I want to tell you a story. Once upon a time... just kidding... but get ready, I have a feeling this is going to be a long blog post. I have a lot of thoughts rumbling around.
First off, let me start by saying that I'm a dreamer. I always have been, I've always had very lofty dreams. One dream that I've had since I can remember is to become a hairstylist.
When I got to high school. I had found a lot of different passions at that point. Most of which had something to do with musical theatre. I was very preoccupied with pursuing and engaging in all things music and theatre. When it came time to decide what to do with my life I had put hair school out of my mind. I wanted something that would force me to move away from my family for a short time so that I could grow up and not be so dependent (immediately after high school), and then something that I could support a future family with if I needed to. Hair school didn't fit into either category, so I never pursued it.
Here I am now, 6 years after I have graduated with my Bachelors, wishing that I had this skill. Wishing that I would have made it happen when I was ready to fork out a ton of money for education, and had the time to have a full time job to gain the skills needed to be confident.
To be fair, I'm not wishing all the time. I'm too much of a dreamer to be kicking myself for something I didn't do 10+ years ago. Besides, I learned a lot from the experiences that I gained. I'm so grateful (especially) for the decision I made to pursue the bridal business for a little while. I'm a much more confident seamstress because of it. But now I'm just dreaming of a way to make hair happen.
That's the end of the story; now here's the beginning of my thoughts... the reason for this blog post. (I warned you that it would be long!)
If I had the skills to cut, color, style etc hair, then I would have something to do that would give me a creative outlet. Something that I could pursue that I'm crazy passionate about. I would have that time set into my schedule to develop meaningful friendships with adults (all different kinds of adults) I could have friends come to me on the weekends and chat with me for an hour or so. I can only imagine what that would do for my emotional health!
I have skills that give me a creative outlet, but most of them require alone time, which is scarce and not something that I need, I need to find things to do with other people! They are often very long projects, and often require money at the beginning of each new project. But with hair... after I gained the skills, it would give me something to be creative about that didn't require any money out of my pocket (that I wouldn't get back anyway). It would give me some much needed social interaction, and it would only take a few hours for each new project! Win-win-win!!!
I've talked to Jonathan about this (after moving on from my most recent dream of becoming the next Hillary Weeks). This seems like something that would be good for me for so many reasons. I've dreamed about this so seriously that I even looked into hair schools here. There are two neither of which are that great (from what I've been told). One is $18,000! It has two options: a full time option that would take 10 months, or a part time (evening class) option that would take 20 months. The other hair school is about half that much money, and not as good (so I hear). They only have one option; full time, during the day for 10 months. Now if that reality isn't a dream killer, I don't know what is. Full time school really isn't an option right now, and 2 years of night classes and $18,000 is a lot!
Last Friday, Jonathan and I went on a date. The conversation moved to hair school. We started brainstorming how to make the things I want a reality, realistically. What I really want is to gain the skills to cut (and color and style etc) people's hair in my home.
Jonathan started wondering if there were any other way that I could gain those skills. We talked about learning from YouTube videos (which I actually have already learned a lot), and getting some sort of apprenticeship with someone who is a hairstylist out of their own home. He mentioned that I may not need to know all the stuff that I may learn in hair school considering my goals. As I thought about that, I thought it might work, but there's a lot to consider. The main drawback is credibility. How could I convince someone to trust me with their hair if I don't have the credentials. I'm not too concerned about that here, I already have some friends who are willing to let me try to cut their hair(!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!!!!) and if I do a good job, word will spread, and I might be able to get a good amount of people to trust me. But what about when I move away? How do I get this business (for lack of a better word) going again without the credibility of the license. Then there's also the legal side of it, I'm not sure if I could charge people if I don't have a license. Although I wouldn't charge much, I would like to make sure I'm not in the hole for the supplies and stuff.
Another drawback is the question about how I would actually gain the skills. In a perfect world, I would have gone to hair school, then worked in a salon for a few years so I could have actually gained the necessary skills. Then I would have opened up a salon in my home and been amazing. But unfortunately, that's not in my deck of cards anymore. Could I actually gain the skills without hair school? All the skills to cut all different types of hair, head shapes, textures, and thicknesses? To color all different colors and using different techniques?
So... if anyone is still reading. What are your thoughts? Is there a way I can work around hair school? Should I just consider hair school worth the investment of time (both my time, and time away from my family) and money? (There's no way that I would get a return on that investment... I wouldn't make that money back.) I know plenty of women who felt like going back to school to get a graduate degree of some sort was worth it, and they made it work. Should I make it work? For those who are hair people: is there a lot in hair school that you learn that you don't use as an in-home stylist? I really need some direction here, so if you have thoughts, please share them :)
For your viewing pleasure... Here are some of the most recent hair cuts I've given...
Melissa! I was just thinking, what if you started an instagram account specifically to show the haircuts you've given. You could show before and after shots of the haircut. Then people could find you on instagram or you could refer them to your account to give them an idea of what you've done. It could be like a portfolio of sorts. I've seen salons and stylists do this before and it seems like it could be super successful. That would help with credibility, but for training, I'm not sure.
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