My Story..... Part 6

(I apologized for the delayed posting of my story, as I was pretty tied up with work lately and for the coming month as well. Please have patience with me and I will try to do my best to keep my post updated)

Over the air, the MC announced: " Contestants, you have 20 minutes to complete your haircuts and your time begins NOW...........!
when i heard that, my hands and legs are all shaking and trembling and I not sure if the audiences had noticed that or not. I began to lock my knees as I cant bend then because whenever I bend them, they start to tremble. So I reckon I looked kinda weird standing and cutting hair in that position.

I remembered what my mentor told me and I tried to take a peek at the audiences. It was pretty scary to find that so many people were looking at you. I gave out a smile and to my surprise, the audiences cheered and clapped and cameras' flash started flashing away. Oh my God, that was awesome, that kind of feeling makes you feel like a superstar or some kind of celebrities. Five minutes into the cutting, the judges started to walk around the stage, accessing our hair cutting technique and creation. To be honest, I didn't quite remember the judges' names as I was nervous and breaking in cold sweat that I did not even bother to know who they are.
As they walked around me, they looked so serious. While they were looking at the way I cut, they keep mumbling to each other and pointing to the left and right side of my model. As soon as they walked away, I quickly ran in front of my model and checked my haircut but I can't seems to find anything wrong with that. So, I walked back and continue my haircut on my model. The MC announced that we had 10 minutes left for our hair cut and at this point of time, I had only completed about 50% of my hair cut. Pressure started to step in and I tried to increase my speed of cutting. That was when the worst fear of mine which I thought of everyday prior to the competition happened...........

Trend Training 23-24 May 2011

The participants turn up for the Joico Trend workshop with great anxiety and all I can say is, they responded by doing a great job. They executed the trend training requirements very well and showed great professionalism in their work and attitude. 

Keep up the great job and you guys are AWESOME!

Check out the workshop page for more pictures :)
Come and join us for the Trend workshop on 13-14 and 27-28 June 2011

My Story..... Part 5

This time, my heart was pumping so fast that I almost freaked out. Suddenly someone tapped my shoulder from my back, I turned around and saw my mentor standing behind me.
He gave me a wide smile and said: "Tom, just go out there and enjoy yourself. Don't be too tense up, look at the audience and give them a smile whenever you can. To win or not is not important, what is important is you had taken your first step in your career and achieved your first goal which is to join this hair competition. I have confidence in you, just go up to the stage and show them what you got. Make yourself and your parents proud." Then he patted me on my back and walked off.
In fact, my father had not even talk to me once since the day I joined hairdressing. He was totally disappointed in me for quitting school and was furious with me for joining hairdressing. Both me and my father lived like total strangers to each other at home.
When I heard those words; "Make yourself and your parents proud", my eyes filled up with tears. I knew that it was my fault for quitting school that angered my father. I knew that my mum always cried herself to sleep at night because of what I did. I had disappointed them when they had pinned all their hopes on me to be successful both in school and in life later. All our relatives looked down on my family as we were seems as failures in academic result. Just when I looked down, I saw my pair of cutting scissors in my kit bag. I picked it up and it was one of the best gift I ever received. It was a pair of 5 inch Yasaka scissors which my mum had bought for me a month ago. She had scrimped and saved few months of her household allowance to buy me that scissors. I knew that I had to do my best in this competition. It's not just for exposure, experience or fun, it's for redemption!
Each categories of the competition. were split into 3 groups with each group about 20 contestants. I've got another senior of mine in my group and the rest of them in the other groups. Just when I was admiring my scissors, the music softens and MC announced that all contestants for the Man's Cut & Blow-Dry category to go onstage. Slowly, one by one, each contestant numbers and name were called out and then I heard; "Number 11, Thomas Foo from Win's Cut House". Suddenly my legs were trembling and shaking! My legs became jelly-like and I was trembling in cold sweat. I turned to my model and I told him:" Patrick, I can't walk! My legs are trembling!" Patrick looked at me and said: " Don't worry, can't walk? Well, we can crawl up the stage then." We both shared a little laughter. That laughter really helped a lot to loosen up the tension and there I was; up on the stage.
It was my first time on stage, with all those spot lights beaming at you and people down there cheering on. However, my cold sweat didn't stop and my legs keep trembling and shaking whenever they like. I had to stand straight with my knees locked to keep them from trembling. To make matters worse, there was a huge speaker behind me pumping away loud music.
Over the air, the MC announced: " Contestants, you have 20 minutes to complete your haircuts and your time begins NOW...........!

