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....