Senait.

First off, sorry about not posting for a couple days everyone, I've been super busy lately and haven't had the time. So I'm posting before school now! :) Enjoy..

Senait has a LOT of hair. A LOT. Admittedly, more than a lot of stylists would take on (she told me she has been turned down for a thermal style before. How awful is that??)

She walked into the salon to check in and luckily enough for me I was up at the reception desk to get a first glance at her hair- she had it braided and pinned to the side and it didn't look too bad, but I knew what she was there for, a shampoo style, would probably take a bit of time. A wee bit o' time and hard work. The girl Senait was supposed to have wasn't finished with her previous guest so I got to take over since I had been saying "oh my god I wanna play with her hair" about every two seconds since she popped in.

At first she seemed really shy but we hit it off when we talked about music- she has really good taste! a.k.a stuff I would like as well, haha. When I shampooed her hair I made sure to really get in there and scrub so that her scalp could be sparklyyy clean. Getting TO her scalp was kinda an issue because she just.. Had so much hair. She told me her family was from a country called Eritrea in Africa and that she never thought about getting a relaxer because that was against her culture. I admire that so much in her, and so did the other women in the salon who were walking by.

After about 3 1/2 hours a classmate Candaz stepped in with her professional grade Croc flatirons (which by the way are the bomb) and I noticed a huge difference in the texture of the hair compared to what the ones in our KIT could do and the ones that Candaz had could do. She told me with hair that thick and coarse to take small subsections with a rattail comb, so small that you can see the tail through the hair you are getting.

Candaz helped style her and fix her fringe for us and taught me quite a bit about both as well and then had to book out the door because she had to pick up her children from school, haha. It was so sweet of her to help and both Senait and I really appreciate it.

A great guest who keeps talking to you no matter how long they are in your chair and is honest is the best thing I could ask for :)

Chelsey!

Chelsey. Friend who has seen me through my best and worst times.

Haha. Chelsey and I have the same sense of humor and taste in a lot of things. We don't put up with people pushing us around and its nice, I kinda look up to her as an older sister.

She ended up in my chair this morning for a partial highlight and a cut.

We decided to switch her trademark dark "emo" look (joke from highschool, that yes, she is fine with) for a little more of a lighter shade. I did a medium weave and placed the foils pretty close together to give her a bit of a chunkier highlight that would give her a full look and provide a lot of movement.

As for the cut she wanted a slightly graduated bob/ A line. She didn't want to shave her neck so I made the back a couple inches up from the back and gave her a lot of layers to play around with and make a little bigger to get a more "A line" look for when she doesn't have to pull it back..

She was really happy with the end result, and so was I! The highlights went really well with the cut and she felt comfortable with the bob. Great choice on her part. She said her sister, Jessica wants to come get a haircut or color soon.. I can't wait! So happy to have such great guests to help promote and look after me.

Thanks everyone!

Braiding Class.

Well. Let's just admit it. Some people can braid- some can't. I'm one of those people where if I work hard enough on something then, bada bing, I will get it and eventually master it. For braiding, that 'eventually' is a really questionable word.

Cornrows, fishtails, knots, rope braids, basket weaves, underhand, overhand, Frenchbraid.. Plaits, One strand, Two strand, Three strand.. Four?? Five??? Oh yeah. The possibilities are endless with braiding. I can't tell you how big of an impact it has on fashion one way or another. Somewhere on one of those huge wigs you see there is a cornrow where it is fashioned onto the scalp/ head, or there are hairstyles where the braid ITSELF is the hairstyle. Any magazine you look weather it is http://www.runwaybeauty.com/'s Runway Magazine, Modern Salon (http://modernsalon.com/), or more publicly known Elle (http://www.elle.com/), there are plaits and locks of some sort. The fashion industry, unlike quite a few times before is swarming with braids.. And I love it.

