Episode 150: Alopecia Angel Top Gifts for 2024

In this episode we’ll talk about some gift recommendations for the 2024 holiday season. You’ll learn about personalized and unique ideas that cater to enriching lives, promoting health, and creating lasting memories, ensuring there's something special for everyone on your list.

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Episode 150: Alopecia Angel Top Gifts for 2024

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Transcription: 

Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Alopecia Angel podcast: Awaken to Hair Growth. I am your host, Johanna Dahlman. Today, we are going to be talking about 10 things that I recommend giving to friends or family or yourself for the holiday season. But before we do, I wanted to go ahead and give a shout out to Priya in India. She is our scholarship recipient for the Hair N' Heal program and she won this by entering in the scholarship.

Thank you to everyone else who also entered. We had so many participants from all over the world from various countries, and that is amazing because I love the internationals, I love being able to reach other people in other countries and give them also an access to healing their hair loss and of course providing services that more than likely are not available in their own country. I know this because I've lived in 6 other countries outside of the US and it was actually very difficult to get answers, to get help, to get people to listen and to understand what there was more going on. And so I'm here to help you do the same healing, reverse your hair loss in less time.

So number one on my list is an Audible subscription. Audible, if you don't know is from Amazon. But what they do, they have books online that you can listen to. You can listen to while you're driving, while you're commuting while you are bike riding, working out, picking up your kids absolutely anywhere while you're cooking. And I love Audible because I'm able to listen to many books within a month and I'm able to get through more knowledge, more encouragement, more understanding and be more and more educated in a fraction of the time or while I'm doing something else. Whether that's, like I said, in my garden cooking or anything else that I may be doing like driving. And so if you have a long commute, this is an amazing gift. I know that anyone who I've gifted this to, they absolutely love it, they love audio books because let's face it. Not many of us have the luxury or the time to be sitting down and reading books page by page at our leisure. And so due to this, Audible is a wonderful gift. It's probably my number one gift because it could be any topic on any book and they have it, they really do. And it's it's incredible.

So, my next gift idea would be cooking classes. I love cooking classes, I believe we can always sharpen our skills and learn something new, especially when it comes to other cuisines from other countries. And why not learn how to cook with a loved one or with a friend or with a sibling. These are fun classes to take together. I remember so fondly the classes I took when I was in my 20s and I absolutely love them. Love, love cooking, I love making pastries, I love making sushi. I love making all different types of foods that I
learned in these cooking classes. Plus you get to bond and on top of it, most cooking classes at the end, you get to eat the food that you've made, so that's the extra bonus.

So it's a wonderful experience, but it's also skills and knowledge learned. So that's another gift that I love giving are cooking classes. You don't have to go to Italy to take these cooking classes, you can, do them right in your neighborhood, you can do them right at a local restaurant many times, or there's organizations that offer cooking classes and they offer like a date night or a weekend or during the day or there's various times and offers and options. A lot of wineries also pair wine tasting with cooking classes. I'd say cooking classes are wonderful, especially for anyone who loves food and who doesn't love food.

So the next gift I would recommend would be something called reMarkable. I actually came across here recently, and it's essentially like a notebook where you can write with a stylus pen, all your notes, and then when you save the page, It sends to your email in a PDF form. And so if you're ever at a conference or ever at school or at work, and you're taking down notes with a pen and paper, you could do this electronically on this notebook. It's like an iPad of sorts with a stylus pen, and then you can email yourself everything via PDF to you directly and all the notes are all captured, they're nice and neat. And so there's I'm sure multiple things that you can do with a reMarkable and it's a beautiful notebook. It's more like a Kindle where it's a black and white type thing, not in color. And it's nice and easy to carry and it comes in various sizes and colors. So that would be another one, maybe for someone who's in school, someone who's, takes notes all the time, someone who's in classes or someone who yeah, just write down notes all the time. I think that would be a wonderful gift for them.

Another gift I would say is to give private instruction. So for example, private instruction could be maybe you have a loved one who is looking to learn how to do yoga or Pilates or go to the gym after postpartum or anything else. I think private instruction is highly valuable and many times people don't opt for it because again of the cost and so if you can gift it to somebody it's a game changer for them to be able to continue on all by themselves outside of the personal trader outside of the, let's say, the private sessions that they would be getting and so private sessions can be on so many waves and lengths. For example, I know people who've had private lessons from tennis pros to learn how to play tennis or do water polo or any type of sport, and you could acquire a private lessons with a professional.

You could also do private lessons with a personal trainer. I know my grandma did private lessons for Pilates when she started doing Pilates at 75. And granted, she was 75, she wanted to start doing Pilates. But again, because of her lack of knowledge, we thought I thought it would be best that she start with privates. And once she got the hang of it, then she could go and move and graduate to group classes. And many times we all need that.

