Mo*Bee's Blog # 7: Haircutting Time

Mo*Bee's Blog # 7:  Haircutting Time

I must take this time to brag on some really, really, really smart people/businesses. Here's a short list:

ICC Small Business Center, Rutherford Campus

St. Luke's Hospital
Chapman Cultural Center and their partners
Spartanburg Art Museum
Ballet Spartanburg
Spartanburg County Historical Association
Spartanburg Little Theater and Youth Theater
Spartanburg Science Center
Isothermal Community College – Spindale
Isothermal Community College – Polk
YMCA's of  WNC - Reuter, Hendersonville, Woodfin, Corpening, and Asheville

Why are they smart do you say? Because they are the first people/businesses to list their classes on Mo*Bee's Class Finder! I say smart but in reality they are geniuses. Smart people can see a good thing and know it's a good thing. But geniuses, geniuses not only see a good thing... they act on it.

How big is your brain?

Being a genius is kind of like being lucky. And for those of you who have read my previous blogs we have already gone over the class on how to be lucky. For those of you who missed that one, you're just going to have to start back from the beginning.

When I decided to start Mo*Bee's I thought this is absolutely going to be my dream job. I love meeting and talking to new people. Mo*Bee's was going to have me out and about all over the place meeting and talking to new people about listing their classes on Mo*Bee's. I have a curiosity about me that makes me want to learn new things. Or at least try to. Starting Mo*Bee's was going to mean that I was going to find out about classes that are out there that I never dreamed about.

I must admit that early on I pushed it out of my mind, well for the most part anyway, that I was going to have to find a way to do some things on the computer. I have a love-hate relationship with my computer. I love to hate it.

As Mo*Bee's launch date approaches, I find myself feeling overwhelmed at times. It is those times that I just focus really hard on the classes that we are listing right now. I have to keep reminding myself that as soon as Mo*Bee's launches. I will get to go out and start meeting lots and lots of people and start taking lots and lots of classes.

One night while at my computer, I noticed that Isothermal Community College in Spindale teaches cosmetology. I read that their cosmetology students have a salon on campus and will cut, dye, curl or comb your hair, anyway you want it done and do it all at super cheap prices. Having this salon is how their students are trained. As soon as I saw this I thought, I must go do this so I can blog about it. It didn't hurt that I was in bad need of a haircut at the time also.

The next day I drove down to Isothermal Community College. I first made a point to run in and say hey to Faye and Dee from the Small Business Center then off I went to get my hair done.

When I walked into their salon I was amazed at how many people were there.  (I later found out that they have 30 students enrolled in their program at that time.) Some were working on people while the other half were working on mannequin heads that were fastened to the barber chairs.

I was greeted at the front desk by a lady with a bright, happy smile, who I later learned was the instructor. Her name is Blake. I told her why I was there and she asked me to have a seat outside in their lobby and someone would be with me shortly.

I went back to the waiting area where there were six other people waiting to have their hair done. I immediately jumped into reporter mode - eager to tell my many, many, many blog followers. And you know who you are. Yes you, you know I mean you. You know you are the only person who voluntarily reads my blog. Other people are forced to read it, in order to correct my punctuation and spelling. I really can't blame you though, it's kind of like looking at a car wreck, or watching a bad movie. For some reason you can't look away. It kind of leaves you feeling either like I must keep reading to make sure nobody got hurt or I must keep reading maybe it will have a good ending. Either way I'm glad you're here.

The first girl I spoke to in the lobby looked to be about 22 years old. I asked her if this is where she regularly comes to get her hair done. I was hoping she would say yes because she had really pretty hair. It was about shoulder length, auburn with perfectly done highlights. She said no this was the first time she had come here and was quite nervous about getting her hair done. I asked her why then would she do it if it made her so nervous. She said her cousin was in school there and had talked her into it. So, to help her get in the training hours she needs to graduate she told her she would do it. I told her I wasn't nervous at all. Vanity has never been one of my vices. I've always found that it has been a blessing to have been born… How should I say this… Not one of the pretty people. As I see it, when you just look ordinary it takes a lot of pressure off. I can get dressed in two minutes to run to the store. Not going to mention any names, but hey, I'm probably in one of those photos you see on the internet of people shopping at a well-known department store. If I were to get a bad haircut, it would still rank low on the list of things that people could point out and say were wrong with my appearance.