Like I said before, I am NO natural braider. My instructor Lisa noticed today that I work with all of my fingers, which can be good and bad. Good because that means I have some dexterity, bad because learning new ways of braiding can be difficult. It's funny she noticed this as well for me, personally, because I often have trouble learning new patterns to fingerpick with on my guitar. Same issue.

I found that the Overhand method of braiding a single plait wasn't too bad. After a few times practicing a French Braid I sure got it pretty solid and consistent, but then bam- time to try the Underhand single plait which I had to watch and then Cornrowing.

Frustration. Anxiety. Annoyed. All over what? A single braid. A single braid.

I had to let go and just breathe. So, I watched what I was really doing, really, really watched.. and then.. I got it. I did it. And after I did it one time, I did it another.. and another.. and another. And surprisingly, everything came out nice and consistent. Now I just have to work on perfecting that consistency and then perhaps my speed. Haste makes waste though, according to Horst Rechelbacher, so perhaps I should just wait.

Anyhow, a plus of everything today was that also, I discovered how to make those HUGE overly exaggerated editorial fashion photos we have all seen. Those are the kind of things I would like to do in my future, and guess what? A lot of the hair.. Is synthetic. Most of those ridiculous hairstyles you see, the big updos for fashion shows? Synthetic.

Luckily for me, this stuff isn't expensive and I took a classmate with me to a store recommended by a few other classmates called the "Infinity 99 cent store." I got lost in there with no problem, seeing as the WHOLE BACK WALL was HAIR. It was beautiful. I could have stayed there all day and night for all I care. Either way, I left with quite a few different textures and types of hair to help me out on any of my quests with competitions and other hair related escapades.

I guess thats what my future holds. Perhaps I'll post some work in progress shots of all of this at some point, maybe when I get a little better! :)

Anyhow, don't ever get discouraged about learning how to braid because theres always something you can do to help it- youtube is a great source for example, or I'm sure there are online drawings somewhere. Just google it! Don't be scared or intimidated because braids can bring a whole new look to you.

Thanks for reading!

Beacon Ideas.

So since I've had a lot of people ask me about what my plans are for Beacon, I decided I'd draw some up and put them here.

What is Beacon you ask? Beacon is a competition for Student Stylists to showcase their talent. I've known about it for roughly a month but honestly until about three weeks ago I didn't have much ideas, haha. One day all of these ideas came to me and since then I've been hard at work. This website may be a part of the project but either way it sure it helps me become a self manager and promoter so I'm going to keep blogging (for sure) after the competition. If you are one of the beacon winners, you get to go to Las Vegas and spend a week there at the Pro Beauty Week forum where names like Vidal Sassoon, Vivienne Mackinder and Tabatha Coffey talk about their personal mistakes and what to do and what not to do. It's a fantastic opportunity so I am going to take it. It will be before (if) I move and after I get a job. Perfect timing!

I've done a practice run on the first girl, and the second one not particularly worried about. Miss Spring will have a lot to offer I'm sure so I'm not too worried about her too. I'm quite excited! I seem to have a lot of support right now so all I can do is try, huh?

I just finished getting all of my equipment so sooner or later guys my entries will be done, hopefully by this time next week. All I can do is keep on keeping on and thank you so much to everyone for so much support thus far. If anyone wants to join a blogspot and blog I will return the favor!

I'll keep everyone updated on this whole thing. Thanks again for the support!

Handmade Business Cards

Hopefully the cute designs will get people to actually keep them in their pockets. All handmade and drawn by me. Kinda a folk-ish look given they are on off white paper and made with mostly colored pencil and some bold markers, haha.

So, I met Tabatha Coffey.

I went into the Salon Rendezvouz last week to do my weekly 'shadowing' type deal with Miss Dairdre. As I was pulling out of my driveway I thought "Hm, I should bring my camera tonight", with this really strange feeling that.. I probably should take my camera with me to the salon. I dismissed my suspicions knowing I would regret it but due to the ice storm we had here in Columbus I was already late for work and rushed off.

