The Beauty Cottage, LLC.

“My hair isn’t thinning. It’s breaking off. Would a Restoring Roots Consultation even make sense for me?”

Yes, it can! ✨

When someone comes to me with breakage, I want to understand what’s happening before recommending a treatment.

Is the hair snapping along the strands? Are certain areas more fragile? Could styling habits, chemical services, or daily handling be contributing? And are we seeing breakage, shedding, or a combination of both?

During a Restoring Roots Consultation, we look at your scalp, your hair, your history, and the changes you’ve been noticing.

Sometimes the next step is rebuilding care for fragile hair. Sometimes we need to look more closely at the scalp or other factors that may be contributing.

The goal is to understand what your hair actually needs before spending money on another product or treatment.

So if you’re noticing breakage instead of obvious thinning, you don’t have to figure out where to start on your own.

🌿 Restoring Roots Consultation | Booking link in bio.

Fall arrived quietly around The Beauty Cottage. Cooler mornings, golden trees, leaves changing, and two moose casually reminding me that this little salon is very much in Alaska. 🍂

And with the change in season, I start hearing: “My scalp feels drier.” “I’m seeing more flakes.” “My hair seems to be shedding more.” And of course, “Isn’t fall shedding normal?”

Seasonal patterns in hair shedding may exist, and colder weather, lower humidity, and indoor heat can also change how your scalp feels. But I don’t want to automatically chalk every change up to fall.

If your ponytail feels smaller, your part looks different, you’re noticing more full-length hairs coming out, or your scalp suddenly feels uncomfortable, I want to know more. When did it start? Is it shedding or breakage? What was happening a few months before you noticed it? Has anything changed with your health, medications, nutrition, stress, hormones, styling, or hair routine?

This is why I take a more holistic approach inside a Restoring Roots Consultation. We look at your timeline and history, map different areas of your scalp, document what we can see, review your routine, and consider other information that may be helpful. Depending on you, that could include supportive scalp care, home care, DNA or epigenetic testing, relevant bloodwork, or other personalized next steps.

I want to gather information and look for patterns before deciding what deserves your time and money. And if I see something that needs medical evaluation, I’ll tell you that too. 🩷

So yes, fall may be part of the conversation. I just don’t want “it’s probably seasonal” to be the end of it.

Pay attention without panicking. Document what you’re noticing. And if you’re ready for a closer look, Restoring Roots is where we start. 🌿

I don’t think I could have planned all of this if I tried.

More than 16 years ago, I was beginning a career in an industry I had no idea would become such a huge part of my life. Since then, I’ve raised a family, built a clientele I adore with my whole heart, created The Beauty Cottage on our property here in Alaska, and found a whole new part of this work that I absolutely love in hair loss and scalp health.

But when I planned this photo shoot, I didn’t just tell my photographer what I wanted it to look like. I told her how I wanted it to feel.

Like a deep breath.

Soft. Open. Unhurried.

And there’s a reason that feeling means so much to me.

My interest in the nervous system actually started much closer to home. Through helping my children through some really hard seasons, I began learning about trauma, the nervous system, and what it can look like to help someone feel safe and supported again.

I started learning because I wanted to help the people I love, and what I learned changed me too.

It made me look differently at the pace I was living, the way I cared for myself, and eventually, the kind of experience I wanted to create for the women who walk through the doors of The Beauty Cottage.

It has shaped the way I care for the women who sit in my chair. It’s part of why I’ve become so passionate about looking at the whole person when we’re talking about hair and scalp concerns. And it’s becoming part of what I want to teach other stylists too.

I love this industry. I love what I get to do. And I also believe we can build careers that leave room for us to actually live our lives.

So standing out there in the Alaska mountains, watching the golden light come through while we created these images, I had one of those moments where I could look around and think…

God, look at what You’ve done.

This shoot felt like a dream, but maybe more than anything, it felt like a deep breath.

