Life as an assistant - Glitz, Glam and Fashionistas

Whew what a crazy few weeks! Since it has been longer then intended I figured I'd check in with all of you. Between working in the salon and LA FASHION WEEKEND things have been a little nutty.

In the salon: Every Friday we have an old client tat comes in and its her "social hour" which is really a few hours. She comes in for a treatment and blow dry but stays for hours talking to anyone she can. I think I've mentioned her in the past. Well every week she insists on telling me that in her day they didn't have sunscreen and she now has all of these medical issues and I should never forget to wear sunscreen. She also thinks I am the most fashionable person on the planet and for those of you who know me knows she probably doesn't get out very much! Every time I wear a hat she says "oh I love that scarf. When I was your age we used to wear scarves on our heads like that". I try and calmly tell her that it's a hat and she laughs at me and says "oh it is? you are just so fashionable. you are the only person who can pull that off". Now i know she is old and delusional!!!

We have another old client who has been known to be....well not the nicest. The first time I met her I said a proper hello and greeted her with a big smile. She proceeded to purse her lips at me (like she just ate a lemon) and nod her head. She refused to say a word to me. I knew I was in for it. So I decided I will win her over :) It has become like a game! The second time she came in I greeted her with a smile said " Hello are you having a good day?". Her response (hey at least she responded) was "Honey, I never have a good day" (picture old, ex jewish new york woman). Let the game begin!!! So I have been working on her week after week, I've been hearing her war stories of how she has made people cry or told them they would be beautiful if they didn't put tattoos on their bodies. Needles to say the last couple of times she has come in she has smiled at me, thanked me an actually been somewhat kind to me. I am waiting for the shoe to drop at any moment and I will be very prepared. If my next blog is tear soaked you'll know why :)

LA FASHION WEEKEND: What a very long 3 days. I did hair for designers like Betsey Johnson, Karen Capili, Kelly Nishimoto and more... There were 15-30 models per show with about 8 hair stylists. It was a lot of estrogen in a short period of time mixed with people that have egos so I am sure you can gather a mental image. At one point one of the models I was working on got into a cat fight with 2 other models and the tension was ROUGH! Every station was pretty much playing different kinds of music and one of the models didn't like the music our station was listening to and made some snap comment. My model then snapped back and a third model thought my model was attacking her. WHAT A MESS! There is no drama like the drama between hungry girls! (We hadn't had lunch yet)
On Saturday a model and a designer (I can't say which one) got into a fight as well. The designer said and I quote " You are a c*nt and I hope you trip on the runway". Never ever a dull moment.
Backstage was chaos. It was hot in a tent and the girls are sweating off their makeup, their hair is falling everyone is getting naked and changing people are running around like crazy. It was just like I pictured it to be.
All in all it was a great experience. I can't say that I understand fashion very well because the outfits women wear to these events is sometimes more of an event then the runway. I have attached some photos and I will probably upload a picture blog next so I can show you all my updated work and some more fun photos on what's happening. I will be doing pick ups this week on Sexy Evil Genius so hopefully I'll have some more photos from that as well.

Being part of Fashion Weekend landed me in the background of the news doing hair. I will get the link soon and post it along with the link to the Boys and Girls Club PSA I worked on :)

Until next time...

Life as an assistant - An Evening of Sequins

Hello All!

I know it's been less then a week form the last blog but I was too excited not to post pictures and share my adventures of this past weekend!

So yesterday was a very full day in the world of me! I woke up early and rushed to the Pacific Palisades to do hair for the Emmy's. My clients husband was up for an award :) (HE WON!!!!)

THEN I rushed home to have my makeup done by my good friend and AMAZING makeup artist Marianne so I could be picked up by 6 to hit a post Emmy's party. As I walked into the old converted and gorgeous church in downtown I did what every hairstylist does...checked out the hair styles and fashion! There was a LOT of sequins, high pony tails, low side buns and the most popular item....PLASTIC SURGERY! Dear Hollywood, please stop creating plastic faces! Thanks. The best part of the evening was STEVIE NICKS PERFORMING!!!!! One of the photos has the guitarist from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I have added some photos of the party and singer below!! hope you enjoy and I hope you are all well!!!!!

The Life of an Assistant- And All that Jazz

Ok Ok it's been a while! I am totally slacking on my blogging abilities! But that is only because I have been doing GREAT things!!!

I think the last time I wrote I told you all about how I started at a new salon in Culver City. Let me just begin by saying it is the BEST job EVER! I couldn't be more happy to have found the perfect home and fit for me. I work 3 days a week and I am able to bring in clients the rest of the week. Lets just say I'll have my own chair there shortly. (That's the goal). I have already learned so, so much. I have cut my hair cutting time by over half, sped up color time and I am rocking keratin treatments/highlights. Our clients are amazing and most know me by now so I know the crazies vs. the awesome.

I am running a promotion for this month for FREE HAIRCUTS!!! If you want one contact me. If you need prices for anything else please contact me as well!!!!

