Adventures In Beauty School with Marian G. & "Molly" Part IV

It’s never too late…..

I’ve always known I wanted to be a hair stylist, and even attended Beauty School for a few months when I was first married, but life led me in a different direction. I was detoured with a career in business,got married and had three children. When the kids were school age, we had the opportunity of a lifetime to live abroad, in England. We lived there for five years, made life-long friends and traveled. Coming back home meant a new house closer to New Jersey where my husband worked. We wanted an area like England with beautiful landscapes, a quaint town within walking distance with character. New Hope became our home in 1993. By this time, I was 43 and had decided that it was too late to start with schooling and career in hairstyling. I did, however, decide to work in a salon, and learned more about the industry both as a receptionist and a shampoo assistant. I started at Me Salon + Spa in 1993 and haven’t looked back. I talked myself out of school because of my age, because of the aches and pains of the job, because of the cost etc. One day in early September of this year, I was a model for a class the salon was attending. I started talking to my co-workers and friends and expressing all my fears and reservations for not going to beauty school over the past 20 years, and each one gave me positive feedback, advice and the confidence to do it.

SO here I am…

I am currently attending Cosmetology school! Teenage girls and a few boys surround me as well as wonderful instructors . For the first few weeks, I ate lunch in my car. Kids steered clear of the table I was sitting at and rarely struck up a conversation. They thought I was some kind of adult spy!! I am happy to report that I have nearly two months of school under my belt, and I am slowly winning over the kids. To many of the students, I am called "Mom." To some, I am the prepared student from whom they can borrow a pen or homework assignments. To the newer students, I am the "more experienced" cosmetologist, and to the older girls (still under 20!), I rely on their expertise, which makes them feel pretty important.

I am such a better student this time around. Making high grades and being prepared are top priorities. The thought of ignoring the teacher or an assignment would never occur to me. See, there are so many positives to being an older student! In my first weeks of school, I plowed through my first year lesson book. The lesson book is a book of skills that you need to complete before you move onto the next level. Such skills include mannequin hairstyling starting with approximately 5 types of pin curls, finger waves, braiding, curler sets, curling irons, blow dryer and scalp treatments. Each style is graded but you must do it three times before you can officially graduate from that skill. This past week we have moved to nail art and manicuring. I am told that I will be cutting hair by January. I’m pretty sure this will be on a mannequin at first, so I will keep you posted.

I hope to keep you entertained with my school adventures. More importantly, I hope you follow along with my progress and come see me at the salon!! Don’t worry, I won’t be cutting or coloring at the salon until school is completed.