Time Flies, No Lye.

This week went by like a flash. Sleep has been minimal. Its always the first to go when I want to actually have a life outside of school and work. I did end up coming in late on Friday but only half an hour. We had the rare pleasure of having Ms V in the classroom Wed and Thurs to learn the chemistry and application of relaxers. Relaxers have many levels. First of all, I dont think i was aware that there was such a thing until I was about 22. I just never thought about it, I never got a perm so I never had a real firm grip on chemical hair processes anyway and I didnt have any really close black friends in high school. So its not like a haircut where it just feels like an old pair of gloves. That said, its not as daunting as I thought, at least the process isnt, socially and conceptually, its a big hurdle, but we'll get to that later. Basically relaxer is lye. There are lye and no lye varieties but the most effective one, the sodium hydroxide ones, are of the lye variety. For a retouch, you part through the hair (and this has to be done very quickly to avoid chemical burns) and put the relaxer on all the new curly growht without touching the scalp. When its all on, making specially sure to have gotten the most resistant hair which tends to be around the hairline, wouldnt you know it, you go through all your partings again the opposite way and smooth out the curl with moderate tension. At this point its hard not to get it on the scalp so you really have to be fast and check in with your client to make sure theyre not experiencing tingling or burning. We did about five mockup relaxer applications with cholesterol and gel (as the base protectant that you put all over the scalp) on our wigheads, and we have our first relaxer models on Tuesday. Except I already did one. On the clinic yesterday, Ms V called me away from my bookwork and had me do a for real relaxer with Amber, you can get it on faster with two people on a head. It was easier than with the cholesterol because it stays where you put it, but I was nervous about going over the line of demarcation where the hair had been relaxed before. And, as is to be expected, I learned something: Your client wont always tell you when its burning. They know that in order to get the hair straight, you have to leave it on long enough, and they want it straight from the root, so it really has to touch the scalp. Therefore, they are willing to suffer the chemical burning (it does feel somewhat mild but once it starts it goes pretty fast), to esure that every trace of that nasty, evil curl is gone. This brings me to the real hurtle of chemical relaxers. We are taught that it makes the hair more controllable, easier to manage, more flexible for different styles. I suppose so, but I cant get comfortable with it. Black hair isnt that hard to control, if you treat it right, and there is so much you can do with it. Way more than my boring but overly manageble flat and straight hair. I am getting more understanding about how it makes life easier (going out in the rain etc) but I dont care what you tell me, there is just something eurocentric about it. Manageble, controllable, easy...it just doesnt sit right with me. And added on that you are spreading lye and all manner of toxic chemicals on your head, YOUR HEAD!! Ms V went over the history of straightening and the development of pressing combs, the use of potash and straght lye for primitive relaxers, the slaves didnt have time to do their complicated styles from home so they developed new ways (that just happened to look like white people's hair) to take care of their hair. As hard as I try, I just cant endorse it. To that end, Ill be doing a locks and twists internship with Ms V's daughter at her salon over the summer break in september. I also want to collect a lot of advice about the most culturally sensitive manner of encouraging people to wear their hair naturally. Its a touchy, touchy subject especially coming from Dr. Sealhead-Cornsilk over here.
