There’s Always A Market For Excellence

One of my most profound and life-changing periods was the two-and-a-half years I spent as a haircutting apprentice. I learned the lesson that life has taught me? many times: 'Things that matter take effort and time.' I also experienced fully the value and difference, between completing a goal after a lengthy process, versus rushing to the end of something just to get to the next thing.?

I’m going to begin at a moment that I’ll never forget, that summed up the entire experience, and that still guides me when I’m feeling a little…?

‘Oh stop being a baby,’ my teacher says to me, then walks away without any emotion as she fails me, for the second time, on my Classic Graduated Bob. I had pled my case for about 5 minutes, and I can be pretty persuasive. But not to this head educator. The error she pointed out was so slight, that it had to be determined in millimeters, and not a lot of ‘em either. My live model, who had sat there for 2 hours as I meticulously executed her haircut, looks up at me through truly invested eyes and asks, ‘So did you pass?’ ‘No, no I? didn’t.’ She responds, ‘But I love it! It’s perfect!’ I coax a smile and say, ‘Thank you, I’m? so happy that you love it!’ She gets up, I rebook her for 5 weeks from that date so I? can try again, we hug, and off she goes skipping out of the salon feeling fabulous! I fold up my cape quietly at my station, upset, defeated, and stressed out. My next model is already waiting for me on the couch. I’ve been an apprentice for a year and a half at this point, and I’ve reached just about the middle of my apprenticeship…?

I began my haircutting apprenticeship at around 28 years old, at the suggestion of my wife at the time, who was already an accomplished and successful colorist. She schooled me in how to navigate this stage of the industry most advantageously so that when I did complete my apprenticeship, I would be able to immediately charge top dollar. I would also have the skills, and the skill level, that would make many different paths available to me within the industry. I will always be grateful for those insights.? Mentorship can definitely provide shortcuts, and more direct paths, to wherever you want to go. At the time, departmentalization was common among many ‘high-end’ salons, and with a background in graphic design, I chose hair cutting. Graphic design is proportion,? balance, spatial relations of objects, and angles; I mean, how hard could this haircutting thing be? Come to learn, VERY hard.??

My apprenticeship was open-ended. You were done when you were able to cut, I? believe it was 12 foundational haircuts, designed to teach every conceivable shape and technique, on any length and texture of hair, perfectly. My apprenticeship was done on live models, I never even saw a mannequin until I started working for hair product brands. 4? live models every week, if we missed 3 in one month we’d be fired. Every Monday all 4? locations were closed so that all 40+ apprentices could descend upon the flagship location, and learn our chosen discipline of haircutting and hairstyling, or color. My teachers were TOUGH! Excellence, perfection, and hard work were the only expectations.? There was nothing less, and if that didn’t work for you, you didn’t work for them. No negotiations. No exceptions.

‘Wait! Please stop running, we just want to cut your hair!!!’ My fellow apprentice and I yell after a potential haircut model, as she is literally running away from us down the street.? You see, we were across the street looking at her (her hair more accurately), talking back and forth about who was going to approach her, to try to recruit her as a haircut model. When we finally did cross the street, she got up from her outdoor seat at? Starbucks, grabbed all of her stuff, and started literally to run away. With all that staring and discussion, we must’ve looked like we were going to rob her or something! This was? ‘model hunting,’ and was for me, the most difficult element of my apprenticeship I spent a full day every week, for the full 2.5 years of my apprenticeship (yes you read that correctly). Sometimes with a fellow apprentice, more often alone, wandering the streets of San Francisco. Stalking people in supermarkets, Nordstrom Rack locations,? Malls, and ultimately everywhere and anywhere. Those were some VERY long days. To this day, I have NO problem approaching anyone on the street, or anywhere else for that matter, in order to build my business. What a valuable experience, that I was definitely not appreciating at the time.?

When I wasn’t model hunting, or being called a baby on Monday during class day, I? worked 4 days as an assistant. We were assigned to 1 very booked stylist, or 2 less booked stylists for 6 months, and then we would rotate. We could be sent to any of the 4 locations, which were very distant from each other. So commute changed, the salon location changed, and the person I assisted changed. While working with 5 different personalities during my 2.5 years, I learned by watching. I learned what not to do - I’ll never forget when the stylist that I worked with asked a client when she was ‘due,’ only to discover that she wasn’t pregnant. To this day I will NEVER ask. What TO do - I? remember when I was assisting the owner who ran chronically late, asking him if I? should reschedule a late client. ‘I run late, so I’ll never cancel a client for being late,’ he responded. Relationships are equal, never penalize someone for doing something, that you do. Wise council indeed. This role was really where I shined brightest and fell in love with the beauty industry.?

‘Alright Yureesh, everyone’s here, you can begin setting up your models.’ I respond,? ‘Give me 5 minutes, I need to go outside for a cigarette.’ This was the night of my graduation soiree. After 2.5 years, I made it! As I stood outside smoking my cigarette, I? was completely overwhelmed. I realized that this was the first long-term goal that I had accomplished since graduating High School roughly 12 years earlier. SO MUCH had happened. I felt, lost, my head swimming with memories. What I had accomplished here was literally a miracle. Everyone in my life believed I was going to die by my mid-20s, and here I am, about to be a hairstylist in the most prestigious salon group in the Bay Area of California. My Grandmother wasn’t there, my parents weren’t there, I felt oddly so alone in this moment. I flicked the cigarette butt into the street and headed back up to the salon. I had spent the entire day prepping 24 hair models. I hung the backdrops that I painted by hand. All of the stylists and assistants that worked at all 4? locations, about 140 people, were there to see my work and celebrate my graduation. I? got my models set up and turned down the lights, and the whole salon went silent. I pressed play on the sound system. ‘Party People… Party People… Can y’all get funky?’ Planet Rock started, a spotlight turned on, and my show began, finally, my first step was completed. Beginning a 22-year journey, that I never could’ve imagined, and as I write this, I can barely believe it. My most cherished lesson from this experience? Excellence takes time, and when you take the time to become excellent, there will always be a market for you.

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