Tampa through my eyes 2.2

Tampa through my eyes 1.2

Lauren - orlando, florida-2/20/10

COLOR: -All Pravana- I did a mo-hawk section on top of the head, but I've really gotten into just slanting it a little so you have a dark side and a light side depending on where you part. It gives a great block-color effect to a bang and covers a lot of space from a small section. I used 8.31 with 30 volume and lightener with 30 volume, in a random combination of slices and weaves everywhere, including the few foils I put on the side of her face. I tried to do mainly very fine slices.

CUT: I used Toni&Guy's Shattered Graduation technique (I use it A LOT) from the occipital down, and cut off a good 3 inches to get the perimeter up to the shoulders. I've given her a lot of layers and taken out a lot of weight with point cutting in the past, so I actually combed everything down to natural fall and just cut the whole perimeter. I know you're not supposed to do that, but sometimes you just know the perimeter is weak enough that you can, don't lie! And if you're going for a textured look and plan on shattering the perimeter anyway... why not? I used Toni&Guy's Forward Graduation for the face-frame and then for the entire top I did Paul Mitchel's Square Layers. After it was dry I did a lot of point-cutting to remove weight and then cut her a side bang.

STYLING: I actually used a Kerastase treatment product on Lauren called Ciment Thermique (http://www.kerastase-usa.com/_en/_us/resistance-ciment_thermique.htm). It's a heat activated refortifying leave-in that works wonders. Other than that I just did my flat-wrap with a paddle brush and flat-ironed to really get that treatment into the hair.

Lauren and I met while I was still training at Paul Mitchel. It must of been sometime in the spring or summer of 2008 when I first did her hair. I remember because I used a high-lighting technique I learned at Magnolia's Salon&Spa in Winter Park, and I started there in Dec. of '07.

I see Lauren as a calm and well spoken girl, and she has a lot of fun when she's not working for the local tv channel hosting ABC. She grew up in Florida and has the laid back attitude of a Florida girl. Lauren was one of my first clients and I still do her hair today!

I took the bus to College Park Saturday to meet Lauren. Lauren and I got Einstein's to-go and headed to her friend's condo where we got down to business. Well, actually I forgot developer and we had to go on a mission to Beauty Alliance, but other than that things went really smooth. Her friend Daniela, the one hosting us in her kitchen, has a sister who has couch-surfed and is a host in Washington, D.C. I already plan on visiting to see my dad and maybe cut everyone's hair at his church. I'm happy to know I have another potential contact who could probably show me the night-life of D.C. better than my dad.

We dished about guys and I was still rambling about my project when I was leaving. The first thing I loved about being a hair stylist is that relationship I watched my bosses grow with their client. When you can go to work and let business go out the window and just spend some time with someone and exchange goods and services... I don't know, there's something so simple about it that you can't fight wanting to get personal.

I can't say that Lauren and I spend a lot of time together, or that we know a lot of the same people. But I can say that every 7-8 weeks we spend a few hours together and we have a friend in each other for that time. And she knows I'll look out for her, and I know she'll look out for me. And I don't have to "up-sell" or "keep up appearances" or "keep the conversation neutral." No, we just talk and ask questions of each other that we really want to know the answers to.

Then she goes her way and I go mine. And in my head I'll remember a story she told me or a piece of advice she shared, and I'll act on it or pass it on. And, hopefully, she'll do the same. And that's beautiful, if you can take the time to think about it. Just two would-be strangers interacting in complete peace and striving to make each other happy with the time spent together. Hey, maybe I'm pulling this apart too much, or maybe you're not pulling apart your day enough.

Gunnar

Heather -orlando, florida-2/15/10

OLOR: -All Pravana- The base (all-over color) is 50/50 7n & 8n with 10 volume. I used 10 volume and lightner for her blond, and the pink and purple sections. I decided last minute on doing a tiny piece of dark brown (50/50 4.22&5n with Zero Lift) just lying on top of the colors, and one on the right side underneath a high-light just to kinda put the whole scheme together.

CUT: In the back I did Toni&Guy's Round Layers, basically getting a uniform layer all around the back and underneath of the head (the occipital to the nape.) In the front and on top I kind of free-styled after it was dry, using a lot of the sectioning and cutting lines of Paul Mitchel's Triangular Layers. I happen to know for a fact that licensed stylists can go into a Paul Mitchel school and take a class on their Core Cutting.

STYLING: -All Bumble&Bumble- I styled this a lot like I did Elizabeth's cut, except with Heather I used Thickening Hairspray on damp hair and blow-dried everything in the back straight up. That stuff has a lot of kick. After it was dry I used a little bit of Sumo-Tech, applying with my finger tips to the roots in the back of the head for volume. Then I spread a thin layer over my hands and just add some texture and movement to everything by wiping the tips or gathering certain strands into bigger accents.

She's a student at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Heather was actually my last client at Altamoda, which I find ironic because I really used everything I learned there while doing her hair. If I'm right she's studying psychology and literature, and I'm sure other ones... maybe not... I don't know anything about college yet.


