Conversations overheard...

My co-workers are entertaining to listen to. They never cease to amaze me as to what's right and wrong, what's acceptable and what's not. Here we go: When I walked into work yesterday, I over heard Ginger griping to Evelyn about how some guy was parked in "her" space, just hanging out, reading a newspaper. HOW DARE HE?!?!?!? So, Ginger waited patiently, for about a minute, then got out of her car and kicked him out of "her" spot. Here's the funny thing....we park in a free parking lot...no meters, no marked off spaces for anybody, as there's 9 businesses that use that parking lot. And her name is not painted onto any particular space, nor is there a sign stating "This space reserved for Ginger Brown"., soooooo, she doesn't "own" a space. She is a creature of habit and parks in the same space, and has probably done so for the 26 years she's worked there. Doesn't matter. And, of course, Evelyn fed right into it....ass kisser. The second occurrence: Due to lack of business, I had Friday off. Which worked out fine for me, as I was doing all kinds of experiments. However, Evelyn actually did some cleaning around the salon...something Chrissy and I do EVERY DAY WE WORK. It's to the point where she and I don't always do the cleaning, because we're tired of always doing it. There are days, frequently, when Evelyn has lots of time on her hands, and does nothing constructive with it. Her station is always FILTHY, her tools are disgusting, there's color blobs all over the floor (we have floating floors and they're light colored), and slop marks from people spilling their beverages that don't get wiped up. She also almost never sweeps up her hair, so there's always that debris laying around. But, apparently, she cleaned her station, the retail fixture next to her, the tile floor in the shampoo area, (including prying up all the spilled wax & dropped waxing strips that stick to the floor) and the floor space behind the dryer chairs. I was actually led around and shown these things. Seriously. Like I was supposed to sing praises of the fact she actually cleaned something. I just said a lot of "yup, uh-hmms" throughout the entire 5 minutes (that I'll never get back, mind you) of Gingers diatribe. Whatever. By the end of the day, Ginger was actually doing the call back list, Chrissy was taking care of her last client, I was taking care of my last client, and Evelyn skipped out early, instead of hanging around like she usually does. Must be she had "date night" with her wonderboy husband. (he's just as lazy as she is) Something else that happens in the salon that I can't stand (and I've probably mentioned it before) is the whispering that goes on when everyone is still around. You know damn well they're talking about one of us that is still working. And neither of them has the class to take the conversation OUTSIDE so no one can notice what they're whispering about. One of these days I'm going to speak up and say "HEY! Quit talking about me!" just to see their reaction!! Or, better yet, "If you're going to talk about me, at least go out into the hallway where I can't hear you". Talk about childish and unprofessional.... And, finally, my fabulous color from yesterday. Katie's bestie, Vanessa, was in yesterday to get her highlights re-done. I did a partial...from just above the occipital (the top of the curved part of the back of the head) and down the front of her head. Vanessa has a ton of hair, which is, thankfully, fine in texture, and STRONG. Her highlights came out pale blonde and BEAUTIFUL!! WOO HOO!!! And, of course, Ginger had to grill me on how many I did. Must be we're hurting for money. If she questions me again, I'll just explain that she's Katie's bestie and I owe that kid a lot for always being there for Katie (and me, too!). See, I don't believe in overcharging people for the services I provide. The biggest thing in this industry is the tremendous mark up of the services versus what the materials cost, which includes water usage, electricity, time, my education, the chemicals, tools used. I'm all about making money, don't get me wrong. However, I don't think it's necessary to soak the client, all because I think I'm worth it. Right now, everything I do is still in the realm of learning experience, I've only been there two years, so my prices should reflect that, in my opinion, as should Chrissy's. However, I don't think that Evelyn, even with 13 years of experience, should be charging the prices she does, because, well, she doesn't do superior work. She's sloppy, she ruins hair, she never tries anything different, and she never does what the client wants...ever...I haven't heard her arguing with a client lately, but I'm sure she's still doing it. I just can't soak my clients. If we had a posting of what our starting prices were, that would be good. I'll be doing some digging on some down time this week, writing down what the starting prices are, so I will have them available to quote people. Then I won't be hanging myself out to dry!!

