~ The Turning Point ~ 9/28 - 9/30 ~

Cosmetology School Journey ~ The Turning Point ~ 9/28 - 9/30 ~

This is about what I did with my 3 day weekend. Its a collection of my FB status messages and whatever else I add. The point of this is to say I have hit the turning point. I will do what it takes not only for school but from now on. I Can

I knew I had this 3 day weekend. I know that I have been given a gift in this school that gives me the tools to promote myself. I know that I felt like I would never get to the point that I could approach a stranger and hand them a card. Some students had left our door knockers on windshields. I considered that option but I personally don't like stuff on my car and I don't think I should take the chance to touch their cars. Especially leaving an item with my name on it. For two months I knew that I would have to do the work somehow. This is how it went down or up ;)

Saturday
For the past several years I was living my life for my days off when I could catch up on FB games. I got up, or rather the dog insisted I get up with his talons on my face, at about 8 am. I've been sitting here since playing one of the old games and while it feels like I'm sitting here relaxing it just doesn't compare. I just don't feel like myself doing that. It just feels like the clock is moving. I don't know what I'm going to do but I'm not going to be happy if my manikin clients do not get some care this weekend. I have to make time for them.
 
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If the scale is reading right it said I was back to 255 yesterday. It had been going up and down. I'm out of gum so I'm going to walk and get some before I cut the lawn. Be back later y'all

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Operation give my card to the lady at Cvs is a success plus one
When I had my fancy acrylic nails on a few months back CVS was the first public place I went with them on and she noticed and we had a nice chat. Then I spoke to her again when I was going back to school. So it was always in my mind that even if I was a chicken and never handed a card to anyone else I'd at least give her one. As it turns out when my turn came her coworker had just come up to stand next to her so I gave the card to both of them. I told her "You're the first person I'm trying this on"

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I'm about to go get pizza. Lets see if I'm brave enough to hand someone a card.

~~~~~~~
I rocked it. Its a Little Caesars so I just have to say what I want and they grab it from the rack. I walk in and see that its a young lady behind the counter so I order, pay and step aside since the next customer came up before I could get the words out. The employee asks if I needed something else and I said "I was wondering if you'd like my card?" she accepted and without flinching I turned to the lady customer and said "Would you like one too?" and bam 2 more handed out. Its not just the card either. Its stapled to a little folded service & price menu too that Regency gives us

~~~~~~~

Shyness is Gone. Welcome Confidence

I went for a walk earlier today to give my Cosmetology School business card to a lady who works at CVS Pharmacy who was nice to me a few weeks ago. That turned into me giving her and her coworker a card. Then just now I went to pick up pizza and gave a card to the lady employee and the lady customer. And I I beat the little bit of shyness that was left. You lose. I'm gonna do this thing. I can do what needs to be done and feel great doing it.

I wasn't handing them a Please come help me learn how to do hair card. I was handing them a Let me take care of you card

If I can do this today it means I will be able to get a job because I will find a way to get the word out and build a clientele. I will market myself 

The key now is to do it right when they come so they keep coming and tell others

 Sunday 
24 years ago today when I was 13, the man whom I should never have known because he wasn't supposed to live as long as he did passed away. My Grandfather Paul. He served in WWII in North Africa and on through Italy. We have a helmet with an entry and exit hole. The bullet hit something he was carrying in the underside straps of it and only grazed him. Otherwise he would have been gone and neither my Mother nor I would exist. He was my role model and still is.

4 years ago today I was hired by Kroger to wash and wax the floors at night. I then moved to the Meat department 13 months later. I left this past June but those almost 4 years helped and taught me a lot. The people who worked and shopped there made a difference in my life. The day I had today was not possible without them.
I plan to make the most of September 29th, 2013

~~~~~~~
I have:
31 business cards
23 service and price menus to staple them to
11 door knockers
17 post cards
That means I have at least 23 to hand out before I switch to handing out the others or I can offer an choice of which to take. Or I can staple the extra cards to something else. The knockers have service and price menus. I can try using my printer to fill out the post cards
 Can you all tell how bored I am? Not..........I'm loving this

~~~~~~~ 4 Years ago I got a job. But today is the day I go to work
Ok, operation storm the mall is about to begin............ I'll check in by phone if anything good happens 
 I have arrived — feeling determined

 ~~~~~~~
One card down, thirty to go
 it took me two laps to build up to going in but i did
 
~~~~~~~ If you never do, you'll never know - taco bell sauce packet

~~~~~~~ 

I'm home from Operation Storm The Mall.
Tally is
1 card - Claires
3 cards - Gymboree
4 cards - Bath & Body Works
1 card - Taco Bell
1 card - Hallmark
1 card - Old School Apparel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11 cards Total
 Plus I got lots of walking in. I'd say I did at least 6 laps

 ~~~~~~~ 
I gotta say this calm hesitation I felt today is quite a new experience. It tried to keep me at bay and I had to walk around that whole mall twice before I got down to business but its not stopping me from trying. I didn't have butterflies or nerves. Its more the thought of having someone annoyed enough to get security involved. I at least confined my giving to inside the stores and to the employees for now. There is a rule that says you're not supposed to disrupt others shopping experience and some stores do have it written not to solicit inside., I didn't want to be on camera out on the hallway giving cards and then have the possibility of them seeing me there on other days doing it too

Lets see, tomorrow is Monday which means I can go to the school and get more cards if I need them. But the question is where do I go with them? There's gotta be a public place where I can hand out cards right? I thought maybe a park but I don't want to be a creepy guy at a park if there's kids around. I was looking at the other mall's site and they specifically state in their policy that I can't solicit etc.

Thanks everyone. I've got some ideas coming to mind. One thing is for sure, I'm not wasting tomorrow. I will hand at least 1 card to someone.

I've got some in the car right now just in case I ever leave the house without them.

