Hair swatches and color experiments

So, because you've been reading, I've been spending my spare time making hair swatches (what a mess when all is done!), and testing out hair color. We have, at the salon, a line of hair color that we didn't get the book for. All hair color lines have a pre-made swatch book, showing the professional what the colors may look like. Two things with these books: A) the hair is both artificial and white, so the color isn't accurate (however, it does show the true pigment), B) it's truly meant for the professional to look at, not the client. This is because the pigments aren't accurate (see A). Any way....the color line is CHI...not a brand I particularly like, all the way around. These particular colors are high lift and no lift. They will do what they say: High lift will lift up to 7 levels, and it will lift color treated hair (most high lifts won't do this). However, on color treated hair, the lift is completely unpredictable. It could lighten (lift) one level, or it could go all the way to blonde...there's just no way to predict what it will do. Which means, if you're using it on a client, you have to watch it like a hawk. And do a thorough consultation before hand, so you know what the client is looking for in the first place! The No lift line only doesn't lift (lighten) when you use 10 volume. It doesn't really deposit, either. Every swatch I did in the no lift, it seemed to just rinse away and leave nothing behind for color. The catch?? Here it is, and a fun one, too. Because we didn't have the book to tell us the details, we didn't realize this: if you are doing a high/low (high light & low light all on one head), you must rinse each foil, individually, instead of pulling out all the foils and rinsing the hair. Why, you might ask?? Because the browns have a chemical mix, that, when you introduce ANYTHING (water, shampoo) to it, it instantly turns COBALT BLUE. Now, if you're only using the one color, say a high lift brown to put a different color into, say, black color treated hair, then you're fine. The blue actually rinses away and no one is the wiser for it. HOWEVER, if you are using lightener, and you pull out all those foils at the same time, you had better like brown and cobalt blue colors in the client's hair. That blue will run all over the high lights, and turn them the prettiest shade of blue you've ever seen. And, it's nearly impossible to get out. How do I know this?? Evelyn, in her infinite wisdom, used the color line without reading the directions (which are conveniently located in the box of color, in tiny, hard to read letters, in 6 languages, including English). In doing my experiments on the swatches, I made sure to do each color this line offers (that we have) on each color of swatch that I have. So, there are blondes, golds, reds, browns, and a little bit of black involved. Now, I was asked to do this on the dark colors. However, I wanted to see what each one would do on each different type of hair. Because, you know, at some point, some girl with blonde hair is going to do something crazy and want to put a bright red stripe in her hair. Which, by the way, is about all the good this hair color is for. The reds in this line, both the no lift and the high lift, are unbelievably artificial in appearance. The RR series is Ronald McDonald red, the RO series is more like Bozo the clown orange, and the RV series is a very VIVID magenta. (RR: Really Red, RO: red orange, RV: red violet) The blondes lift really nicely, but they don't deposit worth a damn when you use 10 volume. However, introduce 20 volume, and they lift quite nicely. The browns are the best of the bunch, until you introduce it to color treated hair. Cleaning up after yourself: this becomes almost an exercise in futility. Unless you use either a glass bowl, or a hard plastic bowl (like Lucite), this color NEVER completely rinses out of the container you put it in. Even scrubbing with soap won't pull it all out of the bowl. Not the brush, either. Most hair color, you scoop out large amounts (because you didn't measure out what you need) into the trash (it congeals in your pipes if you dump all of it down the drain)into the trash, then rinse for a minute or two in the sink and it's clean. Not CHI. And, it makes a mess on stainless steel, too! Oh, yeah...stains the back splash and anything it touches. I told Ginger the other day "the more I work with this color line, the less I like it." And, I wasn't kidding.

It didn't get any better....

