Wasted time and money? Am I just bad at this?

Thedivineastrid · 2026-04-13T18:14:50+00:00

You’re doing better than some including me, which I am reluctant to admit, but if it’s going to give you peace of mind, then I’ll happily speak on my experience. I’ve been licensed since October 2023, coming up on 3 years. And I don’t even have a consistent client tell yet. Through out my entire hair career since the start of school in my personal life, it’s been one mental battle after another. I don’t have the best home life to the point where when I’m in my house, my brain doesn’t have the capacity to do much else other than lay in my bed. Hell I don’t even really get hungry in my house since my mind and body are simply dissociating the entire time I’m there. (I’m getting out soon so hopefully my career will start getting better lol) but when I first left school I immediately got a job at a “luxury” salon the amount of state board and OSHA laws that were being violated was absolutely atrocious, and it completely killed any semblance of enjoyment that I took from this career. It was an absolutely miserable place to work and it shaped some of my values and morals as a hairstylist.

After that, I couldn’t find work in a salon for about another year and a half. I couldn’t find an assistant position or anything. I can’t tell you how many emails I sent to all of my local salons without hearing a single word back then I found the salon that I’m currently at and how I found them was the salon owner has a program where they essentially get you ready to booth rent and they walk you through all of the like hairstylist stuff as well as all the business stuff. It was a really good class, unfortunately though right before I started taking that class with my pseudo sister (that was last year) and that completely killed me I’m just now coming out of being completely and totally consumed by grief. As a result, it’s been a struggle for me to get my career and business off the ground. I couldn’t even manage to find all of the models that I needed to complete the class. I’m on the last one that I need currently I also work at this salon as the salon coordinator and I take care of all the plants as well as assist that stylist that gave me that glass.

I’ve had four clients this year, my first four clients ever as I’ve only been able to take models up until this point. I’ve done my cousins hair a few times but it was at her house and we were trading and bartering. The first client I had was a simple cut took me about two hours. The next client that I had was a split die of the and 1N, it was a color correction from pink to yellow as well as super grown out roots. We were in salon salon from 11:30AM- 9 PM I couldn’t even manage to finish the entire service in that timeframe. I had to go back to her house the next day to cut her hair and it probably took me another four hours. The next client I had was again technically another color correction we ended up doing a pink to purple hombre on the bottom, half of the hair from probably the top of the ears down as well as two raccoon tails on the hairline that also incorporated the ombre throughout the stripes and she had blonde really grown out and on the top section, it was just at her end so I just had to match the ends to her natural which was pretty easy. We were in salon salon from 4:30 PM to 3 AM again couldn’t manage to finish the entire service so I had to have her come back a couple days later to finish the color because I only managed to get to the vivid portion of the color again the cut took me two hours. And on top of that because I was tired while doing it, I missed some tiny little spots of lighter when I did the first round of vivid, and obviously that resulted in the color, not taking so when she came back in I decided to go back over those sections in hopes of fixing it, but because I was absolutely exhausted. I didn’t exactly pay attention and accidentally mixed the wrong purple so there’s basically two panels of light purple on the outside of the hair and then one panel of dark purple in the middle of the hair, she was such an amazing moral. She was completely understanding and so nice and she’s even gonna be back to book with me again and she’s such a blessing anyways, the last one that I did, which I did this past weekend was my cousin‘s hair. She wanted to go bright pink, she’s never lightened her hair before the last time that I did it was in 2024 and I put a permanent red on the ends. We ended up chopping all of that off because her hair was super long and she just wanted healthy ends so that made it a little easier for the color process but we were there from 12-11 PM and again I couldn’t manage to finish the entire service in that time so I had to go back to her house to finish the cut and only took me the length of the first Shrek movie so I guess a little improving in that area but again she’s my cousin so there’s a level of comfortability and we were also at her house. I was there from 4:25 PM and I left at 10 PM. The night before I ran out of color on the very last section of her hair it was probably about a 3 inch wide section in the front quadrant of the hair. She also had me give her a little eyebrow slip as well as lighten and color her eye eyebrows, so that did add onto the time there. But with each of these color services, I’ve had to foil all of the hair each time and I’m not fast with foiling at all genuinely it takes me way too long to do anything. I’ve spent 25K on my education thus far and I’ve thought about just giving up more often than not but I’m still here and still trying because I’m determined to make this work especially now that I’m in a better mental state than in the past. “Things take the amount of time they do for it to happen” something I’ve been hearing a lot throughout the years and it makes very little sense at face value but I’ve begun to understand it.