This person is going to do what it takes, positively, to reach my dreams and goals.
If you don't believe me, changing your mind is not my priority. I have better more positive things to do.

Monday
Its such a new feeling. I don't know where I'm going to go. But I know that I'm going to get out of this house today and I'm going to Live. Oddly enough I've been training myself for this over the past few months. The bow shopping that forced me to get over it. The dress shopping for a project I didn't have to do. This is just one more case of me having to get creative with this new project that will never end this time. There is no due date. The only change will be the words on the cards come summer time when I graduate.
I have always had a stubborn determination. But I now have confidence to go with it. I'm going to find a way. I care too much not to.

After Going Out
4 Cards given on Saturday
11 Cards given yesterday
12 given today
27 total.
I so got this. I didn't realize there were so many hairstyle magazines these days. I thought I was going to go get maybe 4.
Apparently there are a lot of CVS stores in this area. I just drove to 10 of them and handed my cards to employees at 8 of them with 2 getting 2. Google Maps comes in handy. The other 2 stores didn't have what I wanted.

I almost saved the last one for tomorrow because its on my usual drive home from school but I said I'm not holding back this time. I went in grabbed the last few magazines I needed and noticed a lady unpacking boxes in the aisle. I gathered up the guts and offered the card and after I said its right down the street I said I noticed you working hard so I thought maybe you'd like to come relax.

Then there was a young lady at the counter with hair a few inches below her shoulders. I did my usual pay and ask if they want the card. Then she asks me what kind of nails we do and she's asking if we know how to do the nail shapes. She wants her natural nails shaped. So we chatted about that a bit and then I mentioned that I noticed she has longer hair like me and that I won't trim more than she asks. I said I can make dust.
So we'll see where this leads.
And I am so totally over my fear of being near the magazines. I could care less who sees me anymore.

At the second to last store when I gave 2 it was because the lady called up a cashier because of the line. So after I gave the card to the one that came up I went over and gave one to the original one.

Note: I purposely was only buying 1 magazine per store until the last few when they had some back issues.


9/29/13 CosmoProf & Gymboree: Client info Organizer, Appointment book, Kids cape with critters or monsters on it, $4 diffuser from the clearance table, and my lunch bag that I'll use for something from Gymboree.

Magazines from 9/30

Hair Cut & Style: Hairstyle Showcase - Fall 2013
Hairdo: Short Styles - Fall 2013
Hairdo: Short Styles - Winter 2013
Hairdo Ideas: Hairstyle - Winter 2013

Short Hair: Hair Preview 2014 - Fall / Winter 2013
Hair Cut & Style - November 2013
Sophisticates: Black Hair - November 2013
Sophisticates: Hairstyle Guide - Nov/Dec 2013

Celebrity Hairstyles: Short Hair - Fall 2013
Celebrity Hairstyles: Short Hair - Winter 2014
Celebrity Hairstyles: Short Hair Style Guide - Fall 2013
Celebrity Hairstyles: Short Hair Style Guide - Winter 2014

Day 49 ~ Stones & Stars ~ 9/27/13

Day 49 ~ Stones & Stars ~ 9/27/13

339 Hours complete

Today's hair for celebration day:
Business in the front and party in the back.

Friday Flooring it: 9 weeks in a row so far and should be 10 next week for 100% attendance. But that paper butterfly was just one award to receive. I have reached the end of Workshop Milestone and I received my first Star pin.

This also meant it was time to move my name star from the workshop door to the rehearsal door which I did at first break. So now its the 11 hour countdown to 350 to be legal to perform.

I once again set up shop at station 11 today. Our station rows go like this if you think of the direction of the lines pointing to a chair. | 3E 3E 3|  and station 11 would be right about the middle of the middle 3. So I am not hiding along a wall like I may have before. I am right in the middle lane in the middle. And it was there today where I once again had my mind on wrapping a perm. Except my focus has now shifted from timing the wrap to getting better at the harder ones. So the first thing I did was remove the sectioning clips I had placed in Deborah and Ameri's hair and I went and got Ben and Shorter haired Penny because I was going to use smaller rods on shorter hair. Dispense gave me the box of pink rods which are smaller than my gray rods yet just a bit bigger than the blue. Penny's hair has been cut into a square layer cut which means her hair was pulled back from her head like this --- and cut so the hair by her occipital bone or the round part the curves outward makes that hair shorter than all the other hair on her head. As I was wrapping I picked up my regular comb to measure the strands and I had some only 2 1/2 inches long. So this was a more realistic test that compares to what I dealt with in the past. But I took my time and I finished it. I asked Mrs V to come check and she said something like "Wow Robert, getting ambitious with the pink rods" or something close to that and my response was, "Yup, never know when that is walking through the door" and here is the finished product.

While I was setting up in the morning the soon to be graduating student was doing a roller set on an elderly lady using blue rollers. I wondered if that was the friday regular I was going to be taking over for her but she didn't intro her to me. However as it turns out there are two friday regulars, Mrs M and Mrs D. and the graduate and another student were telling me that it was Mrs M earlier for her usual 9:30 and that Mrs D would be coming in soon and I could meet her. So after I finished the perm Mrs D was coming in and I went to watch a different student with an A name do her roller set and meet her and she's one of the nice helpful ladies. Not all mean and picky. As I was watching there was another roller set over my shoulder and Mrs V asked if I wanted to assist with it. Turns out this was a brand new roller set client who plans to be a regular. At the moment she's scheduled to come back and have A that was doing Mrs D's set do her. But there's always a chance I could be doing her set as well. I don't know how long A has left nor if she ever misses school. But here's the cool part. After the new client left I watched A finish Mrs D and its not a hard to do back comb. She just likes a little fluffing and that's it. And she's coming back next friday at 1:30 and as soon as its possible to enter someone in to the computer as an appointment for me she will be entered. She is a friday regular so that means I have a slot full every week already and I haven't handed out a card yet. And I may have the 9:30 Mrs M too. I don't know if I will have a client on Wednesday or not. I don't reach 350 until 4 hours into the 7 hour day. But I already know that no matter what happens before 1:30 on Friday I will have Mrs M coming in and I already know what she wants and how to do it and that is such a load off my mind. And I saw Mrs M and what she was getting for the most part as well. And she comes in right after celebrations.

