Back To School

I go back to school tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it. I mean, I am, sort of. I want to learn, I want to finish my degree and get a good apprenticeship and a good job. I just hate my school. The policies drive me nuts and the design isn't exactly the greatest. I disagree with some of their methods, and I just struggle in general with mornings. Being at school full time, it makes me feel like there isn't enough hours in the day. It's my own weird tic.

I had a fight with my best friend today too, which makes things even harder. I've been struggling with self-harm over this weekend, and it's just getting worse. I stayed in bed all day yesterday. I only got out of bed today to get some supplies for school, but now I'm back cuddled up.

One of the pros of being back in school is that I will, hopefully, post more.

Hair Cut!

I've had a bad year, and I've had long hair for this year. So I decided to get a hair cut. I see it as a way to cut off all the bad luck of this year and start fresh. And I picked an awesome cut to do it with.

I'll have to do maintenance on it probably every other week, but it's just a small area I'll have to keep shaved. And I can do that, for sure.

There's the area I have to keep shaved. I'm at least 70% grey, lol.

This is the long side. My stylist did a light diffuse, giving my hair some nice texture, but I can do anything with it. I can curl it, I can do all sorts of different levels of diffuse, I can straighten it, I can do wet-set curls, I can let it air dry, I can do beachy waves.

Christmas Party

I sort of have a Christmas party with the people at a cross stitch group I go to in Cambridge.

 Since it's Christmas I wanted to dress up a little. Red lips, a little bit of green on my eyes, and curly pigtails. I wanted to do ox horns but my hair wasn't cooperating. Ox horns are two little top knots on the side of your head. Think Sailor Moon!

I like this though, it works for me.

I'm anxious to drive on my own. My friend has surgery yesterday and isn't feeling up to coming with me tonight, so I'll be doing the half hour drive by myself. Multi-lane roads are just freaking me out right now.

Car Accident

A Canada Post mail truck hit me today. Three days of having a new car, and I'm on my way to therapy, and I get hit.

I was in my lane (the left) so that I could turn left at the next street. The mail truck veered into my lane. He claims I went into his lane, and that he was going to be turning right (so...why was he in the centre lane?)

The police officer said he couldn't determine who was at fault, so the insurance will battle it out. However, the person at the car dealership (where my cars repairs are taking place), said that the police will still assign fault. We think it's either going to be the mail guys fault (why was he in the centre when he was turning right? I was in the left turning left), or 50/50.

My car can be fixed, at least, but it might not be until January. My dad is saying he'll get me a rental as my Christmas gift, and my aunt is willing to help with costs. But if the report comes back and I'm not at fault at all, the other insurance should pay for my rental. I don't know all the details yet, I just know something will be figured out. Plus my car might not take that long to fix, it depends on if there is damage to the suspension.

No one was hurt. The air bag didn't even deploy. I'm pretty angry though, obviously.

Re-Registered

I'm officially re-registered at school. I start January 5, and my finish date is on or around June 5. That seems quicker than I thought it would be, but I'm not complaining. Summer is a good time to find an apprenticeship, as people are busier and get their hair done more, and many salons have stylists that are going away on vacation, so others have to take up the slack.

Curl Secret by Conair

I had a sort of semi-formal event yesterday and I got dolled up. For me, a full head of curls screams dressed up.

I thought about using a regular curling iron, but I decided to use my Conair Curl Secret.

I got it last year for Christmas, and I still love it. At the time, I just had an inexpensive curling iron, and I failed so hard at using it. I could never wrap my hair right, and the curls would always be weird and squished in some areas.

The Curl Secret is awesome if you're new at curls. You don't really need to think about it. Hair goes in, curl comes out. It really is that simple.

But I wouldn't say it takes less time than a regular curling iron. You still need to section the hair, put product on, and sometimes you need to curl a second time to get the right shape.

Curling the back is very hard, and can be difficult and awkward to hold the machine, as it can be heavy, but curling the back of your own hair is difficult no matter what tool you use.

I slept in these curls, with a ton of tossing and turning, and I could have worn them today with a quick brush (but I washed them out instead. I feel like I'm having a slob day...)

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. 

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!