Day 5

Y'all gon make me lose my mind! Up in here! Up in here!

DMX starts your morning right!

We didn't have lecture today! Only lab, which meant doing our manikin's hair. We were evaluated on our pin curls. I got an A! But I know that my work wasn't "A" work even though the instructor told me I did good work. A year from now I'll be great and look back on poor Naomi and laugh :-)

Still no friends today :-/ I think I'll give up on that and just remind myself I'm not there for friends anyway I guess.

Today wasn't super eventful. I'm relieved that my first week is over though. Only 51 more weeks to go, right?

I get a much needed 3 day weekend. I need to catch up on housework and homework because this week wiped me out. Being on your feet blows, but I've been a photographer and a medical assistant so I should be used to it. I have Shape Ups, and no matter how unattractive they are, they are great on your feet. Mine were brand new and need to be broken in though. Ouch. I still love them. I'm on my second pair.

I'll be back Tuesday, but here's your quote from today! I think it's awesome.

Day 4

I was on time today!

I got a compliment on my hair. I did pin curls. This morning we went to the library to print a picture of a pin curl hairstyle. Tomorrow after we are timed for the actual rolling of the pin curls and the hair is dried, as are also getting evaluated on our "comb out". That basically means the end style. There can be no parts, pins, clips or anything in the hair but teasing is allowed. It's supposed to look like the picture we printed. I printed the rattiest looking pin curls I could find. Not really, but I should have.

When we talked about parasites like scabies and lice during lecture, one of the girls asked "Can we put a sign on the door that says 'Please make sure your head is free of species?'" LOL! SPECIES!

Something that the instructor pointed out today is that even though you're a licensed cosmetologist, it is illegal to do freelance work without a business license. I'll have to do some research about that...I think that's crazy. If its true I'll be ticked because there goes my life plan. I don't think I'm going to ever excel at hairstyling. I don't want to work in a salon setting anyway. If I'm not freelancing, I'd like to work in a spa. Facials, nails, things like that. Our instructor said she prefers that setting too.

I still didn't make a friend today. I know I'm 23, but it still makes me feel sad sometimes. Everyone new always falls in line with other groups of people, and I am never able to do that. It's been that way my whole life, so I'm used to it but sometimes I'm just like "Oh come on". It's a racial thing for me, and a lot of people just don't understand what that means. I don't ever quite fit in on either side, and I feel like my personality is too much and too little of something for everyone. You would think I'd outgrow these insecurities by now. But I get panicked and have to hide in a bathroom stall for a few minutes like I did today. It's not a boo hoo thing, it's just a frustrating thing.

Maybe I'll make a friend tomorrow.

Anyway, we just practiced more pin curls after lecture. I really am going to take my lunch tomorrow. People microwave food in the break room and it smells so good! Maybe food will make me feel less lonely at my big table :-)

When I was leaving today, I realized the wifi password was only taped up EVERYWHERE. I could have been on Facebook all week damn it!

And again I'll leave you with today's quote that the instructor put on the board. I really like her.

Day 3

I was 4 minutes late today. And yesterday. And the day before. I am literally 4 minutes late everywhere I go. No matter what I do, I'm still 4 minutes late. Bravo.

The very first thing I noticed when I walked in was that at the end of each row, there was a beach ball. A few minutes into class our instructor told us that we were going to play volleyball. She said she liked to do it because it helped warm us up and get the circulation in our hands going, but more so because she thinks it is fun. Obviously tossing beach balls around class is fun! I hit someone in the face. Further validation that I'm not going to make friends in class. Did I mention she played music during? I started my morning with volleyball and Lil' Jon. She always plays music while we do anything that's not lecture. She's just freakin cool.

Then we sat down to do our book work and lecture. Everyone hates lecture in any school I've ever been in. Why wouldn't you? It blows. But somehow I don't get bored. Maybe it's because what we are learning right now is all stuff I'm familiar with. Or maybe it's because I'm just happy to be there after the six month struggle I had trying to get into school.

After a while, she had us close our books and get a piece of paper out. She asked us 29 questions on what we've learned so far, and we just needed to write the answers. It wasn't for a grade, it was just for us to see what we need to study. I missed four. Some people in class were just like "I don't know" before she even got started and didn't even make the effort. They just sit there and do whatever. I wish people like that just got tossed out of class. Just because you're the one paying for your education doesn't mean you can be like "suck it" when it comes time to do something you're too lazy to apply yourself to do. Sure, learning about disinfection and bacteria may not be what you think of when you think of cosmetology school, but your beauty school fantasy does not automatically render this information useless. These are the people that will contract Hepatitis from a pair of scissors. Spread viruses from client to client. Because they are careless. I just don't get it. I don't care if we come to class and have to do shadow puppets that day. I'm giving 100% and making the best damn shadow alligator you've ever seen. I mean you'll think that thing will bite your ass.

