Day 110 & 111 ~ Cuts & Colors ~ 12/28/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 110 & 111 ~  Cuts & Colors  ~ 12/28/13

771 Hours
47 Guests

Friday Floor Day:
I took my mom to school and for the first time ever, except for the one time she came back from a salon and I cleaned up the stray bits, I cut her hair for her. She is now the most amount of hair I've cut from one person. She went from below shoulders to a chin length bob. Shorter than the other bobs she was getting.

Then while she was still there waiting for my SIL to pick her up to go shopping I received my next ticket for a shampoo & thermal guest. But when I greeted the guest she told me she was also getting color. So The three of us were at my station chatting for a while as I worked on the color. Then Mom left and I finished the color and then did the thermal with some flick of the wrist flat iron curls. Its not necessarily how I make them but that's how I describe them.

Saturday: My day was supposed to be a shampoo & thermal and then my friend was coming for a pedicure. But both had to cancel. When I told Mrs L that I was now free there was a man who walked in and I got to do his cut and color. As I was at the desk for his check out this lady with below shoulder length dark blackish hair came in. She was saying that last time she came a student told her we didn't have dark brown color and Mrs L told her that we do. Then she asked if she could be done today and Mrs L said that we only had a few students and that they might all be booked. I said do I have another guest? And she said no. So I asked the lady if she could wait while I take my mandatory lunch and that I'd take care of her after that. And she said that yes that would work since she needed to do a return at Old Navy. So since my one remaining tint bowl was at my station gunked up and in the interest of time I clocked out for lunch and went next door to Sally and got myself some purple tint bowls. Took my lunch. Came back and got set up. And then This lady and I had a very nice time. We had lots of good conversation. And I took care of her like I said I would. Good day :)

Thanks for reading.
Love you all <3
~ No Tangles ~

Day 109 ~ Story Board~ 12/26/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 109 ~ Story Board~ 12/26/13

757 Hours

After a break for the holiday I was back to school today. Today was a classroom day. However the holidays are putting things in some sort of limbo as far as what or when we're supposed to be studying. We did the two weeks of Haircolor 2 and we were supposed to start Anatomy and Nails 1. But The two classroom teachers had the day off and Mrs C was subbing in our class. And she was confused as to whether we finished the haircolor or not and her books are telling her she's supposed to start Anatomy / Nails with us when she takes over in January. The day started with us basically not doing much before break. Only half of us were in class today anyway so she didn't want to start something new. So I worked on my workbook. After break we were allowed to do some quick personal services. I asked if someone wanted to wash my hair for me and someone did. So that got us to Lunch. Mrs C talked to Mrs L to see what to do then. She came back and said the filler bit was going to be discussing competitions and hair shows. So we discussed that a bit and I showed the newer students my picture of manikin Veronica making her pie. Then we used magazines to make story boards for a possible theme for a model. I chose a woman wearing a sun dress, sunglasses, sun hat. I drew a giant sand castle for her to live in. And I called her a Beach Princess out for a casual stroll or lounging on the beach. My music choice was The Ocean. And I was basically going with pastels or light yet bright greens and pinks for the colors. If I get a chance I'll try to take a picture of it but I didn't color it very dark so you'll probably only see the magazine pictures.

Tomorrow I am on the floor as well as Saturday. Monday I am on reception desk for a week.
But I am also keeping busy with new friends outside of school.
I have used my new chair twice already and I currently have two more new friends to test out if its comfy for them. :)

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday of any sort. Was your Boxing Day good?
Love you all. <3
~ No Tangles ~

Day 108 ~ Halfway ~ 12/20/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 108 ~ Halfway ~ 12/20/13

750 Hours done
750 Hours left
43 Guests

My current attendance % is 99.6
I have, with help, been fortunate enough to attend 108 straight days of school. This leaves me with 108 days left at the least. 108 x 7 = 756. From this point forward I will have been at this school longer than I have left. I haven't earned my 50% Milestone yet and that's going to take a while. But the most important Milestone comes 108 days from now. I could care less if I got the 50%, 75% and Diploma on the same day by doing one last missing credit. I'm going to cross the finish line. And I'm saying that calmly and not throwing so much tough determination talk at it. I'm at the point where its not about fear anymore. Today was one of those Firsts that I had to get through. And as I'll say in a moment it had a few bumps. But the things to be scared of are being passed. Its getting to the time where I just do the work and get the experience and learn how to refine myself. I still have a bit of the mirror issue. Not so much that I can't look. I'm just forgetting to. But I've had some very beautiful friends at the school in that reflection lately. Speaking of which I just tied a mirror to the extendable tripod that I got from Ashlee and I put it in the car to take with me tomorrow.

But lets discuss today first. Its a friday so there's pretty much a set expectation as far as what I'll be doing. Part of that is the celebration portion before 9:30. I got my frog for last week's 100% attendance. We danced a bit. There was a graduate from the other group. Then its a matter of whether I have a request booked or waiting to see what guest ticket I am handed because odds are good that I will have a morning guest. I also have Mrs D at 1:30 weekly for her roller set. So I set up and got ready for the unknown. Then some time was passing so I went to get my manikins from the locker. I figured that would Karma things into gear. And it worked. Less than 5 minutes later a ticket came. What could it be? A Thermal iron? A haircut? Color? Nope. A lady wanted a facial. It was her first time to the school. Ok so I had a tiny bit of panic mode set in. There's a difference between manikin facials and the real thing. Mainly the steps for the real thing involve using our Bioelements products and that involves them filling out a question sheet and then trying to match our product types to their skin type. But there are also things like putting the towels in the crock pots to steam them. Putting the sheets on the bed. Anyway I went right to Mrs E and said I need help with setting this up. And with her help and a veteran student's help I got set up and lined up for the steps. The first few steps involve applying and removing some things like makeup remover. Then there's the exfoliating step with a warm steam towel on the face. Then you sit and wait for 5-10 minutes. The room is dark and we have an Enya CD playing. Things were going well up to this point. I was removing the exfoliating product and she asked me if this was my first facial. I said I had done one in workshop on a student. She said that she wanted to stop. I didn't think I had done anything wrong. In the interest of making her feel comfortable we had a female student sitting in the room with us. So I asked her to get Mrs E. She wanted to stop because her face was burning a bit. Which does happen for some with these products. Its kinda like hair. Acids close the cuticle and alkaline opens it. Its kinda the same with pores and skin pH. We have a product called Immediate Comfort for this issue so I went about trying to get it applied asap. Mrs L who had also helped out earlier before I started was the one to come in. She said she was going to go get Mrs J because Mrs J does lots of facials for her other job. Mrs J came and had me put cool water towels on her face. Things calmed down and she wasn't burning up anymore so now came the true test. When we do a facial on a manikin we do the massage movements for about 2 minutes. We do 3 of each of 3 different ones. But for a person we do the movements for a whole hour. So basically there's a card on the table as a pointer showing the different ones. I did some of them but this was a mix of some of them and some of things I was making up as I went along. But I gave her the full hour at least. For the last 15 minutes or so the CD had stopped and she was ok with it not being on. Mrs L came back in just as I was done with the massage and said that she didn't need the mask step since her skin was already looking good from the other steps. Plus to play it safe. So I finished up with the moisturizer and that was that. I got to finish it. She didn't leave in the middle. She seemed happy when she left. I don't know if she'd ever come for a facial again or not but its not my doing. It was the products and they are chemicals. So for me this was a positive because I know what to do now and I won't mind doing the procedure at all.