On another night I am doing hair for the Emmy's this Sunday so I hope to post pictures soon. I was able to book fashion week which means I am doing 9 shows!!! SOOO EXCITED.

I am also attaching some pictures of hair I did for the posters on The Secret Circle. They took the hair I did and implanted it on to models. So check em out!!!

Anyways I'm sure that's enough infor for now! I will write again very soon! Promise!

Life as an assistant - Back to the day to day...

Well hello everyone! So nice to be back. It has taken men a minute to get back into the groove of things and to be honest I think I have had a writers block. But now that things are looking up and starting to roll a bit I happy happy to say there are good things to come!

First off I am back in a salon 3 days a week. It is in Culver City and it's a small yet awesome place to work. I am able to bring in ANY kind of client 2 days out of the week (So start booking your appointments now!!!!). I can bring in cuts, color, highlights, brazilians, keratin treatments and extensions. It has been a blessing being back to work. I must admit I do miss working on the film and my SEG family but there will be more to come!! Our clients at my new salon are very interesting mix. All have been really easy and nice. There are still a couple that have left me laughing a little on the inside. We have one older woman who is sweet as can be. She comes in weekly and uses it as a social experience. She takes about 15 minutes to blow out her little puff of hair but she stays for hours just to talk to people. She had me standing there for 35 min just to tell me about how she is having a procedure done and always wear sun screen. There is another older woman who has no issue telling me what she does and doesn't like. For example when I shampoo her she tells me if I do something good or if something "doesn't feel good". I start to feel like a puppy after a while. "GOOD DOG, BAD DOG, STAY, SIT". I can see it all now... I imagine my face looks something between confused and....

Well needless to say I am sure I will have plenty of stories to come but so far I am really enjoying this new home.

As for the rest of the good news. I hooked up with a production company who is going to start feeding me work which is always a bonus. I was offered the possibility to go to Colorado for the entire month of Sept and be head stylist on a film. However it sadly got pushed so maybe one day that will happen.

I know I still owe you all some photos and I promise to upload them soon. I'll keep the stories coming and as always until next time...

Life as an assistant - Funny Faces

As I have been job hunting I was trying to recap some of the stories that had made me laugh while working in the salon.

There was one day that I was assisting and an older handicapped woman came in to get her hair done with her husband. She had been coming to my boss for a long time but I had just started with this stylist so I had no idea what to expect. (I had just started working for the salon a couple of months before) This client wasn't the nicest woman on the planet so I had a feeling this was going to be a very long few hours. As she sat down in the shampoo bowl I asked her if she was comfortable and if the water temp was ok and she abruptly replied "it's fine". Because of the handicap and her "hefty" presence the water from the bowl ended up mostly on her back and less in the drain. She got up slowly and I asked her to follow me to the changing room so I could get her a dry robe. She understandably was not nice about this situation. I wouldn't be too pleased if my back got soaked by some new assistant. (Of course I felt awful and blamed myself).

Now I want you all to take a minute to remember that no one had warned me in any way about this couple or what I was about to be put through. The assistants normally warned each other and protected each other but I think because I was still new I was going through an initiation phase that left me standing alone.

So this woman gave me a hard time all the way back to the chair and pretty much told me I was the only person EVER to have gotten her wet which of course made me feel even worse! (I came to find out later that day that the wife actually gets soaked every single time she comes in. She was just that unhappy that she took it out on me.)

The client then asked if I could get her husband a diet coke. She said no ice and just the can. So I brought her husband the drink and he then got upset that there was no ice and no glass. The 2 of them then began to fight and tried to blame the entire diet coke problem on me. AWESOME!

As the womans service came to an end it was time to grab the husband and wash his hair. (He didn't have much) I figured if I gave him the best shampoo of his life it would make up for everything. So I got him in the chair and felt pretty confident I could change this day around. I had a cheesy smile on my face, made sure he was comfortable (he had the same uncomfortable look on his face all the time) and was ready to go. I start shampooing him, looked down and he is making these ridiculously silly faces and looked like he was in horrible pain. (Picture below is to give an idea of the face but not the actual client:

I ignored it for a moment and was in a very, very confused state. Do I say something? I am barely touching him so could I be hurting him? So about 2 minutes later I got up the courage to ask..."Sir is everything all right?"

"No! I don't like to be touched" was his response.

So now I am standing behind a shampoo bowl, hands full of suds, his hair is full of suds, and a very unhappy man. Did anyone feel like letting me know he didn't like to be touched? Why would you ever get a shampoo if you don't like to be touched?????? I am also now praying the owner of the salon doesn't walk by because if he sees this guys face I will get fired for abuse. So I stood there for a minute with a confused look on my face trying to figure out the best next move. I had to endure this "funny face" for another 3 very long minutes while I rinsed out all of the shampoo and nicely turned to him and say: "so I am guessing you'd like to skip the head massage?". Lets just say he skipped the massage and I never saw him get shampooed there again.

So for all of you men and women out there who don't like being touched...just shampoo yourself at home. Assistants feel just as uncomfortable when you make those silly faces as you do.

Until next time...