Education is a privilege. One I almost couldn't have. I guess that's why it pisses me off so much. I just have no tolerance for people who don't have determination in their soul to be the best they can be, or who don't take initiative.

And that's my daily rant about humans in America. On a lighter note, one of the questions was "Who protects employees in the workplace?" The answer is OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), but someone blurted out "Jesus?" HAHA! Not quite, but very funny! Not everyone in class sucks. The girls in the front row are funny like that. And there's a girl behind me who seems nice and is so pretty. She reminds me of Nia Long.

We have a 30 minute break at 10. I really need to start bringing lunch to school. Homegirl be starvin'! I just sit in the break room at a table alone. I wish I had friends to sit with.

After break we got to work on our manikins. We are still working on pin curls. We are having an evaluation Friday-we have to do the whole head in 30 minutes. Last night I was up until about 2:00 practicing my technique. Instead of rolling the hair around my fingers from the end up, I place my two fingers at the base of the hair, wrap the hair around my fingers, then pin it. Once I started doing it this way, I was pin curling my way up Naomi's hair twice as fast as yesterday. Last night I timed myself at 43 minutes. Today in class I did it in 27! When I got home I put some in my own hair! Can't wait to see how they turn out tomorrow morning! I'll probably have Courtney Love hair. Boo.

To close, I wanted to share this with you. My instructor has something motivational written on the board every day. And I really liked this. I asked her if I could take a picture of it for my blog, and I said "Maybe it will inspire someone". She said "I hope it does". I hope it does too.

Day 2

Naomi got her first shampoo today! 

by the end of the day, i wanted to beat the ass she didn't have.

We aren't allowed to say "wash" hair, we have to say "shampoo", FYI. 

Class is 5 hours for me (8 AM to 1 PM). We spend half of the class doing lecture, then the other half actually doing stuff. Today, lecture was about bacteria, sanitation, and disinfection. This is the third time I've had to learn the different types of bacteria (PCT school, MA school). I feel like I should be a staph expert. 

We had to get in groups for a quick assignment. I hate group assignments, projects, anything. And the instructor has already informed us that we will do a lot of group work. There is ALWAYS the one person who just sits on their ass and blatantly does not care that they aren't contributing in any way. I mean, this person isn't just like "oh, I'm shy and I don't know how to work with people". No, they are like "I don't give two potatoes about you or this class, I'm going to do what I want when I want". Like...why are you even in school if you have that kind of attitude? You should just realize that the instructor doesn't have you do ANYTHING that isn't beneficial to you in SOME way. When you're in the field, you're going to have to learn to socialize and work with people. You can't make it alone. 

After the boring book-work part of class, we moved on to our first project with our manikins. Sister girl Naomi has some seriously nappy hair and she sheds like a tree in fall, so we had to give her a wash shampoo before we could work with her hair. Then we had to start on pin curls. There are a few ways that we can roll the curls, and they can be smaller or bigger. But there is a certain way that the curl is supposed to be pinned. And our goal is to do the entire head in 30 minutes. We will be timed on Friday for a grade. 

And that is why I wanted to split Naomi's head open. I just could not get her curls right, no matter what I did. The craziest thing is that I've been doing pin curls for years in my hair. I love doing my hair pin up style and I never have a problem with it. Why is it so hard to do it on a different head of hair? I just got super frustrated today. I spent over an hour to get halfway up her head, then it was time to leave. Then the jerk decided to fall off of my backpack (we have a rolling backpack with stretchy strings on the side to stick the heads in) and roll into the street when I was walking to my car. I just threw her silly ass in the front seat when I got in the car and, sadly, proceeded to lecture her on the way home. "I don't know why your hair is so stupid, I do pin curls all the freaking time" and "I really hate you right now, you make me feel like an idiot". 

I should be practicing right now. I was going to, but I picked her up and decided I didn't want to look at her anymore today. Tomorrow will be a new day, and I can start over again and start fresh. Milady has a YouTube channel; I'm going to see if there's a video on pin curls. Maybe seeing someone do it a different way will help me. It reminds me of when I went to PCT school and had to draw blood for the first time. I couldn't get it right. Finally, someone showed me a different way that they anchored the vacutainer, and suddenly I could draw blood with my eyes closed (but I did not, don't worry). It was a small change, but it made a world of difference to my technique. 