I took Penny's rods out and put her sections back in clips so I can do another. I'd like to try the blue or yellow rods next.

That's it for now. I might write more during the 3 day weekend. Its classroom day on Tuesday and we start the chemistry chapter. Then comes Wednesday and whatever that brings. But bring it on.

Thanks for reading
~ No Tangles ~

Day 48 ~ Awesome Business ~ 9/26/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 48 ~ Awesome Business ~ 9/26/13

332 Hours complete.

Today's hair: I put a black elastic on to make the tail. Then I tied one checkered lace into a shoe tied bow.

Classroom day: Today was the last day of the Business Building Part 2 portion of study for rehearsal. We had to present our projects and take the quiz.
I started the day by picking up my buddy and project partner, A and then we arrived at school together. Had to dodge a few steam rollers, trucks, and bulldozers but we made it.

We had the morning time before break to put finishing touches on our Own Your Own Salon project then after break it was time for presenting. A did a nice job putting together the rest of the poster boards so it made it fairly easy. We went last so we got to relax and watch the others first. Lots of cool salon ideas. And then Team Awesome Sauce went up and presented Curl Up & Dye and we brought the Awesome Sauce. So we rocked it and that's over LOL. Now back to planning my real salon. Interesting project and there's a lot to it but I think if someone out there takes a chance on me and gives me the $$$ I'll make it work and be worth the trust. I think it comes down to finding employees who understand when a boss or owner really is trying to be fair and do more than the other places for them. And make sure they are the ones I need to keep the guests coming back and referring people. I've learned about how things are but they don't have to be that way. A few years from now there may be some ammended chapters to say how I did things. But that's quite a few hurdles away and on the other side of 350 and 1500 hours.

At lunch I took another walk.
After lunch we did a quick quiz review by drawing a paper with a word and giving the definition. I am really glad that last night before I went to bed I took an online practise quiz because a few of the quiz questions were the same and I was able to take that quiz yesterday and be told correct or not. I did have a to guess at a few but I got 20 of 20 for 100%

And that left the rest of the day as personal services or work on practicals. I had some time before break to get set up and then would have time after that to get it done so I set up for a timed perm wrap. First I had to remove her rods from yesterday but that just makes it easier to spray her curls and put her right back into the already made sections. So after break I set the timer for an hour and got to work and I worked without interuption until almost the end when a workshop student came in to get my help loosening up her manikin clamp. Which is a job I am now getting famous for so they just send the students to me. I've done at least 4 in 3 days. When I finished the timer was just over 45 minutes so if you subtract the time it took for me to take Deborah off the stand, unscrew my extender from the clamp and put the other on it and then wrench on the top part to get it unstuck, then unscrew it, put mine back, and then reach inside the cape to find Deborah's neck to get her back on the holder without having to undo the cape, .......... It would have been under 45 minutes. And Mrs C told me I was doing a beautiful job. This was the first time she saw me work on a perm. When I finished there wasn't enough time to do another so I took the rods out and put her back into sections in case I get to do another tomorrow. Then I went to get Ameri and sectioned her also. I'm probably going to do some practise with either short haired Penny or Ben though because I want to practise with the smaller rods before I take over the regular client that uses blue rods. Thier haircuts have at least some areas with short hair to practise on.

On the way home I stopped back at the grocery store I worked at to return the clock and measuring spoons I borrowed for the 1950's display. Thanks again for letting me borrow them M :)

Now that today and all the stress it was putting on me is done I am hoping I can get to work on handing out my cards and flyers and such and getting other things done. But first comes tomorrow and lets just see if its time to celebrate my transfer out of Workshop. Then I want to dance. There better be some dancing. I'm going to be in the mood. I plan to be.

Last night I came back here to start writing a second entry of me just doing my usual ponderings. This is the draft I saved plus what I'll add to it.

~ Wednesday October 2nd is one week away. I need 25 hours to reach 350. Thu, Fri, Tue puts me at 346. So I may not get a client on Wednesday. If I do I hope its something I can realistically do in less than 2 hours since I'll be short on time. If I don't have a client on Wednesday I'll probably have one on a busy Friday. I'll probably at least have the roller set of the Graduate's regular as mentioned in the last entry. If that includes a perm I hope she comes early enough. Especially since that needs a cut too.

I guess what this is about is that I don't doubt my abilities anymore. But I still have to keep the clock managed somehow. I'm a bit concerned that there will be a day when we are short staffed of students and I may have 2 or 3 guests to handle and I'm thinking of the old me that was lucky to finish one in a day. I did have some days with two. Right now I have a school full of people that seem to enjoy me being there. The last thing I want is to become a burden to any of them by having them need to handle more guests that I couldn't get to. I'm hoping that when it comes time to do what I need to do it won't be as hard to focus. Its not so much that I'm slow. Its that the clock just runs fast when I'm not standing still ~

That was last night so lets see what I'm thinking now. Oddly enough right now I'm feeling pretty good. I'm starting to feel a bit of that lighter than air feeling I had in June. I think more than anything I want to get as much consultation practise as I can with each client. As I keep hearing this is my learning setting so I shouldn't let an opportunity to learn something go to waste. It shouldn't matter how simple a service a client is getting I should take an interest in helping them with their hair and finding out what they know how to do and what they like or don't like. As far as my speed goes. I keep forgetting that I'm not really as slow as I used to be. The cutting is going to slow me up a bit at first. But that's where my consulting will come in. Instead of getting lost in trying to figure out what kind of haircut I'm giving I need to ask the client where they want the areas of the hair to reach and go from there. Because chances are I'd have to blend the different styles of haircut anyway.