So, Friday rolled around, and KatieKatherine had her appointment at DHMC, with her cardiologist. She has to go back for a stress test after school is over. The really fun part?? The entire time we were waiting for the Dr., unbeknown st to us, my mother was having a heart attack! Her complaint was really nasty heart burn. Well, guess what, folks?? That's a classic symptom in a woman! If you rate pain on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, she rated her pain at a 12 and never said a WORD!!! "I just thought it was heart burn...." AAAHHHH!!!! By Sunday, Mother's Day, my brother and I (katiekatherine, too) had taken her to the local emergency room, where they ran tests. Her complaint was shortness of breath. So, Respiratory Therapy came in and measured her peak flow, which turned out to be in the realm of normal. Then, he took an EKG. He very calmly collected his things and left the room to give the EKG to the doctor on call. Bells and whistles are going off in my head. The doctor comes back into the room, telling us, very plainly, that my mother had had a heart attack. He then explained where this diagnosis came from: When you have a heart attack, and you don't catch it in time, the muscle, which is the heart, starts to deteriorate, and releases an enzyme into your system. This enzyme likes to party, HARD. It causes lots of damage when it's left to it's own devices. So, she was rushed, by Rescue, to DHMC. We followed, at a discreet distance, arriving there roughly 15 minutes after my mother did. By the time they let us into CVCC (cardiovascular critical care), she had oxygen (which she had here), a heparin drip (to prevent the blood from clotting) and nitroglycerin, to control everything else. Now, my mother is 69 years old. At this point, she looked 79. Her eyes were huge and she was scared. So were we. Even my big, scary, hairy brother was down right frightened. She spent the night, trying to rest. Her blood pressure was pretty low, for her. She's been struggling with high blood pressure for a few years now. Her hands and feet were cold and she looked so tiny & frail..... I got no sleep that night. I called the hospital at 6am (before shift change) to find out the latest news. She got a little sleep, but still had pain. At 7am, they took her to the Cath lab and inserted a stint into her right coronary artery. She was awake the entire time, and never felt a thing! (they insert it through the groin area) After she got back to her room, she no longer had any pain, so, one thing fixed!! When I called this morning, she slept MUCH better. She sounded MUCH better, too! During the night, she had a little "flutter'...arrhythmia, so they adjusted her medications. She was off the heparin & nitro, and on a beta blocker and the other drug they always give after a heart attack (I forget what it's called), so after the "flutter', the took her off one of the drugs. When the cardiologists came around to check on her, and listened to her heart, they discovered she's got a squeaky valve!! Lube job, anyone??? Myself, I'm completely worn out. I've gone through the entire gamut of emotions, in a very short period of time. I had songs on the radio send me into a complete melt down (which wasn't really a bad thing...trying to hold it together for Katiekatherine). I've spent more time talking to people on the phone that I haven't talked to in YEARS, and have done more running around!! We've put 600 extra miles on my mother's car in the last 5 days! And, I'll be putting another 100 on the car Thursday when I go see her, then my brother will probably take the car to go get her on Friday, so there's another 200 miles!! I'll be so glad when she's home!!

What an awful week!

