professional service after CG?

geekrockgirl85

Well, semi-professional, anyway. My sister is currently in beauty school and I'm considering making an appointment with her for color and maybe a trim, because my ends could use it. However, I'm a reticent to let her cut it, because I know she's been instructed to do it wet, and, well, I haven't let anyone cut my hair in years for that reason. Can't seem to decide if I want to roll the dice here or not. If I don't let her do it, though, it will be months more before I get a haircut, because of budget constraints. Thoughts?

My second concern is the after-color condish. I don't know what they stock at her school, but I figure it's safer to assume it's a silicone bomb and bring my own instead.

I know protein before is good, but immediately after can leach color, so that leaves out the KLS and Cure Care. Is it safe to take my GVP conditioning balm and ask her to use that? The ingredient list appears to be ok to my eye, but I wanted another opinion or few to make sure!

INGREDIENTS: Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Myristyl Alcohol, Cetrimonium Chloride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Decyl Oleate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance (Parfum), Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Hexyl Cinnamal, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Hydrastis Canadensis (Golden Seal) Extract, Fucus Vesiculosus (Bladderwack) Extract, Methyl-2-Octynoate

claudine191

If you're really unsure about her following her wishes, I would skip it. Better to need a trim than to have to grow out something problematic.

curlicious13

Same here. If I wasn't comfortable, I don't get a cut. I hate having to pay for 2 cuts.

CGSince2002

Cuts in a school must be done under a teacher's supervision, so if you specify you want strictly to keep your length and just get your layers "dusted" I don't think there should be a problem. Besides, your sister should know how you feel about your hair, you can even threaten her life (jk!!!) if she cuts more than 1/8".:tongue5: This would also be a "golden" opportunity for her to learn to respect curly hair and get a good head start.

You can use a LI w/protein and then not wash or rinse your hair for at least 2 days after the coloring. The KLS would be perfect for that. But if you feel better using something without any protein, that's fine too, you can always use it later. Ah, and also don't wash your hair for at least 2 days before the color, some oil is needed in your scalp for the color to "grab" better.

geekrockgirl85

oi. NEVER AGAIN.

my sister was miffed about me "being difficult", but willing to work with my demands. Her instructor, much less so. I briefly explained the theories of CG and dry cutting because they couldn't understand or believe why I was being so "picky".

I was told after I already had dye on my head that I *needed* to choose between a sulfate shampoo and a nonsulfate shampoo with polyquats and dimethicone to wash it out. I suggested they cowash with the CB I brought instead, and they refused, stating it wouldn't work "because it isn't like Wen". (eta: they didn't like my suggestion of just rinsing with water and a vigorous scrub, either.)

I refused to let them put product in it afterwards because EVERY SINGLE ONE they had, from oil to wax to cream to spray to gel to leave-in, was full of cones. And then as I was getting ready to run out with my wet post-trim head that had already been abused with a comb for twenty minutes, the instructor told me she'd need to see the color blown out in order for my sister to earn a grade. After being shrugged at when I insisted I didn't want any heat on my hair several times, I asked them to use a diffuser; it was only slightly larger than the original dryer end. My sister saw the horror it was wreaking about halfway through and asked the instructor to doublecheck the color while still a little bit damp so she didn't cause any more "afro puff".

:angryfire:

CGSince2002

Ouch! I'm so sorry your experience was so negative, but when I read "Her instructor, much less so" it triggered memories of one I had who said CG had my hair cuticle shut so tightly it was not allowing the herbal-based "bleach" she used on my hair to penetrate... For starters, bleach of any kind was the wrong product altogether since I had very dark dye in my hair, a remover was the right thing but she insisted bleach was "the same thing" (afraid not!). I suspect most of those instructors are very old-fashioned and all they've learned, besides from the outdated text books, is from hair fairs and such which are sponsored by some product line and are geared to teach tecnique only.

She's dead wrong about CO not rinsing out hair dye, when I first started CG I wasn't truly full-CG because every 5 weeks or so I'd use shampoo first to remove temporary color that I'd used to camouflage my roots and then to wash off the dye, but then one day I decided to see what would happen if I just washed it off with my CO and nothing bad happened, so I also began co-washing the temp coloring off, and you cannot say that VO5 COs are "like Wen".