I don't think I'm mad at Naomi. Or mad that I can't get the pin curls right. I think it's because when I went to school to be a MA, I had already known so much and already done clinicals in the med field so when everyone else was struggling to learn, I was going around showing everyone how to do it because I already knew. And doing it a second time was just more practice for me. And after two years, I'm just comfortable with all of those things. Being in cosmetology school is a different story. I'm out of that element I had, you know? I don't know everything anymore. I'm not the smartest person in class, I'm not the person everyone comes to for help. I am starting from scratch, and I forgot how that feels I guess. The good thing is that I'm not the only person who feels that way. I know I'm not alone, I just have to remind myself that there was a time that I felt like this before, and that I got the hang of it in no time and could eventually do it very well. I'll be nicer to Naomi tomorrow! Maybe.

Day 1

My first day. I love it already.

First, here's a little bit about school:

Every state has different requirements for you to be a licensed cosmetologist. I live in Florida, so the stuff I talk about will pertain to my state of course. Remember, every school is different. But they're all kind of the same.

My program is 12 months long. We have 3 terms, each are 4 months each. We are in the classroom for the first term. Working on manikins, doing all the book stuff. It sounds boring, but you have to start somewhere! Also, the state board exam is 35% boring stuff, so learning it DOES serve a purpose. The second term we get to work on the floor, which means on actual customers in the spa/salon for 2 days a week. In the third term it's 3 days a week. What's really cool is that we are allowed to get tipped!

Anyway, today we didn't do much. You know how the first day is. Everyone is dazed and confused, there's a million rules to learn, you get your syllabus, you stand up and introduce yourself (gag me with a spoon). The best part of the day: we got our kit! Our supplies came in three huge boxes, and we spent well over an hour unpacking every single thing and checking it off a list to make sure we had everything that was supposed to be included. It was exciting to look at everything and think about how I'd be using that stuff on someone's head one day! There were a bunch of brushes, rollers, a curling iron, flat iron, blow dryer (all VERY nice!), capes, hair dying stuff, 3 manikins (Sam, Naomi, and Jake!) and a ton of other things. We also get more supplies as we go along, including our nail kit! I can't wait for that! I'm much more interested in being a nail tech and esthetician than being a hairdresser. But I am excited to learn hair because it's the thing that I have virtually no knowledge of.

my kit!

We got our textbook and workbooks too. They are Milady, which I think all cosmetology schools use. They are like the cosmetology standards. Like the McDonalds of cosmo. The boss. We have book work due this week, and tomorrow we are starting on pin curls! I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my (hopefully not disastrous) work!

In The Beginning

Ah, my first post. Just like old times. (I have a beauty blog.)

I've been in love with makeup forever, but have been serious about my skill and technique since 2007.

In March of this year, I lost my job. I'm a Medical Assistant. Before that I also graduated as a Patient Care Technician. Don't get me wrong, I love the medical field. I wanted to be a nurse practitioner. I am fascinated by the human body and all things related. But while I was in the medical field, I enrolled in 3 different programs in an attempt to continue my education 3 different times, and each time I dropped out after two months. I was looking for the next step. I was trying to fill something in me. I have a true love for the medical field, but that is not where my passion lies. And when I lost my job and gained some free time (since my then pregnancy rendered me pretty much useless) my best friend encouraged me to start the blog I always wanted to start. And so I did.

And then it happened.

I started posting my makeup looks, my little tips here and there. People followed my blog. They complimented me! Thought what I did was great!
Started asking me for beauty advice! And I started thinking about how it would be time to go back to work as a MA, and every cell in my body told me NO. THIS is what I was looking for. That empty space I wanted to fill? This was the reason. The cure. The answer. And my little blog gave me the confidence to finally go for it.

And so I did. Good thing I lost my job, right? It's funny how things work out.

I made this blog aside from my beauty blog for the people who are like me. The people who googled what to expect from cosmetology school, and what cosmetology school would be like. The people who spent years telling themselves it wasn't a good idea, doing makeup isn't a real job, or that you're just not good enough. All the time I've spent drowning my potential out of fear...I have the confidence today. And I know I can help someone like me out there. I'm still scared, but you know what? We can be scared together.

This is the story of my journey down the road to becoming a licensed cosmetologist.