It’s Not Really About the Hair: The Honest Truth About Life, Love, and the Business of Beauty by Tabatha Coffey with Richard Buskin

            I really enjoy Tabatha’s Salon Takeover, the show where Tabatha Coffey takes a struggling salon and does whatever she can to turn it around.  Sometimes this is successful, other times this is not.  That is not the fault of Ms. Coffey.  The fate truly lies in the hands of the owners and workers of the salon.  She just opens their eyes and puts them in the proper direction.  I think she does such a wonderful job, I often think of other places I would like to send her.  While Ms. Coffey is in nearly every shot of the show, the audience does not learn much about where she came from.  When I heard her book was being released, I was greatly interested to find out.

                This book had a surprise at the start.  Having only seen Ms. Coffey as she is today, I would never have expected she had weight problems when she was younger.  This was not for a brief time in her life either!  In fact, she talked about her weight so much I was tempted to check the cover because I began to think I was reading the wrong book.  I was not, and I continued on to find out about growing up in a strip club with transvestites.  This is where I understood her to get her start as a hairstylist by helping with the wigs.  She then went on to work and study hair in her native Australia, England, and the United States.  At each place she learned valuable lessons and grew in her craft.  Now, with all that she has learned, Ms. Coffey has been able to work all over the world and become a successful businesswoman.

                The story of how Tabatha Coffey got to where she is is quite interesting.  However, what I was most fascinated by and admired her for was her strength and determination.  She continuously learned and did not doubt her dreams or her ability to achieve them.  This is a lesson everyone needs to have and keep with them.