FIGHT! We had our first fight at school on Friday!!! And I was right there in the middle of it all! How fantastic is that??? So I'm sitting in class and we were all grouped around these tables. The new Madonna albumn was blairing from the speakers and everyone was talking as each table was deciding what block color to put on their doll head. There were two girls at the end of the table talking about something and they each started slamming their hands down on the table. It was really quite loud and I jumped the first time they did it. The girl next to me is pregnant so she yells hey! stop doing that, you're making the baby kick me in the crotch! One of the girls said Oh I'm sorry! and the other girl said, I'm not. So the pregnant girl looked at her and sneered, what did you say? The other came back at her, Don't talk to me! From there is just got worse. The pregnant girl kept murmuring things to her and the other girl kept saying things like, 'don't talk to me' , 'stop talking to me', or 'you always have to have the last word!' but the 'don't talk to me's' kept getting louder and louder to the point that she was yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs with a crazed look in her eye, 'DON'T TALK TO ME!!!!!!!!' The two girls were starting to stand up out of their chairs and get in to each other's faces when the teacher came over and kicked them out of the class. The rest of us that had been watching the exchange, had just sat there and watched, I think dumbfounded that this was actually happening. The last time I remember seeing a fight in class was in my 7th grade art class. So I guess you have to expect this kind of thing when you let girls leave highschool early.

Today this old lady came in and wanted her hair carrot top orange. I didn't have the pleasure of doing this but this 17 year old girl did. She applied the color and washed it out. Her roots ended up bright orange and her ends a yellow gold. She absolutely loved it. Somewhere in the service she told the student working on her, that if the student didn't wear lipstick, she would never get married. The wounded non lipstick wearing student crawled to the back of the clinic floor while the woman was under a dryer and told a couple of the instructors the tragic news that she would now need to wear lipstick. So they ran back and grabbed the school make up kit and this girl and one of the instructors put on bright nasty red and pink lipstick in defiance. Maybe you had to be there but it was pretty funny to watch them go back over to the client in all seriousness and finish out the service without cracking a smile.

They keep telling us that it's not how well you can do hair but how well you are with people. Creating good realtionships with people is what is going to keep them coming back in, not the fact that you gave them a good haircut. I can't imagine going back to someone that made me look like a crack whore no matter how I felt about them. Unless of course I wanted to look like a crack whore. I never thought I would want a rocker mullet and well here I am.

Whoa it's been forever since I've written. I'm having a hard time having a conversation with people I don't know this week. I think I've just been too tired to care for several reasons. I really don't care how many brothers and sisters they have or where they are from or where they work or go to school. I want them to just sit down and tell me fun stories like they entered a hot dog eating contest or how they rolled around in the mud in their church clothes. Most importantly, it's hard when you can't really hear what the person is saying because it's sooo loud in the school and it's hard to concentrate on the haircut if I'm chatting away. I need to find a balance or maybe I just need to get some sleep so I can be more alert.

We had a class on extensions today. This girl that came to teach had a thick Utah accent and a big coiffe of hair to go along with it. She claimed to do her hair different everyday--big and curled like today, straight, wavy, what have you. I am curious to see what she looks like with straight hair. Flat ironing hair is kind of a newer concept around here and somehow the Utah folks haven't quite completely grasped the idea. I really didn't know that straight hair could be manipulated into looking big but Utah has found a way through a little thing called back combing. There is one girl at school that has what we call the Utah poof. I had seen her go through her little hair styling ritual but in different parts, never all at once so I didn't really fully understand the process. It wasn't until I watched her style someone else's hair that I truly got how she did it. She starts by round brushing her hair with the largest size round brush. She then back combs all the areas she wants to have volume. Next comes the hairspray and finally the flat iron. She is able to have board straight hair that has an incredible amount of volume at the scalp. I would have to say that this girl has mastered the process. I have seen many other girls who try to achieve the same affect but fail massively. Their results are a ratted mess at the scalp with strings of hair trying to cover it. My personal favorite is when they try to have volume all around their head instead of just at the crown: it just looks like they have two horns coming out of the side of their head because they don't tease the back crown area enough. Ha Ha suckas!

