On today’s episode, we dig into the topic of exercise and menopause, and how we are trying new things to maximize our physical health while we continuously learn new things about the measures of physical health that make a difference.

Even just 10 years ago, we both were exercising and working out to stay in overall health, but also because we wanted to look fit and toned. We worked on our abs, and glutes, and cardio, and arms in the hopes that we would look youthful and sexy and feel confident in our bodies.

Now that we have begun crossing the bridge from perimenopause to menopause, we both think of exercise and physical activity MUCH differently.

How has exercise changed for you in this part of your life? What did we get right and wrong?

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

Jen has an aesthetician’s license in skincare, which was her first license even before she started doing nails. So skin and skincare has been important to her for….forever.

Harper, on the other hand? Her first facial moisturizer was Jergen’s, which remained her primary moisturizer into college. Beyond that, she rarely - if ever - had a face washing routine. And never had any fancy face wash, just good old soap and water.

But as with so many things since starting this podcast nearly 4 years ago, I have learned a TON about how to care for myself, and this year I finally started implementing a better face care routine. I’ve been religiously cleansing my face nearly every night for several months now, and recently I even added in an actual face wash instead of just soap. I’ll be honest, it’s still not a totally natural thing for me, but I’m sticking to it because Jen says it’s good for me.

Talking with Katelyn Schneider, founder of AestonWest in this episode reinforced two things - One, that most women struggle with a skincare routine…and Two, it’s ok for it to be easy. There are so many products on the shelves at the store, it’s overwhelming to try to figure out what to buy, and we loved Katelyn’s philosophy of making products that serve the needs of all skintypes in a way that is beautiful, sustainable, and well-engineered. You can find it at aestonwest.com.

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

When it comes to health topics, we’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about perimenopause and menopause, but we haven’t spent a lot of time talking specifically about breasts, even though they seem to be just as complicated and frustrating and confusing. October was breast cancer awareness month and we’ve had two breast cancer survivors on our show, so we didn’t want to do another full episode on breast cancer specifically, but we did want to talk about breasts - how we feel about them, figuring out how to find a good bra, breast reductions, random boob pain, and so much more.

Every boob is different from every other boob, including the one right next to it. The shape, the form, the density, the sizes, the colors, and how we feel about our breasts varies from person to person too. They can be the source of pain, pleasure, shame, confidence, fear, courage, comfort, and failure. Sometimes they make us mad and sometimes they make us laugh.

They are part of the female experience, and during this episode, we are going to talk about ours. And we would love to hear yours! What is your journey with your breasts that you have never shared? You can share it with us!

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

In this episode, we are talking about birth order. Why? Because Harper's older sister and Jen were talking a few weeks ago and suggested it. Harper is a middle sister between two girls, and it’s a topic of conversation that tends to come up between them somewhat regularly. According to her sister, that’s because Harper brings up how much she was ignored and forgotten as a child as often as possible.

It’s all in good fun, and we laugh about it a lot, but it’s actually a good topic, because birth order is one of those things that can add a lot of context to our life story, and help us understand ourselves and our partners and friends more fully.

Harper even has a bit of background related to this topic, which you will hear more about in the episode, but we would love to hear your real life stories as well! Email us at salonconfessionpodcast@gmail.com, or find us on the socials and salon confessions podcast.

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

When passionate women with rich personal stories build businesses, they do so for much more than profit, and those are the people we love to talk to and share with you.

Kate Assaraf is one of those women. Kate came from the beauty industry in product formulation and marketing, but started her career backstage, and she tells about just how fake the beauty industry can be. She was so passionate about turning the beauty industry on its head that she built Dip with grit and determination and a lot of risk-taking. She reminded us that women are SO capable, and we can do a lot more than we usually give ourselves credit for. And I will celebrate that message any day.

She is funny, heartfelt, and we wanted to hang out and talk with her for a lot longer than we did. Jen and I both have our dip shampoo bars on order, and we will let you know what we think later this season!

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

For your listening pleasure today, we have captured a real-life hormonal meltdown of two perimenopausal women who are losing their ever-loving shit over…well…everything.

We didn’t plan for it. We actually had an entirely different topic planned for this episode. But as soon as we started exchanging a few salty comments about where our moods were at and we realized we needed to let it all out and figured it would be interesting to capture it all and see what happened.

As it turns out, it’s hilarious, chaotic, sweaty, contains a higher than usual frequency of curse words, some excellent stories of menopause meltdowns…emphasis on the melting… and plenty of tears - both the laughing and the crying kind.

There is nothing more honest than two women in the midst of hormonal chaos letting out all the rage, frustration, ridiculousness and our various attempts to find any kind of balance and calm in the midst of the volcanic hormonal madness going on in our bodies.

So, be warned - this is laugh out loud, accidentally pee a little, get sweaty laughing and can’t see because you are crying content. If you are driving, you may need to pull over occasionally for your safety!

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

Today’s topic is about Knowing your Worth, and in many ways, starting a podcast is a test of knowing and understanding your worth. We used to have the best conversations and when Jen suggested we start a podcast Harper didn’t know if anyone would care or want to listen. But as we’ve done this show for the past few years, it’s become clear that what we bring to the podcast environment does have value and we do have worth in this space. We may be a smaller show, but we continue to grow thanks to you Confessionistas!

As we talk today about knowing our worth, we examine all the ways we have grown into understanding our value - from how we selected our second husbands to how we take care of ourselves, how many things we have let GO of caring about, understanding our financial value in the workplace, defending women’s right to choose what they wear and how they present themselves to the world, and even knowing your worth so well that you can admit when you are wrong and own your mistakes.

We cover everything we could think of in one manicure session, but there’s so much more! What did we miss about how you have grown to understand your value in the world, and how you carry yourself today differently than you did when you were younger?

We would love to hear your stories of growth and a-ha moments that brought you into the more confident woman you are today, and how that impacts the friends you choose and keep, the way you speak about yourself, and the way you operate in the world.

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG

For this episode, we talk about the energy of gifts, which we thought was a great topic for the confessional, because it’s something that can sometimes feel like a secret, even if it’s a happy, special secret.

So we dove into things like gifts from our dads and how rare that was, special gifts from and for our kids, and the feeling of purging gifts that had energy associated with them. Gifts that came from loving people but no longer serve us, and the grief of letting them go; gifts that hold the energy of an old romance; and gifts from people we really don’t like and so we get rid of the thing to purge the energy of the person, even if we like the thing.

Such is the energy that people imbue into the things they give. We treasure ancient, unusable, or trashy items from people we love and cherish, and we get rid of nice, practical, or valuable things from people we don’t want to think about anymore.

What have you held onto because of the energy associated with it?

We would love to hear your stories! How have you dealt with the item as a result? Email us at SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com , or find us on the socials at Salon Confessions Podcast.

SalonConfessionsPodcast@gmail.com

IG, FB, TikTok, BlueSky: Salon Confessions Podcast

Harper: @Harperhasnicenails on IG & Facebook

@harperhasnicenails.bsky.social on Bluesky

Jen: @Jentakesconfessions on IG

@from_the_confessional on IG

Sonivia Studios | Rue Spence: @SoniviaStudios on IG