My Story..... Part 4

10 days had passed after I was taught on how to handle a pair of scissors. My Boss asked me to show him my "new skill" that afternoon, he just nodded his head and said: "OK".
At that very moment, didn't know what got into me and I asked him boldly: "Can I take part in the Hair Competition in a few months time?"
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and he said: "Well, that's depend on your talent."
(Try to cut the story short)
So I trained very hard under my mentor and hoping that I could join the hair competition. Three months later, my mentor suggested to me that I should take part in the upcoming hair competition for the exposure and experience and he had enrolled my name for it. He suggested that I should take part in the Man's Cut and Blow Dry category as it's much easier. (By the way, my mentor was once the Ladies' Cut and Blow Dry Category Winner in that competition) I was overwhelmed by joy, finally I can take part in the hair competition that I wanted so much to be in.  
I started to hunt for my male model and the hairstyle that I wanted to create. I practice everyday on my male haircut skills, especially on the scissors over comb technique until my fingers and wrist all gone sore. In fact, my first intention of joining the competition wasn't to win, but to gain exposure. My mentor seems pretty satisfied with my progress and told me that if I continue to cut with precision and neatness, I might win a prize in the competition. Those words were met with laughter from all my seniors. 

The hair competition was just a couple of days away and with each closing day, I felt nervous and with butterflies in my stomach. It's kinda of mixed feelings, I felt I wanted out of the competition. I kept having the recall of hearing the laughter from my seniors in my ears, hearing them telling me not to make a fool of myself on the stage.
On the day of the hair competition, I was super nervous as well as excited. Finally, this is the day that I am waiting for and yet I feel it's a wrong decision for me to take part in it. I remained silent all the way to the competition venue, guess I still feel regret to join the competition. The competition was held in a ballroom at Plaza Hotel, Singapore. I met my ex-hairdresser in the elevator on my way up to the ballroom and he asked me if I had come to watch the competition. (he took part in the competition as well) I replied him that I took part in this competition and he gave out a loud laughter like what my seniors did as well. But at least, he did wished me good luck.
When the elevator door opened, I got quite a big shock! There were so many people around and the entrance to the ballroom were full of people. I started to tremble and really wished that I didn't commit to this competition. Suddenly the feelings inside me changed as I walked through the  door into the ballroom. I felt so inspired by the sight of the platform. The hair competition commence shortly and 4 of my seniors took part in both Man's and Ladies' category. The Ladies' category was the first to begin and I really enjoyed the adrenaline of the competition, watching all the hairdressers strutting their stuff on stage. After 45 minutes, the contestants for the Man's category were told to prepare and get ready for the stage. This time, my heart was pumping so fast that I almost freaked out. Suddenly someone tapped my shoulder from my back, I turned around and saw my mentor standing behind me.
He gave me a wide smile and said................

My Story..... Part 3

Suddenly, one of my senior turn to me and laughed. Pointing his finger at me and he said: "You wanna join? Do you know what a hair cutter means? Come on, you are just a cleaner in the salon, can't even hold a pair of scissors and you are telling us that you wanna join a hair competition? Go and take a broom and sweep the floor." and they all roared in laughter
These words really hit me right into my heart and it's hurts. Till today, I can still remember those words very clearly in my mind. Those words hurt me, but they spurned me to work and train harder. That day, as I walked away after hearing those words, I told myself that I will train as much as I can and I swear that I will be standing on the same competition platform as with all my seniors. (As I type these few sentences in this post, it brings back this sad memory.)
I was quiet the next day and like usual, I can only peek at the way my seniors cut their customers' hair and try to remember what they do. Something unusual happens in that afternoon, my boss asked me to join him for a smoke outside the salon. There, he handed me a pair of very old scissors and he shown and taught me the proper technique of handling a scissors. He told me to practice the handling of scissors everyday and whenever I'm free. He also mentioned that only if I can hold the scissors correctly and firm, then will he start to teach me how to cut hair. Whenever I'm done with the sweeping of floor, practicing of perming, blow drying and all those bits and pieces of work, I will grab that pair of scissors and start practicing. Even when I was on a bus ride to and fro from work, I always have that scissors in my hand practicing away.
10 days had passed after I was taught on how to handle a pair of scissors. My Boss asked me to show him my "new skill" that afternoon, he just nodded his head and said: "OK".