Mrs D had to cancel because she had an issue at home with some plumbing or something like that. But as I was about to go to a break Mrs L told me my guest had cancelled. And I said I knew. But I went to the computer to check if Mrs D had rescheduled and I saw that I had a curl reformation perm that was supposed to come for my afternoon guest. It was that guest that had cancelled. I spent what time I had left starting a roller set on Reese's longer hair using the smaller orange rollers. They're the next size up from the small blue ones. But I only got the top and one side done so far. I left her in the locker just in case some time comes to work on it some more.



Thanks for reading.
I Love you all.
Thank you for joining me for these first 750 hours.
~ No Tangles ~

Day 107 ~ Playing With Color ~ 12/19/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 107 ~ Playing With Color ~ 12/19/13

743 Hours

Classroom Day:
Quiz on Haircolor 2: We really did not do much actual out loud theory for this. Most of my time was spent doing my workbook pages. The other day while I was finishing up my rubric with my friend as a guest Mrs V wrote the review stuff on the board for us to copy down but that's all and I didn't have a chance to write it. So I was thinking I might fail this quiz because the things she wrote down were worded differently than I had seen in my workbook and text book. When we started class today she told us that we were taking the quiz right before break, In other words it was already 9:15 or after when we took roll call and she was going to give us the quiz at 9:45 with no last minute review like I've had every other time. So I asked if anyone had the stuff written down from the board and someone let me borrow it. Then I was able to see the ones I needed to pay attention to. As I took the quiz I was struggling with a few and I thought I might get more than 4 wrong of 20 and not pass. But I got 2 wrong and got 90%. And one of those was a toss up one. It was a choice between the one I chose and the one that was correct. So that gave me a boost for the rest of the day. Especially since I looked at my progress report with Mrs V to see what I was missing for tomorrow's 750 hour 50% milestone. Its going to take me a few weeks to get there. I need at least 30-35 credits in the hairstyling section. Even if I wet down a bunch of manikins and blow dry them its going to take a while.
But that being said, it said I needed 9 hair colors so since it was work on manikins day in class I went to work and I had some manikins on hand to experiment with. If I remember I'll edit in the photos later but I posted them to FB from my phone. I used what we had on hand from the leftovers box and I did some foils and some balayage / free hand brush painting on 3 of my manikins. I washed and blew them dry and showed Mrs V. So hopefully I got 3 color credits and 3 styling credits.

In the meantime it was another nice day and I look forward to a good day tomorrow with Mrs D and then some good plans for the weekend.

Thanks for reading
Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 106 ~ Highlights ~ 12/18/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 106 ~ Highlights ~ 12/18/13

736 Hours
42 Guests

Performance Floor:
Today's manikin assignment was to do the 3 out of 4 section chemicals procedure like we do in the mock board test. I had a friend scheduled as a guest at 11 but I was in a good mood and didn't want to stand around so I knocked out the assignment and still had time for the 10:30 break and time to get ready and clean my tools.

Today's guest was a friend of my friend who came for the perm a few weeks ago. So I was seeing her again for the second time and meeting today's guest in person for the first. We had talked on FB a bit. She came in for some small weaved red highlights for her brown hair. They may be technically lowlights but in any case they came out pretty. So I was there at my station with one friend wearing these pretty curls that I was seeing dry for the first time in person. And then I had this new friend that was letting me put these foils in and give these tiny red strands. And then I got to cut a few inches of long layers in to the top of the hair and I left her length alone. It was another 180 above the head straight up cut. Except with this one I did not cut her length at all and I just took about 3 inches off the top. The bottom length wasn't reaching that far but I wasn't trying to match it. Just give her some layers. And when it was dry she had a nice U shape. She has wavy hair similar to mine so I'm sure when it gets back to wavy it'll look even better.

And other than a little bit of help with choosing the color and showing me one foil, Mrs C pretty much let me be to do the task. And Mrs E didn't get involved either when she came in. She asked if I was doing alright and I was. It felt good to get through both a color and a cut with the blow dry pretty much indepentantly. I had a nice day with my friends. Two friends walked out the door with pretty hair and smiles. And I got to smile too.

Tomorrow is quiz day. I hope we do some reviewing because with the way things went last week and on Tuesday we really didn't do the specific theory that was posted on the board. But it is what it is. I'll face that task when I flip the paper over.

Thanks for reading.
Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 105 ~ Sometimes Words Aren't Enough ~ 12/17/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 105 ~ Sometimes Words Aren't Enough ~ 12/17/13

729 Hours
41 Guests

Its getting harder to find the words to describe how blessed I've been feeling lately. It would be one thing if everyone I'm meeting were brand new people to my life. But there's such a mix of people from every time period and all the new. It really goes a long way to healing those old wounds. Or removing those regrets.

Today was Classroom day but I did have a guest for the rubric on foiling.
A friend I hadn't seen since at least 19 years and possibly up to 25 years ago came to be my model. It was such a nice time. It didn't feel like a test because I really didn't care about it. I was just concentrating on doing my best to give my friend some pretty new lightened areas. She has lots and lots of long curly hair and if this had been a month or so agao I might have been a bit intimidated by this task I had before me. Until she showed me a picture yesterday I had no idea what was going to be before me. But as it turned out it was really easy. It took some time. But I was getting through it just fine. And I think my sectioning was fairly neat compared to some of my others. It was nice to have things to talk about. That's a big help for me. I'm starting to get a bit better at that with my guests. Mainly because I've had some requests coming in.

I just want to really thank her for coming today. It really was a turning point. I was able to get a model. I know I can now. If it ever doesn't happen again I'll be ok because there will be another try and there will be another model. When its meant to happen it will.
I love what I do. I appreciate this chance to learn it. I will always be thankful to those who are helping me through this process and trusting me to do these procedures for them.
Tomorrow there's another chance for me to repeat these feelings. I may get to see another friend again and at the same time meet a new friend.

Thank you all for reading. I really appreciate anyone who reads even one line.
Love You All
~ No Tangles ~

Day 104 ~ Go Ahead & Swing It ~ 12/16/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 104 ~ Go Ahead & Swing It ~ 12/16/13

722 Hours
40 Guests

Performance Floor Monday:
Since I'm closing in on 750 hours this week and my 50% Milestone I needed to get some manicures or pedicures to my credits. I asked the other day if anyone wanted to come get them and one of my friends who goes to school with me who is in the other group said she would come and her sister came as well. So they were my morning manicure requests. We had some fun while I knocked things over and fumbled about. But I got the job done. Funny word. Its not a job. Its a nice thing to do for someone. I appreciate the chance to. Its very relaxing too. When its not some rubric or state board test.

Sounds like a busy day right? Nice full day with 2 guests that requested me. But as awesome as that was my guest that was coming at 1 pm was even better. My friend from FB that came for a cut and then for the dark brown color knew a lady that had some recent misfortunes. Without giving away too many details because I do try to keep somewhat of a privacy level in this journal. But I had told my friend to pass it on to this lady and her family that I would offer them some free services as a way to come in and relax and take their minds off of things at least for a little while. Last Wednesday around 4 while I was finishing up my other friends haircut this lady came in to meet me and I told her how to book me so she did for today. She booked a haircut. So I gave her a nice shampoo and Mrs E and I and my guest looked through the style books to see what was a good choice. My guest had wavy hair that was pretty much a shoulder length bob with the front a bit shorter. We decided on a slightly longer than chin length bob with slight graduation in back and a little bit of layering higher up for some volume. Bascially she got a bouncy swingy bob. The kind that makes you want to put your hands under it and just bounce it. Hers would do that. As we were walking to the desk afterward I was telling her to go ahead and swing it. She was loving it.