OMG!! I can't wait for this week to be over!!! Monday must've been okay, because I don't remember anything major that happened. Did laundry early, worked on more hair swatches, puttered around at home. Tuesday: We had a weather "event" blow through here. It had all the earmarks of a tornado-type thing. I have "cousins" up in East Barre, VT who took pictures of the beginnings of a funnel cloud! KatieKatherine was home alone while I was at work and completely FREAKED out when all the weather started to kick up. She called me at work, begging me to come home. I felt soooo bad, but I couldn't leave. I had clients coming in, and unbeknown st to me at the time, the road home was blocked by multiple trees in the way! From what I understand, WMUR in Manchester, NH was here and showed some of the damage in our area. All the surrounding towns had damage, power outages, etc. Consequently, she was very clingy when I got home. BTW, she wound up downstairs with "Cat Lady", pulling herself together until I finally got home! (Thank you, "Cat Lady"!!) Wednesday: It started off GREAT. Got caught up on "Dancing with the Stars", "Biggest Loser", Facebook, emails. Took KatieKatherine to school. I stop in traffic on Main Street because the school bus is picking kids up at the bank. I am paying attention to the traffic in front of me. An aside: every one's windows on their cars were covered in condensation yesterday morning, due to the previous evening's storm) All of a sudden, BAM!!! There's a turquoise Pontiac Grand Am that has smacked into my passenger door!. AAAAHHH!! So, I get out of the car. The driver is freaking out, her boyfriend is already dropping f-bombs. I ask her if she has a phone. She does. Okay...call the cops. She calls it in, freaking out the whole time. She's apologizing to me, right and left. She's also rattling on about how she couldn't see out the back window, doesn't have insurance, money, she'll lose her license again, she just got this car, there's a baby in the back seat. The boyfriend is swearing up a storm, yelling at her that it's her fault, now he has to call work and tell them he'll be late. He gets on the phone and starts yelling at whomever is on the other end that his "old lady just fucking hit this fucking car and I'm going to be fucking late". Did I mention yesterday's episode was brought to you by the letter "F"?? The genius wanted us to move the cars out of the road (both were drive able). I said "Uh-uh. Nothing gets moved until the cops get here" "Well, You (meaning the girlfriend) need to get the fucking baby out of the fucking car." Again, I pipe up with "You can't move him....not until the cops get here and check things out." The entire time this is going on, the baby was in his car seat, drinking his bottle, not disturbed at all by the events unfolding around him. The police arrive. Thank goodness, he's a very large individual, because pip-squeak boyfriend is still flipping out. I'm expecting a domestic dispute to be on top of the accident. By now, we've drawn a crowd, all because of his mouth. I finally said "Hey. Enough of the f-bombs." Girlfriend is still freaking out. Now, she's hysterically crying, calling her mom to tell her what happened, swearing at her mom, swearing at her boyfriend, then calling Mom back to get her to come get the boyfriend. She's also telling me about how she's got an "uncle" who owns a local garage who can fix my car, cheap. Hang on...because I'm not doing anything until my insurance company takes a look at things. Eventually, we get this cleared up, and people can move on. I kept trying to emphasize to her that it's okay, it's just a car, no one was hurt. She's freaking out because this is not the first time she's done this, she has no insurance, it's the only thing she owns, and I must be rich if I'm not freaking out about my car being damaged. I looked at her and replied "I'm not rich , I'm no better off than you. This car is all I own, as well. However, NO ONE GOT HURT AND THAT'S WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT!" So, the insurance company calls me later in the day. I'm covered. Once they look at the car, they'll be able to assess whether or not the repair is worth more than the car is, because my car is a 99. If everything is a go, they'll cut me a check, and then go after her to repay it. I told them that I didn't want to have it cost a small fortune for her, but she I felt she needs to be responsible for the repairs. And I'm not using some schmo that she knows, I'm going with a reputable repair shop that I would feel more comfortable dealing with. My insurance company agreed with me (as they will). Let's hope for a better ending to the week!!

Got some "new" stuff !!

So, Wayfarer, Wifeness, SiSi & NiNi came up yesterday...actually, they brought Katiekatherine back from her overnight to see "Annie", and brought with them my hairdressing chair (Thanks, Maeve!) and new-to-me hairdressing station! Currently, I am unable to post any pictures, or else I would!!! The chair is "vintage": from the early 80's. It's Lucite (just the seat part), and it drops down low enough for me to see the top of a person's head (without having to stand on something or ask them to slouch!) The cushion will need to be replaced, though. Too many years stored in some body's cellar makes the foam inside very stinky! (not to mention the fact that mildew and I don't get along very well...that's what the stink is!) The station part is really just a big plywood "bench", previously used as a room separator (for the teenager in residence at Wayfarer's house), but now she's got a big girl bedroom, sooooo..... I have a new station!! I may wind up putting some kind of veneer on the sides and maybe tile the top, but, for right now, PSYCHED!!! I've also been making hair swatches, again. Managed to amass 7 sandwich bags of hair this week. I wanted to get it all done today, but, I was getting extra cranky messing around with the hair strands, so, it was obviously time to quit! Why do I have the chair and station in my house?? Wellllllllllll............. occasionally, I do hair at home. Ideally, I'd like everyone to just go to the salon and see me there (really, we do have the cheapest prices around), but, I also like to help people in my life out once in a while. I do charge them, mind you. I will NOT work for free.....just ask my mother. However, I don't charge them what the salon charges. I charge enough to cover the materials needed, plus my water usage and electricity. In the case of Wayfarer house, we have a special deal right now.....I get organic vegetables, they get haircuts!! The best part?? We all get to visit, quite regularly!!! Which is much nicer than when I used to have to re-arrange the cosmos to get to see them!! I am also one of those psychotic fruit loops who live, eat, and breathe the job they love. I have sooo much stuff around her that all ties into what I do for a living!! I may even be getting an even better printer (one that will accept my camera disk thingy) so I can put pictures all over the Internet (no,not really), and continue to print things I find like a mad woman!!! Thank GOD, BJ's has 1/2 inch binders in bulk!!! This week should also be "fun" at work...Ginger is going on vacation and none of us are booked solid! Most of Evelyn's clients for the next 10 days are actually Ginger's!!! Here's to hoping I fill in!!! Chrissy, too! I found, in the cabinet when looking for something else, some old postcards that Ginger saved (because she throws NOTHING out, even if it's got the wrong name on it), with an offer of 10% savings on your next visit. I just needed to fill in a note for the client, and the dates to use the coupon by. Hopefully, Ginger mailed them out today, along with the birthday coupons we always send out! Then, between both coupons, maybe I'll be a busy girl for the next month(That's how long this coupon is good for)!!! I believe that's all the updates, for now, at least!