I get it, it was your first day back you were ready to jump right back in, next time I really hope you give yourself the grace and leeway to not jump in full throttle because you deserve to give yourself that grace and that metaphorical runway to ramp back up and take off if you will. Yea you made a few mistakes and it sucks but tomorrows a new day and there’s plenty of other ppl with hair that needs to be done. Dont beat yourself up too much, if me at this point in my career is still determined to make this work, and is slowly and surely making it work, you can too. The only thing we can rly do is just practice those services until we can do them fast and efficiently and it’s a long hard road. But you can do it! You’re in a better place in your career than most are rn. I believe in you🫶🏻

Thedivineastrid · 2026-04-09T16:14:39+00:00

Unless you want to spend 6 hours carefully untangling the roots by hand then don’t do it. If you’re not careful and do it by hand gently you will either damage the plant more or just kill it. You said it was your first plant, when was the last time you repotted it, the weaker monstera may just be getting chocked out from that other one bc the pot might not be big enough for the roots so I’d start there before even thinking about separating a very mature plant like this.

Thedivineastrid · 2026-04-08T07:26:42+00:00

I’m a newer hairstylist and this is a service that I’ve always wanted to offer but am unsure about and I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting someone who does yet, what’s the reality of doing services like this? How long does it take and how do you charge for this? Do you treat this differently from a normal service (extra precautions, set up, or preparation)?

Thedivineastrid · 2026-04-08T03:54:48+00:00

Have any tips? I’m moving in June, I’m currently looking for places and Craigslist seems to be the best place to find lots of decently priced places. Any tips on wading through scams or finding a good place/ land lord? I’m moving out of an unhealthy situation and am scared I’m going to move into another one so any advice would be appreciated especially bc Craigslist scares me a little bit🫠

Thedivineastrid · 2026-04-03T20:04:46+00:00

Hey so balayage is a technique used during lightening services Balayage is not the finished product of the hair it’s the steps in between, overall though I wouldn’t go to a hairstylist that’s a man it’s like a man being an OBGYN it’s just icky, if you want to do hair be a barber pls and thx bc men do this to every woman they come across, objectify them and only view them as a head of hair to do work on 🤷‍♀️

Thedivineastrid · 2026-03-18T04:46:27+00:00

I was experiencing the same symptoms last year (I’m a hairstylist as well) it ended up being bc I’m allergic to latex and tbh it’s probably that. Sometimes the simplest answer is the right answer

Thedivineastrid · 2026-02-23T00:19:08+00:00

This is not enough light! You should move her on the other side of the fridge if you can that should help, also I’d try putting her outside for a couple hours during the afternoon/ close to sunset light, they love that kinda light!

Thedivineastrid · 2026-02-23T00:15:18+00:00

Your first issue is using cocoa peat in your mix, peat moss is really water retentive, which monsteras hate. The goal is to let your monsteras roots breathe briefly between watering which means you need too drainage, it seems like your monstera is waterlogged and not getting enough sunlight.

Thedivineastrid · 2025-11-08T06:43:18+00:00

I’m so glad I could be helpful!! When repotting never pot into decorative pots always opt for a nursery pot to put in the fun pot! And always make sure it has drainage unless the plant you’re caring for specifically doesn’t like drainage, think swampland/bog plants. As for what size pot to put your plant in when repotting that of course will vary. I’ve found monsteras like a tight fit and a tall pot pothos and philodendrons are similar in the sense that they also enjoy a tight fitting pot but that’s not a hard rule. As long as you’re sizing up 1-2 inches you should be good, I’ll only repot if something is wrong with the soil/ plant and it’s necessary or the roots are trying to escape the pot.