Clocking In.
So we have to clock in and out in order to get credit for the hours we are at school. We were all assigned a number that corresponds to a card that we can punch in and out when we come and go. They decided to change things up a bit since there is a problem with students clocking each other in and out, getting each other hours for time they aren't actually there. We now use our hand print as our sign in. There is a machine with a hand print and we punch in a number and place our hand on the hand. This is not a time saving mechanism by any means. It now takes about ten minutes to clock in because we have to wait in line to get our hands scanned. You would think that we were working in some kind of a secret branch of the CIA. Once I scanned my hand, I was waiting for a hidden door to open that would lead down a long hallway to a series of other identification tests such as, say an eye scan. Perhaps we would be doing make up and hair for all of the agents that need to have an Alias for their secret missions. Oh maybe I would get to meet Jennifer Garner! But to my dismay, nothing happened and all that was waiting for me was class.

I'm starting to have mini panic attacks on where to go when I'm done with school. Do I stay here or do I move home or somewhere else? I don't know. I think about it constantly since I'm now in the last half of school. I happened to catch part of the show "Blow Out" on Bravo today and it totally stressed me out. The owner/manager Jonathan sat all of his employees down and basically threatened to fire all of them. The next day he cried and told them all that he didn't want to lose any of them. Then his assistant wanted to graduate to her own chair and she had to do a male haircut. So Jonathan said that he would cut one side of the guy's hair and she had to cut it exactly like he did on the other side. As she was cutting, he kept stopping her and correcting her every move. All I could think was oh crap she's totally not going to pass the test at this rate! Miraculously she did pass the test and graduated to a stylist. (She looked so unenthusiastic about it!) So I guess I was stressed out thinking about where I may end up and how I don't want to end up with a boss like that guy--so wishy washy and up and down. I don't want to be too picky about the salon I end up in but I want to like it! I can't write anymore--the ulcers are forming.

We had a class on resumes and interviews today. We asked each other mock interview questions. One that I got was, "What was your biggest challenge in school?" I couldn't think of anything. The girl asked me, "Well did you have any crazy color corrections or anything like that?" I said, "No...so far everything has gone great!" So then this afternoon I was doing my friend's hair. She had really light hair (level 9ish) and she wanted some highlights but she didn't want any bleach on it as her hair is very fine. So I used an HLP which is a highlift platinum with 30 volume. As I was applying it she asked if I had ever done someone's hair and they hated it. I said no and that so far everyone had liked what I had done. As I was taking out the foils in her hair at the sink, I noticed that the strands were looking a bit silver and purple. I kind of panicked but just hoped it was the color and it would rinse away. It didn't. I thought, oh no here it is...my biggest challenge in school and a client who would probably walk away hating their hair. I grabbed my instructor and we ended up counteracting the purple with a yellow toner and 5 volume. Magically the purple and silver dissappeared and her hair was a gorgeous blond. She loved it!
So word travelled fast around the school that I had turned someone's hair silver/purple. It is a rare instance to have to tone out purple. Usually we end up having to tone out orange or yellow. I am guessing that her hair didn't have the usual orange or yellow pigment that hair normally has. The highlift has a lot of purple in it to counteract those colors so if there is nothing to counteract, voila! purple!

This girl came in the other day for a haircut. We went through the usual questions of getting to know someone like where did you grow up, are you in school, how many kids do you have, bla bla bla. Sometimes it's really really hard for me to hear what my guests are saying because of the noise around me--blowdryers, music, other people talking. So she told me what she does for work and I couldn't really hear her so I said, what was that? And she said I am a sign language interpreter. I instantly felt awkward because in a situation with friends, I would have said what as if I didn't hear her whether I really heard her or not just as a deaf joke. So I wanted to say what over and over again until she got my lame joke but there are some people that may not think it's funny to make fun of deaf people. So in the process of stopping myself from making a total idiot out of--myself, I let out an "ooooh, okayyy". I'm not sure which would have been worse now.

So now that I'm a 'creative' student, my schedule has changed and I am in class all day on Wednesdays rather than out on the clinic floor. I'm sure most days are interesting and educational but today was my first day and it was anything but interesting. In the afternoon session, I had to highlight the sections of my book where answers could be found to future tests. Three and a half hours later, I thought I was going to stab myself in the eye with my highlighted! Ugh.
On a different note, I did learn something cool the other day. Back in the day, monks would do the 'bloodletting' on people when they were sick. You know, they would drain blood out of people in hopes that they would drain out the sickness. Soooo clever of them. Eventually the monks were banned from doing this so they would call in barbers to assist doctors to perform the bloodletting. The barbers would hang the bloody rags outside the door as a symbol that they did bloodletting or something so this is where the barber pole comes from. At some point they decided that it was better to just hang up something permanent, something that could be universaly recognized. So we have the barber pole which looks like those bloody rags. Someday when I open my own salon I'm going to take the authentic approach to my salon and hang bloody rags outside.

