Life as an assistant - True Blood Edition

So not that long ago I was asked to come help out and check out the season 4 True Blood photo shoot for the new posters. It has to be one of my coolest days on a set this far.

As I nervously entered the trailer around 9 am I was finally able to meet the hair designer in person. I had been speaking with him via email and text. When I walked in he was working on Deborah Ann Woll who plays the young vampire. He was mid process roller setting her hair. AWESOME! LET THE FUN BEIGN! As I made myself comfortable in the trailer actor after actor would step in for hair. Ryan (who plays jason Stackhouse and was awesome enough to get me this gig) came in for a quick hello which is when I realized that the men spend all of 5 minutes in the chair while women spend hours! So unfair btw!

After hair was primarily done I stepped on to set for touch ups and to watch the excitement in action. They had 3 different sets as you can see in the posters. The black room, the white room and the red room. They were UNBELIEVABLE in person!!!!

In between takes I would run back to the trailer to see if I could be any use. Each time a new person would be in the chair. I am not sure if any of you know this but I am actually a major fan of the show! I was a late bloomer but I am hooked! So watching each person go from Anna Paquin to Sookie Stackhouse or Alexander Skarsgard to Eric was pretty freaking cool!

I spent most my day on the set bouncing around and learning a lot. I learned a lot of on set go to products, styling tips, and so much more. Lots of roller sets and blow drys on set which is pretty normal but always fun to learn new ways of doing it. I wont bore you all with more details but the finished products are below! I hope you all enjoy them!

Until next time...

The Life of an Assistant- Lifestyles of the Rich and Inappropriate...

Ok So it's time for a new blog!

As I have now been at my work for about 8 months you can only imagine the characters i have come across. I not only work with some characters but our clientele can be quite funny. 

In my experience I have noticed a few different types of hair dressers. The first is someone who talks the entire time about themselves, their lives, families, friends etc.. Appropriate or not it doesn't really seem to phase them. Then there is the type who listens and nods the entire time because they cant stand what their client is going on and on and on about. Then there is the silent type. They stay quiet and so do their clients. The last type is the one who constantly gives out advice. Right or wrong they always have an opinion on their clients lives.

 I think my personal favorite is the one who talks about themselves non stop. I say that because watching them go on and on while their client looks bored to death, down right offended, or totally about it is quite hilarious to me. I once worked with a stylist who actually told a young client (early 20's) their whole sex life from start to finish. About mid way through I saw her look at me through the mirror with that "please god help me look".  This stylist was so into his story he didn't even notice she was mortified. The client and I just started to laugh at the craziness of the whole thing. He then went on to talk about fairytales/princesses...lets just say the conversation ended early due to the client and stylist getting into an argument. (Yes they really fought over something silly)

There are also different kinds of clients... First is the insanely rich. I am talking so rich they don't even know what to do with all that money. Then there are the ones that are very business and either pretend to be very busy and important by talking on the phone, emailing, reading paper work and checking out magazines all at the same time just so they look "busy" or "important". There are the clients who can't really afford to be coming to our salon but love their stylist so much they save every penny they can. Those are usually the nicest and also tip the best. The last type are the weekly clients. They come in once a week to the salon and know every person that works there and their life stories. In this group I think my favorite is the "business" class. They are the ones that walk in and don't say hi but in a whisper while covering the phone will demand "sparkling water" or "iced tea" which we don't carry. When I give them the bad news they look at me as though I am insane even though they been in the salon 50+ times and know we don't carry either drink. 

This week we had a client in who is beyond rich and brings in this massive beast of a dog. The dog spreads out while I rush to bring it water (by the way it's not even her dog. Its her friends but she takes it everywhere)....The client loves to gossip so talked to me for the next couple of hours about traveling, houses, her daughter being in stanford after going to Harvard. Blah, blah, blah... So I asked the client if she brings the dog on these lavish vacations and she said yes. I asked how the dog handled being put under the plane and her response "oh no dear we take her on the private plane". EXCCCCUSEEE ME! So as the service came to an end and it was time to pay and tip she hands me $3. Now I am personally so beyond grateful for ANY tips I get and I am not complaining by any means but when I have clients who are unemployed tipping me $20 and this woman who could afford my rent for the rest of her life and still be ok gives me $3 I can't help but laugh a little inside. 

Anyway I'll be back with better stories next week. I'm a little under the weather right now but had to get out a weekly blog :)

Until Next Time...