Experiments & Explainations

So, I've had my study materials for just about a week now, maybe two. The latest batch of supplies came this week, and I've been playing!! First on the list was to make the required swatches, which I did. Then, next was to do the porosity examples. The last part of that one is developing right now. I've got swatches prepared for permanent color examples (the lower half of the swatch is bleached to gold, the upper half is natural), which I will be taking into work and taking care of them there. Now, I'm also creating porosity examples with lighter hair. The first batch was done on level 3 (dark brown) hair, the newest batch is on "Soft Brown" hair...level 7, blonde hair. What are porosity examples? Well, it's like this. Porosity refers to the condition of the hair, whether it's from the sun, heated appliances, chemical services. A child's hair, which hasn't been exposed to as much life as an adults, has excellent porosity in reference to the overall health of the hair. Hair has a cuticle, just like your fingernails do. When it's "virgin" hair (no chemical services, no sun damage, no heated appliance damage) the cuticle is compact and tight. It helps their hair to dry relatively quickly, because the water wasn't absorbed into the hair shaft, but remained on the surface. It's also what makes it hard for a child's hair to take to a curl (when you set their hair on rollers, in a curling iron) or to accept a chemical service, like a perm. A perm, on a child, won't "take" because the waving lotion spends all it's developing time trying to break through that tight cuticle. By the time the perm timer is done, the chemical has only just broken through. And, even with the help of the neutralizer, and not washing the hair for the required 48 hours, the perm "falls out", because the chemical couldn't do it's job properly. In my world, that's BAD porosity, because it doesn't work with the chemicals, it works against the chemicals. GOOD porosity, in my world, is slightly roughed up hair, either by sun, heated appliances, or a few chemical services, but not an overload of any of these circumstances. When the porosity gets bad again is when the hair is TRASHED. You've seen these people...usually walking around in a discount department store, or on your main street....orange root area (regrowth), white white ends (this is if they're trying to be blonde), fuzzy like cotton candy, edges looking frayed like a pair of cut off shorts. OR, if they are never happy with the color of their hair, it's lighter on top, and BLACK on the ends. Porosity has to do with ALL of that. Here's how it works with the chemicals, specifically, permanent color: When you apply color for the first time, and your hair is maybe a level 2 for porosity (roughed up slightly, but not trashed), the ammonia in the permanent color swells the cuticle to allow the developer inside to break up your natural pigment to allow the strands to accept the artificial pigment properly. You get to do this maybe once or twice before the hair starts to protest. The ideal way to handle this is: once the initial color is on the hair, and the client comes in to get their regrowth dealt with, permanent color is only used on the regrowth, not down through the entire strand of hair. What you do with the now "old" color is create a demi permanent color to match the original formula and apply that to the ends to "refresh" the color. However, most of the time, this does not happen this way. Whether the color is done in the salon or in the kitchen, the ammonia based color is applied all the way through the hair to "freshen up" the color, which it does, temporarily. What's happening to the hair is this: The ammonia will still swell the cuticle and the developer will still go in and break up the pigment located inside to allow the strand to accept the artificial pigment. However, the developer doesn't work as well on artificial pigment, so it winds up depositing the color more that it lifts or lightens the existing pigment. So, the cuticle is pushed open (envision a partially open rose bud filling with water from the rains) some more, which gives the color a little more room to deposit, which helps keep that cuticle open. So, now, when your hair is wet, it gets kind of clumpy and a bit more difficult to run a comb or brush through, so you heap on the conditioner, thinking that will help. And, when you come into the salon, your complaint is that you hair is dry. Your hair isn't actually dry...it's starting to fray like a pair of cut off shorts. Invariably, the stylist, not understanding the job that the components of artificial color performs, questions you about your water (well water or town water), about your shampoo & conditioner (professional or over the counter), readily placing blame on those things, instead of squarely on themselves. So, the damage continues. Your stylist sells you a ton of product, convincing you it will help your hair. Eventually, you complain that your ends seem really dark, and your top seems really light. And your stylist really can't explain this phenomenon. Now, one of two things will happen: A) a lightener solution(lightening powder, shampoo & developer, equal amounts) will be applied to your hair, lifting out/lightening the hair, but still compromising the integrity of the hair, because lightening powder does the same thing as hair color because it also contains ammonia. Then, your stylist will again apply the permanent color to your entire hair strand, to match the color again, adding yet more ammonia to the hair to swell the cuticle some more. OR, your stylist will highlight your hair, using lightening powder and probably 40 volume developer (like using high performance gasoline in a beat up car) to lighten up those pesky ends, still swelling the hair shaft. Let's go back to that rose for a minute. Adding all that permanent color to the hair shaft is like the rose being subjected to a torrential down pour. The rose keeps opening and opening under the pressure of the rain and the weight of the water, until it eventually is open all the way and the petals start falling off. This is what happens to your hair. Except instead of your hair falling out, it's actually breaking off...what we call a "chemical haircut". Now, let's go back to the nice lady with the hair color. We're going to fix this hot mess. She doesn't like the dark ends, but wants to keep the original color we started with. You, as the stylist/colorist, have no choice but to lighten up those ends using the lightener solution, because permanent hair color uses 20 volume developer, the equivalent of unleaded gas. It doesn't have enough "oomph" to get the job done. You let the nice lady know what you're doing to her hair, that it's necessary. You apply this solution to her hair,making sure to not apply to the regrowth, watching it closely, waiting for it to lighten. NEVER put this corrective color client (because that's now what she is) under the dryer for any of these procedures. The heat from the dryer also opens up the cuticle, which will only make things worse. Once the hair has reached an acceptable level of warm orangey color, rinse the stuff out, shampoo, condition, trim, and dry the hair. Since she's decided to keep the color she had, you apply the permanent color formula to her regrowth ONLY, paying attention to where the other color is, careful to not overlap them. When you are done applying that color, mix up the formula you created in demi permanent, and apply to the lightened ends of the hair. What will you have when you're all done?? Seamless color, the ends of the hair will feel MUCH better. Why, after all those chemicals?? Because the demi color is acidic and the permanent color/lightener is alkaline. Alkaline opens the cuticle, acid closes it down. For take home product, she needs shampoo and conditioner meant to smooth the hair. It's not a cure, by any means, just a band aid, depending on how much damage is done. You'll also need to explain to the client how much it will cost to just do her regrowth, how much it will cost to have to refresh the ends (properly) and that, depending on the shade used, you may not have to refresh every time. What do you have when all this is done?? A happy client who will keep coming back because you saved their hair, or because you never damaged it in the first place. This is why understanding how permanent color works and how porosity plays into all of this is so important to my job.

