Self-Diffuse

I went out last night with Lola for dinner and we were going to see a movie, but her bird had a scare, so I went on my own. Penguins of Madagascar was AWESOME and I recommend it to anyone.

Since I was going out, I wanted to look good, so I did my hair and makeup. Nothing too fancy.

A diffuse blow dry is a way to enhance natural curl. I'm planning on doing a diffuse on all three of my mannequins to show the difference between extremely curly hair, curly hair, and wavy hair.

My hair is between wavy and curly, with some damage towards the ends. So sometimes I get a lot of curl, and sometimes I get a little. Last night I just got a little bit of curl, but I really liked how it turned out.

There is a TON of product in my hair there. I have a curl shampoo from Beyond the Zone (awesome products! They're at Sally Beauty), and a mix of FOUR different finishing products, including two from BtZ, one from a line they carry at my school, KMS, and a Tresemme finishing hairspray.

I went very neutral with my makeup. My foundation was a pressed powder from Pur Minerals, blush and nude eye shadow from MAC, and eyeliner and brow set from Too Faced. I didn't bother with anything on my lips because I knew we were going to have Thai food and I love noodles, which can be a little messy.

Fishtail Braid

I wanted to end my braiding day with something I'm actually good at. It was a bit of a cop-out, because the point of this is to practice things I struggle with. But I wanted to end things on a positive. I've been feeling emotionally crappy all day.

I pretty much picked up the fishtail braid right away. I read how to do it, and then I did it.

French Braid

French braids and I have had a rough relationship since I was little. I tried to learn them when I was a tween, but I couldn't do it. My mom had no idea how to do them, so I basically gave up.

Oh man, they are tricky. I'm improving. I have the technique down. My issue right now for the French braid is neatness.

Visible Braid

I'm not great at braids. I struggle. AS YOU CAN SEE

I tried to do two visible braids. This is the same braid technique that'll be used when I work on cornrows. For school, we have to do a total of 8 of these on a head. And in order to get them signed off and approved, they have to be graded at 70%. I'd give these visible braids...maybe a 50? And I feel like that's being generous.

Blow Dry with Curled Ends

Curled ends. CURLED. ENDS. I hate doing this. It's hard to get the right control.

I like doing my curls with a thermal iron.

But this is another of the Volume blow dries. It's the same technique as the blow dry with shape, but instead of letting the ends flow, you twist the hair around the brush to make a curl. It's hard to get a very tight curl with this technique, and you usually end up with a more beachy wave. Megan's hair has some natural curl to it, so the curls held together better.

The back needs a little help...

Of the three Volume blow dries, this is one I struggle with the most. I'm never quite sure how to style it after. Do I leave it in the tighter curl? Do I brush it out a little?

I left it relatively tight this time, but next time I might brush it out more.

Blow Dry with Straight Ends

I'm a fan of this blow dry. You get some shape to the hair in the volume, but at the same time, you get a sleek and smooth look.

This is my NP mannequin. She doesn't technically have a name, so I've been calling her Nancy Pelosi.

A blow dry with straight ends is where you add volume at the root area, allowing the hair to lift and get the "bubble" shape.

I did a medium amount of volume. The amount of lift you use determines the shape of the hair.

This is the back. As you can see, it just falls into the shape, without anything fancy on the ends.

Of the three Volume blow dries, this is my favorite. I think it's versatile and can be used for a wide variety of styles. This is probably the easiest of the Volume blow dries to do on yourself.

Blow Dry with Shape

My first blow dry on this blog! This mannequin is called Vanessa. She's got the longest hair, so we use her a lot in class. As such, her hair is TERRIBLE. It's so hard to work with. I need to practice more, and try different blow dries on it, because not everyone who comes in for a style by me will have great hair.


So a blow dry with Volume and Shape is a pretty basic blow dry. The goal of it is to add movement to the hair.
The root area is fairly straight. This is where the volume is. The ends then move freely in a directed shape.

I always struggle with this blow dry. I never feel like the ends get enough movement, or the right kind of movement. They seem almost...messy and uncoordinated.

The front has some good volume at the sides, I like how to blows away from the face.

The back, see what I mean by the ends not having anything uniform? I feel like it just isn't quite right.

Worry

I wake up every morning and I'm just filled with a sense of panic. It's usually about money. The issue is that it's hard to find reliable stats on how much a hair stylist can make, because it's so dependent on location, position, and number of clients.

From what I've gathered, as soon as I'm out of school and become an apprentice, I'll be making $11 an hour. That's minimum wage here. Plus tips. That's about what I expected. Hairstylists usually put in 40 hours at work, but some have more. And if you're good at it, there is a lot of opportunity.

I think if I want exact numbers, I'd have to ask specific salons. 

It's nice that there is flexibility in this industry. I can put in the bare minimum, or I can go above and beyond to get clients. Even as an apprentice, I think I can have some great areas for advancement.

Waking up without the panic attacks would be nice. 

Sheets

So at school we get practice sheets with all the skills we learn, and we have to complete them in order to get marked. Makes sense.

Since I've just finished Mod 1, I have blow drys, braids, upstyles, and curls. So those are the skills I'll be practicing. These won't be signed off or marked, obviously, but the practice is good.

I think two a day will be good. In school when we have practical days, we're supposed to get five or more signed off a day.

I don't want to lose these skills, so I need to practice. I hope I can improve them too, so I can hammer them out when I'm back in school. Boom, boom, boom.

Especially braids. God, I need to practice braids.

What Am I Doing?

So this is my hair styling blog. I've wanted to start one for a while, but I think this is the right time. My life has been overwhelming. In fact, I'm actually out of school for two months so I can recuperate.

2014 has been a crazy year. Late 2013 we got the news my mom had bladder cancer and that it had spread to her lungs and liver. March 2014, she died. April 2014, my dad started dating. Late July, he told me he was getting married. I called my local hair school, got registered, and by September I was in school after six or so years of being out, I had a drivers license, and I had an apartment.

The start of November, I was burned out. I hadn't had the time to process this year, and I'm the sort of person that needs a lot of time. I'm not ashamed to admit I have mental health issues. I have PTSD, I have Depression, and I have Anxiety. I'm lucky to work with an excellent doctor, and to have a large support system of friends.

I'll be returning to school in January, where I'll be placed right into the second semester, studying hair colour and hair cutting. My school trains us really well, I think. We start with non-permanent changes to the hair in semester 1. This is blow drying, curls, up-styling and braids. Then we move into the more permanent changes, starting with colour (that can sometimes be corrected if we make a mistake) and cutting (which is harder to fix).

I wanted to start a blog to keep track of my progress, especially with up-styling and braiding. I also wanted to blog to just talk about things I'm going through in regards to a career.
I think some part of me is afraid of success, and being able to talk about it is important.

But it's not all serious. Hair is an artform and art is fun!