A chance to look around at my family, this little cottage, the women I get to care for, the work I get to do, everything I’ve learned, and everything still ahead of me… and just be grateful.🥰

📸Lena Lee | Outdoor Brand & Commercial Photographer

I’ve spent a lot of my life learning how to slow down. For a long time, I was really good at moving. Taking care of people, raising a family, building a business, working, learning, and figuring out the next thing that needed me. Slowing down didn’t come nearly as naturally. It’s something I’ve had to learn on purpose.

When I planned this photo shoot, I wanted some of the images to capture that. Not just what I do for work, but who I am becoming in this season of my life. Someone who can sit in the sunshine without needing to accomplish something while she’s there. Someone who can appreciate how far she’s come without immediately asking what’s next. Someone who is learning that a full life doesn’t have to mean a constantly full schedule.

And I think, without realizing it at first, I’ve brought a lot of that into The Beauty Cottage too. I care deeply about understanding what’s happening with your hair and scalp. I will research the heck out of something when I don’t understand it. 😂 I love the testing, the science, the tiny details, and putting the pieces together. But I also care about the woman sitting in my chair. I want you to have room to ask questions, tell me what’s really been going on, talk if you need to talk, or be quiet if you need quiet. I never want you to feel like you’re being shuffled through because someone else is waiting.

Maybe that’s why the Cottage has become so much more personal to me than a place where I work. I spent a lot of my own life learning how to slow down, and somewhere along the way, I created a little place where other women get to do some of that too. 🩷

📸Lena Lee | Outdoor Brand & Commercial Photographer (thank you for the sneak peeks! I’m obsessed!)

One scalp image can be fascinating.

But when I’m doing a Restoring Roots Consultation, I want more than one interesting close-up. I want context.

That’s why I map several areas of the scalp instead of looking at one magnified spot and calling it the answer.

I look at the hairline, both temples, the part, crown, sides, and back because those areas may not all look the same.

I’m paying attention to what’s visible: buildup, oil patterns, flaking, redness, follicle openings, short hairs, density differences, and how one area compares with another.

Then I start connecting that with the person sitting in front of me.

When did she first notice something changing? Was it sudden or gradual? Is she noticing shedding, breakage, scalp discomfort, or a combination? What products has she been using? Has anything changed with her health, medications, hormones, routine, stress, or lifestyle?

That’s where this work gets interesting to me, because hair loss is rarely helped by treating every person like they walked in with the exact same story.

When it makes sense, I may also look at relevant bloodwork, DNA findings, or epigenetic testing to add another layer of information to what I’m seeing on the scalp and what the client is experiencing.

I’m a big believer in testing instead of guessing when more information can help us make a better decision.

The goal is to understand the client as completely as I can within my role, then build the next step around her.

Her scalp. Her timeline. Her patterns. Her history. Her goals.

That may mean supportive scalp care, treatment, home care, additional testing, monitoring changes over time, or bringing another qualified provider into the conversation when that’s appropriate.

I don’t want to choose a plan because one magnified image looked dramatic.

I want to look carefully, gather the pieces, and make thoughtful recommendations based on the fuller picture.

That’s what personalized hair restoration looks like at The Beauty Cottage. 🌿

TheBeautyCottage

For a long time, being busy felt like proof that business was going well.

A full calendar.
Clients booked months ahead.
Always somewhere to be, something to finish, someone waiting for me.

And I’m grateful for the business I’ve built.

But lately I’ve been thinking a lot more about what I want that business to make room for.

Slow mornings.
Alaska sunsets I actually stop long enough to watch.
Time with my family.
Travel.
Learning.
A body that isn’t completely wiped out at the end of the week.
A little more life outside of work.

I still love what I do.

I’m just becoming much more intentional about how I want to do it.

That’s a big reason I’ve been putting more of my attention into scalp health and hair restoration, continuing my trichology education, and building work that doesn’t require me to spend every available hour behind the chair.

I’m not at the finish line with that yet.

I’m building it while I’m living it.

And honestly, evenings like this are a pretty good reminder of why. 🩷