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Chapter 1

Setting Up Shop: Kitchen Beauticians

IN THIS CHAPTER

Discovering the artist within you

Establishing your workspace

Deciding whose hair to cut

When my friend Ling Moon first arrived in the United States, she was overwhelmed by all the different hair colors and textures that dotted the American landscape. Although I didn’t have the heart to tell her until much later that many of the hair colors she saw were chemically created, I did identify with how she felt about the diversity of hair all around us.

Everyone’s hair texture, growth patterns, and length are different, making every haircut a unique cutting experience. And because you’ll always have an endless supply of the stuff — rain or shine, hair grows about ½ inch (1.3 centimeters) per month — haircutting is also one of the few artful activities where saving money is a sure thing. If you cut your family’s hair just sometimes, you can shave dollars off your grooming budget. And if you find yourself falling in love with haircutting, becoming a licensed stylist could give you the chance to make an above-average wage.

Discovering Your Inner Artist: Do You Have What It Takes?

Haircutting is a three-dimensional art form consisting of different lengths, angles, and elevations. While haircutting is a simple science, it only produces exceptional results when you also draw on your unique talents. If you think that you don’t have any talents worth considering, think again. It certainly helps to be a sculptor, a painter, or an all-around artistic fellow, but talents needed for haircutting also come from other areas that may surprise you.

 Do you love to paint, draw, or sculpt?

 Do you love to work with software graphics?

 Are you mechanically inclined?

 Do you have carpentry or handyman skills?

 Do you know how to sew?

 Do you have a strong sense of symmetry?

 Are you methodical by nature?

Knowing how to sew, for instance, means that you’re adept at putting pattern pieces together — a skill that you can apply to creating the various sections of your haircuts. If you have drafting or carpentry skills, the precision of your angles can make your haircuts look exceptional. And if you have the gift of symmetry, or you’re extremely methodical, your haircuts will be straight and true — two of the major challenges for real artistic types who intuitively cut hair.

This list makes up just a smattering of the talents you can draw from to create exceptional haircuts. For instance, I personally don’t draw, paint, sew, fix houses, or assemble my child’s toys, but I do apply my own unique sense of balance that brings a signature quality to all my haircuts. Someone else may apply a keen sense of integration so that every haircut moves and styles perfectly. And others … well, you can see my point.

Setting the Scene

Assuming that you’re not preparing to build a salon business in your home — that’s illegal unless you’re a licensed cosmetologist and have a business (establishment) license — here are some things you need to set up an informal shop:

 Stool and beanbag: Get a swivel stool that’s tall enough for you to comfortably cut the hair without having to stoop down and that has a generous seat and a back. If you’re cutting young children’s hair, you should also get a baby beanbag chair. Put the beanbag on the seat and the kid on the beanbag. This setup keeps the child from moving too much, while keeping their ears and other body parts cut-free.

 Large mirror: Cut hair in an area where you have a large mirror to improve the quality of your work. If you can’t face a hanging mirror, purchase a full-length wardrobe mirror that you can wheel out any time you cut hair. This type of mirror gives you a great view of your work and allows you to visually balance your cuts as you go.

 Floor protection: Covering the floor around your work area will save you from cleaning up hairy messes. While you can use a number of different materials to do this, I recommend using old-fashioned newspaper printed with soy or water ink, because it does a great job and is biodegradable. Always use enough newspaper to cover a 6-foot (1.9-meter) circumference around your chair. When you’re done with your haircut, cleaning up is as easy as wadding up the newspaper and tossing it in the trash or adding it to your compost pile. If you will be styling the hair after completing your haircut, make sure to gather up your floor covering and dispose of it before blow-drying the hair. If you don’t do this, the snippets will scatter like dandelion flowers in the wind. Also, sweep the area and the soles of your shoes to round up any hair escapees. Otherwise, you could be blowing hair snippets all over the room and tracking them to other areas of your home.

