Holidays are going to be interesting....

So. Yesterday. I started off the day with ONE client. Kind of depressing if you let it, which I didn't. Lately, people have been calling last minute, expecting miracles. Well, welcome to your miracle!! I gained at least 3 new clients yesterday, with the possibility of a fourth!!! and that was out of the 6 clients I had!! Sooo much fun!!! And, yesterday was haircut day, as well. However, I made sure to talk up all kinds of stuff with my clients...how color can add texture to your hair, your hair isn't as "thin" as you think it is, this is a product you should try, this is how to use a curling iron....everything!!! The many observations I made yesterday are : Always be myself. (I have a hard time acting like someone else) Be honest with your client (have a difficult time lying, so this one is easy, too) They like it when you actually TAKE THE TIME to listen to their needs and work hard to give them what they want. My boss had no choice but to book me with clients because she was booked solid and so was Maude. I continually surprise my boss by knowing what I'm doing and making it happen. I'm always curious when, exactly, will I be validated with her and by her?? I suspect never, because of the favoritism that goes on at our shop. I'd also like to expand my hours to 8 hour days, next time the opportunity arrises, including working a day that Ginger doesn't. (which will make her nuts, I know.) It is frustrating to work where I'm at, not going to lie. However, the idea of moving, especially when I don't have a large client base to offer anyone, is scary and really not an option. My next goal is to create a mission statement to post at my station. Any ideas??? Happy Thanksgiving!!

When you color your own hair...

So, I had some time on my hands today, waiting for my daughter to get out of school, and I do my favorite thing...people watch. There are quite a few kids at our high school who like to color their hair. You'll see blue (which eventually turns to green), pink, purple. Then, there are those certain "incidents" that occur. Someone gets a bee in their bonnet that they must have blond hair, whether the gods gave it to them or not. It's not that I have anything against the chemicals in the box..not specifically, anyway. They've changed so much over the years that there's not a helluva lot of difference between box & professional color (don't tell my boss I said that!), other than someone like me, who is trained to formulate a custom color for you, and apply it properly to your head, so nothing gets missed. (trust me, it's pretty funny to be cutting someones hair and see the big spots they missed! Usually in the back of the head). What truly bothers me about box color are the instructions inside. They're rather vague. Some will even tell you to mix up the color and just mush it around in your hair. What the heck kind of coverage do you think you get with that??? Weirdness. That's what you get. And, those nifty pictures they show on the back, demonstrating what color your hair will possibly turn after using their product. NOT!!! What the consumer doesn't know is the factors you need to take into consideration before selecting a color. For example: What is your natural hair level?? What is your targeted level?? What volume developer should you be using to make that happen?? If your hair is darker than what my mother used to call "dirty blond", you will NOT turn blond safely or evenly with a box hair color. It's chemically impossible. Anything darker will lift to what I've learned to politely call "ethnic orange" because the level of developer isn't strong enough to take it any higher. The young lady in question that I saw today has a beautiful head of long, naturally curly hair. I don't know what her father's specific ethnic background is, other than Caucasian. Her mother is part Vietnamese, so she definitely has an "ethnic" look about her. Along with that "look" is the dark hair to go with it. Now, if level 10 is pale blond, and level 1 is jet black, this girl is maybe a level 4. Which means, in layman's terms, she's a chocolate brown. Like a Hershey bar. Pretty dark. It looked like they used enough color for her nearly waist length hair--what I could see of her entire head of hair looked covered with color. However. Because her hair would only lift maybe two levels, she's at a brassy level 6...ORANGE with a hint of GOLD. Not flattering to her "olive" complexion, let me tell you. Why did this happen?? It isn't a case of not leaving the product on long enough. It's a case of misunderstanding the directions (for example: If your hair is really dark, this will not work as intended), and the developer not being strong enough to do the job. If she bought more of the same color, would multiple applications eventually work?? No. Color doesn't lift color. Which means, once you put hair color on the hair, nothing, other than lightener (or hair bleach, frosting kit, etc.) will turn the hair a lighter color. If she were to apply the color again, her regrowth area will lighten, but the rest will not. Her ends could turn darker, an ashy color, or do nothing at all. Her regrowth area looks much lighter than the rest because she has body heat working with the chemicals to lighten the hair. No one really knows what strength developer is in those boxes. I, myself, haven't looked at one in so long, I don't know if they list the strength in "secret" code on the side of the box. I can tell you this: if you've never colored your hair before, and you want to go LIGHTER, please, please, please go to a salon. It's not always a cheap/easy fix to take you back to your natural color when you make that mistake. It gets pricy because it's time consuming. First, we have to assess the damage to see if your hair can tolerate more chemicals. If it can, we then need to figure out which color is missing in your hair, so we can first put that back in. THEN, we put the rest of the color in after filling it, so your color comes out even. And, there's no guarantee that it will come out right the first time. Another thing I've noticed with box color...it really doesn't stress the fact that you DON'T need to comb the color through to the ends. You ONLY need to color the regrowth. When you try to distribute the color all over the hair when you don't need to, you get one or more results: Darker ends, fried looking ends, extremely dry hair. And, while you can slather conditioner onto your hair for a short term fix (until your next shampoo), the only real cure is to cut your hair, regularly, to get rid of the mess you've made. Your hair cannot be "repaired", nor can it be "nourished". Once the cuticle layer has been roughed up, it does not lay back down. And, hair doesn't eat. The only live part of the hair is under the skin, at the follicle, in the bulb. Once that strand breaks through the skin, it's not "alive" any longer. Just passing my words of "wisdom".... :)