Ms V is the most captivating teacher, no one utters a word while she is talking or demonstrating. We all sat there and watched her flat iron a whole head and were half an hour late for lunch,and didnt even notice. I remember everything she says and the number of repetative and already answered questions that my classmates ask drops sharply. She is so efficent and so fast, she can get a whole head of relaxer on and smoothed in about 12 minutes. In other news, Michelle's hair looked great. I cut the silver on top so that it pointed like frosty daggers into the brown beneath. Ms Kendra had to give me a lot of guidance because Michelle had been cutting her own hair so it was hard to tell where to start but it came out really well and I think next time I will get to get even closer to exactly what I envisioned which was a just grazing the shoulder razor cut with very subtle layering. She's gorgeous. Also. a lady that I recruited from my gym came in! That was awesome. She had hair down to her boo-tay with beautiful silver streaks all through the crown. I cur off about six inches into a solid form and "slithered" long layers into the back. I wanted it to come to a point in the back instead of the straight across, wall of hair look but Ms Dolores insisted that her hair was too thin. Her hair was very,very thick and I have no idea what Ms D was talkin about, but I couldnt argue with her, especially not in front of a client. It kind of sucked. She had brought pictures and was showing them to me, which is not an uncommon practice when youre deciding on a haircut, and Ms Dolores came up and told her "I hate pictures. " I know what she means, about photo tricks, extensions, styling etc, but jesus, she could work on her chairside manner a little. This woman told me the most amazing stories about how she and her husband ended up together. Im gonna make her write it down and add it as an adjunct post to this blog, i could hardly concentrate on her cut, it was so hilarious and captivating. She may be a little nuts.
I saw Romy at the club on thursday with his brother. He looked tired, and was really happy to see me. We danced together a little bit, after I asked him if his girl was anywhere to be seen. He explained the whole thing to me, how she stole all of his kit out of his car and wouldnt give it back. Chloe asked his brother, because she always asks weird things Id never think to ask, if Romy had told him about me and he said he spoke of me often. That made me feel a little melancholy. I wish he could see himself clearly and get out, stop blaming her for his immobility and just switch it up. I know he's a gem. I got to spend the day last Friday with Youssou N' Dour and his band. Assane Thiam in the passenger seat, and all the Fayes in back, Sizzla never had so much rhythm! I stood outside the Paramount theatre and sang the song they had just rehearsed with Mbaye Dieye Faye and their badass backup singer Ndeye Marie whose gold ring was about the size of my face. Our voices sounded pretty together, and they were happy to see me know all the words even if I cant understand what they mean. I am used to hearing that voice on the albums of course, but to see it coming out of her, no mic, seattle streets, marlboro lights, folding chairs,was a vision. I hope the two year unforgiving memory eraser spares me that one.

Virgin Going Lighter

Man, they've been working me like a dawg at the Village. I havent had time to post anything for a couple weeks! Actually, I did quite a bit of writing and saved it all to a disk which now can't be read, suddenly unformatted apparantly. So that's awesome. Onward and upward. Any advice will be welcomed (Alex,) I'm hoping that somehow there is a way to retreive the contents...Anyway, school has been somewhat uneventful. Now we are on the salon tuesdays and fridays. Its really fun and really tiring. I dont think I really knew how physically challenging it was going to be to do hair for eight hours straight. I dont even have clients booked solid but at the end of the day its about all I can do to drag myself to the gym or run off the exhaustion. I have to say, Ive done some great hair! I took a client last week that was supposed to be with a 4th quarter student. Ms Christinahad booked Nicole for a flatiron for this woman who had hair like Crystal Gayle at 1:30 and then for a color at 2:00. Dont say anything to me about it, I told you; one hand tied behind my back and a tequila hanglover. Anyway, I heard them call Nicole for her client and I could see that there was absolutely no way she was going to be able to do it so I went and offered my services. She wanted a dark burgundy color, she was African American, with about two months relaxer grow out and an old warm color growing out on the top layers. She had about 10% silver. I formulated a 4FV, thats a level 4 fashion violet and mixed it with the Veroglaze developer since she only wanted it temporary. I had to apply to the middle of the hair first since the part that had the relaxer on it would need to process longer than the hot zone (the root area near the scalp) and the pourous ends. I had just done one color so I was nervous. She was too I think. It looked awesome though. Really rich and purpley. She also wanted a blow out and flatiron. I did it with the ceramic iron since I didnt want to use the marcel over her