This is all still surreal. I still can't believe I went from "Not going to ever go back, what's the point?" to having these milestones and opportunities before me. Yesterday I was going to talk about how I'm still scared. Right now I'm not so sure if I am scared. I'm going to have my trials. Not every client is going to be easy. But the feel of the comb twirling in my hand tells me I'm going to be ok. I'm ready to be ok. I'm ready to help my guests have a good time. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna love this. Its dancing time.

Day 47 ~ Dispensing Orchids ~ 9/25/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 47 ~ Dispensing Orchids ~ 9/25/13

325 Hours Complete

Today's Hair: Regular tail with one flower band at top and one at bottom. No picture. Its the little flowers bands I've worn on my braid a few times.

Performance Salon Floor: The other day my friend A was working the dispense all day and since she wasn't there today I offered to Mrs J to do it. She said there was another student to do the job already. So I went to Station 11 to unpack. Then after I did she said that we were short on students so I could go work it so the other student could handle clients. So I worked Dispense all day.

So for those who may have missed it or if I did not explain it yet this is what you do in dispense.

There is a half wall counter that sperates the salon floor with the dispense room. To get your products or colors you "Belly up to the bar" and ask for what you need. Then the bartender gives it to you. That was me today. I also wash, dry, and fold the towels when there's enough to start a load. I did about 3 loads today or about 60 towels. 

At about 11 am Mrs Jeri told me that I could work on my practicals in dispense if I wanted. So I got to thinking and I settled on doing a basic perm on Deborah with my orchid rods. I was taking advantage of all the counter space I had so I didn't have to do so much reaching like last week at the station. So that's what I did for the most of the day. I would get a few rods in and then have to hand over a product and then get a few more in. But I got her done and got my credit. 

Here's the interesting part of the day, if that wasn't already, we have a student graduating soon and she usually does the perm and roller set on Fridays for one of the regulars. She came to me and said something like "I saw you doing that perm the other day and wondered if you'd like to take over with ______?" and I accepted and thanked her. So if that goes well I'll have at least one roller set client with perms too. Just like old times :)

I asked and she usually gets blue rods which are thinner than the white ones. But I did have some experience with that before since most of the perms I did were on less than 2 inch hair.

So that was today. Tomorrow is classroom day. The projects are due and its quiz day for the business building chapter.

Thanks for reading

~ No Tangles ~

Day 46 ~ Appointing Appointments ~ 9/24/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 46 ~ Appointing Appointments ~ 9/24/13
318 Hours

Today's Hair: Pink and blue bow crossed to make a flower

Classroom Day today:
Not a whole lot to write here except that the salon project was starting to overwhelm me again until Mrs C told me what the jist of the assignment was so I didn't have to focus so much on the cost of all the fixtures and things. The worksheet packet makes it seem like I have to find 30 pieces of paper work to finish the project. The reality is that its not graded, it just has to be done in order to take the quiz. I have to have something to present in front of the class as if I were pitching to a bank. Part of what I did today was assign Names to my employees and then make up imaginary daily appointments so I could have something to total up for service and retail dollars.
So I'm going to keep this short because I need to work on it some more.
Tomorrow is a salon floor day.

Thanks for reading. ~ No Tangles ~

Day 45 ~ Monday, Marcel, & Me ~ 9/23/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 45 ~ Monday, Marcel, & Me ~ 9/23/13

Performance Floor ~ Day 4 ~ 311 Hours.

Today's Hair: A braid with Polka Dot Bows

I chose station 11 today. Which is right next to 12 from the other day.
Sinc eit was monday we had to do some extra sanitizing. A few of us had to get out all the portable foot baths and put bleach water in them to soak them 6 - 10 hours as required by law. I'd say there were at least 12 of them.

I had a hard time getting focused this morning. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I could finish Deborah's orchid perm rods, I could do a colesterol color, I could do more thermal iron curls, I could have done some cutting. I just couldn't decide. First thing I did was to decide not to finish the perm wrap. Mrs C had already given me credit for it and I didn't want to get another credit for the same one. I'd rather start it over and time myself. However I had lent my spray bottle to someone so doing the perm was crossed off for the time being. I removed the rods. Then I spilled my sectioning clips on the floor. So basically I unfocused the first part of the day away until the 10:30 break. I came back and started sectioning Naomi for some more Marcel iron curls. I was making diamond shaped sections and trying to be all fancy. Then I said enough is enough and I put her into sections as if I were going to do a perm. Then  I made a whole head of Marcel curls on her and got credit for it. That brought me to the 1 pm lunch and I took another walk while the weather is still ok.

I came back and asked if flat ironing Deb's perm curls straight counts as a thermal press and Mrs J said yes.. So I did her entire head with the flat iron. Since she has round layers I gave her a bit of a curve to each section as I did it to build up the stack.
I relieved A from the dispense for her break and then took mine and came back to finish Deb's press.
So while the day started off slow I did at least get 2 credits. But more importantly more practise with hot tools. The flat iron is simple enough but I have to keep practising with the Marcel. Its not as hard as it used to be but it still has its challenges. The little kick stand on it that lets you set it on a counter likes to grab the curls from the other row and yank on them. If it weren't a dangerous tool it would be really fun.

Tomorrow is classroom and working on the Own a Salon Project.

Day 44 ~ Saturday Station 12 ~ 9/21/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 44 ~ Saturday Station 12 ~ 9/21/13

Today's hair: Pearly schrunchie tail

Today was the first time I had been to cosmetology school on a saturday in 12 years. The number on the station I chose yesterday and today is also number 12.
Last night I repacked my tools to try to make them easier to unpack into the stations. For the moment it seems to have worked. I took my silverware holder / comb tray and it fit in the top drawer. I found out that I can fit one of the larger plastic tote boxes in the small cabinet so that makes it a bit easier to unpack without so many smaller totes. I may be able to use another large one if it fits stacking it on top. But I did manage it so it should be a bit quicker now.