 Good lighting: Work with balanced lighting by having a light source overhead and on each side of the person whose hair you’re cutting. (If you only have light on one side, you’re cutting half of the head in shadow.) Weather permitting, I like cutting hair outdoors in a protected area, such as an enclosed patio, where sunlight allows me to clearly see even the tiniest of details.

If you’re feeling really ambitious after getting that annual bonus at work, consider investing in these two gems:

 Hydraulic styling chair: If you plan to cut several people’s hair, consider investing in a hydraulic styling chair. I say this because they make your haircuts much easier to do. Many beauty suppliers sell these chairs online, and you can find used equipment for sale on websites such as eBay and on social media pages featuring local sellers.If you decide to purchase a styling chair, you can skip the stool. (Hang on to the beanbag, though, because it still helps keep fidgety young children in one spot!)

 Salon caddy: A salon caddy (also called a salon trolley) — a handy little cabinet on wheels with a flat countertop — can make your haircutting sessions much easier and more convenient. Salon caddies have drawers for storing all your cutting paraphernalia — combs, capes, scissors, clips, and so on — while providing a workspace where you can hang your water bottle and set your comb, scissors, and clips while working. You can purchase one from your local beauty supply store or online seller.

Cutting Up in Your Kitchen

I find cutting family members’ hair at home appealing for several reasons. The most important reason, of course, is all the money you can save by cutting their hair, or at least prolonging the time between professional haircuts. The same is true of neighbors or friends who are in need of a haircut but are lacking the funds or time required to have a professional service. (Part 3 focuses on how to maintain professional haircuts, along with a lot of haircutting tips and tricks to use when you’re first embarking on your haircutting venture.)

I also find that haircutting is just plain fun. It allows you to be creative and interact one-on-one for up to an hour with someone you particularly like or love, and it gives you tremendous satisfaction when that person looks in the mirror and says, “I love my hair!”

Mane-taining your own hair

Haircutting not only let you care for other people, but also care for yourself! Making adjustments to your bangs, shortening the hair around your face, or trimming the top of your hair, for example, does wonders to improve the appearance of an overgrown haircut and lift your spirits at the same time. I say the latter because by midmorning of a bad hair day, I almost always feel unattractive and even depressed. To remedy this situation, I have been known to squeeze in a haircut on myself while some good-hearted soul shampoos my next client. (Check out Part 3 to find out more about these self-beautifying trims.)

I believe that trimming your own hair under ideal conditions is a good thing. But impulsively cutting your hair in elevators, at stoplights, or seconds before dashing out on a date — as I admittedly have done — is a bad idea. Even minor trims take planning and a sensible work area so you can concentrate on what you’re doing!

Chopping your children’s hair

Most children’s haircuts are simple designs that require mastering less than a handful of skills. From the child’s perspective, having a parent cut their hair is often easier than going to a hair salon, especially if you follow the advice given in Chapter 16 and Chapter 22.

Chapter 16, “Getting Snippy with Children’s Styles,” gives great advice on cutting children’s hair, along with several adorable haircutting tutorials. Chapter 22, “Ten Slices of Advice on Cutting Kids Hair,” provides 10 tips (and tricks) on how to avoid common missteps that cause your sweet little angels to squirm, cry, and run away from you the next time you uncase your scissors.

Clipping a companion’s hair

Cutting a friend’s hair can work well for both of you, especially if you never attempt to tackle a haircut without at least some guidance. To ensure that you always do a good job, follow the easy haircuts in this book. I include step-by-step instructions on:

 Women’s short, medium, and long cuts (Chapters 12, 13, and 14)

 Men’s cuts (Chapter 15)

 Quick and Dirty basic clipper cuts (Chapter 8, 15, and 16)

You can cut your kids’ hair, your companion’s hair, and even your neighbors’ hair — for free. But when money changes hands, you’re acting as a professional stylist. Being a stylist for hire is forbidden unless you have a cosmetology license. Besides, if you’re so good that people want to pay you for a trim, you should become a licensed stylist anyway!