The Life of an Assistant- My Week at Vidal Sassoon

My Week at Vidal Sassoon

While at work a few months ago I was speaking with a co-worker about Vidal Sassoon, after we watched a video on his life during our Thursday morning class at work. (Incase you haven't seen it, which I am sure most of you haven't, his life is actually kind of fascinating! He is in his 70's or 80's and is in better shape then I am!!!!) They have these advanced courses you can take once you get your license 2, 3, 5 day and 6 week courses on color or hair cutting. We (my co-worker and I) both agreed we needed a little extra education on hair cutting since our classes at work just weren't cutting it!  (Pun intended) As soon as I got home I started my research on these classes and decided that now was a good time to go. I spoke with my boss at work and told him I was going to Sassoon, they would give me a week off for it or I quit. (Yes I really did say I would quit unless he let me go). I'm not saying I threw a 4 year old temper tantrum although that would probably have made for a much more interesting story. Can you imagine I just stomp my feet, cross my arms and pout? The truth is I would've been doing exactly what a 4 year old  does when she doesn't get the cookie she wanted BEFORE she finished her lunch. Anyway he and I had a long talk where he told me the classes were pointless, useless and I would only learn basics but wouldn't be the "most amazing stylist" when I left Sassoon. He also then made it a point to tell me I was replaceable HOWEVER I am one of their best employees and therefore he did not want to have to replace me...so in other words I was free to go back to school for a week. I thanked him for his honesty, agreed that it would take much more than a 5 day course to become a stylist as amazing as him, and told him I hope I learn the basics because I am not really learning them at work. I left the office with a BIG smile on my face ready to prove him wrong! And boy did I....

It turns out my co-worker and I signed up for the same week of school ;) We agreed to carpool so we could split cost on gas and parking. The first morning was filled with a pretty steady nervous yet very excited feeling. When we got to class we sat awkwardly with 6 other people from all over the world and all different ages. Right away this young man from fresno or Freemont latched on to my friend and I. (I think he had a slight crush on my friend!) He is that one kid in class who asks the same question over and over and over again thinking the answer will be different but never is!! By the fifth time you just want to strangle him and implant the answer into his brain through invisible brain waves and hope he shuts the hell up. There is always that one kid who can't help but ask every single thing that comes to mind. What is that about???? Well in this case it was Eric (I changed his name for privacy). Our teacher Leon (name changed again) would tell us that he was demo-ing or lecturing on concave versus convex layers. As the demo was going on he would say "I am working on concave layering right now". Within 5 seconds Eric would ask "Is that concave or convex?" and Leon would respond "concave". 3 minutes later Eric would turn to me..."Are those concave or convex?" My response was "still concave". He would then proceed to ask 5 other people before asking the teacher once again. By mid week the teachers assistant said "Leon a student would like to know if you are working on concave or convex"...his response was "Eric I am still working on concave". Thats when we would all laugh. 

There was also a pregnant student probably in her 30's who would proceed to make very bad jokes about being horny and pregnant but then called my friend and I mean for imitating a client that comes into our salon. The head of the Vidal Sassson Education program in the US came in to teach some of our classes which is HUGE! He isn't what you would expect for the head of the entire US Vidal Sassoon Program. He is a british man who makes noises when he cuts hair, sound effects, gyrates his hips, steps on your feet if your body placement is off, makes cheesy yet kind of funny jokes and is just downright looney! Another character we had was a young girl who had a few tattoos on her body. Now as most of you know I am down with the tattoos but she had one on her back that said 51/50. For those of you who don't know what that stands for it is a 72 hour mandatory hold in a mental institution. I couldn't resist the temptation to ask about this odd yet intriguing tattoo... turns out her old boyfriend was in prison and got it so she got it too so she could honor him.... Yeah.... I had no response either. It was a nod and smile situation. 

All in all I won't bore you with what I learned that week but let's just say my boss was very, very off. I learned more in that week at Sassoon then I have in 8 months at my work. I got to spend a week focusing on and learning something that I love doing. I spent a week being silly with my friend dancing, singing and laughing in the car and I got a Vidal Sassoon diploma! I graduated their program and it was one of the best weeks I have had in a long time! So a big thanks to my parents  and that special someone, you know who you are, for the support and  encouragement to get me through that week. I will post pictures soon so you can all see what I worked on that week since we spent afternoons cutting hair. 

Sorry for the delay in writing another blog (I moved) and thank you all for such an amazing amount of support in my blogs. It has been very refreshing and the positive feedback always helps! If you have any request, comments or feedback (good or bad) please feel free to comment on the bottom, forward my blog follow me on twitter @cosmoenthusiast or find me on facebook http://www.facebook.com/srstyles

Until next time....