I'd also like to say that I'm starting to like when Mrs E helps me with a guest's haircut. Her help today was not overwhelming. She showed the way but she let me use my hands and tools to learn it. And because of that there was nothing for her to fix. I can say that I gave this haircut. With her guidance. My hands held the hair and cut it. And she would look and tell me "Yep that's the right way" and then come back and say "Looking good Rob". I also love that I got to use my new round brush to finish the style.

Tomorrow is Rubric day for Foils. As of right now my friend from grade school is still coming to be my model.  :)

Thank You. I just want to say Thank You. This train of positives is still moving forward. I know I'm not doing it alone. And that means the world to me. I believe it. I know I can do this. I don't have to doubt myself anymore. There's a way. Sometimes its a matter of waiting for the opportunity. And sometimes I make it happen. And sometimes I make it happen with help. But its happening. And its because it is that I don't have to get upset when something changes or someone has to cancel. It just means its going to happen a different way. But still for the better.

Thanks for reading
Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 103 ~ Snowballs Of Chance ~ 12/14/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 103 ~ Snowballs Of Chance ~ 12/14/13

715 Hours
37 Guests

We had snow coming overnight so there was a chance that the school could have been closed today. But I did not have any messages to tell me so and it appeared that the snow was minimal. So I went. I got there and I prepared for the arrival of whomever my thermal guest was going to be. With the weather it was hit or miss as far as who was calling in and cancelling. 9:30 came and went without being handed a ticket. But it did come. At 9:50.
Turns out it was a young girl about 11 with longer hair that wanted it with curls and not straightened. For the past few weeks I've been listening to Mrs L tell people to not use the flat iron to make the curly curls because its bad for the wrist. So I went to work making spiral curls with my marcel iron. My friend from Wednesday was supposed to be coming back today for highlights at Noon but she had to cancel because of work and the snow. But I was trying to keep up with the time anyway to see if I would have gotten this done in time. I was up to the crown area and just about done when Mrs L came over to check my progress. It was then that she says it might be better to do it with the flat iron. So she started to redo some of the curls and because I'm still fighting this cold she had me sit down to rest. So I pulled the chair over to watch. Then she had another student take over. I then took lunch and breaks and when I got back she was saying that she was in touch with corporate about possibly closing early for the day because the heavier snow was coming while we were there. So we cleaned up earlier and everyone was just doing whatever. One of my friends let me try a french braid. Then I sat under the hood dryer for a while just to see if it would help my head. It felt nice.

Right now I have Monday fully booked with friend requests, and one may be booking me for Wednesday. I've got Mrs D for Friday. Plus I have my friend coming on Tuesday for the classroom foil rubric. So There are plenty of possibilities in store for the week. Gonna be something :)

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 101 & 102 ~ Friday The 13th ~ 12/13/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 101 ~ Plans Were Foiled ~ 12/12/13

708 Hours
36 Guests

Thursday - Day 101 - Classroom
We didn't have the supplies we needed for working on manikin practise so Mrs V let us have our day of personal services then instead of next week.
I was sitting there starting to think about how I was missing out again. And then i decided to go for something. I mean hey, what's it gonna hurt if I only damage the last few inches of my hair?
So when i heard B asking if anyone wanted something I motioned to her to come talk to me and well........these pictures happened

It is only the demi permanent color so it will fade out eventually leaving me with those blonde ends again. But that also gives me the option of refilling them with another color or colors. I could even go with half blonde and half purple. That is a nice golden blonde. So I have purple hair. I don't think this will be the last time.

Friday - Today - Day 102
I was scheduled to have a man coming in for tweezing and makeup but I was told that he had cancelled. So I went to start getting my irons ready to do curls for another updo. Before I could I was asked if I would take over a color retouch for a student that had to leave for an emergency. Turns out it was Mrs M the friday morning roller set I've had a few times. So I did her retouch and then her roller set. Then I went to lunch and a break. Another student did her combout. I came back and Mrs D had arrived so I did Mrs D's roller set. So I had a full day. I think I've finally figured out how to use that roller to help me get that hair wrapping  around it easier. Just a bit of technique. It was working on both ladies. It might help my speed a little.

There's snow coming so I'll have to wait and see if tomorrow is a school day or not. They'll call us if its closed. But I do have a thermal on the schedule for tomorrow morning. So we'll see what adventures we have.

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 99 & 100 ~ 100 In A Row ~ 12/11/13

Day 99 & 100 ~ 100 In A Row ~ 12/11/13

694 Hours
34 Guests

This is going to be a summary for the past several days.
I finally came down with whatever was going around but it held off until Saturday when I was off this weekend. But it was under control enough that I was able to do a few meet and greets at vendor shows and I made some more friends. Cards were involved but the numbers are no longer something to be focusing on. Friends are not numbers and they're not just heads of hair. Neither are my guests.
I did meet and greets on Saturday and Sunday.

Tuesday - Day 99 - First day with Mrs V as a classroom instructor.
We are starting Haircolor 2 which involves color correction and foiling.
We mostly did book work for the morning. Then in the afternoon we had guest speakers from a Makeup school. Our half of the class was trying out making bruises and cuts. I posted a picture to FB yesterday that looked like a round bruise on the back of my hand.

Today - Day 100 - I have thankfully made it to school 100 days in a row.

Today's assignment was going to be relaxers but Mrs C changed it to Marcel curls and updos since we were just about out of cholesterol. I got my head of curls done but I didn't get the updo done. I was going to try turning them into pin curls But I was having trouble getting the nape ones pinned with bobby pins. I was out of time anyway because my request was about to arrive for her haircut.

My new friend A came in and let me do a 180 cut to give her lots of layers. That's where you comb the hair all straight up and cut it to the same spot to make the top shorter than the length and it falls in progressive layers. And I'm happy to say that she has told me that she loves it. It did come out very pretty.
Thanks for coming A. :)

Thanks for reading
I Love You All
~ No Tangles ~

Day 98 ~ Friday Dance Requests ~ 12/6/13

Day 98 ~ Friday Dance Requests ~ 12/6/13

680 Hours
33 Guests

Friday's Hair: Purple Bow

Performance Floor Friday:
After a few fridays of no dancing we had at least Kool & The Gang's Celebration played so I did a bit of strutting to that and singing along. I was in the mood this week. The mock board is over and I had a week with 4 out of 5 of my guests being requests. I hope I never come off as bragging when I talk about that because I am so humbly thankful to have had one request at all before this. But what this is doing is taking my remaining doubts and throwing them to the floor to be swept away. On rubric day the other day Mrs E said that Regency is wanting us to have live models for our rubrics. And that didn't feel so good to hear. But I came home and I asked if anyone wanted to be a model for the next one and I have a volunteer that I've known since elementary school but only recently reconnected with.

