When I went to cosmetology school I immediately was drawn to two different hair interests: hair color and creating elegant and complicated updos.

Yeah, that sounds a little bipolar but I will confess I also was not all that excited about cutting hair or doing certain types of chemicals.

(Image from Goldwell - DualSense Collection - Volume Model - All Rights Reserved)

Learning To Cut And Color Hair With Mannequins

When you first start cutting hair in beauty school as a student, you always use a mannequin.  Well, unless you can get a student to let you chop away with abandon (which rarely happens), the mannequins are usually the first to be subjected to your scissors.

The same is true about hair color.  Which is why the closet in the Entry Level Class Hair Lab was overflowing with mannequins with melted scalps (from too much bleach), big chunks of missing hair and oddly hued tiger stripes.

I was immediately mesmerized by the multi-colored foils, the cool little color brushes and the rows and rows of brightly hued tubes of hair color.  I was also fascinated by any of the advanced students “doing color” and would sneak out of the lab to watch them until I got shooed away.

When I wasn’t stalking the best color teachers and their students, I was practicing creating barrel curls, pin curls, French twists and ballerina buns on my overworked mannequins.

Scissor Exercises

When we had to do crazy scissor exercises in order to learn how to hold the tools, I would give my cutting teacher the stink eye and hold my breath at every snip, snip, snip.  I even bought myself the very best cutting scissors and Japanese razor I could find to try and trigger a new found interest in cutting hair.

The point to all my ramblings?  I knew I had a natural love for creating updos, wet sets and doing color.  I was OK with perms and straighteners, except for the, ahem, strong aromas.  But hair cutting?  Total mental block and definite lack of interest.

I also had some BFFs in my class who were fabulous at cutting but couldn’t create highlights to save their lives.  One of my peers burst into tears when she melted the mannequin head with too much bleach.

Jack Of All Hair Trades?

While there are some hairdressers who are good at everything in the hair trade, I personally have found that the very best hair cutters are not necessarily the best at hair color and vice versa.

(Image - Goldwell - BrillianceBlonde - All Rights Reserved)

I know one hairdresser who can create eye popping, mouth dropping updos for any hair event but can’t cut or color very well.  He will be the first to tell you that very tidbit information.

Consequently he has built a very busy business doing weddings, Proms, party hair and related events.

Does this mean all hair colorists shouldn’t cut hair and all hairdressers shouldn’t color hair?  Not necessarily.  However, if you have specific color issues such as gray hair which won’t hold color, ends that are overprocessed or highlights that turn green, you may need to find a hair color expert and not hope that a general hairdresser can offer the same expertise.

Celebrity Hair Experts With Specialities

Celebrity hair experts are more often than not specialists in either hair color or hair cutting.  Rita Hazan is a very famous hair colorist who has been creating fabulous hues for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson and Ashless Simpson for many years.  She also does not do anything else.

Ken Paves is amazing at cutting hair.  I have watched him in awe as he has transformed lifeless blobs of hair into edgy shags and bobs.  Ken can also create amazing updos, curls and waves.  He is fabulous with hair extensions.  But when he doesn’t do hair color.  He will be the first to tell you that.

Differences Between Haircolorists And Haircutters?

Why am I waxing poetically about the differences between hair color experts and hair cutters?  I though you would never ask.  I received an email today from a hair consumer who had been working with a hair colorist who billed herself as such.

She left her and went to a hairdresser who promised her she could easily do her color.  She was frantically emailing me because her “new hairdresser” had turned her beautiful platinum hair bright green and her “new hairdresser” had no idea how to fix it.

Am I saying not to let a hairdresser do your hair color?  No.  Am I saying to never let your haircolorist do your cuts?  No.

Do Your Hair Pro Homework

What I am saying is to always do your homework before turning your strands into the hands of a new hair person.  Always ask detailed questions about their background, their training and what they love to do best.

(Image From Goldwell - ColorIQ Collection - All Rights Reserved).

Do they love to create the latest edgy bob or do they live for creating the perfect shade of platinum blonde?

Do they classify themselves as a haircolor experts or do they advbertise their expetise in cutting and or styling?  Some hairdressers specialize in chemicals, others in updos or hair extensions?  Do the hair color folks attend ongoing hair color education?  Do they talk to you about the latest color trends and have books with their amazing hair color work displayed for your perusal?  Do the cutters have gorgeous images of models with eye popping cuts?

You be the judge.  Ask questions, do your research and always remember, you have to wear your hair around town, not your hairdresser or haircolor expert.

Tags: bleach, cosmetology school, Hair Color, hair cutting, hair twists, Updos

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 9:12 pm and is filed under Fashion, Hair, Hair Color, Hair Rants & Raves, Hairstyles, Hairstyling Tips, Men's Hairstyles, What I Learned in Beauty School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.