My Birthday "Bash"

12 May 2011, I have my birthday celebrated in the salon. We have this habit of "gate crashing"  birthdays with lots of water.
Everyone will get soaking wet from head to toe and that's including me. No one is supposed to get angry as that's the birthday celebration culture in this country. It's almost like having a mini Thai SongKran Festival in the salon.
It feels like a heavy rain just happen to pour in the salon. Every staff is chasing each other to get them wet, but the ultimate aim of my staff is to get the birthday boy; which is me; super wet.. hahahahha.. it was pretty fun. My staff prepared packets of water "bomb" and they hide the 'waterbombs' everywhere in the salon (especially in the trolleys). By the way, all the water sprays we used for wetting customers' hair proved very useful during such events in the salon. Color bowls, pails and anything that you can think of that can hold water are potential weapons. At around 6pm in the evening, we started to remove our money, wallets and mobile phones from our pocket; even our shoes and socks are removed too. The 'water war ' started right after we finished singing the birthday song. Well, those 2 beautiful cakes are completely wet too. The whole "water war" lasted for about 50 minutes, can you imagine how much water are used and the whole salon was flooded.
It was a great day and lots of fun, everyone started to mop and clean the salon after war; excluding me..because I'm the Birthday boy...hahahahha...nice! Thank you guys for the birthday cakes, fun and cleaning up of the salon.

My Story..... Part 2

So, even without any salary during apprentice training, I gladly started work the very next day. The salon operational hours starts at 10am and I was there pretty early at around 9:30am. Trying to be punctual for my first day of work. :) I was introduced to the staff of the salon and deep down in my heart, I felt awesome...I'm gonna be a hairdresser soon. I was shown around the salon and was told of my job scope. Basically my job is a cleaner in the salon. :( I was told to report to work half an hour earlier so that I could clean up the salon before the business commence.
Every morning, I had to clean all the mirrors, salon frontal glass panels, polish the cutting chair stainless steel base, mop the floor, fold towels and prepare the coffee and tea for the customers. During working hours, I have to sweep the floor after the hairdressers finished their haircut, serve drinks to the customers, buy lunch and dinner, runs errands and learn to shampoo hair and basic blow dry. After salon operational hours, I will have to pack the towels to send to laundry, refill all the shampoo and conditioners, wash and clean the equipments and clean the toilet. However, I enjoyed all these works, as i know that this is one of the only way I can slowly work my way to the top. Everyday whenever I have the time for a break, I loves to mingle with all my seniors and hear them talk about hairdressing and daily affair.
In a flash of the eye, I had worked for almost 1 month in the salon as an apprentice. One day while we are having a break, I overheard my seniors talking about this local hair cutting competition called "Golden Scissors Award". They were discussing about taking part in the competition and the type of hairstyles they wanted to create. Out of curiosity, I asked one of my senior about the competition and it's entry requirement. I was so overwhelmed that I loudly declared that I wanted to take part in the competition too which will be held 5 months later.
Suddenly, one of my senior turn to me and laughed. Pointing his finger at me and he said.........

My Story..... Part 1

Looking at this award, it brings my memory back to 1991, September when I won as a 1st Runner-Up in the Man's Cut & Blow Dry category.... All I can say is..... winning this award is Sheer LUCK!

My father is a very strict man and is always in control over both my sisters and me. My parents are poor when we are young but both my sisters and me have never lament about our parents being poor. However as a kid, we sure envy what our better off friends have and enjoy.
I decided that I wanted to quit school and to look for a job so that I can afford things that I like. So, I left High School when i was only 15 years old. I discussed the idea of going to a hairdressing school with my parents and all hell broke out. My parents were disappointed when i decided to leave school and my father flew into a rage and he told me that he will not agree or support my idea. As for my mum, she just sit there and cries. She wanted to support my idea, however our family is poor and as a full time housewife, she did not have the money to support me.
The next day, my friend called me and ask me to accompany him for his visit to his hairdresser. When i stepped into the salon, I was caught by this awesome atmosphere of the salon (usually I had my hair cut by a local barber during school days).
The salon was filled with stylish hairdressers dressing up people's hair making them looks good and beautiful. From that moment, I find myself being fascinated by this trade. I knew that I need to learn a skill for my future and career. It is in this salon that I met my first boss and mentor, Mr Winston Yau (he was a former Instructor at Head-Quarters Hair Academy, Singapore).
As I watched my friend getting his hair trimmed, an idea came to my mind. I stood up and went to Mr. Winston and I asked: "Can you employ me."
He reply with a laughter: "Tell me, what do you know or what can you do in hairdressing".

I said: "Nothing". 