relaxer. Im sure she has had a better flatiron before. Im not the best at it yet. But it looked alright, and the color application was really even and uniform. Unfortunately, the purple color must have leaked through the seam in the shampoo cape because it got all over the back of her shirt. That sucked. I had to tell her, I couldnt let her go out like that. She was unthrilled and didnt tip me but it was just a wife beater tank so I didnt feel to horrible. It was an unfortunate end to what was a pretty good service though. One time, cocktailing at the Alibi, I spilled an entire glass of red wine down the back of this woman's white blouse. Actually, she leaned back into my tray arm but it didnt matter, its not like I was going to argue about whose fault it was. She was loaded enough that she was pretty nice about it. I wouldnt have been that nice probably.On Friday, I gave manicures and pedicures all day. I was really dreading my first pedicure, Gul notwithstanding, but it wasnt bad at all. Actually, it was pretty cool. It was this ethnic Armenian woman, born in Azerbijian, fled ethnic religious persecution to Russia and then here. She came in for a manicure and liked me so much that she changed her schedule around to stay for a pedicure as well. She had a lot of edema about the ankles and looked like she could use some help taking care of her feet and joints. I gave her a really good massage and told her that she needs to wear better shoes, Payless isnt cutting it supportwise, and that she needs to drink a lot of water and get up periodically during the day to walk around and circulate her blood. She had been avoiding water thinking that it makes you hold water and swell more to drink more. Misinformation can be so dangerous. She was deeply concerned about my marital status. It was interesting. She said, sure it was ok to be alone now but when I get older, Ill be so lonely. She cautioned me that perhaps I was too well spoken or confident. I guess those are things about me, I said, that I didnt really feel that I wanted to change in order to snag a man. She had to agree that if someone didnt like me for something like that that they might not be someone I would be happy with in the long run. She seemed so concerned, I assured her that it was alright, I wasnt going to be a lonely spinster, its just going to be a matter of finding someone equally independant and interested in life's varied splendors who wants to get with me, and I'll be down. We had a great time together. We understood each other well, and I didnt even think about it being weird to be up in someones feet or if they were gross or stinky. She was so grateful and her feet looked a lot better. Dont ignore your feet folks, they do a lot for you. Ruby and Nathan have finally cut the tension and are sleeping together. Its really pretty annoying. She is all over him at school and I can tell it makes his skin crawl. If he isnt in class, which is happening increasingly more often, she calls him a million times. She drives him home to Skyway and picks him up in the AM even though she lives in Magnolia. I just want to shake the poor child. Its going to be bad, its just a matter of time. He wont be able to hang. Plus as you may recall, she has a man in jail who knows nothing of all this and who knows when he'll be out. Hopefully after I am long gone. Our numbers seem to be shrinking slowly, Kai is gone too, and I think Kim is on the way out. I dont think Ive told you about her. She makes me sad, so I try not to dwell. But, dwell I must. She is about 4'6", I feel long and lanky around her. She used to work at 9 west so she always wears these stilletto boots. She is korean, but was adopted into a white family when she was a baby and so knows nothing of her biological culture. I think thats a real disservice. She has a very hollow feel to her, which I could feel even before I knew she was adopted. She doesnt have a strong personality vibration at all.  She really wants people to like her, I can feel that, and she talks kind of compulsively. She doesnt do such great hair, she just doesnt have a great eye for detail, like being able to tell when a part is straight or if she already cut a section or if her color is on all the way to the roots. Key things like that.  I came back to my notes once after a break and found that she had written "Hi Vivi! (heart)Kim" in bubble letters on my paper. I stared at it for like half an hour. I hadnt seen that written since sixth grade. It was a near tear jerker. I may need therapy. Her diet is really bad, and she has Psoriasis which I am almost certain is a food allergy, probably dairy. She always eats this Campbell's product called "Soup at Hand." It really depresses me for some reason, maybe its just beacause its her. The can is microwaveable, which I dont understand, and shaped like it can easily fit in your hand, like you can just drink it out of the can. I dont know, it kills me.  Anyway, I think she might drop out, I cant tell if its more because she hasnt made any friends or because she wants to do aesthetics more than cos anyway.  I wish I could be her friend, but save Binta, Im not really anyone's friend in there and she's  at a profoundly different stage in her life than I am, I just cant even fake it. I'm just nice enough to not encourage a sticktoyoulikeglue situation.  I couldnt take it.