Work, work, work

So, Evelyn is forever snagging the corrective colors that come through the door. I'm not sure if today's exciting episode was scheduled in advance, or walked in, but she snagged it. (I was pedicure girl today....such is life, taking care of feet) This nice lady had lots of built up color...her ends were downright BLACK (her hair wasn't terribly long, maybe to the middle of the neck, and layered), her mid-shaft, brown-ish, and her regrowth, WHITE. So, obviously, we've got white hair that we're trying to cover up. And one of two scenarios has happened. A) We've been coloring our hair at home and following the directions (always so NOT the person's fault), or B) a hairdresser, possibly one of my co-workers, is doing this to this nice lady. At any rate, a hot mess on her head. So, Evie worked her magic and mixed up a batch of "Color Balancer" (shampoo, lightener powder & developer) to bring her up to a nice coppery color with screaming white (with hint o' gold) regrowth. And then proceeded to re-color her hair, using 20 volume & ammonia based hair color all over. Just a refresher: The 20 volume, combined with the ammonia based hair color creates up to 2 levels of lift on already previously lightened (to brownish orange) hair. She's using Paul Mitchell color, which states that to make their permanent color line demi permanent, just use 5 volume instead of the 20, creating more deposit than lift. In theory, that's a fabulous idea. The reality is this: Any time you use ammonia based hair color, no matter what strength the developer is, you are creating "lift"--lightening of the hair underneath the hair color. In the case of this coppery color to start, now you're lifting/lightening it to orange. Underneath the cool based color that is ammonia based. And, another refresher: What is permanent about permanent hair color?? The lightening action, not the depositing action. So , what will happen in any where from 2-6 weeks (depending on how often she washes her hair, what she uses, and how hot her water is) from now?? The CB(cool blonde/cool brown, depending on the level) will fade away and what will be left behind?? Another hot mess. The first client we did this experiment on will be coming in, fairly soon (saw her name in the books) for a retouch....should be interesting to hear what has happened with her hair since she was in last. The color ought to be reeeeaaaallly interesting...