Today I went to my third vendor show and there's another tomorrow. I have no fear anymore. I'll probably still have some with approaching people at the mall and such. But there's such positive energy at the vendor shows that it makes me feel so welcome. Its nice that I have friends who let me sit by them. I'm going to figure out something to do so I can have my own table. Something unique that others aren't doing so there won't be the two of the same vendor issue. I've got some ideas starting to come to me. I do want to do something to give back as well.

Tuesday we start one of the Haircolor portions of Rehearsal. I'm going to have Mrs V in the classroom for the first time. Mrs C and Mrs E will be on the floor. Gonna be some interesting weeks :)

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 97 ~ Quick Version ~ 12/5/13

Day 97 ~ Quick Version ~ 12/5/13

673 Hours

I'm about to fall asleep so I'll do a quick version for now.

I got 85% on the hairstyling quiz. 3 wrong of 20.
I missread a few.

We had a rubric for an entire head of thermal iron curls and a combout.
I got 15 of 16 points. Passing is 13. I only missed the point for not finishing in 60 minutes.

If I remember I'll write some more in tomorrow's entry and include the pictures

Day 96 ~ 666 Hours ~ 12/4/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 96 ~ 666 Hours ~ 12/4/13

Yup, 666 hours :)
31 Guests

Today's Hair: Picture isn't from today but I did the same spin pin bun with this for today. Its one of my go to's for something reliable but quick to do. And fancy.

Performance Floor: My new FB friend came for a visit today to let me do a permanent wave for her. She let me do whatever I wanted and I did. I originally was going to do a spiral perm but when she arrived Mrs J and I saw that her hair wasn't as long as the picture had me thinking. So I sectioned her out for a basic wrap. But I asked her where her part was and she showed me that it was a right eye part and I decided to wrap the rods going away from the part line instead of going back from the hairline. So after I did that it looked like she was wearing a headband of white rods. So then while looking at my remaining sections I saw that could do another headband like I had done with a previous roller set on a manikin. This left the back with a section shaped like an oval. Well it was too wide to use a single column of long white rods so I filled it in with columns of short white rods. Some of those rods ended up not getting curly. I think they just had a bit too much hair on them and needed more processing time. But by the time I knew that it was after the neautralizer was applied so there was no fixing it today. But they were lower so some of the better curls do cover them. And of course my guest knows all this. But the rest of the curls from the headbands came out nice. They were a bit on the wavier side but they had a cute factor. They had a nice scrunched look to them.

With permission, here are before and afters. She shared these with meso the lighting is a bit off on the afters. But I brightened them a bit.

And I feel like I have arrived. Look what my guest brought me. That's what it looked like a few minutes ago. Apple desserts  :)

After school I took Ashlee home and she redid my manicure with some blue green sparkly polish. Then I went and visited my new salon owner friend.
So I had a great day that means a lot. I had a great day with three different nice people and shared some laughs.
Tomorrow is quiz day. We really didn't study this chapter because of our lost Thursday and the mock board test. So I'll do my studying in a minute and get some workbooks and practise quizing done.

Thanks for reading.
Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 95 ~ Why Are You Still Standing? ~ 12/3/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 95 ~ Why Are You Still Standing? ~ 12/3/13

659 Hours

Classroom Day - Second of at least three Practise / Mock  State Board tests.
We follow the same procedures as if we are taking the actual board test to get a license.
I got a 94 out of 123 on my first one with Mrs C a few weeks ago.
But Mrs E is an instructor who is a bit more thorough with the guidelines and such. In other words as close to what we'd have at the actual test as I can imagine in my mind.
That being said I was not prepared and I knew that last night at 2 am when I was trying to pack my bags.

I did not have my items labeled and my manicure hand was missing a nail and none had polish on them yet for removing. Thankfully Mrs E gave us the first hour to do some labeling. But after break we started the test and I was caught off guard a bit. I didn't have my trash and soiled implement bags labeled yet but I had to start the manicure. When she came around she was checking the bags obviously looking for the label.
Then we did the facial.
Then we did the chemicals. You make 4 quadrants on the head, 2 front, 2 back. In the first quadrant you do a Lightener / Bleach, then in 2 and 3 you do color retouch and relaxer retouch. I oopsed a bit and used the wrong sections for the first two. Then it was lunch time and I had a chance to read the procedure again so luckily I still had the right one to use for the last one.

My main issue was neatness because of the way I had packed and had to unpack. Now that I have my bottles labeled and such I have them back in a bag ready to be used again next time. And I'll know better how to pack my clips and such.

When she called me up she asked what happened with the manicure and I was unaware something had happened with it. Something about one finger. Well apparently its remove the polish from one finger and then do the manicure and then paint them all. So I got marked for that. Which is odd since my hand only had one nail painted for the past few months. I wonder if Mrs C had us doing something different? Or maybe she had me do just one when I was short on time that day.
Anyway there were a few this and thats that I got marked down for that I wasn't expecting. I was watching her flip through the pages and each one had a number in the teens written on them and I was expecting those to be added up as mark offs and fail. But she punched in numbers on the calculator and got 102 out of 123 and that is 82.9% or 83% which is passing. The actual State Board minimum is 70%. Regency has us try for 80 or more on everything. She must have been adding on to the numbers as she flipped the pages.
I'm not really happy with my score but I am satisfied. I know how to do it next time we practise. By then I might have more actual practise with some of the things.

Since we started earlier we finished earlier so I spent the last hour getting my items back into their bags and such and ready to use tomorrow. Then after I finished that Mrs E came walking by and asks "Why Are You Still Standing?" so after I told her I was used to standing all day anyway at Kroger I told her I was going to name this entry that.

At the moment I have a FB friend booked tomorrow for a perm. So I'm looking forward to a nice day.
There's a few other nice things that may happen after school as well. One may be really positive. But I'll hold back on commenting what it is until it happens. It could be something nice and it could be something awesome. But we'll see. The door is at least open to the possibility right now. A door I opened 6 months ago. Take me there roller coaster ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's hair was a bun with my new Paparazzi brand flower that I got this sunday at a vendor party I networked at.

Thanks for reading.
Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 94 ~ Board Out Of My Mind ~ 12/2/13

Day 94 ~ Board Out Of My Mind ~ 12/2/13

652 Hours
30 Guests

Gonna try to keep this short today

I was hoping to prepare / pack up for tomorrow's Mock / Pretend State Board test today like Mrs E thought we would be able to but that didn't happen. First when I started this morning I had to shampoo Naomi to get the cholesterol out of her hair from Saturday. I thought I still had my plastic bags and such but I must have thrown some of them out last time. So I kinda was feeling overwhelmed by the thought of trying to pack up. The problem is that its a day on the floor so if I pack something up and then get a guest that needs it I have to unpack it or unbury it. So I finally got around to filling my little disposable bowls with cholesterol for the 3 of 4 section chemical applications. But before I could do anymore I was handed a ticket for a guest.