I love other people's vacations!

So, Evelyn is on vacation this week. The two days I've been at work so far, I've been pretty well booked, both with my own clients and walk ins/call ins. It's been pretty cool, and, yes, financially rewarding!! Yesterday, or maybe the day before, I forget, I was standing over Ginger as she was talking to a client on the phone, calling for an appointment with Evelyn. She patiently explained that Evelyn was out on vacation and proceded to offer herself up, because the client really needed this week. She only offered me up (finally) because she didn't have time for this client, either! I almost tapped the computer screen in front of her to remind her that "HEY! I'm here, too... For that matter, so is Chrissy!!" I did a FABULOUS color on this sweet elderly lady Tuesday. She used to come to the salon, but hadn't been back in two years...the last time she was in, Ginger had her and managed to piss her off (I forget why... something to do with her color, I believe). I had been warned she was kind of cranky, rather particular. Ginger ran off her most recent (2 years ago) formula, which she, herself, had created, just incase I needed it. I sat at the computer and read her previous formulas. What I gathered from the information is that she doesn't want to be too dark. The formulas went from a level 7 with a bit of 6 to a level 5 with a bit of 6..all in the interest of grey coverage. An aside: Here's a quick color lesson: If level 1 is jet black, and level 10 is pale blonde, level 5 is a medium brown (which is quite dark), 6 being slightly lighter (most people are these levels), and level 7 being even lighter (kind of "dirty blonde") This nice lady (because everybody is when you sit in my chair, until you prove to me otherwise, regardless of what I've been told) comes in. She's tiny, cute, and southern! I sit her in my chair and proceed with my consultation, which I do, even for people I have been cutting or coloring all along. She has bushy, kind of coarse, layered hair, roughly to the bottom of her neck. (so not terribly long) She's medium, light-ish brown with WHITE regrowth throughout her head. This lady has a lot of hair! I ask her what she's needing today in terms of color..."I don't like it too dark, it's been about 3 weeks since my last color, my hair grows really fast". So, I get the basic color swatches to figure out what level her ends are. They're between a 6 & a 7. She also "pulls warm" (meaning the white eventually shows through and it gives a golden glow to the color), which means my friend ASH needs to be a part of the formula. So. I go out back, and pick my color to mix. I CHANGED EVERYTHING ABOUT HER FORMULA!! Previously, the color used took a looong time to process, was loaded with ammonia, and tended to fade quickly. So, I switched to my favorite brand of color. Color lesson #2: When the hair is WHITE, and you're coloring it back to your "natural" color...your white hair is lacking enough pigment to make a difference. So. You need to put the pigment back in the hair. Which means you need to put in some "Natural" level color. In this case, 3/4 6N, to cover up the white. Now, since she wants to tone down the "glow", ASH needs to be a part of this formula. So, I added 1/4 7A. The volumes of developer vary, depending on what you want the color to do. I want mostly deposit, with a little lift, so I chose 20 volume. Processed 35 minutes (as this color line dictates), and POOF! done! We talked about the book she was reading, where she is currently from, where she is originally from, had a great time talking! I'm thinking to myself "Where is the cranky old lady I was warned about???" Got her some coffee, left her to her book during the processing time. When done, I took her to the sink, and proceeded to rinse her hair, then wash. Since her hair is kind of bushy, and I wasn't cutting it, I used a smoothing shampoo & conditioner (which are both color safe) to help tame her hair. The color looked FAB! And, I did NOT run the permanent color down to her ends...all that does is fry the hair and over deposit. Completely unnecessary! Now...when freshly colored (or highlighted) hair is wet, it looks like hell, plain & simple. In this case, her regrowth area looked slightly lighter than the rest. I put product in her hair (that she approved of...didn't like certain things), and proceeded to blow dry & style. Once her hair was dry, her regrowth (because I HATE the word "roots") were Gone, baby, gone!! It was a great match up and she left with a big smile on her face, and tipped me 20%!! Now, lets go to the next day. Ginger finally asks me how her color went (as I'm coloring someone else), so I explained all that I did, including changing the formula, COMPLETELY. Ginger was surprised that I changed it, surprised that the client liked it and surprised that it matched as well as it did! Now, I'm thinking to myself..."WHEN is this woman EVER going to trust me??? When I no longer work for her and open my own shop???" Welcome to my world...

