It's been a long and strange journey... I was never quite the best beauty school candidate, because I've never been interested in things being "pretty." It was hard to get used to doing a "pretty" blowout, or a "pretty" haircut, because I've always had a more... eclectic?... view of hair. (I swore I wouldn't say "punk rock".) Basically, I've always had multicolored hair, dark roots have never bothered me much, my own haircuts are always choppy and asymmetrical, and i like lots of texture. I also never blow-dry my own hair, I barely use product, and with all the Special Effects/Manic Panic in my hair, I'm lucky if I wash it more than once a week... It was hard to retrain my brain to think in terms of what is expected at a more corporate, mainstream salon environment.
The problem is... now that I've done that retraining, it's hard *not* to think that way. Yesterday, I had a client come in with hair that went halfway down her back with no layering, who wanted a "funky" hair style. She liked my own asymmetrical style, and wanted something chunky and highly textured. And she was willing to cut off a LOT of hair.
"I'm open," she said. "I want you to use your own creative vision. It can be sculptural, or whatever, just get crazy. I'm an artist."
My initial reaction was panic. I've been fighting off a flu for the past month; I can't take any sick days because I am determined not to postpone my graduation any further, so I've been attending school heavily medicated on TheraFlu, echinacea and whatever painkiller I can get my hands on. I'm in a fog most of the day, my muscles ache and I feel fatigued and slow. That is not the optimal state of being for someone to "be creative". And, on top of that comes the above-mentioned dilemma: I've been trained to do by-the-book, "pretty" haircuts. We rarely get to experiment, and I don't necessarily feel comfortable doing so on a real person (who I don't know) in a salon environment. It would be different if it were a friend of mine who said "go crazy" and I wasn't being graded, and if a hair is out of place it would be no big deal... But I don't know this lady, and I don't know what will happen if MY idea of "creative" is her idea of "what the fuck did you do to my hair?!"
I hate this feeling. It's crippling. I've always been trapped in this in-between world of being a generally creative person, but also being someone who's really nerdy and kind of an overachiever, who generally operates within the parameters of wherever I happen to be employed or studying. I'm frequently torn between being rebellious and artistic on the inside, and a perfectly passive service provider who just wants to please you in practice. Artist lady done freaked me the hell out with her request.
What ended up happening is I gave her an extreme concave bob, where the back started at the nape of her neck, and the front ended at about boob-length. Then I gave her round layers to eliminate a bunch of bulk and add movement. From there, the idea was to give her even more choppy-as-fuck layers and texturize the crap out of that. Of course, at that point, artist lady decides she's running really late to her next appointment (DO NOT GO TO A SCHOOL TO GET YOUR HAIR DONE IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO SPARE!! Just don't. Save yourself and your poor student stylist the stress.) So, I do what my conscientious student-mind tells me to do, and I call over one of my instructors to ask him to show me real quick how I can achieve the look that's in my head in 5 minutes flat. Artist lady is freaking out because she has to leave NOW and "I'm an artist, and I just can't deal with this boring housewife haircut..."
What?! Boring housewife. Ouch. I almost ran out of the salon crying right then and there. That is just about the complete opposite of who I am... I think?? My instructor was cool and did exactly what I told him I wanted to do in no time (while still trying to squeeze in some instruction to me on how to achieve it next time), but it was a total missed opportunity. Lady had no time, therefore I didn't get to experiment, and my instructor had to step in and do my dirty work. Artist lady did apologize: "I'm sorry, I was right there with you. I know what you wanted to do, and that was totally right, and if you would have had more time I'm sure we would have gotten there." Thanks.
In the end I didn't even have the chance to snap a picture, but I wouldn't feel right calling it my work anyway, since I'm not responsible for the absolute final result. BUT, I suppose it was a valuable lesson learned... I don't ever want anyone to refer to anything I do as "boring" again. I need to trust my instincts and allow my ideas to materialize. The hardest part for me to deal with is getting things "wrong", but in the end I guess it's better to make mistakes and learn from them, than be too afraid to try new and fun things that I want to do.
Anyway... because I don't feel right not posting any photos at all after all that blabber -- here a couple of pics of my trusty model, Bertha, showing off some recent examples of my cut and color experimentation. She never gets to complain about my timing or taste.
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