Trippin on Hair: The Big Plan

Trippin on Hair: The Big Plan

I admit it’s been very hard to keep up on my blog since I’ve been home. It’s been a huge adjustment coming down from the adrenaline high of my trip and all the little projects it’s created. For example, I received an unexpected souvenir from my trip on my way back: a writer from HOT by Hair's How magazine contacted me to do a story about me. After long days at work, I’d come home to find phone or email messages asking for more information about my trip to write the article (you can read it at www.hairshow.us; thank you for taking the time to write about my trip!).

After catching up on all of my clients’ long overdue haircuts and grown-out colors, recounting my trip for the umpteenth time, and creating a new fan page for Scot Christopher Hair Design (which is celebrating its 10 year anniversary this week. Congrats Scot, and thank you for all of the support you have given me through the past several months! Love you to pieces!), I’m finally setting aside the time to write about the salons, classes, products and people I’ve experienced over the past several months and classes to come in the near future.

Trippin on Hair header: Angelo David Salon

Trippin on Hair header: Angelo David Salon

Angelo David Salon

There were a few people and salons I really wanted to wanted see while in New York, but I was unfortunately unable to contact all of them. One must-see salon was the Angelo David Salon, which specializes in custom-designed couture hair extensions are as unique as you are. They do beautiful work to give clients longer hair or enhance what they have, and also help clients who are experiencing hair loss, thinning hair, alopecia and early pattern or hereditary baldness.

 Everything I read about this place intrigued me. They offer dozens of types of extensions, as well as many different application methods. I’ve always been so interested in hair extensions, fillers, and wigs.

I decided to just give it a chance and go by the salon with no appointment. To be honest, I was very nervous about this approach. In fact, I walked by the front door of the building about four times before I somehow mustered up the courage to walk in and introduce myself. To my surprise, I actually met Angelo David in person (who is easy on the eyes). He was kind enough to give me a tour of his salon, which is a very hip smaller salon with only a few stylists, private rooms for applying hair extensions and hair pieces, and a room where wigs and hair pieces are custom made. We talked for about 45 minutes before Angelo turned me over to his assistant, Carlos. Carlos and I spent an about an hour together talking about different hair types and way they approach consultations. The Angelo David Salon genuinely cares about putting the right type of hair on each and every client.

I concur with Angelo that one line of hair extensions isn’t right for everyone. I’m certified in three types of hair extensions and searching for more. The time I spent here was very informative and I can’t wait to find some more hair lines to work with.  If anyone has advice on the extensions they use, I’d love to hear about it (just shoot me an email!). If you have the time, check out their before and after gallery on their website.

Not Sure how I'll top this one

So after six weeks, 22 states, and 8,891 miles, I’m finally home. I know I’ve been behind on the blog due to lack of Internet service and driving, but I’ll go back and recap some of the salons I visited and people I met soon.

This turned out to be an incredible journey, and I experienced more than I have possibly imagined. Despite my early doubts that I couldn’t pull it off, I did it, and the experience was so much more rewarding than I expected.

Driving on the open road, I saw so much of what our county has to offer: beautiful green rolling hills filled with the bright green trees and some of the most vibrant flowers I’ve ever seen, endless miles of wild rivers, the magical sight of lightening bugs, incredibly constructed bridges, and fledgling wind farms emerging throughout the countryside.  They somehow gave me a peaceful calming feeling on a long day’s drive.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some downsides to driving cross country, but most were comical in retrospect. Going to the Laundromat, sleeping in my car when I was too tired to drive another mile, blisters from walking all over America’s biggest, greatest cities, and yes, even blisters on my hands from driving so much, were all part of the journey. And the bugs, yikes! Yes I saw bugs the size of my dog.

The highlight of my trip was the many wonderful people I met, who were so passionate about what they do, so willing to share their ideas and tolerate my many questions, and  so willing to share their knowledge with a total stranger eager to learn and be inspired. I truly had some really touching moments that will stay will me for a lifetime, and I’ve made many new friends that I will think of often. I’m grateful for all the encouragement I received throughout my trip.

I hope I have inspired other people to step out their comfort zones and not hesitate to live their dreams and strive to be better at what we do as hairstylists. There is always something new to learn and share with others.  I’ve promised myself this is only the beginning of my newfound love of continuing education. I’m already planning more classes in the near future, and looking into becoming an instructor so hopefully I share my knowledge and passion with others

This was not only the ultimate journey of education, but also a reminder that anything is possible if you put your mind to it. We do live in the land of opportunity; you just have to have a dream.