Soooooo......

So, work was fun...I filled in quite nicely, had a good time...and got snubbed by my co-workers! What's "interesting" is that when Evelyn isn't around, Ginger and I get along very well. And it's not that we don't to start off with, but when Evelyn is around, she doesn't talk to me a whole lot. It's childish and stupid. I'm hoping to fill in even more today...when I'm nice & busy, I don't have time to notice the other junk. Patience... On another note, I have a 21 year old niece who is also "interesting". She manages to scrape money together to have pets she really can't afford, to have tattoos she reallly can't afford, and can manage to make it down to her hometown (30 minutes from where we live) to visit people, but, magically, cannot make it over here to see myself, her other grandmother (my mother) or her siblings with her father. I can understand not wanting to see her father...he's a dick. Period. Her grandmother and I, that's different. We were always good to her. There were times when she wouldn't have gotten ANYTHING for Christmas if we hadn't stepped in and made it happen. We used to go and get her from school, helped her with any drama she had going on, etc.....I'm not specifically expecting her to be grateful for the rest of her life, but, gosh...affection and consideration would be nice. We're family, too, and she seems to forget that component, unless she needs something, then her hand is always out. She's so not the person I thought she would turn out to be. This is definitely something I need to let go of, but, dammit, it hurts!

Will justice truly be served??

