Hair Designer Profile: Lauren Arias

Hair Designer Profile: Lauren Arias

I don’t like to refer to myself as clumsy, or my lifestyle as inactive, I would prefer to call myself “gravitationally challenged.”  So, when I was asked to write this article, I wasn’t really worried, since hoola hoops are (according to Wikipedia) “a game.”   Well, what Wikipedia said specifically was that: A hoola hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck.  Ahh… But therein lies the paradox, because as I quickly found out, hoola hooping is much more than that.

Today’s designer profile is on 25 year old Lauren Arias.

Lauren has been with Tribeca Color Salons since 2010 and works primarily out of the Kennedy location.  Outside of work, Lauren works extensively with a local non-profit organization called Hoola For Happiness.  Hoola for Happiness has traveled the world, and so far they have carried their message to 13 different countries including Brazil, Kenya, India & Haiti.   Their goal:  To share with men, women and children the joy of hooping.  Their message:  These simple little circles allow children (and adults) to have fun, exercise their imaginations, and keep fit.  They received free and so they give free.  On a typical mission, they will start hoola hooping in a village or area until it attracts the local children.  Then they will teach the children how to use the hoola hoops and when the girls leave, the hoola hoops stay.

I didn’t understand the point until I tagged along with Lauren to a Hoola group meeting.  It was one of the girl’s birthdays so they were trying something new: a fire hoop.  As the Hoola girls stood on the street practicing their fire hoola, a wave of clarity swept over me.  From city blocks and streets all around us, children started pouring out of their homes, until a wave of kids had gathered to learn how to hoola.  They watched mesmerized and then lit up like candles when offered the chance to hoola themselves.  It wasn’t that difficult to do, even for a “gravitationally challenged” person like me.  Naturally, I wasn’t as graceful at it as Lauren, but I was good enough, and I learned something new: Exercise can be beautiful and fun, and for a child, that lesson can be life changing.

When asked how hoola hooping has inspired her personally, Lauren said, “I’ve gone to Costa Rica and all around the bay area with h4h.  I’m hoping to go to Colombia next year and possibly more!  One of the most rewarding experiences (I’ve had with H4H) was hooping with a group of women and their children in Costa Rica that had just been rescued from trafficking.  They were so happy and grateful,  the Moms were in tears…  It was very inspiring to see how much happiness you can give people with just a hoola hoop!”

Thank you Lauren, for sharing your life with us, and we are deeply grateful to have you as a part of our family.