However, this would not be why I'm not nervous. As I've told you before I've had some dealings in different ways with this particular school. Therefore, I have no reason to believe that the cosmetology department at Isothermal Community College is in any way lacking.

The people in the salon having their hair done, as well as the ones in the waiting area were a mix of people from all walks of life. Their age ranged from what looked to me to be a girl around six or seven years old, all the way to a sweet looking little lady who I would guess was in her late 80s early 90s. I had only waited about five minutes before I was called back again. (They probably called me back quickly so I would stop bothering the people in the lobby.) I'm just saying.

Blake walked me over and introduced me to the lady that would be cutting and dying my hair. Her name was Candy. I told Candy I was wanting to write about this experience on my blog and asked her if that would be okay. I told her I wanted to ask a lot of questions. She said she didn't mind. She loved to talk. I now thought Blake had probably found the best person in the room to cut my hair. I too love to talk.



Candy and Pamela.

Candy got to work on my hair, and I got to work asking questions. Here's some of what I learned about Candy. Candy is 29, married with three children, ages six, seven, and eight. The seven and eight-year-old must be great kids. I have found with my friends that if the first or second one turns out to be a little wild child, there tends not to be a third one. I have one child. You go figure.

Anyway, I can tell she has a great family by the way she lights up every time she says something about any of them, including her truck driving husband.

Here's a personal note from me to her husband… Candy said she's glad your new job has you home more often than the old one did. I say, any time a woman says she's glad her husband is at home more than he used to be, that's a good sign that he's doing something right. So Mr. Candy's husband… Keep on doing whatever it is you're doing, and you'll have a long happy life with this really nice lady.

Also just something you might want to think about. If you've already had three really great kids, your luck is surely about to run out. Next one could be the wild child. I'm just saying.

Candy used to work at a bank, and is taking this course in order to switch careers. She said she really enjoys going to school here. She talked about this school and this class being very advanced. She told me things like the hair dye they use is one that is top-of-the-line from Italy. She told me things like Isothermal partners with a local high school and allows senior high school students the opportunity to take nail technology classes. This is where students can learn to work at a nail salon. Provided they have successfully completed the nail tech program, high school students who took advantage of this offer are able to take the state board exam when graduation time rolls around. Where upon receiving a passing grade, they are now able to get a job in this field right out of high school.

Lisha,Candy,Pamela and her friend Marybeth. (Not sure who the ladies in the top right are.)

Candy said she wished that she had taken the nail tech program first. So like some of the other students that were in her class, she could be working at a nail salon when not at school. She said this would've helped her out a lot in paying for her tuition and books.

Candy will be able to complete her training in December 2014. I asked her about working on mannequin heads. She said she enjoys working on them. She told me she treats each of them as she would treat a client. She told me she has named all of hers Pamela. She said she talks to each of them as she does their hair. Here again Mr. Candy's husband, any person who is so kindhearted that they even treat a mannequin as well as they treat a person, probably want to hold on to that. I'm just saying.

Candy said that by the time you have finished your training you will have used around 20 mannequin heads, ranging in price from around $40 each, for shoulder length hair. To $90 for long hair.

I asked her about the hair on the mannequins, and she said it's real hair. I found this hard to believe. Being aware of people who have donated their hair to locks of love. This is a long process. I believe to donate to locks of love you have to donate 10 or more inches of hair. This takes a good while for a person to grow 10 inches of extra hair.

The thought of this was incredible to me. I thought this is one school with 30 students. if each one used on average 20 heads during their training that's 600 heads for this one school, for this one class. That's a lot of real hair. She said all of the hair was from people from different countries. She said the largest part of it comes from China. I said, "Imagine that".

Anyway, she said the way it works is, in your work book you are given a particular type of haircut that you must perform on your mannequin. Once you have finished, your instructor grades you on that particular hairstyle. Then you are given another hairstyle. This continues until you have a mannequin that now has fairly short hair. They use these mannequins to teach you how to cut a man’s or any really short style.

Candy said they have to do 300 hours work on the mannequins,and 1200 hours work on real people before they can graduate.

I asked her what do the students do with all these mannequin heads once there finish with them. She said most of them throw them away. She said her girls like to use hers to put makeup on. But one lady in her class (Lisha) uses them as her scarecrows in her garden. I told Candy I had to meet this lady so I could ask permission to get a picture of her scarecrows.