Near the end of the night the owner of the salon Lindsay Hearts came in and asked if we wanted to go to a book signing. I looked at Dairdre and said "who's singing is it?" and turns out it was Tabatha Coffey's.

Tabatha freaking Coffey.

I looked like crap! AND I didn't have a camera! It would be my luck. I sucked up my pride and told them I would join them on the small adventure to Barnes and Noble.

Got to ride in the famous Evolved Tattoo pink limo. It was pretty cool, not gonna lie.

We get there and everyone suddenly starts to get nervous, my new friends are as giddy as I am.

Managed to snap a picture with her and say hi thanks to Dairdre, haha. I was too scared to ask! Shame on me...

I wanted to go to Tabatha's afterparty at the Union but well.. I had lost my wallet and I.D. (go figure it was in my back pack all along) and declined that invite.

Oh well, maybe next time!

About Me.

So I've had some people ask if I could write a blog about myself and what inspired/ inspires me to do hair.

Well, I never really knew I had a knack for it honestly, until the day I came to school.

First off, I hail from the great Logan, Ohio, in the southeastern portion of the state. Also known as "The Hocking Hills" to a lot of people from around the state/ country. My family used to also have a home in Saint Augustine, Florida, and this is the place I consider my true home. I think the culture and able to truly indulge in that sort of lifestyle stole my soul away and I've never quite gotten it back- I plan to go back and live there one day. But thats another story.

I attended the Logan High school and I participated in various activities throughout my years there. I was in two choirs, the Hilltop Singers (the school show choir), and the LHS Chamber choir. I ran track and participated on the relay races multiple times, where I had strong bonds with the underclassmen (who by the way have huge potential to be great sprinters), was in Key Club (basically the high school branch of the Kiwanis), I was on Student Council two of four years, in the Thespian Troupe, in National Art Honors Society, helped out with musicals and plays as both a member of the cast and also a member of the crew, and had a few extra curriculars of my own. My sophomore year I participated in the ACDA National Honor Choir where I reunited with some fellow musicians I had met a couple years previous in Chicago, and then my junior year I was in the Ohio University Honor Choir with a lot of other talented kids. My life was busy, and I was stressed.

I love music and art. I always had thought that art was seconded to music, music which was singing and composing some here and there for me. A hobby became an obsession and soon enough I wanted to be a music major (specifically musical theater or opera) and wouldn't stop pursuing that dream. I guess perseverance is great, but man. Looking back I'm glad I didn't go the way I had chose at that point in time.

I auditioned for Bowling Green State University's conservatory in February 2010. Nervous enough, I began to get a cold. I auditioned and great comments were sent my way during the audition but being the nervous person I can be, it wasn't enough to ease my tension.

I got the call at a track meet about a month later I got into the conservatory and they had a spot saved for me in their choirs. I got my FAFSA about a month after, and I wasn't comforted. At all.

9,000 dollars a year?

I thought.. To me, this was like a death sentence. My family barely made enough to get by, let alone pay back a loan of 9,000 dollars. I love music, don't get me wrong, but I don't love it enough to put my family under my pressure. I needed something where I wouldn't have to get my family involved with that pressure, something where I could pay off my debts by myself, while still being creative and transferring my passion into something else.

A new art medium..? But WHAT? I had seen it ALL....

It was time to kind of 'let go' of that dream. Kind of.

One day I was driving on high street (my long lost love) with my grandmother in Columbus looking for a place I read about online to cut my hair. She asked me if I was ready to go to college and start my great music career and I shook my head and reluctantly said "...no..". She looked over at me and said "Whats wrong?", and an onslaught of tears followed with a panicked voice from me saying I didn't want to leave Columbus, I wanted to go to school there, and that I couldn't go back to living basically in the boonies and paying 9,000 dollars a year for a career that was not guaranteed to me.