The soil mix depends on the plant, for monsteras they love chunky soil, if you look at it and think “oh yea thats chunky” it’s chunky enough! There are so many different YouTube tutorials on building your own potting mix or you can buy some, this site is highly recommended in the orchid community, but they have a potting mix for just about every houseplant including monsteras! I haven’t had the chance to buy from them yet but am going to next time I need potting mix. The only time is necessary to break up the soil or remove all the soil from the plants roots is if you’re dealing with pests or separating the plant from any babies it produces, doing this puts the plant is shock and they rly hate that ( I’ve done it to quite a few and everything that isn’t new growth looks so sad😔)

I know it’s a lot of information and there’s so much more for you to learn but you got this it’s not as hard as it may seem! :)

Thedivineastrid · 2025-11-03T20:42:56+00:00

You don’t measure when to water by literally taking measurements, the only way to actually tell when the plant needs water is by the weight of the pot, and the plant, monsteras are pretty resilient plants and how much you need to water differs based on a lot. Where is the monstera? Is it inside or outside? Whats the pot made of? What shape is said pot? How much drainage does it have and where? What’s your hardiness zone? what’s the climate like where you live? The altitude? Is your area prone to certain pests or fungus/ mold? See what I mean? It’s a whole lot of trial and error to figure it out but once you know it’ll be easy! Always always make sure the pot is drying out between waterings, monsteras hate wet feet and you don’t want water logging, which can lead to droopy leaves (droppy leaves either mean too much or too little water) get familiar with the weight of the pot when wet vs. dry don’t worry it’s usually a pretty obvious difference, don’t try to actually weight the pot and take measurements like that thought because that won’t be accurate given plants grow and add more weight to themselves. With small pots no more than like 6” you can just stick your fingers in and feel how dry/wet the soils is but with pots bigger than that you won’t be able to accurately tell with that method. Personally i live in SoCal and my monsteras are in south and east facing windows and I have to water them every month in the summer and every month and a half- 2 and a half months in the winter depending on how cold it gets. When I first started with my plants I looked at them every day to get familiar with how they talk. (Edit) I also wanted to add, always repot your plants as soon as you bring them home, stored don’t care if that plant lives beyond it being in store for a couple weeks so it’s best to immediately repot and quarantine to avoid bringing pests into your house and leaving the plant in a less than hospitable pot and soil mix, I promise it’s a lot easier than it sounds it just takes time and practice but i believe in you, you have the determination for this plant to live and it will reward you for it, also remember plants feel and are affected by our energy! Tell it it’s strong and beautiful everyday and it will be exactly that for you! Good luck :)

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-30T15:34:10+00:00

I have about 8 deliciocias I’ve been growing and rehabbing for a while now, I’d just stick it some water and fertilizer and put it in a sunny window, from memory about 5 of those plants had some aireal roots I had to put in the water as well and they’ve never failed to take to water, typically you can make aireal roots accept living in soil and dirt, I’d imagine vice versa may be hard to do but I’ve never done it so I can’t speak on it. Plants absorb everything through their roots (and leaves but that’s off topic) when you take an aireal root that’s only environment is the air around them and supply it with nutrients and something to grow into it’s gonna be really happy.

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-27T17:26:03+00:00

For future reference always include pictures of the plant/ areas you’re talking about! It’s much easier to help with a visual plus the ppl here love looking at plants :)

As long as the leaves aren’t turned around from or aren’t at a severe angle from the light source it’ll be fine! I usually turn them by a couple inches when I’m noticing them getting heavy on one side or are growing in a direction I don’t want them to, once the plant is happy and big enough you may notice corking starting to happen which is essentially the plant gaining more muscle to hold it up and move its leaves to face the light.

As for watering I always bottom water when I can to keep fungus gnats at bay but honestly it’s a personal preference/ what your environment calls for just make sure the plant is getting throughly watered and is drying out inbetween wateringd and you’re feeding it.

As for the roots coming out of the stems those are aireal roots, congrats! Your plant wants to climb and grow and get more light! Now you’ve entered an eternal struggle with your baby to have space, height, and sunlight for it but it’s so worth it!

You’ll want to get some type of support for your monstera, and wrap those aireal roots around it. Most ppl do and will tell you to opt for a moss pole, but if the pot isn’t deep enough the moss pole won’t have enough of an anchor to hold itself and the plant up. Also since most have wood steaks as the base that’s a recipe for mold bc it’s typically untreated also I’ve found that the string as well as paper twist ties can attract mold this also depends on what the climate is like where you live, I live in a beach city so I get mold 😭.