It's not an age thing. We all need the private lessons in order to understand exactly. what we're doing and how we're doing because if we throw ourselves into a group class,
we may not be getting the hang of it quickly. We may injure ourselves or we may doing, we may be doing something that could hurt us in the end. And so this is where the spotter, the trainer, the personal trainer, the instructor can always lend a hand. And I love private instruction for that. And so this could be an opportunity for you to gift that. Even if it's one or two sessions or maybe just one session, but at least it gets their foot in the door. So I like private instruction when and where possible it could be with a coach of any sort or, advisor, and this would be great as well.

The other gift option would be to do a retreat and retreat could be solo retreat It could be a retreat just for you and your loved one you and your friend, you and your spouse, you and your partner you and your child I've seen family retreats where it's just like mother and baby retreats. I've seen retreats where it's for single girl retreats. I've seen yoga retreats, I've seen retreats for overcoming different obstacles or just you name it. There's a retreat for it. And so I love retreats and retreats don't have to be super expensive. I've seen retreats as little as $200-300. to over $5000 and so it just all depends what type of retreat you're looking for, how long you can escape for and where you want to go. Because there could be retreats locally in your vicinity, or it could be maybe with a quick flight or a quick drive down to the next city, or maybe you would need a plane and sometimes you know when you grab the plane and you go on a retreat that makes it even more exciting.

And so I love retreats, I've done 6 study abroads, but I've also done multiple retreats in different places. And so I love retreats when I have the time study abroad is also a wonderful option. And even for the adults, if you wanted to do, let's say a retreat or a study abroad, they have different courses and cuisines on this and even different topics, whether it's to learn how to cook Italian food in Italy, or whether it's, Learn how to make Chinese lanterns in China or whether it is discovering wine country in France or what have you. There's different retreats for different things and different interests. So I love retreats for that. And, all you have to do is just plug it in into the internet search and a bunch would come out. So keep that as an option because it doesn't have to be at a faraway land. It could be something locally, even just for a day retreat. I've seen there's day retreats where it's like an 8 to 4 situation on a Saturday. And you give somebody the time and space to recharge and renew themselves.

Another option and another gift that I love is the experience. And it could be various experiences from let's say going to hot springs to going on a hot air balloon ride to going on a train or let's say doing a road trip or, discovering a new museum or let's say another different type of cuisine. So for example, in most cities, you have different cuisines and different restaurants at different times. How about you take somebody, a loved one or yourself to a restaurant with, of a cuisine that you've never tried. There's so many different types of cuisines out there and so many, and you get to see this, especially in the bigger cities, but even in smaller ones. They're there tends to be a plethora of options. So I'd say explore your own cities and your surroundings. But also, if you have the time and space, go out and venture out outside your city and see what other cuisines you could look into. And then also, that experience, whether it is, a
festival of hot air balloons or a festival of I don't know of skiing or anything else that may be going on.

There's always a festival for something. I remember living in California, there was a garlic festival up north and there was a festival for olive oil and a strawberry festival down south. And so there's different festivals for different things. And so whatever it is, I think that experience is amazing. And so whether it's your first time painting or let's say trying your hand at ceramics, or whether it's glass blowing. That experience is unforgettable, and so try it. It could also be something as simple as fly fishing or just fishing and taking your friend or your loved one. On this experience will always, come back to that one time that they did this with you. So I love experiences. And I think those are always a great way to enhance bonds and also to enhance your health in many ways, right? Because new experiences lend new perspectives to life as well.

Online courses is my next gift. And the thing is nowadays online courses are such a huge thing. Everything from learning how to heal and reverse your hair loss to upgrading your fashion IQ, to making sourdough bread, to parenting skills, finances, you name it. There's just so many different courses online. And so many different topics. And so if you've ever had the nudge or the inkling of wanting to gift a course, I'd say go ahead and do it. I think they're wonderful. I, myself, I like to consume courses as well. I like to learn and I constantly love learning, whether through the audible books or through online courses or through experiences or even through retreats. Learning is something that comes in many ways. It's not just one way or one format. And so the online course makes it very easily and tangible for someone, anyone around the world to access this and to be able to learn.

And so whatever it is that they need, whether it's, dog training or whether it's how to grow tomatoes in their backyard. There's a course for it. And so that's the beautiful thing. The other thing is, I know many people have been gifted the Hair N' Heal program either from a grandmother or from a mom or from their parents or from a loved one. That's amazing gift because that gift will just keep giving to you. So if that's your case, feel free to reach out to us [email protected] and we're happy to accommodate this gift and gift certificate to a loved one for you.

