My class at Pivot Point has come so far in such a short amount of time. If you've kept up with my blog, you know that we've covered all of the basic hair sculptures, long hair design, thermal straightening, and have just begun working with chemicals.

Pivot Point stresses the importance of students being able to see and think as a designer through each of its lessons. Recently, we had the opportunity to bring in our first LIVE models to the salon floor and perform a full consultation, cut and style. WOAH!

I decided to bring in my older sister, Dana, to help me out. Her hair is incredibly long and she only wanted about ¾ of an inch cut from her length. She was set to arrive at 6:15, so I got to school early and was sitting in the classroom re-reading all of my material from the first few weeks of school--rehearsing my steps and how I was going to begin sectioning and sculpting her hair. I had butterflies in my stomach like no other. Yes, I was definitely excited to be cutting hair on my first live model, without the direct assistance of the fabulous Miss Marie, but I was so terrified of making a mistake.

Not only could I see the excitement on Dana's face when she walked into the salon but she kept saying how cool it was that I can cut hair now. And she kept saying how proud she was of me. How would she feel if I chopped it all off?! So, I performed a full consultation with Dana, and told Miss Marie what my plans were (take ¾ of an inch off her length all around, and micro-trim/dust the ends where she has breakage), and then shampooed with an awesome scalp massage and began the cut.

And, it was good!

OK, here's what I learned:

#1: For your first live model, absolutely choose someone in your close social circle or family. I am SO happy I chose Dana. She was wonderfully supportive and encouraging the whole time.

#2: If you feel yourself getting nervous and need time to chill yourself out, spend an extra few minutes or so at the shampoo bowl. The extra 10 minutes of a killer scalp massage will relax your client so much that the effects will be contagious to you... hopefully.

#3: Don’t accidentally stab your sister below the brow when you’re trimming her bangs. No matter how lightly, or how accidentally. It's not a good idea.

#4: If your client has really long hair and only wants ¾ of an inch off her length, your first section may not reach her longest length. I made the mistake of taking ¾ of an inch off her first section, only to bring down the next section, which was a solid two inches longer than the first (because of breakage). I was able to texturize it to blend it all in but the mistake totally freaked me out!

So, after I cross-checked her length and had Miss Marie approve, I styled her hair with a curl and she ended up looking great.

Then, over the holidays, my other sister Megan requested a hair cut in my kitchen. I was super nervous and made a few excuses but eventually, after her persistence, I decided to try it again and I was SO thrilled with the results. She REALLY needed a hair cut! Check it out! What an improvement!

As always, thank you everyone for your continued support as I make my way through beauty school!
Alison
xoxox