My guest was wanting a shampoo & thermal and also a sit under the dryer deep conditioning. So I had to do her S & C and then apply her conditioner mix to put her under the dryer for 20 minutes. While I was doing her shampoo I was talking about the water temperature and mentioning Mrs D and the "Its never been too hot" and I had mentioned that she gets roller sets. My guest asked me about roller sets and I told her that at my old school we had all sorts of people getting roller sets. So she was interested in getting one but she didn't want to have to sit under the dryer twice. But she was there with some friends or family so when she was just about done with the conditioning she had talked to someone and was again wanting it today. But when I asked Mrs J and she came over to consult it was agreed that it might be better to try next time. 
At the time I was also expecting a 2:30 guest to come so I was hoping I would be able to get everything done in time and take my lunch. Not because I need the lunch but because they make me take it because of Osha law or another law. So I used my flat iron to give her some twisty curls instead. I got done with enough time for my lunch. The lady was happy with her curls and we had a very nice time. As we were at the desk for checkout she grabbed a card to have me fill it out so I gave her my already prepared one. So chances are I'll be seeing her again for a roller set. 
Unfortunately my other guest who is a new friend coudln't make it today but that's ok :)
I was able to get some items cleaned up and a few more little bottles filled.

I stopped at the dollar store after school to resupply my bags and such so now its 10:30 and I'm hoping to get packed up or at least make sure I have everything. 
Tomorrow will tell a tale one way or another. I'm more worried about this packing issue than I am about the test.

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 93 ~ Humble Tumble ~ 11/30/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 93 ~ Humble Tumble ~ 11/30/13

645 Hours

Today's Hair - Higher tail with purple velvet scrunchie. I wore my purple shirt. When i got to school I gave the tail a bit of a braid. This is an after school picture.

Another nice day working dispense and being humble while the towels tumble.

There was some time at the end of the day to finally try some manikin work. I set up Naomi for a Virigin relaxer practise. I applied the pretend protective base / scalp cream. Then Mrs J had me totalling up my red book numbers for the month. Then I started applying the cholesterol / pretend relaxer. I got the back left section done and went to ask Mrs J a procedure question and she said it didn't matter because there wasn't time to finish. My watch said 3:48. I went to work on those last 3 quarters. My watch said 4:06 when I started the last quarter and I finished. So I went home with at least one practical credit for the week. And another of the 80 chemicals done.
So I'm feeling good about that.

Thanks for Reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 92 ~ I Choose Heads ~ 11/29/13

Cosmetology  School Day 92 ~ I Choose Heads ~ 11/29/13

638.5 Hours

Today's Hair: Spin Pin bun with black ruffly scrunchie. We went with dress in black for Black Friday. No picture.

As I drove away from the house it felt like the car was pulling a bit and I was guessing that my front drivers side tire was low again. I stopped at the gas station a half mile down the road to put air in it. It wasn't taking any. So I called school to tell them I'd be running late and then set about changing the tire to my spare. Thankfully the tire didn't give me any trouble changing it. I tightened up the spare and drove back home to get some extra cash and then headed to school. I clocked in at 9:25. They were just finishing up the friday morning celebrations. Mrs Sherri came over and handed me my 100% attendance frog for last week and then said something about how they keep coming and I replied playfully "Well not next week"
Then I asked Mrs L if I was working Dispense and I was so I went to work getting the towels going in the machines. I worked the dispense the whole day again. I like it. I finally got the hang of tearing the foils in half with decent straight lines. I got to weigh and mix some color. Just a nice day. Also got to look out that window at those cars playing circus in the parking lot.

Then I drove to the tire store and waited my turn to get a new tire put on. So I now have 2 new tires and 2 in decent condition. Hopefully the winter won't be interesting enough to find out how much better the newer tires are.

I was off for Thanksgiving and I had a chance to try a haircut from my old school's hair designs book. Its a book with a bunch of roller set patterns, perm patterns, and a series of haircuts that we would have done in progression on our one manikin. I got as far as a one length cut using a razor back then. I think we might have done another trim with shears after that. Although I did have Veronica and Sienna at the time to do cuts on so I didn't have to do them on Sequoia. Anyway there's a cut called Petite Page that's similar to Dorothy Hamill's 70's haircut that I would like to try. But I decided to try the one right before it first called the Bias Flair. So I took the rollers out of Lori's hair and gave her a quick combout for a picture. Then I sprayed her down and cut at least 3 inches off and in front even more. Its basically a reverse A Line cut with the high part being in front and angling down to the neck. You start by cutting the back at zero degrees like you would cut a bob or a trim. Then while wet I held the hair in front below her nose at the lips and cut the guide. Then I part off the hairline about an inch back and cut that with the hair just hanging loose. In other words I draw the angle with my cutting without grabbing the hair from her nose to the neck. Then I take another inch worth down and do the same until that half is finished.

Note: When i started this journal I had a donate button because I didn't know how I was going to pay for school. I was fortunate to get some loans etc so I took the button down. I have now put the button back up but with the title of Help Me Buy Manikins. I have many already and more are on the way but in order to keep practising haircutting I'll need the freedom to go ahead and cut them short without worrying about who to leave long. The button is for Paypal. There is no minimum amount. I'm not expecting anyone to pitch in $40. If Paypal lets you give a penny and you can give that I'd be appreciative of that. As you can see I will put my manikins to good use. Thank you to anyone for anything you give. 

Bias Flair

Petite Page - coming soon

Thanks for Reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 91 ~ Thankful ~ 11/27/13

Day 91 ~ Thankful ~ 11/27/13

632 Hours

Today's Hair: High Tail with new Pink Bows from The Icing. I took the picture after school so its kinda loose.

Performance Floor Wednesday: Working Dispense.
Not a whole lot to write today. I spent the day doing about 8 loads of 20 towels each.We were busy today so even though I set up my manikin to attempt to do the Virgin Relaxer and Fingerwave Pin Curl assignments I never had the chance to do anything after putting the cape on. Just played bartender all day :)
I do love it. It was different this time because last time I had not had guests yet. Back then I was looking out to the floor of chairs with people having things done and waiting for my turn to have a guest and break through to that other side. Today I was just observing with pride. Not so much for me but pride in my classmates. Its so nice to watch them just do their thing and shine at it. They're my friends now too. They all know me by now. I'm thankful that I chose this school. Maybe things would have been the same or better at MCB or perhaps Paul Mitchell. But right now I would not trade it. Even if things were a tie there'd still be one big tiebreaker. My best friend Ashlee. Quite the game changer meeting her was.

I'm just so thankful for all the people who have come into my life. I'm thankful that they let me love them.
So I'll end with my usual
Thank You for reading.
~ No Tangles ~

Day 90 ~ Driving In Flip Flops ~ 11/26/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 90 ~ Driving In Flip Flops ~ 11/26/13

625 Hours

Today's Hair: For school I wore a high ponytail where I've been wearing my buns lately and I used my purple velvety scrunchie to hold it there. No picture though.

Classroom Day: Day 1 of two weeks of Hairstyling and Mock State Board.
This week was supposed to be a week of roller sets and thermal styling in class with the Mock State Board being next Tuesday. However we don't have class on Thursday / Thanksgiving. Well we started the day with the whiteboard saying we were doing theory in the morning and then roller sets and thermal irons for practicals. But around 10:30 one of the students asked about Thursday being off for us and Mrs E didn't realize it until then. So basically it was drop everything that was planned and she moved into Mock State Board prep. So the rest of the day was her demonstrating the procedures on a manikin. Then on Monday while we are out on the floor we're going to have to find time to somehow pack up our equipment for Tuesday. It is what it is. Packing that bag is what worries me or makes me nervous more than the actual test. Last night I unpacked my larger bag and took my items out of the big totes and put them into zip lock bags and put them into the tote style bag. I got it all to fit. But now I'm going to have to prep it for the test and put it all back into the big bag because it has to be a closeable bag. I didn't really pack my bags last time, Ashlee did. So I have some sort of silly doubt getting to me. I mean cmon now how hard can it be to figure out what goes in which bag? I guess my issue is the fact that I can't pack it now because I may need the item on Monday for a guest. Monday Monday. Still days away.