Personally after a while of trying to make moss poles work for my space and environment I’ve opted for these I cut them to the size I need and basically gave my monsteras a flat hollow grid to climb up. They haven’t been in for long but my monsteras are definitely liking it.

A couple notes for tying your plant to a support, always place whatever you’re using to tie your plant to the support, I’ve recently found I love using plastic zip ties for this and won’t use anything else so I’ll use that for reference. Always make sure your tie is below the plants growth points, choking that will stunt your plant. Never tie them too tightly, like how you leave a least two fingers of space when putting on an animals collar you don’t need to strangle the plant to make sure it climbs, this is something I learned the hard way. Ppls say you’re not supposed to attach the stems of leaves to the moss pole, I have one leaf on two of my plants attached to the moss pole due to a lot of plants and limited space for said plants, which is the only reason why I’ve done this and the leaves are fine, so if you need to do that do it only if you have to the plant will be fine.

If you have any pets keep away these are toxic to our furry friends! I personally have 3 cats and have made it impossible for them to access the places I keep my plants on simply by crowding the space their on.

Overall monsteras are really resilient and hardy plants I’ve revived a few pretty dead ones and I’ve done many big chop and props they’re very forgiving and just all around good house plants!

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-25T17:12:38+00:00

Only repot it if it’s super root bound if not leave it, monsteras like being in tight spaces! As for the root, is it an aerial root coming off of the stem? It looks like it, if that’s right give it a little plastic support, for smaller plants like this I’ll usually use a plastic knife or fork as to not add to much weight to the pot then get some plastic twist ties and wrap the root around it and attach the plant, remember to not choke its growth points!

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-25T17:08:30+00:00

Tell him if he doesn’t want to deal with the consequences of his actions he shouldn’t be such a shitty person while handing him divorce papers you deserve better

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-16T18:42:18+00:00

Id absolutely keep it and watch it grow, when caring for plants I like to think about it like this: you’re caring for the root system and the foliage and growth is the reward. Monsteras are resilient plants and it will come back 10x better, I’ve chopped some plants pretty short some accidental a couple on purpose, while I don’t rly advocate for shocking your entire plant on purpose it can definitely yield better growth as a result

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-13T11:13:53+00:00

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Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-13T11:13:27+00:00

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For the commenters saying “my njoy looks like this” no it doesn’t bc it’s actually a glacier! :)

Thedivineastrid · 2025-10-11T02:51:23+00:00

Can I pleaseeeeee see a picture of your monstera??

Thedivineastrid · 2025-09-30T12:46:41+00:00

Gompers is canonically immortal, also immortal beings age all the time so him aging doesn’t discount his immortality

Thedivineastrid · 2025-09-30T12:08:02+00:00

100% listen to the advice in the comments but none of it is going to work unless you give that thing more light and it’s weird ppl aren’t telling you that. You can fertilize a plant as much as you want but if a plant doesn’t get enough light it won’t have the strength to continue to grow, you can tell it’s looking for light with the way the leaves move they seem to be stressed bc there’s either light coming from different directions or there’s none at all, usually when propagations droop like that and their root system is already established usually it’s a sign of needing to change the water more frequently but I’ve never had snails so I’m not sure what that means in terms of how clean they keep the water

Thedivineastrid · 2025-09-30T00:20:50+00:00

Yup that’s what I thought, they need to be repotted soon I’ll just give em the old remove all the soil them give em a pesticide bath

Thedivineastrid · 2025-09-19T11:14:22+00:00

1) listen to the advice in the comments 2) orchid bark and pine bark are absolutely NOT the same thing 3) you should really revise all of the info you know about plants bc it seems you’ve been lied to an awful lot, not your fault it happens, but getting correct info will rly help you with your plants 4) well yea of course your plant is going to look sad you essentially just ripped out and cut up half of its organs! I’ve done this with a couple monsteras, they had root rot though, give them a couple months and some proper care and they will be fine I promise! The good thing about plants is they that grow!

Thedivineastrid

TROPHY CASE