Daniel Granger has some ways to overcome the gloom and doom and keep some of that brightness shining!
Published:Coming from a childhood featuring abuse, neglect and homelessness – as well as paternal and fraternal suicide, Daniel is a firm believer that positivity isn’t a denial of difficult things, it is looking for the glimmers that are all around us and being both grateful and aware of what is still good. By building this life philosophy into his day to day in micro moments, Daniel has an intention to find the good. Here are his tips:
These are my mini moments, when I might stop the car on the way home to really look at the sunset – just for a few minutes but really noticing it’s beauty, that the world is this huge incredible place, that
the light keeps on coming, even after the sun sets, it’ll be back at sunrise. But sometimes it’s just stopping and listening to a really great track and hearing the words; a painting (we have art in the salon, and a dream wall where pictures manifest our hopes and dreams) and stopping to really
remember what it’s all about is a huge moment by moment boost. A glimmer can just be 20 seconds of being really intentionally moved by something – try it!
When I’m spiralling (and believe me I do!) I get into things physically, just returning now from a week of skydiving in Dubai and doing the hardest thing ever which was a fight night, the training, the physical duress and challenge were intense. I know these aren’t day to day, but I have these huge physically challenges and I think they really give me that feeling of how incredible it is to have the privilege of being alive. The adrenalin rush (but most enduringly of all the dopamine and serotonin – the happy drugs we create ourselves) really do kick in, for me day to day that fitness at the gym and being with other men is my place to get into my body and it stills my mind.
Being with people, my team in the team room, having a laugh, or a cry, or a hug or just sitting alongside each other quietly having a coffee, these are the moments that I think we don’t recognise enough that keep us feeling part of something and being important to each other. So keep looking out for your team, for each other and find ways just to check you’re all doing ok.
I grew up around a lot of dishonesty and uncertainty so my day to day means being an open book, I think some find that quite a lot to deal with! But secrets, hiding stuff is not where I feel good, so I am open about my salary, the team salary structures, things that are getting me down, ways we can do better, sharing new ideas for the future (even if they don’t come off!) but sharing it all then what I find it people don’t make up their own stories about what they think is happening in the salon, they know and that makes for a happy place to be.
I hope you enjoy bringing your own versions of these positive boosting methods to support and encourage yourself.
You’re amazing. Love Daniel.
More Info
Online: www.danielgrangerhairdressing.com
Instagram: @danieljgranger
How his hairdressing journey mixed with self-challenge and mental wealth has saved him.
Published:When it comes to knock-backs, Daniel, 43, has had more than most to survive. Abuse, neglect and loss from a small child, bereavement by suicide of his father aged 8, and then later his brother and homelessness at 13. A pattern of destructive relationships was set early but as Daniel found, ultimately, it was only he who could get things back on track in all ways, hairdressing and his journey of self-challenge and mental wealth (as he calls it) has really saved Daniel.
Daniel has turned these hard things of his past into positive graft and is a beacon of hope and resilience in very real ways. He has become the person that not just he can trust, but that his team can trust too and in his ‘open book’ style he shares it all. Daniel has built a strong business in what many might perceive a failing-fading town, and yet year on year it grows.
“Why the business grows is because I keep growing, changing, keeping in step, getting ahead and not being scared to embrace different models of working. The scrapper fight for survival kid in me, has now turned into my greatest asset, and thankfully my greatest ally!” – Daniel.
But first came the scissors. Scissors helped me find my way, at 13 years old, I opened some presents my Dad had left me years earlier but that I hadn’t opened since his suicide. In there was a pair of plastic scissors, a video on how to cut hair and some clippers. When I was homeless, those clippers were the only thing keeping me going. I introduced myself to strangers by saying, “I’m Daniel Granger, and I can cut hair.” And that’s how I found my way back. Scissors are still my armour, with them in my hand I am creative, artistic, and able to make my living. That’s powerful right?
A major stepping stone of security was given by his step-grandparents, who gave him a stable home and a fresh start. He returned to school, engaged in work experience at salons, and found sanctuary in an apprenticeship and was set on a course for a different future: a deepening skill-set and love of hairdressing. Through his twenties, even amidst continuing difficulties and destructive behaviours, he became a qualified stylist, opened his own salon, and began winning awards. His story became one that triumphed through transformation and turned pain into purpose and chaos into craft.
10 years ago I launched Daniel Granger, what a proud moment! I wove the clients’ stories into my own in the interior, everything represents something. I know that this successful hairdressing career has been such a healing thing for me. Hairdressing has informed his life decisions, growth in self-worth, understanding he is not past things that happened to him, but the person who prevailed and it has made him an empathic and wise leader.
“There was so much dishonesty and uncertainty growing up, I have worked so hard to be an open book, open about my salary, the team knows what each other’s packages are, sharing new concepts with other hairdressers, there are no secrets with me, mostly that serves me well. Sometimes people are suspicious about that, but they aren’t my people! – Daniel.
He decides and daily chooses to surround himself with good people and that extends past the team to clients. For 2025, Daniel made the empowering decision to say ‘goodbye’ to clients who were not a good fit for him, or team members.
“If we don’t respect ourselves and our place of work then we have a problem, and having worked so hard to earn my worth I protect that fiercely,” – Daniel.
Daniel Granger has in his own words ‘done the work’, by which he means he has got himself into great emotional, physical and well-being shape by being ‘mindful and decisive about how I want to live – both in work and play’. Daniel turned a difficult decision of letting go of difficult clients, into one of the easiest and best, choices he has made in his business life. All of this is why Daniel has such a belief in mentoring young stylists.
“I know what it’s like to feel lost, to not know where your next opportunity is coming from. But I also know that with the right support, a pair of scissors can change your whole damn life. For me, taking on challenge whatever that may be, however it presents itself, it’s simple, I do it scared, I do it anxious, I do it depressed, I do it joyful, but just do it. The courage always comes afterwards!” – Daniel.
For more info please visit danielgrangerhairdressing.com.