Life as an assistant - photoshoots, PSA's, Oh My

Well hello everyone!

Over the past couple of weeks since the film finished I have been working on a few things to keep me busy until I find a job. I worked on an amazing PSA directed by Ron Howard for the Boys and Girls Club. What a fun yet chaotic experience. I also had the pleasure of doing a few photo shoots. The first was for a top secret new CW show (which sadly I can't give too much info on yet) and the second was an amazing shoot to build my portfolio.

The PSA was quite an experience. I had a 7 am call in the middle of Glendale with a cast that was unreal. I showed up and was shuttled to the location and was left standing in the middle of this parking lot by myself with my kit. As ready as I was it was a bit of an overwhelming experience. I stood there with hundreds of people running around me with ear pieces, walkie talkies and cell phones all looking like their heads had been cut off. No one would stop to direct me to the beauty trailer so I just started walking around. There were about 30 trailers so it was not an easy journey. Once I finally found it and met the rest of the beauty team I placed my stuff down and went straight to crafty for coffee. As I went back to the trailer the young kids (prob ages 10-15) started coming in to get their hair done before the celebrities arrived. They were all adorable and talking about how excited they were to see Ron Howard in person. They weren't excited about the major A-Listers coming but Ron Howard was the one to see. As we got their hair and make up done and went to set the big guns started to arrive. I watched Denzel Washington, John Paul (of Paul Mitchell), J Lo, Cuba Gooding JR, Ne-Yo, Shaq, Magic, Shawn White, Sugar Ray Lennard, Ashanti and so many others start to roll on to set. Most of the pictures were posted to my twitter account as an exclusive so if you would like to see them you'll have to add me @cosmoenthusiast.

The photo shoot I did for the top secret show was lucky enough to come my way form my cousin Jenny (THANK YOU AGAIN!!!) who hired me to do hair for 8 different people. The hair I did will be seen in motion and still posters. I will keep you all posted on that when more can be revealed.

The most exciting for me was the photo shoot I did just a few days ago! I got together a group of 3 other girls. One was a photographer/makeup artist who also needs to build her books like I do and the other 2 amazing young women were friends of mine I brought in to model! We shot all over my area in Hollywood and did 3 hair changes. The shoot went better then expected. We shared a lot of laughs and had some pretty awesome pictures. I have included some of the "behind the scenes" photos that I personally took. The finished shots will be available soon (as well as the rest of the "behind the scenes shots posted currently) on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/srstyles

The Life of an Assistant- Lights, Camera, ACTION!

Hey Everyone!

It has been a while! Sorry it took me so long but it's been a very busy few weeks. So a few weeks ago, late on a Saturday night, I got a call to work on a feature film called Sexy Evil Genius. of course I jumped at the opportunity. I called my work told them I wouldn't be coming in and started early Monday morning.

I arrived early to CBS Radford studios to begin my journey. As I walked into the beauty trailer to meet the people I was working with I was put right to work. Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, 24) was sitting in the chair. As I am getting settled and handed scripts I am thrown into the chaos of film. As the morning continues I spend some time watching my boss do his thing so I can see what I'll have to do throughout the week. I am introduced to the cast as they enter Billy Baldwin (Backdraft, Parenthood TV, etc...), Seth Green (Robot Chicken, Can't hardly Wait, Family Guy etc...), Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl, Euro Trip, Robot Chicken, etc...) and Harold Perrineau (OZ, Lost, Romeo and Juliet, etc...). All were very nice. They sat in the trailer cracking jokes, making fun of each other, goofing off. It was like a big family. As the week continued I started working closely with Billy and some of the background and later in the week on the rest of the cast. I was on set doing touch ups and when my boss wasn't available I was creating styles and putting the hair together. By the end of the first week I was asked to stay on through the end of the shoot. Of course I agreed (and lost my job at the salon because of it) but how do you turn down an opportunity like that? The days got longer and loner with start times between 6 and 9 am and we finished between 12am and 2 am. One day Seth and some of the cast brought us a Sexy Evil Genius ice cream truck which was amazing!

Come Monday (Seth's last day) we were all tired and loopy, behind schedule and lots to do. Since we had Seth for just one last day the day became longer and longer. I ended up having to paint his nails at 11:30 pm, washing his hair at 12:30 am and moving to the next location.... the BIG sex scene. By 1:30 am we were filming 2 different sex scenes, out of it, tired and laughing our asses off due to the major awkwardness and lack of sleep.

The following few days were very hectic due to being on location. Anthony Michael Hall (Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Dead Zone, etc...) was brought in the last week of filming which was awesome.

I am unable to give too much info on confidentiality rules as much as I would LOVE to share so much with you all. I will be able to at a later date! I booked 2 gigs last week which will come in another blog but for now enjoy some pictures below! :)

Billy:

Harold:

Katee:

Michelle:

Seth:

For exclusive photos find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/srstyles
Or on Twitter: @cosmoenthusiast
For Booking info please contact me at my email: cosmoenthusiast@gmail.com

I hope everyone is doing well! Until next time.... :)