I have a game plan............

So, along with this big color project, I've got an actually game plan in place to get me to being a Board Certified Hair Colorist. Step 1: Make up hair swatches and test out all the color I currently have access to, at work, at home, and at my cosmetology school. Make notes and learn from this. Step 2: Try out new coloring methods on my friends to get the hang of them. Step 3: Purchase copious amounts of education to take me to the next level. (I've already done or am in the middle of doing these things) THE NEXT LEVEL..................................................................................................... Step 1: When my taxes come back next year, purchase all the materials needed from a professional website http://www.certifiedhaircolorproducts.com/ to use to educate myself and get familiar with the testing method to be NATIONALLY CERTIFIED in hair color. Step 2: Spend all of 2011 experimenting and studying for the exam, learning how they want things done, getting ready for the next level. THE NEXT LEVEL.................................................................... Step 1: When my taxes come back in 2012 (provided the world doesn't come to an end by then...) Step 2: go to http://www.haircolorist.com/ , purchase the study kit, which also makes my appointment for the exam, and Step 3: TAKE THE DAMN EXAM!!! (which requires me to locate the exam site, a hotel to stay at, etc. Someone will be going with me, they just don't know it yet!!) My goal is to pass the stupid thing the first time. The study kit (which, technically, I'll already have) has everything in it I'll need to learn their methods so I can successfully take the exam. Oh, by the way, I'll be raising a teenager at the same time. I think I'll need copious amounts of both therapy and DRUGS to get through it all!!!

Improvements....

As I have said before, I keep track of what I do for services each month. And, I compare it to this time last year. I use a 6 column ledger to do this. For this year, I allotted 2 full pages (front & back of 1, really) for this. We are headed into the last week of April...I'm not sure I'll have enough space to track everything!! :) This time last year, I saw 28 clients, 6 of which were clients who requested me (this is important). As of yesterday, I saw 50 clients, 32 of which requested me! WOO HOO!!!! A client asked Ginger (as they often do) if the salon was busy. Her standard reply is "Well, I'm always busy, booked every 1/2 hour all day long. However, the salon isn't busy." Very soon, I'm going to have the actual numbers in front of me to speak up and say " Well, compared to last year, I've almost doubled how many clients have been in my chair, and I'm currently $100 ahead of what I did for service sales this month last year, AND, my requests are over 4 times what they were last year." Just to be a smarty pants. Oh, yeah...and took in 15 new clients, most of which asked for my card so they can ask for me when they come in/call back. Yee frickin' Haw!!! I'm also still working on my color project...I think I mentioned how I'm collecting hair to make swatches out of??? As of right now, I've got everything made up. I do have duplicate colors...apparently everyone in this area is either a level 5 (lightest brown) or a level 6 (darkest blonde). I actually have a 5 x 7 envelope FULL of level 5, on top of the envelopes I have made up that I take to work with me every day, in the hopes that I can get some of these swatches colored at work, too!! I'm a big believer in my version of "Murphy's Law". Instead of "If anything can go wrong, it will", it's "If I bring something with me to occupy my time, I will fill in with clients." It's worked so far!! :) An example: I started Friday with one client...one of my sweet little old ladies that I absolutely ADORE. Then, I filled in with 5 more haircuts, a bang trim, and a brow wax. WOO HOO!!! I didn't leave until almost 8pm!! ( I never used to be there that late!!) On the "snothead" side of things: Evelyn is still not booked every day. Ginger must've said something to her, because now she is taking down clients addresses to send them a note (I'm presuming here) to find out where they've been. She's also been doing the call back list (something she NEVER used to do), as well as a lot of the cleaning. (washing the dishes, making the coffee...wait, brown water posing as coffee..even folding some laundry) The down side of things?? Poor Chrissy is getting terribly discouraged. She's not filling in very quickly. I've talked to her about what I do to get my clients in (send them reminder note cards), but, I guess she's not feeling that one. I have started passing out HER cards, too. We had a potential client come in the other day, asking about our skin care services. So, I gave her Chrissy's card (after writing her hours on it) and a brochure, so she could look things over at her leisure. I love Chrissy to death, don't get me wrong. I think she expects clients to just materialize out of thin air. Ever since I started, I've made sure my clients don't forget about me. There are some who do not respond to my cards, for whatever reason, but most do. And, that's how I keep my book somewhat filled. I'm thinking that's why Ginger is getting Evelyn to do this, as well. And, lastly, I have this fabulous client, who comes in every week to get her hair done. "Miss Georgia" is a wonderful lady who only has her hair dealt with in the salon. She's from Connecticut, and always points out (nicely, mind you) when I do something very different from what her other hairdresser does. Well, this very nice lady has fine hair that is not terribly abundant. So, she gets it colored every 5 weeks, it gets washed and styled (including TEASING) every week, and wants her hair permed every 3 months. So, I permed her hair yesterday. What a mistake that was. Her hair was fragile before I permed it, now it's even worse. This is SO not what I got into hairdressing to do. I get to have the talk with her this week about choosing her chemicals because her hair just cannot support all she's had done to it. She also takes medications for various things, and this all plays into the god-awful condition of her hair, even before I permed it. Right now, for the next few MONTHS, I'll be setting her hair on rollers and putting her under the dryer instead of blowing her dry and using the curling iron...her hair is THAT bad...chemical haircut waiting to happen. When I talked to Ginger about it, she, again, made the comment "well, you should've done this..." after remarking about seeing her hair. I wanted so badly to say to her, AGAIN, "so, why didn't you step in and say something???" Like she's done COUNTLESS times before??? So, I'm suspecting that Ginger is letting me make these mistakes, intentionally not stepping in until after the fact. Need to remember that. So. That was my week. How was yours???

