Beauty School Weeks Six & Seven: Onto Bigger Things

So, as I mentioned last week, the past 14 days had been a whirlwind of studying and tests and non-stop nerves. All of which I am done with. Whoo hoo! The floor test came first, and although I typically prefer hands on evaluations in lieu of regular tests, I was full of butterflies. And kind of wanted to vomit. When my sister arrived to be my floor model, I didn't even notice her and completely ignored her. Then suddenly I realized she was there and I felt like a total goof! Fortunately, her presence made me much less nervous.

The first part of the floor test was the (timed) prepping of our stations. This includes sanitizing equipment, organizing and displaying tools, and preparing the drape. The client interview, which requires me to ask questions about and observe my clients hair, came next. Finally, it was time to demonstrate some skills. I sectioned Catherine's hair and spent the next three hours doing foils, all over color applications, double process applications, perm setting, and curling with a Marcel. You should see her hair--it looks ridiculous. Just kidding. We use fake dye and fake chemicals during the test.

Later in the week came the written test. This test covered the entire Core program--six weeks of material. A lot of test items were only talked about once or demonstrated once, and I was afraid I would just forget a lot of small things. I spent a lot of time making flash cards. And then I lost them. The night before the test. Yeah.

But it turned out just fine. I passed with a 94%!

With good test scores, I was able to move out of the first program, Core, and progress into the next program, Protégé. We celebrated with "Kitmas," which is the day we receive our giant kits full of styling tools. I'm obsessed!

There is a lot of difference between Protégé and Core. Core is all about the theory behind what we do in a salon--hair cutting, hair color, manicures, pedicures, you name it, we see it on a Powerpoint and take notes. You don't do a lot of hands on work which is all one really wants to do after enrolling in a cosmetology program.

That's why Protégé is so fun!  Instead of reading and writing, my classmates and I have moved out onto what we call the clinic floor where we work at an actual station. Just the other day I got to mix and apply lightener during a foil application on my doll head. The result was beautiful highlights.   The day after I applied lowlights and now my doll head has gorgeous dimension and movement from the layered cut I did. Here are the results...

What do you think? I love it. 

Tidbits from weeks six and seven:

Favorite exfoliator: I recently talked about using sugar to exfoliate, and I found an argan oil sugar scrub that I love! It's from Shea Moisture and the frankincense and myrrh extracts make it smell delish. It's different from other scrubs that I've used--you can see the oils and sort of have to mix it every time you use it, but having that excess moisture makes it so it doesn't dry out. Super lush. $8 at your local Walgreens.

Goal for next week: To soak up as much knowledge as possible on the floor during my last week of Protégé. Yep, you heard right! Protégé only lasts two weeks, and then I am going to be cutting hair on actual clients. I am also going to try and manage those butterflies that will inevitably pop up in my tummy a little bit better.

Thoughts on beauty: I loved this pin that's been circulating that highlights an excerpt from Lupita Nyong'o's Oscar speech. Truth.

photo credit: 1950sUnlimited via photopin cc