26.7.09

Who are you this time?


This is a little something I did a while back.



Sonic Youth part 1.

Okay, so I'm writing for a web-zine called stylestreet.com.au which is for hairdressers about hairdressers by hairdressers. My article is based on the 10 questions idea.   
Apparently there has been a drop in numbers for apprentice hairdressers. So lets ask the youth what they think... This article can also be found at
www.stylestreet.com.au

Meet Harley.





JPR: How are you and where are you?

HL:I’m good thank you very much. I live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Where I have lived all my life.

JPR:How long have you been in the hairdressing?

HL:I’ve been in the game now for about 3yrs,compriseing of Hairdressing Pre-Apprentship Coarse, cert 2 at Chisholm Institute Dandenong. And junior apprentice in a salon in Melbourne city I also attend trade school at Biba Academy.

JPR:Where have you worked?

HL:I worked at Worksense Haircutters at their Queen st salon for the majority of my apprenticeship, which is best described as an up market

Salon. In truth, this for me was both fruitful and frustrating. I am now doing some part-time work with Elliot Beautiful Hair, which is located in South Yarra Melbourne. Which has been a refreshing and relaxing environment of which I haven’t experienced in a salon so far.

JPR:Where did you start and why hairdressing?

HL:I started at Chisholm Institute doing cert2 coarse in hairdressing to make sure that it was a right fit for me, and also to have some basic skills for work in a salon.

I tend to get that question a lot, it’s a bit frustrating. I tend to say why not hairdressing? Visually I find hairdressing interesting and creative especially cutting! To see a client visually change from new style excites me.

As a career its always changing which is good as you will never get bored with your job an the industry will never die.

JPR:What are you working on at the moment?

HL:I’m not working for a salon as such at the moment, however, I am studying at Biba Academy for two days a week while I seek an apprenticeship with a salon, or I may continue at Biba Academy fulltime to get my Hairdressing qualification quicker.

JPR:Top 10 products/tools in your kit and why?

HL:Tools-carbon comb create for men’s cutting, ghd's for styling hairups, good set of clips is a must for cutting an styling, a wooden vented round brush great for blow drying. Fringe pins are a handy tool to have in your bag at all times for hair ups

Products-American crew styling products fiber/defining paste great for men’s styling, Aveada air control hair spray has great hold for hair ups and after blow dry. Kevin Murphy angel wash shampoo and conditioner great for fine and damaged hair.

JPR:What has been your career highlight?

HL:To be honest with you my career has been not as fruitful as I would like it to be.

But the one thing that has stood out for me so was the opportunity to work, train and learn from stylists such as Jean-Paul Rosette who has been a great inspiration. He's a unique individual like I am, so I hope that I can build myself a career around my personality like he has. And there are stylist like Ivan Constable an Daniel Ravech that have been in the industry a long time, I won’t say how long, but I was fortunate to work with these stylists very early on in my career and hope to match and surpass them one day!

JPR:What are the biggest problems facing apprentice hairdressers today?

HL:Where to start with this question? Well, I was let go from my apprenticeship very suddenly and without any warning with a year and half left to go, it was very disappointing as I had invested good amount of my time an career with the salon in the hope of getting adequate training which turned out I didn’t get enough, of which is now hindering my chances of getting another apprenticeship with a new salon, as I am behind the eight ball with my training. I spent a good amount of time wining over the senior staff so I could blow-dry and style some of their clients in the busier days and nights. Then suddenly another 2nd yr apprentice was hired who had on-floor experience,, which was very disappointing. The one thing that has kept me seeking employment in hairdressing was the reaction from most the senior staff not to happy about me getting let go from the salon and a few of them have been in regular contact with are  making sure that I am pursuing hairdressing which has given me a lot of confidence that I can succeed in hairdressing as a stylist. So I think one of the biggest problems for apprentices is finding a salon that is committed to seeing you through the three years of your apprenticeship and the training that is necessary.

The one thing I noticed at trade school amongst the other

Apprentices is they tend to bounce a lot between salons, moving from one job to the next. I believe this is not good to bounce around from salon to salon while you are trying to learn a skill set and a trade for a career.

For me the biggest problem as an apprentice has been getting a real chance to implement what I've leant at trade school to work on the floor in a salon environment. I don’t know if that was just the salon I was working for, however I find that in-salon training is inadequate, as some owners don’t put in the time to teach me or other apprentices. Once a week training after hours on one model is not efficient enough.

I think employers just need to have confidence in their juniors as opposed to feeling like we cost the salon money. We (the juniors) are here to work

JPR:How can we get in contact with you?

 

HL:There are many ways that you get in touch with me in the 21st century.

harlism@hotmail.com

Then there there’s Facebook,

And Myspace,

And at last twitter,

http://twitter.com/unclerev

www.chisholm.edu.au

 http://www.biba.com.au/



19.7.09

Man that hair is Killer.



Man that hair is Killer, is a comment I heard at the Style Melbourne shoot.

This is a sneak peak at the huge hair I did for said photo shoot.

Details to come.

www.stylemelbourne.com



12.7.09

Start breaking my heart






I don’t normally post pictures of haircuts here, however, I was doing my rounds on the Wide World Web when I stumbled on some photos of haircuts I like at the moment. It struck me that they all have one thing in common, as you can see for yourself.

Everywhere I look I see blunt cut hair.

It kind of reminds me of lovers past. Or should I say, a lover past. Do you remember that kooky girl at school who wore black all the time, smoked cigarettes, had an English accent, listened to Kate Bush and used to loiter around the art department? Well, her name is Abbie and Abbie was everything, She was my first real crush I had with an older girl. We dated in high school, I was a pimply 15 year old and she was 17.  When I say date, I really mean I hung out with her for three months until it ended very abruptly.

One minute we are making out in her bedroom to the sounds of Nick Cave, the next, she started hanging around Neil. All I knew about Neil was he was at university and drove a car. 

And now I hate everybody bearing the name Neil the world over, forever more.