I finally decided to go to
beauty school at 21, really more because I was pressured by
my mother to find a career. See, she and my father
had bought a house in Cuernavaca, Mexico to retire and she
refused to leave the United States until both of her
daughters had a career.
At the time, I was at a
community college in Plano where I grew up, and honestly I
was totally goofing off! I'm not sure I would have
ever gotten anywhere the way I was going. So, after
"our talk", I decided to try beauty school because
a friend of mine had a friend that was a stylist and it
attracted me because I had always been interested in "the
arts" and I love to talk to people. So I thought,
"what the hell", I'll give it a try.
I know that sounds pretty weak, but truly this is how I got
into this profession. But, even though my
decision to get into this profession wasn't really all that
thought-out, by the end of my first week in beauty school,
I knew in my soul this was my calling. I had a
blast! Everyone I was surrounded by was very creative
and fun. We even had a few drag queens and they would
bring in their wigs to style for their
performances.
Anyway, following beauty school, I landed my first job at a
really nice salon near downtown Dallas. I received
great training in perfecting my cutting skills, but
ultimately I didn't get along with one of the owners.
Which, of course, is only a losing situation for the
employee, so I moved on.
This is when I decided to move to Austin, Texas. I
interviewed with six different salons and finally settled
into a great salon off of 6th Street. I worked there
a total of eight years and received a lot of knowledge
on everything from formulating color, updo's, highlighting
techniques and so much more. In those years I worked
with many very talented people and all of them had
something to offer, but eventually I out-grew this fabulous
salon also.
After leaving there, I settled into a cute and very
comfortable atmosphere at Crimson Hair and Skin. This
is a booth rental salon, so it allows me to be flexible
with my schedule and essentially work for myself.
After all my years in this business, this, by far, has been
the most rewarding for me. I, of course, constantly
continue to search and find new avenues to expand my
expertise, from hair shows and classes, to just watching my
co-workers and their techniques.
In closing, I just
want to say "Hey Mom, Thanks for 'the
Talk'"!
-Alex