She asked me what I wanted to do and I thought back to my younger years of roaming around campus during the summer and looking in at all of the students at the Aveda Institute... They seemed like they loved it there. How great would it be to use HAIR as a medium..? I mean, my god, its like a performance, and its something that can make someone FEEL good.. It was another type of art, that I felt would be even more rewarding than all the other skills I had developed before.

About three days later I was taking a day off school and walking into the Institute for the first time, and I was in love. I saw instructors faces who I felt like I had known forever, and there were quirky people like me here and there and people who I could feel could all relate to each other one way or another.

And the hair. It was perfect.

I graduated high school about a week later, and a few days after that I parted with my family. I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it eventually when I can give them and myself whatever we want, whenever we want. Don't get me wrong, this is a hard profession but I have fallen so deeply in love with it, my guests, the way you can advertise, the education.. Its much more rewarding for me than any amount of money could pay.

I found a way to channel all of my art and music into a new medium. It was very scary the first couple months because I was the happiest I had ever been despite the fact I hadn't seen anyone from my hometown for the longest time. I was pretty much alone, but everyday I drove my car to school and walked those few blocks to neil with a positive attitude that I would learn something new, and I did. It is a constantly changing art form, where avant garde and different, can be good. All my hard work in school with music and art it seemed was just training for the things I would be putting my passion and hard work into at Aveda.

SO. I guess thats me in a nutshell, or some kind of explanation about how I basically stumbled upon being at Aveda, pretty much my home now. We have a great relationship and I wouldn't trade the people I meet everyday and the things I learn from them for the world.

Alison.

Alison didn't quite know what she wanted.. At first.

After the use of my lookbook and some swatches we decided that we would could go with a 4 Y/O (gold series) with permanent color to cover up her highlights while still leaving some dimension and a little fun for her. Her hair was pretty long and she was certain she wanted to cut two or so inches off the length, but with her layers I kinda took my time and made sure I wasn't cutting too far up or too deep for her taste.

So we cut and cut and cut and finally after some face framing she was pretty comfortable for the style we picked for her. I educated her about the importance of actually detangling your hair and not just running a brush through it and pulling out all the hair, and heat styling protection and she liked those perks of the Brilliant Damage Control so she walked home with a bottle of that to try out and see how she likes it.

Hopefully I will see her again in six weeks to trim up her hair (just a little bit this time) and she said "possibly" get highlights because she might miss them too much. I'm okay with that,because shes got quite the sense of humor. Overall great day.

Khlea with color!!

So, my girl Khlea came back this Saturday morning for her color and usual cut.Finally, we get the chance to put on some color!

First off, we tried using the Aveda color line Deep, made for the darker levels of hair. Khlea is naturally around a 2, and we wanted her to at least be at a 3 or 4 for the Red color she chose.

Well, we did a partial and it didn't quite work out, the shades weren't bold enough and honestly? They didn't quite show up. Her hair had a dark red offset but it wasn't far from her natural level of a 2, so of course they didn't show up.

Her friend brought her lunch and we decided to go for something we knew would be bold, an all o

ver color with a lighter (for her) shade of red. I was excited for this because we had been talking about it since we did her relaxer. I learned a couple things while coloring her hair- relaxed hair

is a little more resistant to color, and highly textured hair can be quite resistant as well, even at the newgrowth. We used 20 volume on the newgrowth where with fine or regular hair we would probably use 10, and we used 30 on the midstrand and ends where the relaxer was.

I was ecstatic that she loved the color. I had to hand her over to a trusted friend to finish styling her for me because of a time discrepancy but she was a great sport and rescheduled her haircut with me for next weekend, Saturday, early AM, haha.

Craig!

While I do not have any before and after pictures of Craig, I can say he was a pleasure to have in my chair. He seemed kind of shy at first, but once we got talking about art I found that he and I had a lot to chat about. He was able to suggest other art forms to me that I might enjoy, which I appreciated very much because sometimes just painting doesn't do it.