On Saturday the evening part time students are there during the day so all of us were on the floor for more celebration announcements but no dancing again. Which is fine since I hadn't reached my milestone yet.

To reach the milestone I had one skin practical of some sort to do. I got it marked off. So unless something else pops up I should be celebrated the next time there are any. But I'm not going to say anything is official until I see that star move from door to door and they tell me for sure. Then it might be time to switch to the Senior Student name tag unless that comes at 350 hrs. Either way its almost time.
I covered Dispense again for a morning break and a lunch break today. This time I asked Mrs J how to get the towels started in the washers too so now I can do both parts of the laundry. Saturdays are busy so I didn't want the washers sitting silent for a whole half hour when they could be tumbling some towels.

I spent most of the rest of the day doing a head of Marcel curling iron curls on Naomi. I figured I'd do something that's hard to do that I'm still a bit scared to do on people. Especially since most of the people in there today were getting something done with an iron. I sectioned the hair into my own designed pattern and then managed to get the whole head done. Then I spent some time combing it different directions to see how it swooped around and such just like with roller sets. Then near the end of the day one of the other students asked if she could have me give her a shampoo so I was able to do that for some practise.

And to finish the day Mrs L was treating us to some singing with the microphone machine. Might also be a karaoke machine but no music was playing. She was singing some sort of version of Bohemian Rapsody along with a few others.

Although I knew it would kill my feet I decided to get another lunch time walk in while the weather is still ok.
So I've got tomorrow off and then its back to the floor on monday and then classroom on tuesday.

Day 43 ~ Gloppy Stones ~ 9/20/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 43 ~ Gloppy Stones ~ 9/20/13

Performance Floor ~ Day 2 ~ First Full Day without the salon fair.

Today's Hair: Ponytail - Purple Fuzzy Scrunchie at nape, regular purple band at the end.

Today is Friday so it was celebration day. It was the first time I didn't have to come from a classroom to come to the floor since I was already there at a station. I received 100% attendance for the 8th week in a row. But since there were no graduations they didn't play any music and there was no dancing.

I need to once again figure out my baggage situation. Because we are not assigned a set station we cannot leave anything at it. But we cannot have any bags at the station either. So I have to either have the items in my car or locker and somehow bring them to the station and then get rid of the bags after emptying them. But not everything will fit in the small cabinet and small drawers. Its a real juggling act. Then comes the classroom day and everything is the complete opposite with needing my book bag. I think since I have to get rid of the bag afterward anyway I'm going to try using the huge bag with large totes again and just empty them at the station and take it back to the car emptied. It was easier to know what was in what then. The locker doesn't have room for everything either. Unless I put all manikins in the car and try to divide the items between the locker and station. I'll figure it out somehow but I haven't had enough practise with putting stuff in the station yet to know what fits.

I started the day with the intention of finishing the perm wrap I started on Deb the other day. But right before the celebration Mrs J told me she looked at my progress report and it said I needed 1 or 2 colors to meet my workshop milestone. So after scrambling trying to stock the station and set up for Deb I had to change gears and set up for brushing on colesterol on a different manikin instead. Then came the celebration and no dancing and one of the students that started the same day as me got their milestone celebrated and Mrs C says something like "We thought we were going to celebrate you too" and I said I had a color to do.
Naomi was the only manikin in my locker with longer hair to make the sections easier to color and peel. But as I was walking back with her I was thinking its better that I practise on her anyway since its like practising both color and relaxer at the same time. By this time I was a bit flustered and there were clients on the floor and I couldn't focus. But then Mrs J asked if I could work the dispense counter while that student went on break and I jumped at it. First thing I did was open the cabinets to see what we have. That's when I noticed that the bottles were not lined up with the labels on the front of the shelf so I set about sorting them so I could find them faster. Didn't take long before a few students asked for items and I was spinning around to the drawer or cabinet and spinning back with the right item. Then someone asked if there were more towels in the dryer and I went to get them and I was just standing there at the counter folding a pile of towels. Those precious towels that I missed out on all those years ago. They aren't anything speical and they are used. But I appreciate having them. So I enjoyed my 15 minutes and then it was time for my break.

I came back from break ready and I just set about brushing on a virgin tint to the mid strand. I got 3/4 done and then Mrs J asked if I could watch dispense again because that student was being a model for a rubric. This time I was back there for at least a half hour. I got to take the towels from the washers and put them in the dryer and fold the ones from the other dryer. And I got to stand at that counter and look out at the view of the floor that I want to see come summer when I make a speech and dance. And I got to think about how I'm doing the things I long to do in my own salon. Someday those machines and cabinets will be in a room because I wanted them there. Mrs J came by and asked if I was doing alright and I said "Yep, I'm living the dream." I was just standing there bopping and tapping the counter to the music. Surprised they didn't play Kokomo. The student came back and I had just enough time to finish up the last section of color before my lunch and get it checked by Mrs J. I was a bit confused by what kind of milestone this was so I posted to FB that I could be doing clients today or tomorrow. As it turns out this is just a school milestone as far as finishing the workshop and moving the star with my name on it from the workshop door to the rehearsal door. I am at 297 hours of the 350 for working on people. So unless I'm misunderstanding something again it should still be a week at least before I have a client. A week is 35 hours and I need 53 so that's 9 days and 4 hours. So that puts me at Thursday October 3rd to reach 350 since I still have school tomorrow.