The next gift idea would be to gift to a charity in their name. So for example, if let's say you have a loved one who doesn't want to receive any gifts then what you could do is gift a certain amount to either a charity that they like, or a charity that they've used before, maybe a charity that is close to their heart and you can gift a certain amount to that charity in their name or donate some time, both options are wonderful and both options would be beneficial, not just to the charity, but then also this would be a beautiful thing for the person who you're doing it for.

Another idea would be to see the need that they have and to fund it. So for example, sometimes people have the need to fix something, whether it's to fix the toilet or whether it's to, a new dishwasher or whether it's a new pair of shoes, or maybe it's a new suit for work, or maybe it's books that they need to buy for college, or maybe it's
something for their car so that they can have a better commute. What have you? Like to look at what somebody needs and then give them a practical gift for it. So for example, if I have a gift for a child, a gift idea for a child, I like to give educational toys or maybe even a membership like a museum membership. So that's where I'm leaning towards. Many times we have children in our lives where they don't need more toys, they don't need more clothes, but what they do need is maybe more activities.

So what you could do is also give them the gift of a museum membership, a yearly museum membership or an aquarium or zoo membership. So they can go in as often as they'd like. them and one parent or them and the whole family and, have access to all the special events and all the special things that they do. That's something that's super beneficial. And maybe what you could even do is gift yourself that. I remember living in Miami a lot of the museums there and art galleries would have memberships. And so you would buy one for you and then you would have free entries for 3 other people all the time. Anytime I went to a museum, it was for free because it was either with a friend who had a membership or I had the membership or vice versa. And so that's something that you could see. And I think that's a wonderful educational way of, growing and learning, but then also having access to this at any time of the year.

Another thing, what you could do too, is let's say, for example, if you are that person that wants a loved one to learn a new language or learn something different like taekwondo or jiu jitsu or learn dance or learn a specialty art or a music or a musical instrument, then gift them that class, gift them that, that option to do so either in person or online. And that also is a wonderful gift for them, for the child or for the adult Or the loved one that you're thinking of. In terms of health, I love gifting memberships and subscriptions to 2 different health centers. There's different health centers around town that I've seen that pop up that are all encompassing and they have different gadgets and tools that you can use to boost your health in many ways and these memberships are wonderful. You could do a one time pass as well. And so these are wonderful gifts, whether it's just for you or for a loved one as well.

Other gifts would be gadgets, there's numerous gadgets out there. Everything from the Oura ring that tracks your heart rate variability and tracks different areas of health and health markers, these are also great. I have numerous gadgets that I recommend inside the Hair N' Heal program. And then also when we're coaching because more than likely it's like the next step of healing your hair loss. After that, it's getting the gadgets so that you can uplevel your health in so many ways. It's not just about the here and the now, but it's also about the future. Because again it's not about what we're doing now, but it's also about what we're doing in the future and on a consistent basis so that we can up level ourselves.

So those are my top 10 in terms of gifts for 2024. And let me go ahead and run through those again. We have the Audible subscription, the massage or the acupuncture or the chiropractor or the spa day. We have cooking classes, private instruction, whether that's Pilates, yoga, personal trainer, or other sports. We have reMarkable, which is your pad of electronic paper that you can write with a stylus pen and it sends out to PDFs to you
and via email and keeps all your notes very organized for you. Online courses of any sort, including the Hair N' Heal program. You also have experiences that are out of the blue and out of the norm, like swimming with sharks or with dolphins or, going fishing or skiing, experiences of all sorts are wonderful. Online courses are great of any and all aspects, whether you see the need that they may have, whether it's books for college or maybe they need to replace something either in their house or in their car, and then you can fund it or fund portions of it at the charity. The last but not least is the charity. I love giving to charities and I love giving to charity, whether it's time or money, but then also in someone's name.

I think this is a wonderful way to, to give back and start the season. Yesterday I was actually in line and I ran into a lady who had her cart filled to the brim. And I asked her, I was like: oh, are you done with your Christmas shopping? She's: No, this is all going to charity. And she was rounding up, she was there with a couple of coworkers and they had multiple baskets filled of items and toys for a children's charity locally. And it was such a beautiful thing, and it just got me thinking, we should all be doing something more for others, not just for ourselves, but also for others as well.

So if you have somebody who you find it hard to buy them a gift or you find it hard to give them a gift. What you could do easily is to give to a charity in their name. And I think they would appreciate that. And so the charity, and then it would also warm your heart as well. So those are my top 10 gifts and gift ideas for 2024. I look forward to talking to you next week. Thank you so much. Take care.