I thought I would link everyone his website with his paintings that have captivated me through looking at them, to share.

www.craigcarlisle.com

Thanks for reading!

Vanessa

Meet Vanessa.

Vanessa had a lot of color in her hair. A lot.

Vanessa had been on my books for a couple weeks before I actually met her. I was

over joyed to see that I had a "Color Cleanse" on my schedule because I had never done one before, and also because its a high end skill that not many people know how to do properly. The day before Vanessa came in, I decided to do a test run of the process to see what I would be dealing with... For those of you who don't know what this could result in, here is a good side by side comparison.

Woah!

So this is generally what a Color Cleanse does. It takes the color.. out of the hair. Hence the "cleanse" portion of the title. Doing this is a real ordeal considering it is "Corrective Color" basically and means you have to also end up usually matching the tone you end up with with another color and the roots of the hair may/ may not lift so its basically a matching game. Then the color you may apply may take too light or it may be too dark, sometimes, its a guessing game.

Vanessa, bless her heart had picked a 6/7 Red Orange color that she

felt comfortable with. Since we were starting with a dark brown/ black color the chances of this lifting to the appropriate NRP necess

ary for this color to actually work were pretty good. I was really happy with her choice too as she can pull off red like no other. My instructor Shae was teaching me as we went and I was pretty grateful for that, because if she wouldn't have been there I would have been a little overwhelmed. Not gonna lie. She and Miss Parisia made the formulas for the final color we applied, but thats about ten steps away from where we are now.

We went through and did the color cleanse, then went back through and applied 10 volume and enlightener to her scalp basically to get her roots to lift, and after THAT we applied a toner at the shampoo bed (yes, thats right, my school has shampoo beds!), brought her back to the station and finished by applying two different red formulas, one

dark one for her newgrowth and one light one for her ends so we could even everything out. It was a long battle but she was a GREAT guest, often going along with my (and Shae's..) corny jokes and appreciating the fact I bought magazines earlier that day for her to read through the whole 5 hour ish process. I never knew how fast I could really do a color retouch until today, since we had to do color melting for the two last formulas. "You don't want the one color to expire as you are touching up the newgrowth, so you have to hurry!! Just slap it on.. Accurately!" -Shae, haha. Thankfully I hadn't mixed up the lighter color, yet so we weren't in too bad of shape anyhow.

The final product was GORGEOUS. I was SO happy about a few things.

1. First and foremost the color was beautiful. No evil halo lurking about here, no color discrepancy, nothing.
2. My guest was elated. Vanessa was so happy to have a color other than her long time favorite of box black on her head, and she was glad she could pull off red! (She has beautiful green eyes..)
3. The color looked NATURAL. Who would have known? Aveda reds ARE great.
4. Her curls still curled up into their natural spirals, which we both were very, very happy to see. After that much processing we weren't sure if her hair would be so soft or if her hair would even have a wave to it.

We fixed her up with a bit of deep conditioning Damage Remedy conditioning treatments as well as a bit of Beautifying Oil to help replenish and re-moisturize her hair. I suggested that she use Madder Root Shampoo and Conditioner to keep her red very vibrant and alive, and also suggested she come back for a little bit of a trim once shes back from visiting her daughter in the Caribbean in a couple weeks.

Overall, a wonderful service. Yes, we were both tired, we both ha

d been anxious and I had a couple moments, but it was overall a very rewarding experience meeting such a lovely lady and providing her with some hair she can actually play with now it isn't coated with black anymore. I am excited to see her again for the hair 'trim' as we have decided to call it, since she doesn't want to lose much length until the summer. Such a good day.

P.S. Shae, this one's for you.. ha!

Khlea.

This girl has so much going for her.

I met Khlea I'm pretty sure on another one of my Saturday morning shifts when I was a PM

student, long before I contemplated switching to AM. At the end of the day I had a haircut booked I knew it wouldn't take long.