I'll be working Dispense tomorrow so hopefully I'll get something done. I heard we might be doing finger waves and pin curls again. I haven't had Mrs J or Mrs V for those so maybe I'll learn some new tricks.
So that was really all for the school day.

However I did book Ashlee last night to let her do a trim for me and maybe something else. I had her booked for 7:15 but as I was leaving today I stopped and checked at the desk and I wasn't listed. Mrs C was looking at it and not only was I missing but so was her earlier guest. But Mrs V came over and said that she unbooked me because there's a special way of booking me so I get my student discount. And it turns out that the other guest was moved somehow or cancelled. So I had the 5:30 slot which gave me an hour to go eat at Bagger Daves in the center. A few weeks ago when i made out my new batch of cards I believe I said I had 81. I had them split in a group of 50 and a group of 31. Of that 31 I was down to 5 in my pocket today. I asked my waitress to give them to anyone that wanted them and she took them. So that leaves 50.

I had Boston Market for lunch and as I was paying I noticed a lady in line with bob length tight light blonde curls. Kinda perm like but spiral like too. I paid and turned to go and she was a bit closer to me and I couldn't help but say "Cute Curls" and kept going as she said thanks. I could have offered a card but I liked her curls too much to mess with them. Whomever did them for her did a great job. I'll let them continue doing so. I may want to become an artist but that doesn't mean I have to paint a Mona Lisa just to say I did.

I let Ashlee trim my hair, do a deep conditioning treatment so I could sit under the dryer for the first time in years. Then a Manicure and went ahead and had a Pedicure too.
Yesterday's entry talked about my quest to visit salons hoping to find a friend. That quest is over. I have found my best friend and she gets to do my trims from now on as long as she's in the area. The salon visits will have to be for some other reason now. But I'm working on that.

Here's the pictures

Thanks for Reading
~ No Tangles ~

~ 6 Months ~

Cosmetology School Journey ~ 6 Months ~

Its been 6 months since I walked out of that salon in Marine City, MI feeling let down and still afraid. Still feeling like an outsider. I had already lost that dream after leaving school so long ago. No matter how many salons I visited or how many inches I was going to let them trim I was never going to be anything but a head of hair. And I was never going to be in one long enough to meet a friend. Not with my shyness preventing me from saying much.
I came home from that ride and shouted to the world that I had enough of being afraid. I did some things that set the ball in motion.

Today I drove home past that salon. I got up at 6 am and I drove an hour and a half to get to a salon in Lexington that was nice enough to invite stylists from other salons to come there and listen to a Matrix Rep give a color correction class and talk about their newest products. I took a chance last night and I asked on their FB page if students could come and they responded in enough time for me to work out being able to go. The class was at 9. I got there by 8:40 but I wasn't sure if anyone was there yet. So I went to the door  at 5 till 9 with my notebook and pen ready and it was unlocked so I entered. I also had my manikins and equipment in the car just in case. I said who I was and they pulled up a chair, shaped like a hand, for me and I sat down, pulled out my Senior Student name tag and put it on my shirt. Then the Rep passed around big pads of promotional materials with the colors for us to peel off sheets from and then she started talking. There were some stylists from the neighboring town who used Redken instead of Matrix and she asked what we used and I told her Wella - Koleston and Color Touch. I think for me the best experience was

since I really didn't understand the mixtures and such she was mentioning yet was that the stylists were getting to ask about situations they encountered and wondering if they did something right or how to do something different. I only learned a tiny bit but those materials had some neat little charts and such on them to show how to match certain levels to an underlying pigment and a neutralizing tone. It may or may not match our brand but its something to help me get an idea when I start trying it. She did a quick demo of a foiling technique as well so I did get something out of the class that I can apply.

The class was nice. But most important was that I felt welcomed. I felt comfortable. I felt like I belonged there. Even not knowing 95% of what I needed to know to get the full benefits of the class. I didn't feel like a student. And I wasn't treated like one either. I felt like I was home. And this time I had a whole drive down that river to feel that way and reflect on it. And what I have decided is that I want more. I'm going to do what I can to get in to any salon that wants to let me learn something regardless of whether they have a job or not. I want to learn. I want to hear about those experiences. I want to see how they do their blow drying. I want to learn from anyone that wants to be enthused about teaching me or letting me observe. I want to attend more classes in a nice setting like that. So I had a great day.

But I was already having an awesome weekend. I did some haircutting practise. I chipped away like a sculptor instead of focusing so much on rules. First up was the Lori twin that I had already given that fast haircut to at school that needed fixing. So I went for a graduated bob type cut. And I like how it turned out. It sprang up a bit shorter to lip length instead of chin length. And I accidently snipped a spot into her nape hair with my shears. But it was fun and I like my results.

Then I was thinking of giving Kim a pixie to help get over any issues i have with going from longer to super short so sudden. If I have any anymore. But first I decided to fix the A-Line bob that I had tried to give before. It was a good one but the nape area underneath didn't look right before. So I cut one that I really like. And then using a picture that a friend suggested I tried to copy a style that brought the hair up to the chin. But I had to leave her to dry since I finished later at night and couldn't make blow dryer noise. But after seeing the way it looks both wet and now dry I just don't want to cut her shorter yet. So I went on Craigslist and found some used manikins for a good price.  So what follows are the pictures for those who weren't seeing them on FB.

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 89 ~ I Trust Robert ~ 11/22/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 89 ~ I Trust Robert ~ 11/22/13

618 Hours
29 Guests

Today's hair: Spins Pin bun with my old Butterfly Slide. I don't remember if I wore this yet or not. I've had a hard time finding a way to wear it to have something thick for it to grab. But my bun worked.

Performance Floor Friday:
For my 100% attendance last week I received a blue fish paper this time. To go along with 2 or 3 frogs and several pink butterflies.

I didn't have a guest right away but that was good since I was trying to catch up on sanitizing my brushes. Good thing too since I needed one of them.
After that I removed Deb's perm rods and put her back in sections. As I was doing that I was informed that I had a guest coming at 11 for a Haircut & Makeup. During my 10:30 break I posted to FB "Fun is coming....." because who knows who could be coming for what and I knew that I had to get it done before 1:30 when Mrs D comes.
When I went to the desk to greet her they were changing the ticket to also add a thermal. My guest it turns out was a lady with natural blonde hair who is married with young children and she said she was soon to be 30. Her straight hair was about 4 inches below her shoulders. She was coming for a haircut and to get ready to go to a wedding so she wanted to be done by 1:15. Ok..........
She gave me full control to do what I wanted as long as it didn't go short short. So we agreed on bringing it up to brush her shoulders with a little bit of layering of some sort. I cut at least 3.5-4 inches off to establish her long bob. And then I held her hair out on about a 45 degree angle to give it a slight graduation. I could have done more than that but I was going a bit conservative since I was running the show on my own and wanted to make sure I was following some sort of plan. She told Mrs J over and over "I trust Robert" and I did what I could to keep it. I got through the cut and let Mrs J check it and she cut a few tiny snips but nothing to change anything I did. Then I blew her dry and then round brushed her. But I had to take my lunch before Mrs D came so two of my friends got to double team the makeup and thermal curls.
I came back from lunch and had some fun with Mrs D again and it was an awesome day.
Of course I gave the lady my card and I always make sure to thank them for coming in and letting me learn and in this case for trusting me and such. This was big time. This is one of those turning point moments. My first makeover cut.