My long awaited visit to New York City

About two weeks before I left on my journey, the hostel where I planned to stay in New York emailed me to say due to unforeseen circumstances, they had to close their doors. I was in a bit of a panic to find some place on such short notice, but I did get lucky. It turns out the place I’m staying in NYC—The Carter—is centrally located in the heart of the Theatre District on Times Square, within walking distance of Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller Center, Macy’s, the New York City Public Library, Radio City Music Hall, and many major museums. What more could I ask for?

To pull this whole trip off by myself I’m on a tight budget, so I can’t afford the little luxuries. I was just looking for a place to take a shower and crash for a few hours, and the Carter fit the bill. The lobby looks like something you’d find in Vegas off the strip: very tacky. There was no maid service, but I didn’t expect much at the price. Anyway, it’s reasonably more comfortable than sleeping in my car and I feel extremely safe being right in Times Square surrounded by thousands of people and all the bright lights.

Shortly after I arrived I decided to hit Times Square. It’s great place to just sit, have dinner and watch people enjoy the many blocks of continuous advertisements. Bonus: you can now get free Wi-Fi, a plus when you’ve been traveling in your car for days and need to catch up with the world.

Wherever I was, I would just sit and listen to the chatter of tourists from all over the world here I met some wonderfully nice people from several different countries, including several people from Paris, and two couples who I enjoyed a coffee with down the way. I’ve heard time and time again that people from Paris and New York are extremely rude. I must say, all of the New Yorkers I met over my five day stay were very helpful and extremely friendly. Since I lived in DC many years ago, I decided people from bigger cities weren’t rude, just busy and on a mission to get to their next destination. I put my theory to the test and I stopped quite a few New Yorkers to ask for directions. Not only were they helpful, but most were quite eager to give me more information when I asked them to tell me more about their beautiful city. I even had a few people approach me when I looked like the lost tourist to offer assistance (a smile goes along way at times).

5 day class with Vivienne Mackinder

My time has been somewhat limited, what with the long haul from Florida to New York City. Needless to say, I’m now in the Big Apple.
Before I decided to take this journey, I would often get very flustered looking at fabulous hair styles in magazines, books, and the Internet. Even after hours of studying photos and online tutorials, couldn’t quite figure out how master them; I can’t always grasps the angles or the structure of what they are creating and how on earth they get them to hold.
On one of my late night attempts to master some of these creations (or even just one), I found Vivienne Mackinder. For those you who don’t know, she’s a London-born, world-renowned hairstylist, educator, and all-around incredibly amazing woman. She trained with Vidal Sassoon, Trevor Sorbie and other equally brilliant stylists for years. Vivienne produced and directed the documentary film series, “I’m not just a hairdresser,” is the Editor-in-Chief of MOD magazine and founded hairdesigntv.com (I believe any hair stylist who wants to achieve more knowledge should really consider becoming a member of this site). She has received many awards including the 2009 North American Hair Styling Awards Life Time Achievement award. All those accolades are intimidating!
The instant I enrolled, I was completely nervous (more like scared to death). I knew I had much to learn and I really needed to get out of my comfort zone. As the class approached, I got more and more nervous.
On the first day of class, when I arrived my heart was racing. As it turns out, I had nothing to worry about. There were only two other students—Jean Witte, salon owner and president of Inter Coiffure South Africa, and TJ Weaver, stylist and co-owner of Douglas J Aveda institute and Douglas J salon—so we had lost of one-on-one time with Vivienne. As it turns out I couldn’t have asked for better classmates. They both had great advice and were so helpful, and I haven’t laughed so hard in quite some time.
Viviane’s team is so amazing and so welcoming, they instantly put me at ease. Vivienne’s warm smile radiates kindness and brightens any room she enters. Even after years of doing hair, she still has so much passion for her work. You can feel the excitement in everything she does and speaks about, and she’s so willing to share her knowledge. She is truly one of the most inspiring women I’ve ever met. She definitely sparked a passion for hair I haven’t felt in a long time.
The class was intense. Though it was only five days, Vivienne had a way of squeezing in as much information as possible and keeping things fun just as they were getting tense. I’m surprised I didn’t  frustrate her, like when we were doing a precision start to finish razor cut (by the way, I did learn how to correctly use a razor).
I can’t possibly list everything I took away from this class; remember the finger wave we all hated so much in school? She made it so much easier than it had ever been. I learned more ways of back combing than I ever knew existed. I know I’ve said this many times before, but I have to say once again how important ongoing education is. I know there are so many things I need to learn. Even though I learned so much in this class, it just reemphasized how much more there is to learn about my profession.