I was in Aruba last year.  I saw someone's lawn covered with 30 or 40 full-size mannequins all dressed differently, all around the house. I was on a tour heading back from some lighthouse they wanted me to look at, when I saw the mannequin house. Had I been able to stop and get a photo, I assure you I would have. I not only wanted to get a photo of this property. I really, really, really wanted to meet the people who owned this house. While I thought it was the coolest, most artsy thing ever, my friends who were on this trip with me just thought it was creepy. They said I should not try to go back to this house and meet the owners, for fear I would not be seen or heard from again. So I'm sorry to report. That I have no photo of one of the coolest, most artsy things ever.

Maybe on my next vacation, I'll make out a little questionnaire for my friends to fill out, before we go. It can have questions like this…

While on vacation you see a house with a yard full of mannequins. Do you...

A- Stop and meet the people who live there?

Or

B- Run back toward the lighthouse, as fast as you can?

Even though there are posted signs at the hotel telling you not to feed the iguanas.  (Who by the way are roaming all over the property, the same way squirrels do here.) Do you...

A- Obey this?

Or

B- Do you order a fruit platter from the restaurant to take back to them?

Last question. While seeing a barefoot kid on the side of a dirt road, selling something you eat, that was orange and green sealed in a Ziploc baggie. Do you...

A- Buy a bag and try it?

Or

B- Do you pass on the baggie, and wait until you are in the safety of a government inspected restaurant?

As for me, I say...

We meet the people who live at the house with the incredibly cool yard, and hope they invite us to stay for supper.

We buy that fruit plate and see if we can get seven iguanas on our balcony instead of the six that were there yesterday by just leaving them some green leaves.






"Roger"

"Fred"

Me trying to pet Fred

And last but not least,we buy and eat that baggie of orange and green food because for some reason that barefoot kid looks a whole lot more trustworthy than any government agency from anywhere in the world that I've ever seen. (By the way it turns out that was slices of fresh mango with sea salt and real lime juice. Delicious!).

I say if you answer the same way I do, then guess what... an African safari may very well be in your near future.

There's that lab puppy again. Back to the hair cut. Candy said her biggest problem was that she takes way too long to cut or dye someone's hair. Here's my advice about that. If you cut someone's hair and it looks fantastic they will forget how long it took you to do it. If you cut it bad, but you did it really fast, they will never let you cut their hair again.

Everyone is slow when they are learning something new. Your speed will come over time. I know if someone is working for me, I would much rather they are slow, but they do a great job than for them to be super fast and do a horrible job. While every employer wants their employee to be good and fast, I'm pretty sure if they were made to only be able to pick one. They would always choose good over fast.

Candy brought out a big book of hair color swatches. I told her she could pick what she wanted to. After going back and forth, holding up different little hair swatches. She called Blake over and showed her the ones she had picked. Blake returned momentarily with the dye all ready to go. Candy dyed my freshly cut hair, then conditioned it and styled it.

While Candy drew oooo's and aaahhh's from fellow students who had seen what she had been given to work with from the start. Even her instructor was very complementary to her about the cut and how good the color looked. I was very happy with my new do. I looked around to see if I could find the girl that I had spoke to in the lobby. I wanted to show her what a great job Candy had done, and also see how her new hairdo looked. She must have already left. I feel certain everything turned out okay with her also, because I never heard any big commotion, or hollering, or crying. Anything that you might expect to hear, if a person who has nice hair all of a sudden doesn't have such nice hair anymore.

While I was looking around the room for that girl, I took a moment to evaluate the hairstyles on the other people and mannequins that were in the room being worked on. I never saw anyone with a bad haircut, bad color, or a bad style. All of these people look to be having a good time and enjoying their new hairdo's. Once again, Isothermal Community College has proven to have an outstanding curriculum, with outstanding students, who are taught by outstanding instructors. So the next time you are ready for a new hairdo, drop-in and get a great new hairdo at a super great price. All while helping out a student take that next step toward their career.

Candy, I'll see you when the gray comes back. Thanks again for a job well done. And for the rest of you out there, you're looking a little shaggy around the edges, better get to Isothermal Community College.

Until next time...
Dee aka Mo*Bee

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