I hope that the cut and color were acceptable at least. And I hope you can comfort yourself in knowing that you are truly giving your sister an opportunity for a more well-rounded cosmetology education. Later on when she can do your hair all by herself just like you want it you'll be glad you made the sacrifice of going through the unpleasantness. ;-)

claudine191

I wouldn't let her near my hair again, ever.

geekrockgirl85

It was hard to tell at first, but I sort of avoided looking at it while in the salon because I knew it wasn't "my hair". After I came here to vent, I soaked my head in the sink, did a quick RO with the CB to try and combat the dryer fry, added a little LI, and plopped to fix the frizzfest. And it ended up looking good!

It was a bit of a bonding experience, too. As annoyed as she got with me bucking some of the things she had been trained to do, she was genuinely empathetic and tried to suggest work-arounds when checking with her instructor. I explained to her when her instructor walked away that, at least the way I understand it, curly hair has extra "holes" in the cuticle, and that's what causes the chemicals I'd been asking to avoid to either be too harsh and drying, or to build up excessively because I'm not supposed to use the harsh things to remove it, and that seemed to be a light-bulb moment for her. She asked me to explain it to her more at home sometime, so she may just end up lurking around here too! She's genuinely interested in learning more about how to take care of a variety of needs, and that meant a lot to me.

My sister actually did a great job with the color, and her attention to consultation and communication meant the cut ended up looking good too. I need to remember to thank her today, because I was so offput by her instructor that I was probably abrupt, but she's got good intuition and a solid skill foundation. I think she'll be a great stylist once she gets licensed, gets away from the weird product misunderstanding/brainwashing and is allowed to seek out newer methods and continuing education.

claudine191

Well, that's nice.

I'm not so forgiving about hair fiascos, even though yours turned out well.

geekrockgirl85

haha, claudine, I might not be, but I've actually been through much worse, it's just that I didn't know any better at the time!

It does, however, make me want to try out someone trained to dry cut the next time I get the itch to go to the salon...

CGSince2002

geekrockgirl85 wrote: »

It was hard to tell at first, but I sort of avoided looking at it while in the salon because I knew it wasn't "my hair". After I came here to vent, I soaked my head in the sink, did a quick RO with the CB to try and combat the dryer fry, added a little LI, and plopped to fix the frizzfest. And it ended up looking good!

It was a bit of a bonding experience, too. As annoyed as she got with me bucking some of the things she had been trained to do, she was genuinely empathetic and tried to suggest work-arounds when checking with her instructor. I explained to her when her instructor walked away that, at least the way I understand it, curly hair has extra "holes" in the cuticle, and that's what causes the chemicals I'd been asking to avoid to either be too harsh and drying, or to build up excessively because I'm not supposed to use the harsh things to remove it, and that seemed to be a light-bulb moment for her. She asked me to explain it to her more at home sometime, so she may just end up lurking around here too! She's genuinely interested in learning more about how to take care of a variety of needs, and that meant a lot to me.

My sister actually did a great job with the color, and her attention to consultation and communication meant the cut ended up looking good too. I need to remember to thank her today, because I was so offput by her instructor that I was probably abrupt, but she's got good intuition and a solid skill foundation. I think she'll be a great stylist once she gets licensed, gets away from the weird product misunderstanding/brainwashing and is allowed to seek out newer methods and continuing education.

Well, I am really glad that the most important things turned out to your liking and that you took a very positive view about your sister's efforts. Like I said, you gave her a very valuable learning opportunity for her future career, I'm sure you love your sister so I suppose you don't really regret it having to re-do your hair, it's happened to me and it's not the end of the world, especially when I knew it could happen.

naomilena

I feel your pain!!! I went through the same thing today!

The student was very rough with my hair, even after I explained that curly hair is delicate. After she washed the color out, my poor hair was so traumatized that the waves just flattened out. :sad7:

Then she cut my hair as if it was straight, not taking my wave pattern into account at all. The worst part is, the instructor did the same! They both seemed kind of satisfied that my waves were gone, as if maybe I had been faking.

Neither of them seemed to recognize that my hair will lay completely different after it's wet and my waves come back. And this was at a school that supposedly teaches their students about how to cut curly hair. I should have walked out. NEVER AGAIN! :angry6:

CGSince2002

I actually feel disappointed and appalled that after so many years beauty schools are still not catching up. Well, as they say, change sometimes is very slow... it may take an entire new generation of proud curlies to drive out all those outdated notions about our hair!

aspen

I find it interesting and sad that the TEACHERS are just as ignorant about curly hair in a lot of cases, if not moreso than their students, who are at least more openminded and don't think they know everything.