this hairstyle suits her.”
“With this hair type, only this kind of style will work.”
If I confine myself to those past experiences or trends,
I don’t think I’ll ever reach that person’s true beauty.
That’s why when I seek inspiration for hairstyles,
I try to draw from “nature” rather than from “man-made ideas.”
Take the forest, for example.
This summer, I walked through a forest
and carefully observed the trees around me.
Trees standing tall and straight.
Trees leaning diagonally but still facing the sun.
Trees full of leaves.
Trees with just bare branches, quietly standing still.
None of them have the same shape,
yet each one somehow feels beautiful.
Why is that?
I kept wondering about it.
Is it the balance of the shape?
The way the light hits them?
Or maybe it’s the “time” they’ve spent growing
over decades or even centuries in that land?
As I observe nature like that,
little by little, “hints” begin to accumulate within me.
How I wrap rods for a perm.
The placement and gradation of color.
The smoothness of a cut line.
When thinking about these things,
scenes from that forest,
the contrast of the trees and sunlight
often come back to me unexpectedly.
It’s not that I’m “copying” anything.
But when that feeling is at the core,
somehow a natural softness and harmony
emerge in the client’s hairstyle.
There are many “correct” hairstyles out there—
trendy looks, popular colors.
But what I want to suggest is
“a hairstyle that looks natural on that specific person.”
By “natural,”
I mean a style that doesn’t feel forced for that person.
That’s why even today,
I look out at the ocean, walk through forests, feel the breeze,
and gently take in the question:
“Why does this scenery draw me in?”
Because I believe
the key to making people look most like themselves
might just be hidden in nature itself.
What we need isn’t the “latest”—it’s the “essence.”
And that means not copying someone else,
but finding the style that truly fits you.