Totally forgot yesterday's color....

Whilst busy reporting on my education and my co-workers, I completely forgot yesterday's color client!! She's one that bounces from one to the other in our salon, which is fine...all of us know her and all of us do something different. She naturally has quite dark hair...easily a level 2. She used to home color it, and thank god she has STRONG hair!! She came in quite a while back, with Chrissy, for foil highlights. Since then, she's seen me twice for cap highlights (which I hate doing). She was going out for her birthday last night and wanted to splurge a little on herself. So, I pulled her through the cap, mixed up her formula, and applied it. What I do when I apply the color to capped hair is I treat it just like a regular color...deal with the regrowth first, since that's brand new hair, hit the dark spots through out the strands next, then through the rest of it. When working with hair pulled through the cap, it's impossible to not pull the product through to the ends. Like I said...thank god she has strong hair! I put a plastic cap over this mess (made her look like the cafeteria lady) and let her process for 20 minutes, with no additional heat. Her hair is strong, but it also pulls up so nicely!! And she still has enough of the dark(natural plus a whole lot of artificial pigment) to create a nice contrast. Ginger commented twice on how good her hair looked after I got done...sounded surprised, too...I hate it when she does that. Seriously. I don't think she'll appreciate my color abilities until after I leave and open my own shop...swear to god!!

Education

Continuing education in this business is SO important. If you don't educate yourself, you stay woefully behind the times (which is evident when you watch me versus my co-workers). That being said, I have my latest education. I received my package last week, FINALLY. A textbook (always amazes me how expensive those things are), practice mannequin head (to go with the 3 other ones I have), and DVD series. Hairdressing dvd's always crack me up....sometimes they're so poorly done it's funny to watch. Of course, they're also mind numbingly boring, too....mindless repetition is boring, mindless repetition is boring, mindless repetition is boring. However, it's also how the technique/information gets drilled into your head. I've also started prep work for applying what I'm learning to real life, and for the exam I'll be taking (hopefully) in August 2012. What a pain in the rear to re-rip foils so that they're 4 inches wide, because that's the method this system uses. It's a good thing I can get foils on the cheap at the local dollar store!! I did, however, learn a different method for making hair swatches. And I'll be practicing that one, too....it will be much easier to handle the bags of hair I've gleaned from the salon, too... And, thank goodness, I still have my other "hair connection" in the event I need something different for hair. God love him, he always comes through for me!! On a different, yet same, note: Evelyn had rack 'em stack 'em going yesterday....(must be her "bank" is a tad short again), so I wound up rinsing one of her clients out. This nice lady has hair just like mine...baby fine. I truly wish she was my client, because I'd straighten out the hot mess Evelyn has made of her hair by "refreshing" the ends with the permanent hair color. Of course, this poor lady's hair is TRASHED already....I'm betting she can't get a comb through it without using a ton and a half of product. While this sells product (conditioners, mousses, silicone sprays), you shouldn't need a ton of that stuff in order to get a comb through your hair. The crappy part about rinsing her client out is that Evie handed me the bucket of color and said "would you run this through her hair to freshen her ends??"...and being that she is Evelyn's client, I have no choice but to do this. I won't argue with my co-workers about what they're doing to their cilent's hair. When they see my clients continue to come back, and not have any complaints about the condition of their hair, that will, hopefully, be enough to convince them they should try something new. I doubt it, but, hey...one can dream...