A funny thing happened in the salon last week...

Ginger has been talking, for quite some time now, about doing some interior changes in the salon. I've talked about this before. We have 5 stylists and only 4 chairs. I think, back when she built this salon to be bigger than the last, she didn't take into account she'd grow. Between Chrissy and I, we are bringing in more business than the woman that I ultimately replaced. And with Evelyn not pulling her weight... So. This past Monday, Ginger went to a class on salon/spa design. They take your salon's measurements, enter them into a computer, and reconfigure your space to make it work. It should be interesting to see what they come up with!! Saturday, the three of us (Ginger, Evelyn, & I) goofed off and measured the salon..a bit incorrectly, because Ginger averaged out her measurements (I don't think she can read a ruler, really). After Evelyn finally gave up and left, Ginger and I got to talk about a lot of stuff. I suggested maybe ripping down the manicure room wall, since that room is mostly used for a storage locker, and open up that space for the dryer chairs, opening up that space for at least one more station, if not two. Room for Chrissy to have her own station, and for the ability to hire someone else. Ginger liked that idea, a LOT. I also suggested moving the wall back at the tanning room, creating more space at the reception area for retail shelves, and asking for a cabinet (one with solid doors that looks more like a piece of furniture than a cheap cabinet) to secure all the JUNK that amasses behind the desk. She also liked that idea. HOW EXCITING!! Chrissy and I had a class on Monday, also, about pedicures & manicures. We came back with ideas rolling around in our heads, to make improvements to the pedicure and manicure business, the room the stuff is in, and even in Chrissy's facial room...painting, pictures on the walls, fans for Chrissy's room for air circulation. Ginger is being VERY receptive to all of this, which is even more exciting! It will be interesting, as all of this continues to unfold, how Evelyn takes all of this. Her nose will probably be bent out of shape for quite some time, especially if I'm apart of all the physical work to make this happen (I already offered up my services for painting, etc). I've even been drawing out on graph paper, my "vision" of the salon. Ginger told me, while discussing paint colors, she wanted a "classy" look for the salon. I wanted so badly to comment on the mismatched fixtures and the lawn chairs posing as the waiting area chairs as not being classy, but, I held my tongue!! (close your mouth. It's not attractive to be agape and agog) Stay tuned!!