On Thursday we practiced bleach applications all-ass day. I went from doing a whole head virgin going lighter application (including leaving out the hot zone and then going in and doing the roots)in 32 minutes the first time, to doing the whole thing in 17 minutes the 7th time. Not too shabby. My hand was killing me. Next week: relaxers. And Im giving my moms oldest friend Michelle a haircut. She knew me en utero and now she's letting me cut her hair...theres a lot of trust there.  As an aside, she is 56 and bikes from montlake to Rainier Beach High School every day where she runs the special ed program. If i biked to RBHS from montlake (let alone biking back at the end of the day) I'm quite sure that I wouldnt be able to wrassle with physically and behaviourally challenged high school students all day. Plus she got them to name their Gym and performing Arts Center after Paul Robeson. Michelle is pretty cool.

Moving On Up and Swarms

So, Friday was my first day on "the clinic floor." That means I was not in the aforementioned stifling back classroom but in the Salon part of the school where we take real clients. At the end of the day, my feet were killing me. You know they say when you're in real pain, your mind is on another level. I dont know about that, but I was wondering what the hell all those Scandinavian people and nurses are talking about when they say that clogs are the absolute best for standing for long periods of time. I have very strong feet and by the end of the day it felt as if someone had struck the balls of my feet with a hammer. I may have to start wearing those exposed spring sneaker things. Kidding, kidding! I'd rather die.
I started the day orienting myself to my new station and buying containers for dirty and clean implements. We have to comply with WA state sanitation laws for salons. Never have I seen any of the precautions taken in a real salon but, I suppose thats why we have such a terrible louse problem here in the states. Not all of you know that I came home from Pakistan with a killer case of lice. Im not sure what was worse, the itching or the shame. I was in Spokane for the week (insult to injury)that I realized I had them, so I had to sterilize my dad's house as well as all my clothes and my furniature at home. Plus my sister (bless her, I know she wanted to hurl) spent hours going through my dense hair with a fine tooth comb and picking out NITS!!! NITS!! I was beside myself. Come to think of it, I am quite sure the shame was worse than the itching. Curse those dirty Pakistani kids. Really though, you almost cant avoid it there, all the kids have it and they were all over me. My head itches thinking about it.
I digress.
My station is by the windows which is awesome. I get better light and I can look outside and watch the rain, the gay street life and the transients...gee, that doesnt actually sound that good. Oh well, the glass must remain half full. I think Im also the only one who dosent have to share a station. They know I'm grown and took pity on me, I know it. And i really appreciate it. I dont think I could take it. Then I practiced fingerwaves for about an hour. Not easy. Ms V came over and helped me. The hair just submits to her in a way I cant explain. Her hands know the shape of the ocean waves without looking and carve them into that stiff wighair with a force as mysterious as the lunar tides.
We each have to work in dispensary about once a week. Thats where you sanitize everyone's implements and portion out product, mix color and sign out ovens and irons for whatever services a person is doing. Its mainly for loss prevention which doesnt work that well since the last flat iron was taken last week. They had over 100 as of three quarters ago. Thats just rediculous.
While youre on the floor, you have to have every second of your time accounted for. When you start and when you finish you have to be checked on by an instructor and signed in and out of the service. Its very childish and VERY hard for me to remember to do, but I know why its needed. People will really just sit around and do nothing if not forced to do otherwise.