Another glorious color

So, I had another corrective experience yesterday. Not a major one like the last, didn't need to "color balance" her hair, thank goodness!! *Betty* has level 5-6 hair, with 40% grey. She had been home coloring, so her ends were a bit "compromised". Not too bad, but not the greatest, either. We decided to cut quite a bit of hair off, which helped things along. During the initial consultation, she wanted to go lighter. So, that meant a lighter color on her regrowth (at least 2 inches), and highlight through her ends...something I wasn't looking forward to because they are compromised. During the haircut and conversation that accompanied, we decided to turn her hair auburn instead. YAY!!! So much easier to do!!! So, once the cut was done, and her hair dried, I drag out the swatches, so we can agree on a color. We started looking at all the reds...it got overwhelming for Betty, and she finally admitted she's color blind...oranges and reds are hard colors for her to distinguish. Oh, boy.... However, we worked through it and figured out a formula for her regrowth. Paul Mitchell 6CM + 6N + 5R (the R being a small among, about 2 inches worth, just for a little punch). Her ends, I did with Color Sync (it's an opaque color, so I knew it would camouflage the old stuff better) 8RC + 8N. Color Sync doesn't have any ammonia in it, so there is no lightening action going on, only deposit. because her ends are compromised, the red will get in a bit deeper, which works. The end result??? Gorgeous, auburn hair with slightly brighter highlights (because of the old color coming through a bit) and, Betty LOVED it!!!! WOO HOO!!!

Watching and Learning

Watching: So, Evelyn had a corrective color client today. She had overdosed on dark red hair color and wanted it fixed. I pitched in to help apply the color balancer (lightener, developer & shampoo), since it has to be applied quickly and evenly. What's interesting to watch is how fast and messy Evelyn works. I'm not neat and tidy, not by a long shot. I was dribbling the stuff everywhere, too. However, I wasn't FORCING the product into her hair to make it work faster, as Evelyn was. How was she forcing it?? Well, first you section the hair off and start taking subsections, painting the solution on as you work your way up the head from the nape to the forehead. Once she was done with that (making sure to avoid the regrowth area), she started taking the strands in between her fingers and mushing it around, rubbing it in. Now, it did force the product to work faster. However, this girl has medium to fine textured hair, and since it's been color treated for a while, it's compromised enough that you shouldn't have to do that. But, she did it anyway. Once that was all developed, rinsed off, and dried, then she mixed the formula: 3/4 6N(natural) + 1/4 5CB(Cool brown), with the idea that it will neutralize all the warmth that is currently in her hair. Then, she grabbed the bottle of 20 volume. So, I asked my standard question: If you've already got plenty of lift from the underlying color, why do you want to encourage more lift?? This color line uses 5 volume to make it a demi color...why not do that??" So, she compromised and added the 5 volume and 20 volume together, making 12.5 volume. It still lifted, but not a whole lot. What can I tell about this in reference to Evelyn's knowledge of hair color?? She doesn't get what's permanent about permanent hair color. The clients hair came out a very pretty color. Was it neutral?? No, not really. At least not underneath those crappy fluorescent lights. It still looked pretty warm to me. I guess it's all in training your eye what to look for. Her ends look far more neutral than her mid shaft and regrowth did. We'll see what happens if she comes back. Learning: My continuing education came today!! WOO HOO!!! I got my text book, 6 dvd's and practice mannequin!! The dvd's (the one I watched, anyway) are mind numbingly tedious, even with some parts sped up. But, it does show the technique I need to learn to take the exam, so I'll put up with it. The textbook is tedious, because, well, it's a text book. But, once I get moving along in the book, it will get better...right now, I'm mostly reviewing things I already knew. I'll be setting up a binder to write down the important parts for me to remember. Stay tuned!!