I figured out how to post pictures in here finally. I'm a little slow I guess. Thanks to Bek for the pic...

Dear PMTS,
I hate your school because I'm a sore loser and I can't win your stupid contests--contests that I believe will give me the opportunity to network in the industry and get me a killer job. I now have to choose between Super Cuts, Fantastic Sams, or Dollar Cuts.
Yours Truly,
Tracy

Today I wore a hat in shame. I wanted to be at school for the hours but I didn't want anyone to know I was there. So I hid under my little pink hat and stayed in a room where no one I talk to ever goes, for the better part of the morning. Pretty soon I got a text from someone wondering where I was. I was twenty feet away.
Pretty soon I realized that there were several other students feeling the same way as I am--that we were competing in a totally different contest based on who won.
I also realized today that I have been putting all of my energy into my hair life to the point that it is my relationship. Yes, I am dating my future career. So when I lost this contest, it was rejecting me, dumping me, breaking up with me. After doing three haircuts, two eyebrow waxes, and a hair color this afternoon, the devastating feelings eventually went away. If only I could get over getting dumped by a dude this fast and this easily.

I totally lost. I just cried in my room, sobbing cries, for an hour. How pathetic and sad am I? When it comes down to it, I feel like I was competing in a completely different contest based on who won. They picked three models that were totally wacked out all crazy with colorful hair. Last I checked, that isn't what people want when they want a make over. If they wanted us to do something creative and artistic, why couldn't they have just told us that? I'm also wondering why those that did do that, got one memo and me and the other make over people got another. I'm so pissed that I really want to quit school.

Today was totally nuts but the contest is over and we find out on Monday who won. I'm going to be in knots all weekend now. I'm actually not going to find out until Tuesday because I don't have school on Monday and I don't want to call the school or go all the way down there and find out that I lost. I don't think I could take the rejection like that. I would rather find out in a more subtle way where no one around knows when or how I'm finding out. I must say that my make over was incredible. She looked like a completely different person but in a good way. Everyone that saw the before picture was totally astounded at how good she looked. So I guess if I lose, I still won the satisfaction of making someone look more beautiful and to me that is a fantastic reward.

Ok so there is this contest at school to go to a hair convention in vegas at the end of july. They are picking three students to go. In order to win you have to do the best make over on a person. Initially I was told that we would have to cut, color, do makeup, and wardrobe in four hours. No problem. Now let's talk about how everything has gone wrong and then fixed itself at the last possible second.
My model cancelled on me. I have been scrambling to find someone that would allow me to do whatever I wanted on them. It's been really tough and very stressful but finally, today, two days before the contest, I have a model! You can't imagine the relief! I've been freaking out for 3 days, losing sleep even.
So I guess it would make sense that I almost broke down in to tears today when they told me that all Saturday students participating, would have to find a sub for them to cover the clients they would normally have to take on a Saturday. "We can't turn away paying clients for this contest." It's nearly impossible to find someone to sub for you on a Saturday...especially when you only have two days notice. Why didn't they tell us this earlier???? I told the front desk person that I was about to say the F word. I miraculously found a sub.
So they decided that we could do the color ahead of time if we wanted but there were no specifications on it. I found out today that the color had to be done ahead of time. I couldn't just do it earlier in the day, I had to do it at least one day ahead of time. Once again, it was a miracle that my model had a small window of time open in the day at the exact same time that I do tomorrow so we can color her hair then.
I am seriously on guard, wondering what horrible thing is going to happen next. I'm really worried that they are going to come up with something else that will prevent me from going forward on this.
I can't help but wonder if maybe I am not meant to be in this contest? Everything is going so wrong? Or maybe I need to look at the glass as half full and everything is going right and I need to relax now!