So, another week at the salon. The recession has finally "hit" out here and things have been quiet. Mind you, traditionally (for this area) September through mid November is quiet...there's no major holiday, or event in that time span, the kids area back in school...down time. My salon owner, "Ginger" has been pushing the panic button, asking "Chrissy" and I to cut back on our hours (since we're hourly paid...and new, that's who gets hit first. Sucks, I know). "Ginger's" right hand person, "Evelyn" has also not had a lot to do lately. Lately...pfft...she's had great gaping craters in her schedule since March, "Ginger" is just noticing it now. Personally, I think "Evelyn" has been complaining, ALOT about it lately. She's also well known to not manage her money very well. This is someone who previously pulled down $600 weekly paychecks, and now that's been cut in HALF. I'll give her credit, that's a big ouch. However, ADJUST YOUR BUDGET...Find out what happpened to your clients...DO SOMETHING. Anyway....one of the things Evelyn is known to do (I was pre-warned by "Patty" before she moved on) is to steal retail commission from people. She did it to Patty, she's done it to Chrissy, she has blatantly stolen clients from Maude (which is sooo not cool), and now she tried to steal retail commission from me, someone I thought she wouldn't mess with, mostly because she knew where I used to work and that I don't take people's crap. While I was looking up something in one of my client's retail history, I noticed Evelyn's name on a product my client bought the day my client was in WITH ME. I brought it to Ginger's attention, and wanted questions answered. Ginger tried explaining to me that there are a lot of "grey areas" when it comes to who gets the retail commission. I was not satisfied with that answer, and said so. Ginger was surprised, and vowed to figure something out. I go in today, expecting God knows what, based on the fact that Evelyn is Ginger's favorite, bar none. The resolution I got is this: Since I have inherited clients from a previous employee, and that product was originally recommended by that stylist in the first place, AND that Evelyn actually did steal retail commission from me, so, A) I will be getting paid the commission off those sales, and in the future, that product will be MINE to claim, not Evelyn's. A victory for me!! I will be interested to see how Evelyn treats me going forward. She's really good at holding a grudge and being an ass. Stay tuned!!

First Blog....

I tend to be a sporatic blogger, and I tend to be a bit of a complainer....fair warning!! However, I figure if my Auntie M is doing this, I MUST be behind the times!!! Currently, I'm searching for a mission statement to post at my station at work. I had read about it, somewhere, and felt it was a good idea to have one. Any ideas??? I've always wanted to be a hairdresser...it goes back to when I was five and getting my hair cut for the first time (in my memory that doesn't include my mother, hairdressing tape, and kitchen shears!). Two and a half years ago, the opportunity finally presented itself...I had a mini mid-life crisis and was between jobs. I went to check out the school, but was too chicken to enroll right then and there, as I should have (hindsight, you know...). Went back in July and missed the July class by just a few days (drat!), so, I signed up for September 2007, much to my mother's chagrin (for those of you who know my relationship with my mother, no explaination is needed!), and with my daughter's support, I went to school. Truly, it was the biggest struggle I've ever encountered. I had just celebrated my 20th high school reunion, and stepping in to cosmetology school was just like going back to high school...same drama, same chaos. However, I was FINALLY where I wanted to be, to learn what I wanted to learn. I've always joked that my Dad told me to do what you're good at, and I finally listened to him! It was hard to be the only 38 year old in class with 9 18 year olds...they whined more than my (then) 10 year old did! And, much like I had mentally predicted, I wasn't well liked by a lot of my classmates because A) didn't fall for their excuses, B) didn't have sympathy for their foolishness, C)studied hard D)knew the answers E) spoke up in class before they did. That made life a lot more difficult for a while. However, these were the same girls, who, when they didn't know what to do, would ask me for help, over and above asking the instructor. It got to the point where I would answer them with either "I don't know" (which didn't fly) or "Go ask...." because I was tired of their lack of listening skills! HOWEVER, I graduated, and at the top of my class, which I am VERY proud of, considering when I graduated from high school, I was in the bottom third of my class! Went to state boards (very nerve-wracking experience), passed with flying colors, then went on the great search for a job. That was a separate experience! I tried at 4 different salons before I found one that would give me a decent "audition", and that's where I'm currently working! I absolutely LOVE what I do, even when the atmosphere is frustrating. I'm slowly and steadily building my client base, keeping track of everything I sell, both in services and retail products, and am doing okay. I'm not making commission yet, but that will come in time. Not only am I blogging to get off my chest whatever I need to say, but to also get me "out there". I will also be putting up a facebook page, expressly for my hairdressing self, not my personal self (which I alread have!) Thanks for reading! As soon as I figure out how to post pictures (again, if Auntie M can do it, so can I!), I will start showing my work!!!