I had strongarmed two friends, Baby T and Angie who both wanted haircuts, to come in Friday so I would have something to do. They both did. It was awesome. I also experienced my first appointment running late. Baby T got stuck in traffic. Ms Christina, the amazingly incompentant and soft voiced receptionist who runs the front desk had scheduled T at one and Angie at 2 even though I was there from 9 to 5. I could do her job better with one hand tied behind my back and a tequila hangover. Nonetheless, Angie was patient and waited 45 mins for me to finish T's hair. Baby T just needed a trim but, she has this gorgeous Native and Black hair that is really soft, curly and huge. I tried to press as much of the curl out as I could with my blow drier but it wasnt easy. It took me a long time to get through it and cut it evenly so that when the curly peices are straight and vice versae that theyll all be the same length.
Angie has the exact opposite hair. Fine, low density and blonde. Like baby hair. In fact, when Ms Dolores was going through the cut checking my work she said something like "see how its thinner through this area.." pointing out a thinner area in her crown. Angie says "am I balding?" probably hoping to be reassured and not realizing that she was barking up the wrong tree for comfort, Ms Dolores said "Yes. " With absolutely no drama exaggeration or particular feeling about it. Just yes. Too much.
I gave Angie a solid form with fringe (bangs) and Ms Dolores went through and tipped it for depth, movement and subtle layers. Tipping is a texturizing technique involving only the very tips of the shears. It takes a lot of precision and I think all three of us were glad that she was doing it for me. Angie looked adorable with bangs and even though she was so freaked out by all the wigheads that she couldnt keep her head still unless she closed her eyes, I think she had a good time and liked the cut.
Now, I have to take a moment to speak on something unrelated to my beautiful experience. Truth be told, I could probably tie it in but it would seem stilted. I'd rather just dive right in. Agreed? Great.
On thursday I drove my Mother sister and adored Aunt Joycie (of the Bev Hills Silverman clan, my mom's brother's wife) to friend's Bruce and Karen Barnbaum's house just outside of Granite falls WA. The drive was fine. I drove because my sister has terrible night vision, and neither she nor my mom can find their way out of a paper bag. In fact we discussed the massive anxiety that is caused for them when they have to find their way out of strange Doctor's office bathrooms. I think I sprang out of my Dad's head like Athena. Anyway, I knew that the Barnbaums have dogs, and I told Karen that if I didnt come that it was probably because I couldnt take the canine componant. The eating with all the dogs under the table, the hair, the barking, you name it; I can't take it. So we turn right into their driveway and as we come closer in to the house, dogs come running at the car like Mom's Camry was a headstrong sheep who bolted out of the herd. We were swarmed. Bruce and Karen have, I think, 6 dogs and Krissi had brought her dog Dusty (aptly named) who outweighs me and counts for at least 2 dogs itself. My stomach was in knots. Underneath all the dislike for dog refuse, like hair and drool, I really am afraid that theyll bite me. I still think that is reasonable. I do. And the barking is scary. So I did what any sane person would do and refused to get out of the car. I couldnt do it. My feet were frozen to the pedals. The dogs were coming up to the window and looking in at me and barking. Looking in! They were that tall. I dont like to be swarmed by anything. Sharks, mosquitos, Klansmen, screaming Japanese fans, Dogs, whatever. Bruce and Karen saw how scared I was and it still took them about 20 minutes to put a few of them away in the basement so that I would get out of the car. I think they thought I was being unreasonable. I dont think they even see the dogs as dogs anymore. I know that happens to people. Anthropomorphism is a powerful force. Their house is amazingly beautiful. An all wood a frame with tall tall windows looking out into the woods and the south side of mount pilchuck. We went for a short woodswalk where I got many mosquito bites, curse the urban miniskirt.
We had a really nice dinner, of course they had let the dogs out by then but they were calmer. It was still weird to see all these huge animals sleeping all over the floor and on the chairs while we were all sitting around eating. A dormant swarm.
A lot of other great stuff happened this week, I got headshots taken for dance. Theyre good. Jim Garner, the best photographer in seattle. I chuzpahed my way into a gig as an assistant to the woman who did our makeup for the shots, she's awesome. That was pretty exciting. Ill be working a wedding with her in september I think. I have another blog entry started that Ill be working on this week. More about dad. Stay tuned.
SWAK vtothev