I CUT MY OWN HAIR

Until this day my haircut it's not perfect but I'm happy with it.

I'm happier than when I used to go to an expensive hair salon, spend my hard-earned money and walk out with nothing close to what I wanted. It is not perfect now, but is as close and sometimes even better than in those times and I keep perfecting my technique year after year so, and that is really really good, it has been worth it, and I feel satisfied with the results now.

I remember when I bought the scissors, they were 160 pounds in London which was an ouch to my pocket at that time. I have been using them once every three months, and now I'm so happy I did that purchase.

It obviously has been a learning curve, I had to learn what was exactly the style I liked and how to do it, so I did not fuck my hair terribly. I wanted my hair to look like the professionals were still handling it, so, I went to the beauty school to learn how to do it, I actually did not even attend any other class but haircut.

It was hard to lose the fear of my first haircut not being perfect and not allowing myself to feel bad if it wasn't exactly how I liked it because now I cannot get upset with myself as I used to do with the hairstylists. Now I have to learn and understand that I'm working toward mastering my technique and you will have to go through this stage yourself to just remember one day you will master it and where you are coming from it's coming already from not perfection that's why you are reading this book that's why you are trying to do something new, so never be upset with yourself at first or on the beginning stages, it's not perfect, and it might never really be and you have to be ok with it. You can always start slow and try with the teaching tools that beauty students use, is all about the practice until you feel confident to do it on yourself and know when to stop if you feel you are fucking up. After so many years of watching and learning from the best, it was definitely time to try to do it myself.

I always found comfort in the fact that I was taking my hands on something I already didn’t like, which eased my mind along the time I was learning and experimenting on my own hair.

There will be things that I will absolutely suggest to you and push you to spend the money and hire the professionals, even when it's something expensive, but if you are going to get Hands-on and like myself, do it yourself, then be aware, especially if you are a perfectionist like myself, that it's not gonna be perfect at the beginning. One day you will get there and if you're good, maybe fast enough, but always be careful, real on your expectations, and patient with yourself. You are learning.

I am not suggesting you start cutting your own hair. I am telling you the story of how I ended up being able to do it. I finally took this jump into my beauty journey 8 years ago and I can tell you, that I absolutely have improved but it is still not perfect. To be fair, I spent a lot of money in the past, trying new hairstylists that did a worse job than I do on myself now and I know, most of you reading this, have at least, experienced once, leaving a hair salon not happy with the results and hurting from the money you spent, in even worse scenarios you even had to go find somebody else to fix it. I am sorry if you had this experience, I think we all have had it.

{Quick story… I was 16 years old, my parents are divorced since I am 4 years old and my mom was working all the time, I decided I was a big girl and that I could go to our regular hair salon just a few blocks from home, my mom agreed, it was just to cut ends, and everybody knew our family there, especially my mom as cosmetologist herself they used to spend hours just sitting and talking about beauty products, those are good memories of my childhood and now looking back, it all makes sense on why beauty was my destiny.

So, I went ahead, and as I was sitting on the chair and my girls start cutting my hair, robbers come into the salon, shut the doors down, and for what it felt, like a good 30 min, they robbed every single person inside the salon, going one by one, checking purses and taking the money and jewels, as the robber came close to my seat, I looked on the mirror and I could see my hairstylist was already on panic and silently crying, then I look over to him and these guys came in with long guns, he points it at us and demands our money, we just gave him the purses straight on, he looks at her and goes “what are you looking at, continue what you are doing cut her hair and do not stare at me’…

Needless to say how good my haircut was right? It took months to fix it. Now talking about traumas that stay with you, funny enough I barely can remember the gunpoint at my face. But I do remember how many nights I cried because of my fucked up hair. You know, the priorities of a 16-year-old girl. Haha.}

So if bad hair cuts, rookie hairstylists, burned hair during the coloring, or straightening process have been some of your experiences, let me tell you we all have had it. This is the fight on everybody’s beauty journey. And a good reason to be more selective, more informed, pickier before you let them touch your hair or any part of you whatsoever before you're sure you and your money are safe.

If you don't want somebody else to fuck it up for you, do not fuck it up for yourself first by making the wrong choices. Most of the time, a recommendation without background research on your part leads to disappointment and fucked up work.

Fortunately for me I also had access to the best in their field through the years on tv and modeling, I spent so much money hiring the best to have the best haircut, color, hair extensions, treatments, etc. and making sure those experiences NEVER happen to me again.

I also spent money on a good beauty school, which is expensive, it is not a cheap career, and mostly getting the right tools makes it even more expensive, for the ones that do not know that and want to pursue this field, be aware, you will need funds, and do not go cheap on your tools, get the best since the beginning or nothing at all. This decision allows me to qualify and assess people's work better, techniques, and products they choose to use before I hire them.

I spent the money, and paid attention to the 6 to 8 hours that normally takes to get my hair done, the whole process, color, wash, hair cut, drying technique, ALL THAT I CAN SEE from that chair, especially when they are cutting my hair. I seek through the wet hair on my face and LEARN.

So, before you fly into this path, first spend the hours and research I did for years exposing myself to hairstylists of all kinds. Learned from them, checking their results, and collecting the information I need to know about myself, my hair, body, skin, etc, and any new input they had about advice on how to master my own beauty. It always paid off, still does. The secret is, that my list of quality requirements has gone larger before I step into a new hair salon or meet a new professional, and for sure but mostly before they get their hands on me. Yes, I am particular that way. it has prevented me from having bad experiences, it makes me communicate perfectly what I want and what I expect the end result to be, so there are no mistakes. You know making sure that when you say, just cut the ends, you don’t walk out with a Jennifer Aniston on "Friends TV show" haircut 10 cm. Shorter than you came in, who can relate?

20 plus years of getting all kinds of things done to my hair, and professional hands that have touched it, some good some bad, how many hours and money do you think I have spent?

With love

Jay Rodriguez

The Beauty Designer