Thanks for reading.
~ No tangles ~

Day 88 ~ I Gave 192 % ~ 11/21/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 88 ~ I Gave 192 % ~ 11/21/13

611 Hours

Today's Hair: Ponytail with new Purple Bow with Purple Stars

Classroom Day:
Quiz Day for Laws & Rules 1 and Infection Control & MakeUp.
I was in a bit of a hurry when I went up to see my scores but I got 100% on one quiz and 92% or 1 wrong on the other.

I spent most of the day working on our workbooks and other extra things that Mrs E gives us to do.
Towards the end of the day for the personal services portion my friend M that I did makeup for the other day had me doing a shampoo thermal for some twirly flat iron curls. So thanks to her it wasn't a completely slow day.

Next week we start Classic Hairstyling and then the next Mock / Practise State Board. I'm always looking forward to both no matter how difficult either is.
As much as I struggle with back combing I'm hoping that Mrs E has something up her sleeve to give me some ah ha moments. Hopefully I'll have some time to practise something this weekend. I've still got Sequoia and the longer haired Lori twin with their rollers in. I'd like to do some more roller sets. If anything I can use the mental refresher. As in relaxing and rolling some hair. Or perhaps some blow drying practise. Maybe some thermal practise. Mrs E gave me a tip today that might help me do them a bit faster so we'll see.

So bring on Friday and Mrs D and whatever the morning brings. Hope they play some decent dancing music.

Love you all
~ No Tangles ~

Day 87 ~ Walk To The End For A Beginning ~ 11/20/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 87 ~ Walk To The End For A Beginning  ~ 11/20/13 ~

604 Hours
27 Guests

Today's Hair: Spin Pin Bun with heart bracelet

Performance Floor Wednesday:
I started the day without anything booked. Our assignment for the day was to do a facial on a manikin State Board style where we go through the procedure and then do each of the massage manipulations three times each instead of the long minimum time we are supposed to do them for a guest. So I got that done and out of the way and then since Deborah was back in her sections after Monday's perms and removing the rods I chose to start a perm. I started it after the 10:30 break and had my lunch at 11:30. According to my phone I took the picture of it at 12:41. I then took the rods down, putting her back in sections as I went. Then I started another. At 1:44 I was notified that I had a shampoo & thermal guest for 2 pm. So I got as far as all but the two back behind the ear sections.
My guest came in about 2:10. I'm guessing she may be either Asian or possibly Native American or both. But she had dark hair that was straight but its naturally curly so she wanted it washed and restraightened. So I did what I needed to and she just sat and read her magazines. Her young daughter kept coming back and talking to her every 10 minutes or so and when I was in the middle of the ironing she told her mom that it was pretty. Then at the end both daughters came back and said so again. And she liked it as well. She wanted it straight with a bit of a curl in but I turned the iron a little bit more on my rainbows and she got more of a s curl on her ends. But she liked it. She comes every other week so I gave her my card to request me.

When she left it was 3:48 and I figured that I needed to finish my perm to get the credit and leaving it for Friday probably wasn't going to work. So I got it done by 4:07.

Sounds like a great day so far right?
For lunch I walked down to Subway which is the farthest thing to walk to in the center. I went there a few times last week and gave some cards including to the two lady employees. I was second in line and waited for a few minutes and then when I got to asking for my sub she says "Just the man I wanted to see. You're gonna give me bangs" and upon further discussion I told my schedule and she might be able to come see me if they let her have me at 3:30 for her bangs trim and a regular trim. But after I got back I remembered that I'm working dispense next week also so there's a double chance that it may not happen yet. She said it might be a wednesday. But in any case its beyond words. The tide has turned. Just gotta stay positive and keep at this.

Here's the perms pictures from today.

Thank you for reading
~ Wishing you No Tangles ~

Day 86 ~ I'm Not Making This Up ~ 11/19/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 86 ~ I'm Not Making This Up ~ 11/19/13

597 Hours

Today's Hair: Ponytail with a clip in purple flower. The middle of the flower has a magnet for switching out bottle cap magnets with images in them. I got it at the Halloween home product sellers party.

Classroom Tuesday: Makeup and Infection Control day 3.
We spent the morning doing theory.
Then at lunch since Mrs E said she would let us use our own makeup instead of the limited selection we had for classroom use, I went down to Ulta and tried to find the biggest bang for my buck as far as variety of product types because I needed to follow the procedure and not just use a few products. So I bought this kit with the purple bag.
http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod5960826
"This 76 PC Collection includes: 48 Eye Shadows, 6 Cream Eye Liners, 3 Brow Definers, 7 Lipstick Shades, 1 Shimmer Powder, 3 Eye Primers, 2 Dual Ended Eye Liners, 1 Lip Gloss, 4 Blush Shades, 1 Bronzer."

It has all that but to a rookie like me it was interesting trying to figure out which one was which. I figured out that the large quantity of round circles would have to be the 48 shadows. But after that it was a bit more difficult. And a few of us in the class had fun trying to figure it out too.
First up after lunch was lash application. This was my first ever attempt at it but I did mine on Penny with the shorter copper streaked hair. I don't have a picture yet but I did it. They came out ok as far as fitting them to the round of the eyelid, that is available to glue it to, but the first one is pointed down more than the other.
After that my friend M asked if I could apply her makeup so I did that using my new kit. That was my second time on a person and third time overall doing makeup application. Thanks M  :)

I was looking at my practical progress and it said I have either 16 of 15 perms and 14 of 15 relaxers or the other way around but in either case I need one of those to reach the minimum for the two categories. After that I have to do about 50 more of a combo of the two whether its 1 and 49 or 25 and 25. Or 0 and 50.
I'll probably get at least one of each in two weeks for the mock state board and possibly two for the relaxer.. And I still haven't had the Rehearsal perming course yet. I couldn't believe it but I'm actually caught up with most of my minimums for the current milestone coming. I could use some people coming in for manicures or something skin related but otherwise I'm on track.

At the moment I head to tomorrow without anyone booked so it will either be all day manikin work or whatever walks in. But it'll be something to get done and its interesting to see what they assign. Even when its annoying ;)

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 85 ~ Monday Funday ~ 11/18/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 85 ~ Monday Funday ~ 11/18/13

590 Hours
26 Guests

Today's Hair: I did the purple shell like bracelet bun again so here's the older picture

Performance Floor Monday:
My schedule was clear today so I went in expecting to do whatever the manikin practical assignment was. We actually had more than one assignment. First we had to write down some ideas on how to build a clientele. Instead of giving ideas as if I hadn't tried anything yet I wrote down about 7 things that I have already done to hand out my cards and mentioned one that I was going to try today after school. Mrs Sherri came up to me later in the day and said I did a great job on it and she especially liked what I was going to do today. More on that later.

Manikin assignment: Basic Perm wrap
I did mine using Deborah. Mrs V came around to assign our lunch times and when she got to me she said I was going to go at 11:30 since I had a guest coming late. I got my perm wrap done and went to lunch. I checked the computer and it said my guest was coming for a haircut. I came back from lunch and decided that timewise I could possibly do another perm by the end of the day even if I had to do half and half later. So I got all except for the two behind the ear sections done by the time my guest came.