He gave out a even louder laughter. Actually I was feeling pretty embarrassed at that time, because there were quite a number of pretty female customers there.  ^^
I asked him:" I can do anything to learn hairdressing, can I apply as a salon apprentice?"
Mr Winston paused and stop to think for a while; and then he replied: "Why not, you can join as a salon apprentice. As a salon apprentice, you have to start to learn how to clean the salon as well as learning hairdressing at the same time."
I was so happy that Mr Winston agreed to take me under his wings. I was told that I will not have any salary during my apprentice stint in the salon, however I will be given 3 meals a day by him. I gladly agreed to the deal as I knew that my family can't afford to send me to a hair academy and this is a great opportunity that I can prove to be independent. And I started work the very next day............. 






 

My Story.........

I was cleaning out my bedroom the other day when i was back home in Singapore. I came across a stack of old photo albums while I was clearing out my cabinet.

These albums are long forgotten by me and as I started to flick through them one by one, they brought back all those smiles and tears. Those were mostly pictures taken from 10 - 20 years ago when digital cameras are not commonly been used. I found this picture which I posted in this post and it was taken back in 1991 by my father. This picture was taken after i won as a 1st Runner-up in the Man's' Cut & Blow Dry category.
It was my first hair cutting competition I ever participated in. I was 16 years and 4 months old at that time.

It really bring back all those memories and it really inspired me to write about my journey (hopefully it's doesn't sound boring to you. :p). I will try to keep my story in short posts and hopefully it can help to inspire budding hairdressing.

Professionalism......is for all...

Many times in the salon, I have come across customers with badly colored hair asking for help to correct their disastrous hair color which they did with a DIY color or right after a color session with other competitors. It's sure quite a handful and often it is also considered as great challenges to me (as it gives me a chance to correct the color and getting a new customer). However what I am upset with is not about the DIY colors the clients did at home themselves but rather poor color result achieved in salons.
I always notice that some of the corrective hair color services I come across are mainly over-lighten hair levels or hair not being lighten evenly. Cases where hair color are not evenly applied and patchy color resulted. What I find most annoying is, instead of depositing bleached streaks of hi-lites with hair colors, some colorists just simply leave the bleached streaks as it is on the clients hair and proclaimed that those are "colored" hi-lites to their customers (imagine hi-lites streaks of hair at a RPC of 8 on a natural level 2 hair without any color deposit). These kind of short changed act simply destroy the professionalism in this industry.
I understand that profits margins is important, however these "acts" will backfired very badly. As a matter of facts, these kind of "colorist" will be penalized with a bad reputation of being unprofessional and in long term run, the business of the salon will be affected. Nothing is worst than having a bad reputation as a unprofessional hairdresser or Colorist. Customers come to the salon and pay Colorists for their advise and expertise. Always remember to consult with your customers about how much time and money is involved with the in-salon services. Honesty is the best policy. Honesty will build your customer's trust, your reputation and your business.
Nowadays, there are so many color line companies offering seminars or workshops on hair coloring techniques and knowledge. I highly recommend that it is always advisable to enroll yourself into such seminars or workshop regularly to free yourself from fear, get motivated and unleash the artistic potential within you.

Who can we blame?

In Most part of Asia countries, most people seems to be rushing for time in their daily life. You can see them walk with super fast pace; seems like they are late for some kind of appointments or they just seems that there is not enough time in a day for them. However that is the pace set by these "financial hub" countries.
These countries are so competitive that even the citizens are educated to be that way. Small market and tight competition makes everything come down to two things; that is speed and cost.
Needless to say, it affects the hair industry as well. Customers who come to the salon seems to rush to have their hair done. They expect fast and good haircut; fast, cheap and good hair coloring or perm. These really turn the industry into a frenzy. Salon owners, hairdressers and even Importers started to search for products that process faster, cheaper and easy to use. This kind of demand forces the hairdressers to skip on the fundamental steps of chemical services, thus enable the process to be faster and cheaper. However, WHO CARES? we are talking about competition and bottom line.
Experienced hairdressers may no longer be interested in educational workshop or seminars, but they are more interested to find out which product line promises faster and cheaper result. This is sure a sad thing happening to our industry, as quality is no longer a priority in their work or product used. As a professional hairdresser, we should educate our clients about better quality products and services.  Often when salons get complaints from customers that hair colors or perm are not done well or are not lasting enough and these blames are often targeted back to the product line. These complaints should not happen if hairdressers stick to their fundamental and keep their standard in place. This way, salons might have more happier customers and lesser complaints.
Just a five cents worth of advise; "is that as hairdresser, regardless of years of experience, we should keep upgrading ourselves and keep sourcing for quality workshops and seminars to attend. Get refreshed on our fundamental hairdressing skills that at times, we tend to forget."