Tabatha's Salon Takeover

Okay, I admit it...I watch a lot of Bravo Reality Television. However one of my favorites is Tabatha Coffey from Tabatha's Salon because I love strong, unrestrained, and feisty women (that includes everyone from Pink, Madonna, Janice Dickinson, Rosie O'Donnell).  Tabatha made her television debut on Bravo's Shear Genius. Her type wasn't apparent to me as much on Shear Genius because the show didn't center around her. So while I got bits and pieces of type I couldn't really put my finger on it. She initially registered to me as some kine of 1 or possibly 3. As time went on I realized she was most likely in the gut triad as she didn't really seem to care too much what anyone thought of her and had a very self possessed and grounded energy that seemed to emanate from the visceral gut center.

Tabatha has a severe look about her that often reads 1 or 3 to me but as I became more acquainted with female 8s everything sort of clicked. Watching her last season on Tabatha's Salon Makeover helped to really solidfy my typing of her as a 8w7. She is strong, decisisve, blunt, in your face, but relatively controlled and fair. She's described as everyone that crosses her path as a "bitch". She's still a relatively unaware 8, so she has yet to learn tact or diplomacy which causes problems for others. Tabatha often pushes others to their limits until they crack and utilizes this sort of confrontational style to effect lasting transformation in both the salons and the salon's employees.. She seems to be very sure of herself and as enneagram researcher Katherine Fauvre (an 8w7 herself) says of 8's, if someone's got a problem with her, it's their problem. She doesn't seem to take much personally (even personal attacks), and doesn't take kindly to people challenging her on much. However, I have noticed that her respect of someone will increase if they stand their ground. She is aware that she intimidates others and often walks around these salon's she's trying to transform like a general inspecting a barrack.


Last season on Salon Takeover she would frequently get annoyed when people cried stating that seeing people vulnerable like that made her uncomfortable. Conversely, she would often push others to be more "honest" and to stop bullshitting themselves about their situations which would often bring them to tears. I think she wants the emotional rawness of burning the old salon and way of working away and creating a stronger foundation in its place. It's sort of an abrasive "tough love" approach, where the love is buried under a good deal of "F" bombs and sharp tongued retorts.

 She has that laconic "go to hell" look constantly glued across her face but underneath that steely, tough exterior I can see her hiding very real vulnerabilities. Another important feature for 8 is the ability to fall indifferent to others, which really personifies many of the gut types. Tabatha's ability to say; "f-you, you deal with it" and walk away from others and their drama indicates another feature of the 8. While there is some image construction because she is playing a caricature of herself on television, however I think much of that is really her personality.

Here's some snippets of an interview with Coffey:


AE: Your persona in Shear Genius is quite demanding and direct. How much of that translates into your everyday life? Are you like that in everyday life or is that just a job thing?
TC: It is me, you know, I'm not acting any way whatsoever. I am direct. I'm honest. I think I'm assertive, and it comes out when it needs to come out. Yes, it does come out at work a lot because I need to take charge of a situation, and it comes out personally when it needs to come out as well. 

AE: Has that ever created any problems in your personal life?
TC: Look, when I'm honest, some people find they're uncomfortable with it … [but] if you ask me for my honest opinion, I'm gonna give you my honest opinion. And it's not to hurt people, it's not to be rude, but I prefer to be honest with people and tell you what I really think, especially if you're asking me that. But my friends know me. My friends, my family, they all know me, it's who I am, so: no.

AE: Do you get this question a lot? Do you think it's because you're a woman in business as opposed to a man in business?

TC: Yeah, absolutely. I think unfortunately still there is a big difference between a woman and a man in business — or if they're strong. It's a shame, but I still think people are very quick to label a woman a bitch if she's a strong, kind of forthright, honest woman. And I have a definition of what I think bitch stands for. 

AE: What is that?
TC: It's brave, intelligent, tenacious, courageous and honest. And if take those traits, I'm definitely a bitch, because I am all of those things. But I think you need to be to survive in business, and to be a woman in business you need to have those qualities, and people sometimes misinterpret it for meanness. It's just taking care of yourself and doing what you need to do. 

AE: I've met a lot of women in successful businesses and they often have those personalities, and I do think the perception that they're mean is because of sexism.

 TC: Yeah, absolutely. I think there's definitely a stigma. … Sometimes if a guy does a certain thing, everyone's like, "Ooh!" You know, "Great for him, he's a go-getter." And a woman does it and they're like, "Ugh, she's mean," or she's this or she's that, and it's unfortunate but it does still exist.

At the end of the day I need to make sure I take care of myself, and I'm honest with myself and take care of my business. They're the important things to me. 

AE: As a hair stylist, you're part of the fashion and beauty industry. Do you feel that there's more of a tendency to be mean in this industry?
TC: No, and again I don't think it's meanness. I think it's honesty.

When I'm dealing with a client I want to be honest with you, because I want to make sure that … I can help you to look a certain way. … If something isn't going to work for you, why would I say, "Oh yes, OK, I'm going to do that haircut," and know in the back of my mind it's never going to work on your hair type, it's not going to suit your face, it's not going to suit your lifestyle. That's not fair to you. You're going to walk out and hate your hair, and then you're going to think I'm a crap hairdresser.

So you need to be honest with people. In the case of the show, I have to be honest with them because I only have a week to spend with them. So for me to go in and not be really honest up front and get to the bottom of their problems and the crux of it, I'm genuinely not going to help them. And that's what I want to do, is help them.

http://www.afterellen.com/people/2008/8/tabathacoffey

I think she personifies the experience of the female 8 in the above interview. Frequent use of the word "honest" is something I've noticed with 8s, and the attribution of "bitch" and owning that label because of the female 8's aggressiveness is often a source of both pride and pain for this often misunderstood type.

I have great respect for the female assertive types, and especially the female 8 because of the stigma of assertiveness in American culture. They often report feeling misunderstood and misjudged due to their personalities and I think strong, honest women like Tabatha really help to create positive role models for the little 8 girls out there ready to bust into the world.

Final Weigh In:

Tabatha Coffey 8w7 self pres or sexual 8-7-3 tritype.

"8-7-3: Focused and innovative. Most Assertive 8. Mover and shaker, especially if extroverted and/or social subtype. Most energetic 8. Entrepreneur."-Enneagram Explorations