After lunch I washed and did a blow dry on naomi to get the colesterol out. I had a later lunch so by then it was already time for the late break. When i came back I wanted to make sure that I did or didn't still need the 2 skin practicals that Mrs Sherri told me I needed last week while going over the progress report. After having Mrs J double check it with me it did say I have 5 of 7 done so I opted to do makeup on Naomi since she was already set up and ready for something. All that was in the makeup box was brown foundations and some lipstick but that's ok since that's what I needed for her anyway. So I put on the foundation and some plum colored lipstick and got a credit. So that leaves one of my manikins with an appointment for either a facial or makeup tomorrow to finish off my milestone for workshop and get that Star moved.

So here's to two weeks of clearing the cobwebs before the other fun begins.

If I get a chance I'll get a picture of both makeups tomorrow. At the moment I'd like to do more makeup.

Thanks for reading ~ No Tangles ~

Day 42 ~ Owning Rehearsal ~ 9/19/13

Cosmetology School ~ Day 42 ~ Owning Rehearsal ~ 9/19/13

Today's Hair: Purple with white dots Pom Pom band at nape, Pink & white stripes Pom Pom at the end of a tail. No picture. They are both in previous pictures.

Today was a classroom day. Tuesday and Thursday are classroom for my group. M, W, F and S are Performance / Salon Floor days with M and S alternating as an off day each week. This week I started Tuesday so I'll have F & S and then Sunday off and then start M next week with Sat off next week.

We started off today by going out to the floor for some after Salon Fair announcements and discussion. Mrs L mentioned something to the effect of how I made my scene exactly like it was period wise for the 50's. That was just a brief bit of a larger conversation about why a certain style won a category that may not have been what the students thought would win.

For class today we were continuing to work on our starting our own salon projects. Mrs C did a syllabus with the flip charts for a while and then we worked on the projects a bit more. During break I went over to Sally to see if they had an equipment catalog to bring back and they had just a small one for taking. But inside was a station with an arched part that inspired something with the station type A and I were thinking about. Mrs C got out the crafting and drawing supplies and I made a version of it out of pipe cleaners.
We did a communication excercise where Mrs C drew some shapes on a flip board paper and A and I were back to back so that I could see the drawing and she couldn't and vice versa when we switched. And I had to try to describe how to draw the shapes as they were shown. I call this the Apollo 13 test because its similar to when they had to tell the astronauts how to use the materials on board to fix their air filter. I've done a similar game in the after school group I was in in 1994 only we used Tinker toys to try to build the object being described. The purpose of this is that if a client comes in and asks for a certain style you need to find a way to find out exactly what they want. My thinking was to ask them to draw it. Pictures were suggested too. I think I'll have some paper on hand anyway for my clients because I think being able to draw on something would be a big help to not only show what they do want but make sure what they don't want. There won't always be a picture to use. I've used such an idea before to suggest to my long haired forum friends on how to ask for a specific U or V shape for their hair and how wide or sharp they want it.

That was pretty much what we did today. I've got some work to do here at home to make some visual aids. I've got till next thursday to get them done but I want them done before then. So I have a project to play with :)

Journaling: I'm coming to that point where last time my journal entries went from dialy to almost daily to few and far between. I'm having a lot better time this go around and I don't expect my entries to taper off. However they may become less wordy because there's only so much for me to say about what I did to a manikin or to a client. Unless its something new or something interesting happens. Which I do look forward to. There's many firsts coming. But just note that there may be times when I have an entry as short as "I had 2 roller set clients today and both were happy" I hope I write more than that. But it will depend on what happened and how much time I have. I do have to continue to try to get my time management in order and other things.

So that's it for today. I'm going to see if I can get some of the project worked on.

Thanks for ready.
Hope you're having a good day :)

Day 41 ~ You Look Skinny Today ~ 9/18/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 41 ~ You Look Skinny Today ~ 9/18/13

The previous entry was a joke. This will be the real entry for today.

Today's hair: Since the theme for Veronica was 1950's and it involved pearls and polka dots I decided that for me I would wear my purple polo type shirt since it was an optional color day and I did a French twist with my pearly twist comb. Then I took my little white dots on black clip in bow and cetnered it just above the pearls. I was saving the bow for later as you'll see. Same as this only purple shirt.

Today was Salon Fair for Fall. There's another in Spring. This is where salon owners or managers come visit us to watch a hair show and then we can give our resumes.
The students working on models had a choice between Fantasy or Professional Dress. Those of us who were newer had the option to do an updo with a Hollywood theme. (I'm looking at my FB history to see if I had a light bulb moment to decide on my theme) I don't see it but I think I was thinking about the movie Pleasantville and I wanted to go with something other than an updo. So I thought how bout 1950's Housewife that could be from a TV show like Leave it To Beaver or Pleasantville?
I spent the 3 day weekend shopping on my own and with A to gather supplies and materials to create a mannequin to mount my manikin head on. I bought a foam dress making form / torso from Craigslist on Saturday. I borrowed somemeasuring spoons and a clock from my coworker friend M. I bought some floral dresses, sweaters, and cooking aprons. I bought kitchen counter props for pie making. And I used some items that aren't for making human bodies to create arms and legs. And I managed to make a poseable human manikin that I could dress and undress. I cannot believe how things fell into place to make this work. Seriously a dollar store had feet to use. Ok so Halloween is coming. But to get them for $1 was awesome. Especially since I was going to mangle them poking a hole in the top. The Pie. A Pie? A fake pie? At the Salvation Army Thrift Store. And thankfully I did not buy anything that did not fit the dress form. I'm just at a loss for words at how this came together in 3 days with no hope of ordering anything online. And at the same time I was having an awesome weekend with my new best bud A. I could talk about that forever but onward........