So the mentor graduated and moved back to Vegas. While passing through there, I stopped to have lunch with a friend that knows him. She decided it would be funny to text him and tell him that I was in town and wanted to make out with him. It actually was kind of funny but awkward at the same time. The other day he was doing her hair and he told her to text me and tell me hi. So it continues from afar. One day I'll move there and we'll have a torrid love affair.
I can't remember if I clarified this already so I'll do it again... There are two crushes that I have written about in this blog: The mentor is a student, one of several mentors I had when first starting school. MJF or Michael J Fox is a teacher that works at a nearby salon and teaches classes at our school once a month. So don't be confused--there are two and I go back and forth on having a crush on each of them.
School has been pretty slow lately: there haven't been very many guests in and a lot of the students are on leave for the summer. So I don't have very many stories because most days I sit at a station and roll perm rods on my doll head. I will say this, however: I hate it when new students come out on to the floor. They really don't know what they are doing and it's really obvious. I had to wait 40 minutes the other day to use the wax because this girl was doing an eyebrow and lip wax on someone. She kept stopping to look up at me and laugh like- I'm sorry I'm so nervous and retarded. I wanted to say just put on the wax and wrip out her hair already! Yes it's going to hurt her but she knows that! She put herself in this torturous position so just get it over with! But I didn't.

I did my first perm on a live human today and my fingernails wreak of perm solution still. She was an older woman--she had to be at least 85 and she tipped me $2. It took about three hours to do but it was fantastically curly in the end. She had me put on her 'fanciful rinse' in the end. Fanciful rinses are temporary hair colors for old ladies. They only stay in until you wash it again. These are the explanation for the old ladies with blue, silver, purple, or pink hair: colors that are very close to natural colors initially but look very fake and unattractive to the younger eye. They love it. They carry bottles of it around in their purses. It's funny how old ladies like permed, shampoo set, curled, unnaturally dyed hair. They have their own hair trend just like every other generation does. I can't help but wonder what they think when they look at younger women's board straight hair. I also wonder if they like 80's punk rock hair. What would they do if they had control of all of our hair? Would we be just a sea of greyish bluish pinkish teased out football helmets?

I keep having dreams about the mentor lately. In one dream, I flew to London in a car--kind of like the delorian--and I ended up in a bar somewhere with some people from school. There were magazines on the table we were sitting at and I began to flip through one. I found a really cool haircut in one and I started freaking out over it. The mentor was standing across the way and he wandered over and started singing the BeeGees to us. In the next dream, all I remember is him coming over to return something he borrowed. He was acting really wierd and shrugging his shoulders and lifting his arms up all funny. In the last dream, he came over to my station to help me with a hair cut. I had cut it like I wanted but I couldn't figure out how to style it so he came over to show me. He found some places that I had messed up on and so I all of a sudden blamed it on someone else and told them that it wasn't me that cut it and I was just trying to style it.
The end

I just realized that the mentor is like my own Jake Ryan(Sixteen Candles). Remember when they are at the dance in the highschool gym? She rehearses what she is going to say to him and walks over to talk to him. She is about to tap him on the shoulder but gets really embarrased so she turns around. After a couple of seconds she finds her courage to turn back around and he is looking at her with a friendly smile and he says hi. She just looks at him for a minute and then walks off. This is how I feel with every single encounter I have with the mentor. I'm so flustered by him that I just want to walk away. So far I haven't but I've gone through many red faces in fighting the fluster. I haven't felt like this since the 9th grade when I had a crush on Fred Brayton. I was with my friend Carrie and her mom at the video store and in walked Fred and his friends. I was still in my soccer gear from practice and I just looked a sight. I had to say hi though because we were friends. So I said hi Fred and looked down at some movies and played with my bangs before he even turned around. Carrie and her mom were trying desperately not to laugh because apparently since I had looked down so quickly, Fred was looking around all confused to see who had said hi. I'm starting to wonder if I'm reverting back to highschool me. The fact that I just compared this to a highschool crush is the reason why this is so lame.

Ok this is totally non beauty related but did I miss something? When did Carson Daly become a comedian? I'm sitting here playing my nightly solitaire marathon and there on the TV is Carson with a whole opening monologue full of lame lame jokes. He even has a desk with a mug and he is wearing a suit. I guess it's been a while since I watched his lame lame show. Last I watched he had a couple of modern looking chairs that were so low on the ground it was like they were sitting on the ground and he would wear jeans and a whatever shirt. He was never ever funny in his interviews--he was ALL business and his questions were almost always very surface and very boring. What is the world coming to when they put a radio dj turned vj turned late night talk show host into a comedic late night talk show host? Seriously, I don't get it. What is next?