2. MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Monday, January 11, 2010 (yes I know it's Thursday, January 14th, but I just had time today to start this blog).
I knew I'd be the oldest person in the cosmetology department, so I was prepared. I was surprised by the number of people around my age in the massage department, but this never really interested me. I always picture some fat hairy guy getting a hard on from being massaged in what is supposed to be therapeutic. It kind of grosses me out.

The classes are from 5:45 PM-9:45 PM. After a day of work, it's a bit tiring, but I was excited to start. There are 6 of us in the class, all women, all from different backgrounds. It was interesting to see how women in their 20's, predominantly uneducated beyond high school, walked into the classroom with their heads down, afraid to even say hello.

The teacher for today was the director of the cosmetology department-Ms. Pauly. All the teachers use their first names, but attach either Ms. or Mr. to their name. I kept thinking of Gone With The Wind.

We were told the rules and regulations, policies of the school, etc. etc. The program for the night school is 1200 hours or 18 months. You can possibly do it in 16 months if you come one day a week during the day plus the evening. I intend to do this.

Well after the usual rules and regs, we were each handed a huge box which contained our tools.
This is a girl's dream of dying and going to heaven if you are really into hair. I am insane about my hair. I have gone through hairdressers the way I have gone through nursing jobs. I have tried probably every hair product manufactured, own a multitude of appliances, yet I was still over joyed when I opened this box. Every hair utensil known to man was in there: blow dryers, curling irons, flat irons, razors, shears, scissors, clips, shavers, a rolling carrying case, every sized brush and comb imaginable, etc, etc, plus 4 mannequin heads (we were missing our 5th-a man's head). Almost as good as dying and going to shoe heaven.

Then we were given homework. 25 pages the first night plus the correlating workbook to be completed by tomorrow's class. If class ends at 9:45 PM and I get home at 10:00 PM, then get up at 6:30 AM and leave to work at 8:15 just when do I do all this? It's called staying up late and then getting up VERY early to finish.

The homework was on Trichology, the study of hair. We had to memorize all the latin names for all sorts of scalp conditions and infestations, plus how hair is formed down to the cells and their biological names as well as how it gets it's color (more latin). All I could think of is the hair dresser that does my husband's hair-let me put it this way-a rocket scientist she's not. To put it nicely, (which is hard for me) not the brightest crayon in the box. And she finished cosmetology school? And passed the state boards? OMG! A new respect for hairdressers was born.