This was also my first day on the salon floor although I don't work on guests until I reach 350 hours.
Because of Salon Fair the break and lunch schedule was altered a bit. I spent the first bit of time trying to figure out what I needed to have at my station and what could go back in my car or locker. We did have clients in the salon up to 11:30. The only thing I had left to do for my project was to set up my kitchen scene and then I had to take perm rods out of Veronica's hair to attempt to make some sort of 50's style wavey do. But I didn't want to set up early in the day when the Fair wasn't till afternoon and take a chance on something being messed up or knocked over. So during the morning I started an orchid rod perm wrap on Deborah to go for a perm credit. However I had to fiddle with my manikin clamp too much trying to get it to clamp to the arm rest of the chair that is curved so I only got about 60 percent done with it before lunch. Plus its a little more awkward a set up with reaching for the papers and such. But the amount that I did get done took me 30 minutes. Lunch was at 11:30 for everyone.

On lunch I took my walk to the end of the center and back. And then it was time to set up. I was granted permission yesterday to use a counter with a sink so all I really had to do was make it look like my theme counter instead of the brown it has. I taped some old contact shelf paper with floral print to the counter. Then I had a poster frame that I took the backing out of so it was just a clear frame and I mounted a curtain on it. It didn't fit under the cabinets and I almost put it off to the side behind the faucet but it would have hung off the edge because of the paper towel dispenser. Then I thought, "Hey I brought my packing tape, Just gonna have to put it up higher." I was hoping there would be a way to mount M's clock on a hook or something. I brought a pipe cleaner with me just in case. Turns out the cabinet handles worked pretty well. After that I just had to place the props on my counter. But I was saving the best for last. So first I took out the perm rods and struggled to get those tight curls brushed into something because time was running short. I got the sides done a little bit well. Then it was time. I brought the mannequin portion in completely covered and I had a step stool with it to help raise and hold her so she could have legs. I set her down at the counter, pulled the bag off, put the head on, and took the bow clip out of my hair and put it in hers. Then I put Mrs J's pearls around her neck that she had brought for me to use. She only knew my theme and did not know how much i had done. As far as she knew I had just the head.

Here's the overall look

More pictures at the end.
After the catwalk part with the models everyone returned to their stations with their models. So I did the same. And then the owners came around and they seemed to really like what I had done. The lady who came a few weeks back to demo her wig making was there too and she talked to me a bit. She asked me what made me think to do this theme and I said I was so used to doing the roller sets and perms lately and that I'm thinking outside the box a bit and that I was still new with updos and she said "so you're going with what you know." It was cool having someone returning that knew me a bit already. I helped her out then so she had reason to remember me. After that it was time to go to the rehearsal room which was set up to hand them our resumes and they had business cards and souvenirs and such to give us. Most of the owners were from chains but we did have a couple local indepentants too. A good mix. :)

And then came time to announce the winners. I was not thinking I was entered for anything because an instructor had said something earlier to someone that so and so did this and that theme and then I did something else and it made it sound like I wasn't in the contest. So when the owners came around and looked at Veronica they were looking to see if she had a number to vote on and when they asked I said she wasn't an official entry. I just assumed that I wasn't an entry and I was satisfied enough that I had done what I had done and that they liked it and met me standing next to it. And I'm not a complainer and I just had a feeling that I was better off not complaining. It would work out. Maybe they had a write in?

So Mrs. Sherri starts off by saying that there was supposed to be only one manikin prize but the owners brought extra prizes. So she announced about three winners, of which my buddy Jo from workshop won 1st place. Then the words "last but not least Robert" and I won this awesome pouch of Paul Mitchell products

I'm going to have that bag to remind me of this for a long time. And the fact that I walked today at lunch made me feel those words.

There's so many words to say about today and I can only say that I am so glad I'm not on the side lines. Everyone in that place knows that display was made and most of them know who made it if not all. I guess what comes to mind the most is that I made the effort and other people helped out. Thank you to all who did and to those on FB who encouraged me as I shared the process and progress.

In the small picture frame I have Deborah dressed in a pink sweater and another floral dress and floral hat. Its a photo of Veronica's sister.

Day 41 ~ Salon Fair ~ 9/18/13

Cosmetology Journal Day 41 ~ Salon Fair ~ 9/18/13


Salon Fair was today. It was fun. I am home now.  :)

Day 40 ~ Team Awesome Sauce Moves On ~ 9/17/13

Cosmetology Journal ~ Day 40 ~ Team Awesome Sauce Moves On ~ 9/17/13

I'm going to keep this short today because I have to finish getting ready for tomorrow's Salon Fair.

Today was the first day of Rehearsal Class. Our current subject is Business Building so we are working on a Make you own salon project. My new best bud A and I partnered up since although I do have ideas about the kind of salon I plan to make I do not want to give away all my ideas when I fell some are unique and haven't been tried yet. So we're going a bit more off of her ideas which is cool because it can lead to inpsiring me to try something else with my own ideas. I'm glad we get to work together. So we spent most of the day doing that. Mrs C is our classroom instructor again so it was kinda like the last 4 weeks went by in an instant. We just moved over to the other room.

A and I had some fun over the weekend doing some shopping to get ready for the Salon Fair. Those who have been following along on FB know what I'm up to so I'll keep it short in here and save some surprise.
However I will get to do pretty much everything I planned for after I asked and was granted use of a certain area of the salon area.

For my hair today I wore my black with white dots bow on a band on a tail and then I put a little black with white dots clip on bow near the end of the tail. I didn't get a picture though.

Day 39 ~ Friday The 13th, The Next Chapter ~ 9/13/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 39 ~ Friday The 13th, The Next Chapter ~ 9/13/13

When I got up today I was going in to my last day of the 8 week workshop class. All that was left to do was take and pass the 50 question quiz of questions I had on previous quizzes. I did not study for it. I did not have a study guide for it. My thoughts were that if I don't know it by now I should fail and retake anyway.

Today's Hair: Along this journey I have been breaking away from my fear of wearing something my hair other than a simple elastic. But today was the day. My friend Pam sent me a gift. This morning I said "Its time to throw the kitchen sink at em."

