We have become a disease focused rather than health focused society. If we would just begin to focus on what is right, what is good, what is working and what it is that our hearts truly desire, rather than what is wrong and what we fear, we might begin to find more of what is right.

There is always another choice, another option. ALWAYS. It just may not be the one that you want to see, or the one you want to take, but it is probably the one that you need. It may not be easily done or the easy choice…. isn't it the things that we work hardest for in life that we appreciate the most though? It may not be easy, but it will be rewarding.

Thus ask yourselves, whatever you are going through right now, what is the gift in this? Furthermore, know that after every dark night, there is always a dawn, and a new beginning. I am evidence of that. Thank you for allowing me to share my story with you!

The following is a very personal story told by the owner, Stacy Long, about her health journey and how Stasia's Organic Element Salon was created.

When I was 17 years old I had my first outbreak of Eczema. The doctors at the time treated me for poison ivy because I was covered head to toe in it. About three weeks later, I still had it. After that, every fall and spring, I would have outbreaks. It wasn't until I went away to college and met my roommate, who also experienced the same thing, that I knew what it was.

I went through all of the conventional treatments. Antihistamines, cortisone creams, steroid shots, antibiotics and so many different over-the-counter creams and lotions. My condition continued to get worse and worse. It would clear up a little, and then go back to even worse than before…two steps forward, three steps back.

When I started my new career as a hair stylist, it localized to my hands (specifically my left hand) and never went away. I continued with conventional treatments and my condition continued to worsen. Five years into my career, and twelve years after my first outbreak, my skin got so bad that my hands and skin just wept all the time. I was a mess; stressed, frustrated, and fatigued. The doctors that I had been seeing, threw their hands up at this point, not knowing what else to do. They suggested that I consider changing professions. I was a little confused at this because it had not been suggested that my profession was the cause. And, the condition I had started many years before I became a hairstylist. Because I loved what I did so much and because it was mostly on my left hand, I didn't believe my profession was the only cause. I am also a bit of an optimist, and believed that there had to be another solution! This sent me on my search for other answers and thus my holistic journey began.

In 2007, I was assisting with a Tony Robbins Life Mastery event focused around health and cleansing. By talking with friends who lived in Australia I discovered that there was such a thing as organic color! While waiting in the airport in Fiji, I began searching organic colors and found Organic Colour Systems. Coincidentally, it was distributed right out of my own backyard, in Clearwater, Florida!  Switching to OCS was the final step to my healing process. Since using it, I have had hardly any irritation. Today, my skin is virtually healed, minus some irritation from time to time….usually from me not being as diligent!

Soon after, I set a goal to open my own organic salon, and three months later, the opportunity came. In March of 2008, I opened Stasia’s Organic Element Salon. I am really excited to be able to give people another alternative. Many do not even know that there are other options available; options that really do truly work and make a difference.

I learned so many things from this experience, and now I thank God that it happened. I had to go through what I did to be where I am today. Even though it has been one of the most painful and difficult things I have ever endured, it was also one of the best things that I have ever had happened to me.

It is so true that your darkest night can also be your brightest day if you choose. I have learned what it truly means to have faith, and gratitude, and to step beyond fear. I have learned a whole lot of patience and that I am always exactly where I need to be, at exactly the right time. I now know that things happen exactly as they should, even if you can't understand why at the time. I have learned that our bodies are beyond amazing and that if God brings you to it, he will bring you through it.

Most people do not realize that what they are putting on their bodies may be harmful in the first place. Worst of all, most do not know what little regulation goes on in the beauty industry. I found out there is literally NO regulation of ingredients in the beauty industry. I believe I had to go through this to help share with others another way and maybe keep them from going through what I went through. It is not necessary to put so many chemicals onto our bodies which is absorbed into our bodies. Your body will thank you for it!

This guided me to clean up my diet. By most people's standards, my diet was already healthy and clean. It led me to acupuncture, colonics, and live blood analysis. I switched to eating mostly organic foods and drinking “green drinks” and wheatgrass shots. I began doing cleanses to clean my body from the inside out and to finding spiritual teachers, like Wayne Dyer, Carolyn Myss, Louise Hay and eventually to  Tony Robbins & his events where I began my emotional cleanse. All of this was an integral piece of a puzzle to my healing.

It didn't happen overnight, it was actually a long road, but slowly my skin began to heal without medication and without prescriptions. I am not saying that doctors and prescriptions do not have a place. What I am saying though, is that there may be another alternative; an alternative that does not have as many side effects. I now believe that years of being on tetracycline to treat teenage acne (which is an antibiotic), is what triggered my eczema. It was shortly after I stopped taking it, that I had my first severe outbreak. Therefore, I believe, before taking a prescription, you need to be educated on what those side effects are, and decide for yourself if it is right for you. You are in control of your health, and no one else. Fortunately, today there are a lot of resources available to help you educate yourself.

accident that America is so overweight, sick and unhealthy. If you have ever traveled around the world before, you will see the sharp contrast of the United States compared to the rest of the world. Countries that do not allow GMO’s, or the amount of pesticides that we do. Prescriptions drugs are not handed out like candy, and sold with such a huge price tag attached to them. Not to mention, you will not find sugar and high fructose corn syrup in everything. And then there is the beauty industry and what happens there. Nor is being unhealthy and sick, such a profitable industry like it is here in the US.

What I was doing in the beginning wasn't giving me the results that I wanted. When people started to critique me or second-guess my methods of healing, I learned over time to stand back and see if they were getting the results that I wanted; in this case, to see if they were healthy. Most of the time, they were not. So I learned to let them keep their own opinion and to just let it be. (This took lots of practice!) . I also learned that everyone is on his or her own path, and to accept people and love them where they are. It is their journey, and my journey, is my journey. In the end, you have to decide what is best for you. And what I am meant to learn on my journey, or what I really need, may be very different from what you are meant to learn on yours.

After all these changes, I had come a very long way and I was still not completely healed. I was still using ammonia-based, Redken color, along with many chemical filled hair products.

I have run into a lot of opposition along this journey. You may too if you decide to venture in a different direction than everyone else. The road less traveled, is really, truly the road less traveled! If you want to settle for average, then do what everyone else is doing, and you will get the results they are getting. I have been referred to as weird for drinking my “green drinks” and have gotten in arguments with friends about the food industry. I have also had these same friends come back to me years later, and thank me, because I helped them when their father was dealing with cancer and choosing to use alternative methods or for opening their eyes to other options.

Many of you have seen the movie “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead”. It is no

I began with a holistic doctor at Wellness Works, in Brandon, where they performed all kinds of tests on me that I had never received before. We found out I had all kinds of food allergies, my good bacteria was completely depleted, and my bad bacterias was on over load, having a party! My tin level was off of the charts (literally), and my Candida was five times what was considered the acceptable range. I had adrenal fatigue. I wasn't breaking down or hardly absorbing any of my nutrients, and I was dehydrated…even though I drank a gallon of water a day!

They began showing me the things that I needed to do to get rid of the cause, not just cover up the symptoms. Overtime, I learned that my body knows how to heal itself, if I take care of it. I learned that when symptoms show up, it’s my body communicating to me and letting me know something isn't right! I also learned (and experienced), that these symptoms, if left untreated, will only get worse. I also learned that many agencies that we think are there to protect us are also foremost a business and are there to make a profit.