Well, the thing is, is that with very textured hair, you should cut it according to what style the guest wants to wear. If they wear their hair natural, then cut it natural. If they wear it relaxed or straighten it every day, you have to do such to cut it.

When I washed her hair I noticed she had a relaxer on her, because not much curl was coming up aside from a little bit of newgrowth (about an inch, maybe less). This was fortunate

for me because we were able to discuss her relaxer options and it just so happened I had a relaxer model day where she could come in, get relaxed, for only a cheap fee. So, after I did her shampoo/ style and cut, ( cute A line bob, it keeps getting more and more stacked just the way she likes it!) we agreed that next Tuesday we would get that newgrowth taken care of.

Going into my first relaxer I was pretty nervous, I'm not gonna lie. All of the highly dangerous chemicals involved make getting highlights look like a joke! Leave it on too long, or if theres an abrasion on the scalp you have to get your guest to the shampoo bed STAT or else their head will be on fire.. Or they will have a patch of hair missing. Plus, I wanted to impress my new guest with my techniques and make her look fly! I did NOT want to leave her bald. Yeah.

So, my friend Ryo helped me out because it is such a fast process, and with the guidance of Miss Lisa we gave Khlea a great relaxer. During the rinsing process I made sure there were absolutely NO pink suds (the indicator there is still harsh chemical on the scalp/ hair) and we towel blotted her and sent her out to be dried and lightly straightened.

Immediately I noticed that the relaxer, imagine this, worked! Not much time was needed for the smoothing process and Khlea was very happy to see her hair wasn't "poofing" out as much as

it had before, which in turn made ME very happy as well. No time for a trim today though, we had taken a little too long for her (get this) LUNCH BREAK..! (Haha!!) But she rebooked with me for another haircut at another point in time.

Next on our list is getting some color in her hair! We are thinking a deep red. I'm sure that when we meet next she will be overly happy with her results!

Katy.

I met Katy much longer before I met my guest Heather (in my previous post). I was so happy to have such a nice girl in my chair.. at 8 AM.

Before I became a vigilant AM student where the schedule is 8-5 Tuesday through Saturday, I was a vigilant PM student where my schedule was 12pm-9pm Monday through Friday. During the holidays we were able to pick up shifts, so for PM students it would be to go on Saturday morning to evening. I want to graduate early/ on time,

so I picked up every one I could.

On my first Saturday, needless to say I rolled out of bed, miserable, think

ing "oh god, why did I do this to myself", jumped in my car and went to school. PM students GENERALLY don't do well when being used to waking up a

t 11, or 10 everyday and switching to waking up at 7 or 6. Just so you guys know.

I had a partial highlight. Oh jeeze. At this point in time the idea of a partial highlight worried me to death. (Where at this

point in time, as in this present, I am like "why??", haha.) So many things to keep track of. Make sure the highlights don't lift too much or, make sure everything is IN the foil so you don't get horrendous bleed marks, and make sure you weave everything correctly.. I dunno if you have figured anything out about me yet, but I am quite the worry wart sometimes when it comes to how my guests do. I get over this by being confident in my techniques but its more like the wait from finishing the technical part to seeing it is what gets me.

But, a little sunshine kinda peeked into my day when I got

Katy in my chair. She was quiet, polite, and we had good conversation. She was a sweetheart as we talked about all of my sports injuries (since she is studying the sort and I am/ was quite the klutz in high school), and she told me about her family and boyfriend. I was glad to hear a young girl actually talk such nice things, she never had a negative thing to say, and she had such nice hair!

Overall, she loved her highlights, and I am happy to see her still rocking it on her facebook pictures. She's added some new bangs which I think are absolutely gorgeous on her. Hard to go wrong with such a pretty face and great hair! It was nice to once again, have one of those days where you think it's gonna be so long, but you meet great people to help you smile and inspire you to do so well it goes by faster. I love my career.