First part of the day was celebrations and I went to the floor and got my 7th 100% attendance award in a row. Will be 8. Then we danced. Did a little different dance today. Was mostly shuffling feet and slight kicking. Not quite as difficult to follow along. Almost a feet only hokey pokey.

We just kinda relaxed a bit after that and before break. A had her note cards with her so I looked over them real quick. After break we took the quiz and I got 2 wrong. I thought I had 4 wrong but I must have looked at someone else's quiz because when A asked if I got 98% I said I got 92 and Mrs J said no I got 2 wrong. Ok :)

The rest of the day was Updo practise and waiting for our orientation.
I brought 3 of my already curled manikins from home just in case there would be time for us moving on people to do updos as well. 

We did our orientation with Mrs L right around the afternoon break time. The rest of the day was just messing with my updos.
I took Julie and her long spiral curls from her small rollers. I pulled her hair back and just kinda put my pink elastic around one area and then I put one of my purple heart bracelets around the other. I also took the one small nape piece in the back that was still too straight from not setting and I braided it all the way down. I wrapped that around the first area that I put the pink band on. But when I took my pictures I was coming back from lunch and one set of lights were off so I used my flash. Doing that made the pictures dark instead of bright so what you can see is what I have until I get another picture of her.
Next I had Reese and her still uncut regular length long hair that had the spiral set from the perms. I was going to do some Marcel curling on her so I misted her hair with water and blew dry her curls back smooth. But I changed my mind and decided to French twist it to one side instead. 
After the orientation I had a few minutes to try to come up with something to do with Angellina Anna who had curls still from the last roller set I did on her. But I was thinking about the salon fair coming up so I wanted to try something besides an updo and went with one of the brush outs I like doing. So I brushed her into the bell shape I like.
As I was leaving the room for the last time I took a goodbye picture.
I'm going to write another entry for the weekend if I get a chance to go over my thoughts but for now here's the pictures (if you're on FB they were on my timeline today)

 

My group has Tuesday - Saturday next week and then M-F the following. So I have a 3 day weekend to have some fun. :)

Day 38 ~ Today's Entry Brought To You By The Letter A ~ 9/12/13

Cosmetology School Journal ~ Day 38 ~ Today's Entry Brought To You By The Letter A ~ 9/12/13

Today's Hair: Bee Butt Bun held with Goody Spin pin / hair scroo. Purple Flower headband wrapped around as an ornament. A Bee Butt bun is one where it looks like a stack of donuts

Today started with some theory review for today's quiz. 
After break we took the quiz on Haircolor Application an I got 20 out of 20 for my third straight 100% or an A.
 Then we had a rubric for a retouch of lightener using colesterol conditioner on just the new growth aka roots.  I used Penelope 2 with longer hair for that one.

For lunch we had a pot luck celebration since its us longer time students last week in workshop. After I found my wallet last night I went and got a Hormel cracker, cheese, and lunch meat tray. It was marked down so I was worried that someone might not want to eat it. But it didn't even make it to lunch time. :)
This was an excellent pot luck. I don't think anyone didn't bring something. And lots of made items too.
I really enjoyed eating mine with a knife after the forks ran out. I kept going even after one of the teachers got some spoons. Doesn't taste any different.

After lunch we did the rubric for a virgin lightener which is applied to the mid strand and not on the roots or ends. That took us until break. Then after that was personal services time. I was probably going to just do some sort of practical on my manikin. But I was standing out front listening to All This Time by Tiffany because Feelings Of Forever wouldn't load on my phone, and friend A asked if I wanted to do her toner to finish what she had colored the day before and I think I said sure.
Hard to think of the feelings I was having. It was a mix.
I was appreciative
I was glad to be asked by her again. It had been a few weeks since I'd done something with her since we had more people to partner with in class.
I was excited to have a chance to do some color and perhaps mix some.
I had some butterflies in the tummy.
But this is what I'm there for so I went in and put the gloves on. 
Mrs J was helping out so as I was grabbing my cape and such the color was already being mixed. No biggie. The application was only to the front section which is basically like what i did yesterday only this was a bigger section. Mrs J covered the back area with some foils so we could team up and brush on the front section. I did at least half of it. I gotta say I missed the smell of color. Been a while. 
As I was brushing on the color Mrs Sherri came in to tell us which of the two groups of Rehersal classes we would be split into. Basically each day one group is on the floor while the other is in class. Well turns out that both A and I are going to be in Group A. And that is Awesome. 
SoMrs J and I finished brushing on and then A and I went to the floor to let her process for a few minutes and then I had the pleasure of doing a shampoo on her for the second time since starting school. And I believe it was there that she said something about cutting her hair a bit. She had mentioned it earlier in the day but I hadn't volunteered because I didn't know what was going to happen with the day yet. But here I was with another opportunity just falling in my hands. I was feeling pretty good about that. It was a bit of deja vu though because over the past few years my oldest brother has come over a few times asking me to trim the hair at his nape hairline. But at those times I felt so awkward doing it because I had the feelings of failure going through me. So we got back to the room and Mrs J was helping out too. She offered to cut the guide and I let her. I was confident in my ability to do it without help but at the same time I will be having Mrs J on the floor and I wanted to give her a chance to, I guess it was like a dress rehersal. Show me what I'm in for if I let you help me. I like Mrs J and I look at her and how she is and she just has that glow about her that says she is where she belongs. I trust her. So with her help we got A trimmed up nicely into a very nice graduated bob with more even bottom length because A wants to start growing longer now without the awkward growth shape. 

A is very happy with the color and the cut. She's smiling. A client smiled at me, a repeat client.
I'm so happy to get to stay with my friend in the next group. She's helped me through some hard days just by being there. Thanks a bunch A. 
That's All for todAy :)