We're learning by repetition here. Really, I guess that's how you learn anything, you just do it over & over & over. This is no exception. I can't think of anything I've done here only once. We have these project sheets that we have to complete to get out of the freshman classroom. It lists all the things we have to do to the instructor's satisfaction to move on. So it says things like, "Full head of finger waves (x3)" & "Roller set (x5)" & "Perm wrap (x5)." So I work away at my little station, wrapping those perm rods with my mannequin's wispy hair, timing myself to see how long it's going to take me to get her whole head done. When I finish, feeling like I just ran a marathon, & take it up to the teacher so I can get checked off for it, she usually says something like, "Looks good. Take it down. Do it again." It's not that she doesn't ever compliment us, she does, it's that each thing we do is just a necessary & necessarily ephemeral step in completing this first part of things. No matter how fabulous you might make the mannequin's hair look, we aren't going to leave it that way, maybe not even for five minutes. You've got to take it down & do it again or, if you've done that enough times, take it down & do something else. Then take that down & do it again.
Spending eight hours a day in one room with the same twenty people can begin to wear on you. There are some people I really, really like; some people who I don't feel much one way or the other about; & some people I can't stand. There are days when I think, "If I hear your voice one more time this afternoon, I'm going to stab you with this rattail comb." I've got one with a metal tail, so that means something. And then there are times when I'm laughing or talking to someone or admiring the good work they've done & I feel really happy. Fortunately, there's a pretty good balance in there. And mostly I feel pretty happy by default. And of course, there's all the inbetween time, when things are just fine & time is just passing.
A lot has happened since my last post. Of course it has, it's been a month. Bitchy Bitch get sent home twice, once for being a bitchy bitch & once for being late. We've learned how to wrap perms & do highlights & give a relaxer & color hair & use a flat iron & a marcel iron (oh, marcel iron, I thought you might be the death of me. "Click it! Click it!" they would cry at me. And I'd spin the iron & try to click the hair around the barrel, trying to make that perfect curl & not burn the ends. You can get cramps in your hands from that thing). And we did manicures & pedicures & facials & updos. That picture up top (because I can't figure out how to put images anywhere else in the text) is the updo I made up & -ahem- won second place in the updo contest with. I'll let you touch my vent brush if you ask nicely.
We start cutting hair next week. And then just a couple more weeks in the freshman room. After that, we will be unleashed on an unsuspecting public on the clinic floor.
Spending eight hours a day in one room with the same twenty people can begin to wear on you. There are some people I really, really like; some people who I don't feel much one way or the other about; & some people I can't stand. There are days when I think, "If I hear your voice one more time this afternoon, I'm going to stab you with this rattail comb." I've got one with a metal tail, so that means something. And then there are times when I'm laughing or talking to someone or admiring the good work they've done & I feel really happy. Fortunately, there's a pretty good balance in there. And mostly I feel pretty happy by default. And of course, there's all the inbetween time, when things are just fine & time is just passing.
A lot has happened since my last post. Of course it has, it's been a month. Bitchy Bitch get sent home twice, once for being a bitchy bitch & once for being late. We've learned how to wrap perms & do highlights & give a relaxer & color hair & use a flat iron & a marcel iron (oh, marcel iron, I thought you might be the death of me. "Click it! Click it!" they would cry at me. And I'd spin the iron & try to click the hair around the barrel, trying to make that perfect curl & not burn the ends. You can get cramps in your hands from that thing). And we did manicures & pedicures & facials & updos. That picture up top (because I can't figure out how to put images anywhere else in the text) is the updo I made up & -ahem- won second place in the updo contest with. I'll let you touch my vent brush if you ask nicely.
We start cutting hair next week. And then just a couple more weeks in the freshman room. After that, we will be unleashed on an unsuspecting public on the clinic floor.
OK. So, who got first place and do you need anyone to practice pedicures and manicures on? EY
ReplyDeleteAh, well, first place was won by someone...how can I say this? If they were scoring us out of a hundred on these & my second place was an 80, then hers was a 110. It was beautiful & so far above & beyond what the rest of us had done that it was kind-of ridiculous. She's hadn't shown any particular aptitude before that & the teacher even said, "Wow, Karen, this really surprises me. With the work you've done so far, I wouldn't have known you were capable of this." To which Karen said, "Uh...thanks?"
ReplyDeleteFortunately for me (perhaps unfortunately for you), I don't really need to practice manicures & pedicures. I will have to do a really basic manicure to pass my state board exam, but that's about it.
I have lots of questions. What's the hair like on the wig you work on? I mean, is it human hair? If you give it a perm, doesn't the curl stay in there for a while? If not, I'm not coming to you for my next perm. If so, how can you give the same wig a perm 5 times in a row? Are all of the tests set up as competitions, with winners and losers identified and publicly celebrated or denigrated, as appropriate?
ReplyDeleteSigh. It's not a wig; it's a mannequin. The mannequins have human hair or at least it says they do. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it, but I guess they're telling the truth. As far as the perm goes, we aren't actually applying the perm solution to their hair, just rolling them (which is the more labor-intensive & possibly difficult part). So the first time I actually give a perm, it will be on a real live person who comes in & pays for it (see above: unsuspecting public). The updo thing was the only competition we've had. I'll let you know if we have more & they make me wear some kind of weave of shame or something if I do badly in the future.
ReplyDeleteWeave of Shame !!!!!
ReplyDelete1. That updo is making me reconsider my all-talk, no-action haircut plan. Like, I think I may need to really solidify the all-talk status of said plan, so you can give me this 'do. Is that clear?
ReplyDelete2. Marcel iron?? Like, Duchamp? Proust? Marceau? WHICH IS IT????
!. What? No, that is not clear. Are you saying you won't cut your hair because you want me to do this? Because I think your hair is way too long for this, but I can try. You have so much hair! But I would try. I think it would look good on you if I could do it. There are two braids coming around from the front with a center part.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, it is a Marcel Duchamp iron. It is used to achieve surrealist hairstyles. You wrap the hair around it & suddenly, it is not hair, it is frogs.
Did you design that updo yourself? It looks really pretty. Your work sounds very very hard. Especially if later in life you are expected to do it while chatting. I think it is the kind of thing I would like to do if I could zone out and be alone - but having to be friendly and client focused at the same time?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Liz! I did make it up!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny: sometimes the chatting actually kinda helps & sometimes I just have to shut everyone out & concentrate really hard. I may have to be a kind-of ninja hairdresser, standing behind my clients not saying a word.
Can I get in line to be a hair dummy? I make a great dummy! (Keep it to yourself, Tommy Gibson.)
ReplyDeleteHey, Molly, you shouldn't let me at your head just yet, but I'll be sending out a call soon for victimsuhImeanvolunteers.
ReplyDelete