My guest was a lady who is probably about my age with layered wavy almost curly hair well below her shoulders. This was probably the longest hair I have worked on so far. She wanted a trim to refresh her layers. I guessed correctly that she needed a 180 degree layer cut. She already had one. So Mrs J established my guide for me and the trim to start with was about 2 inches. I did the ends trim in back and then Mrs J came back to establish the 180 / Shark fin. And then I brought the rest of the hair up and cut it. Which is not as easy as they make it look in Youtube videos. My guest had lots of hair and waves so when you go to comb it its kinda, I guess the word would be wild or messy. But since Mrs J was on break Mrs V came to check and she only did 2 small snips so I guess I managed it well. My guest left happy and with a card. It was her first time there. Hopefully it won't be the last time I see her. She did have colored hair too.

After she left I finished the second perm so I got credit for 2 instead of 1 for the day. With the assignments these days I gotta take advantage of anytime I can get a perm credit since there's so many to do.
Here's the picture of them

As for the clientele assignment and my after school plans, my niece's school was having a fundraiser at a local restaurant. If you went and said you were with the school people and bought food or drinks they would donate to the school. So I went and got some tenderloin steak and then after a few cups of coffee and some good tunes playing I got up and I worked the room with my cards. I gave about 10-14 cards in about 5 minutes. So what I said I was going to do, I did. What a rush.

Thanks for reading :)
~ No Tangles ~

Day 84 ~ What To Expect When You're Expecting ~ 11/16/13

Cosmetology School Journey ~ Day 84 ~ What To Expect When You're Expecting ~ 11/16/13

583 Hours
25 Guests or Services on a Guest since there are repeats

Today's Hair: Spin Pin Bun with this Heart shaped claw clip biting in for decor.

Ashlee switched to part time which attends nights during the week and then has a classroom day on Saturday so I got to go pick her up and have our usual morning adventure,

Performance Floor Saturday:
Original Agenda:
9:30 - Guest 1 - Shampoo & Thermal
11:00  - Guest 2 - Kid from Kids Party
1:00 - Guest 3 - Color with a Shampoo & Thermal added on

Because some students were absent today everything got changed around and some guests had to be called and cancelled.

My 9:30 guest did come and it was the daughter of a mother daughter pair of regulars. She needed a straightening with an inward curve. So I did what I could do to get it done as fast as I could. As it turns out I got her done at 11:30.
The kids party did show up and it was a nice party. Not a bunch of parents being bossy and the kids seemed like they were just having fun and not a problem. But I didn't get one. As it turns out the kids party is a simple Polish only not a full manicure, a quick updo or a few curls or something fun, and a little bit of makeup. Not a full blown clean the face and follow the steps type. So at least I know what to expect. There will be a next time LOL.

There weren't any kids left not being done so I was asking if I still had my 1:00 and it wasn't showing on the computer so I thought they called and cancelled her. But what I'm now thinking is that we might have been looking at the in progress screen. I went on lunch at 11:50 - 12:20. I got to see Ashlee a bit on lunch so that was cool. We had another little laugh there over a burger delivery.

When I got back from lunch I was about to set up a manikin but Mrs L called me to the desk and handed me a walk-in Haircut. It was a nice lady possibly in her 50's with shoulder length hair with some wave. She wanted just a tiny trim and then she wanted a style with some volume and lift on top to help comb over her fine hair up there. Using her own words "That was a relaxing shampoo" followed by Mrs L walking me through the cut. It was neat the way she showed how to lift the sections and find where just a tiny bit of hair needed to be snipped to match the guide yet clean it up. She had a somewhat round uniform cut except the top was a bit shorter than the length. So then I got out my new "The Hot Brush" brand regular round brush. Its not really different than the other round brush except it claims that the bristles are better aligned for less snagging the hair. Well It was awesome using that brush on my guest and I gave her a great swoopy volumed top and she was happy. She is a regular so I gave her my card so she could request me when she wants to come back. I kinda like that approach better than trying to get them to rebook me right away. Less pressure on them. If they really liked my work I'm sure they'll be back if timing works out.

I sanitized my tools and such and then I took my break. When I came back Mrs L called me to the desk again. This time to introduce me to the 1:00 guest I was going to have. I think she came in and was serviced by another student. Which is fine with me since it was part of the Salon experience of having to move things around. Its going to happen. Its not like I'll always have almost perfect attendance. Apparently Mrs A was looking to book something around Thanksgiving but I am working Dispense that week as mentioned last night. But she might be trying to request me so I might have her another week.

My manikin Anna had her hair still in gelled finger waves and curls from my attempt at doing them for the assignment on her longer hair. So I shampooed her and decided to see if my new brush worked well with manikin hair too. And I'm happy to say that while it wasn't as easy at first with the little bit longer hair than my guest I did get the hang of it and I was twirling and rolling and unrolling and rolling back up and I didn't have the brush getting stuck constantly and having to stop and pick up the hair and start again. I should give it a try on Sequoia or Veronica because that's a good test. Or perhaps even Julie's extra long hair. But I do plan to get more. The similar sized brush that came with my kit kept having the top cap piece popping off and that exposes the edge of the metal mesh or ceramic or whatever that is. But it could cut the hair or scratch skin. Plus the tiwsty screw like nail that the cap was on is exposed. So I tossed that one in the trash.
My new brush is purple too. Its made by the same company that makes The Wet Brush. I haven't tried those yet.
So as it turns out I did work on 3 things after all. Just not quite as many tasks.

I have these two heads full of foils from the other day that I need to shampoo. I would like to try the brush on them then too. I can use blow drying practise of any kind.

Thanks for reading :)
~ No Tangles ~

Day 83 ~ Time ~ 11/15/13

Day 83 ~ Time ~ 11/15/13

576 Hours
23 Guests

Today's Hair: Red Bow with apples

Performance floor Friday:

I had a walk in regular this morning for a shampoo thermal. I don't know if she was a teen or college age but she was in school of some sort. She had a picture of a style that had something that might have been done by spiraling but it had something else to it. So when the time finally came to do the curls I had Mrs L help me figure it out. As it turns out I was making spirals with the flat iron but then shaping them with my hands afterward to look like loose hanging pin curls. So that was nice to learn that technique.

And then Mrs D came at 1:30 and well there's not much to say about it that I haven't already said. Except that I am glad I'm not worrying about the Star designer stuff anymore. It takes my focus away from what matters more. That goal makes me think of things like "So and so is coming every week and only paying ___ and I can't reach my goal if I have that person"
I don't like having that thought about Mrs D. She's not a dollar amount. She's a gift. As it turns out I probably wouldn't have reached it anyway because I'm going to lose 3 more of the 16 days I had left. I'm on desk or dispense duty for Thanksgiving week. I found this out because Mrs D wanted to change her friday to a wednesday that week and she'll have to let someone else do her hair that week. But we have a good person for the job and taking care of Mrs D is what I care about more. And unless something changes I will still be there that day if needed to give a pointer. Not that Mrs D needs my help with that. She knows what she wants.

Tomorrow is crunch time. It is what it is. I either do it, I do it with help, or someone does one of my guests for me because I'm still working on another. That's tomorrow and its gonna be an interesting challenge. I can only try.I'm going to get some sort of experience tomorrow. I look forward to that.

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~