Heather was set on some pink or purple, I was so excited. I wish I had taken a before picture, Heather is actually really blond naturally. In my thinking though, when you're using unnatural colors like pink. green, blue, etc., you really want a
good backdrop for all that. I decided this light brown would be flat enough and still complimentary to her skin. I say flat because the contrast between these bright colors and a more matte color, even a bleached-out blond look, is really perfect. Also, Heather has pretty fine hair and when using a deposit only color on fine light hair, you technically make the hair strand a tiny bit thicker since you're adding dye molecules. And getting nice matte brown into that hair can really make it appear thicker, especially at the roots.

I added a couple highlights and two low lights- one right on top of the brighter colors and one just above a highlight on the right (her right not yours.)

She was actually referred to me by a good friend of mine, a girl that works front desk at Altamoda part time, Elise. She's at Rollins too and over conversation I got the referral. This is the biggest ego boost for a hairstylist, just so you know. I'm still getting high on it.

Heather and I really connected and she was one of the first few people I told about this blog and project. As an educated and modern girl I'd just met, her immediate interest and support of the idea was priceless to me. And the fact that the two of us were able to go back and forth with our ideas for her hair, brought us to a result we both loved.

Let's hear it for Heather.



-Gunnar

work.

This is a Toni&Guy cut I learned in my New Talent Training @Altamoda.

CUT: Shattered Graduation, Toni&Guy Classic Cuts. I hear this collection is available in a book, and on DVDs. Maybe they're sold together. Not my job.

STYLING: Bumble & Bumble Prep and Styling Lotion (love both). Finger-dried at the roots, against the hair's natural pattern where you want volume or movement, with the pattern where you don't (this saves so much time). I used a flat brush to move the hair from side to side in the back, and then just leafed it down in the front, brushed and dried upwards on the top. A messy version of Paul Mitchel's "flat-wrapping." Moving the hair side to side in the back along the head shape gives it a perfect amount of curve under the head and lays awesome on the neck.




Every week, sometime every other week, Phillip made all the New Talent (new stylists and assistants) get a model with straight hair willing to do the haircut he'd chosen for us out of the Toni&Guy "Collection Cuts".

This week (8/13/09) I remember I had no model right down to a half hour before class. I went across the street to the only place where I could hunt someone out, the grocery store downtown. The only grocery store downtown.

In the cereal aisle I passed Elizabeth, who was seriously analyzing the ingredients of something healthy looking. I actually think I walked away and came back and circled her again. I figured the only way to propose something like this on such short notice was to just say it.

"Hey, I'm Gunnar, I'm a stylist across the street at Altamoda. Anyway, I need a model for this class at the salon in like 20 minutes and you just happen to have the perfect length and type of hair I need. Can I get you to be my model?"

I showed her a picture of the cut, and of course she hesitated for a minute or maybe just over. Like 80 seconds. I was playing it super cool, but approaching people in the street... Well, I mean, I've done it. Just, never sober. I was desperate for her yes, and I got it.

The cut was an amazing variation of a traditional haircut. In school things were kept simple, but here I was learning to bend all the rules and make your own haircuts. And being with all these people, my age, learning their own version of what I was learning. I got to see 4 people do this haircut in a different way. These classes became priceless to me.

Elizabeth and I lost touch for a while. Then, she came into the salon on a Saturday a few months ago and had just gotten an awesome promotion. She was moving to Dallas, Texas wanted me to do her hair one more time (some awesome red highlights on a really dark red-brown, almost black, actually.)

I met Elizabeth only a couple weeks after I got my license. I'm not sure if she noticed, but that night I had the time of my life. Learning a new part of this craft I perform with my hands. Meeting someone so special in an experience that was part of my job.

What I need the more than a model that night, was to meet someone who saw the world I did. Elizabeth was a smart and hard-working, beautiful woman in a city where many women I met aimed for a husband instead of a career.

Hopefully somewhere along my travels I can track her down and maybe even do her hair again.

Gunnar

The beginning

I think it would be unfair to never mention how scared I am. I'm picking up everything, I'm leaving no home behind and I'm only saving enough for emergencies. I'm gonna count on me being personable and talented enough to get clients out of thin air in cities I've never been to.

I spent almost everything I have to pay my past due cell phone bill, just knowing that I need it to get this project rolling. I have to practice sacrifice for this to work. It's nerve-wrecking to think about leaving this town and not knowing where I'll have my own room again. I've been dying to go to college for years now, I've wanted to study literature and journalism for so long, but I'm not ready to commit. Maybe I'm just a 23 year old man... but maybe its something more.

Yesterday I called one of my mentors at Altamoda. Clarissa and I come from two different lives, and she's years ahead of me (I won't say how many.) I realized while telling her these very words, I just haven't seen anything! I've lived here, and in Boston, but I haven't seen anything of the world that someone hasn't showed me through their eyes.

News, television, magazines and the stories and advice of others. Its all somebody's perspective, the way they saw it. I've gotta see it myself.

I keep scaring myself with "what ifs" and "maybes" but at the same time those question marks are pushing me further and further into this. Adventure is in my blood. I remember being in 5th grade and reading about American history. What I wouldn't give to explore uncharted land. Instead, I'm exploring uncharted people and lifestyles. And their hair. I can't wait to see how older women wear their hair in Savannah and Atlanta. I have this new obsession with meeting Paula Dean and styling her hair for an episode.

My friend Gretta says, about scaring myself out of this trip, "Just plan on having a good time in a few cities, that way you don't scare yourself by making it such a big deal." I like this, but I'm not sure if I'm totally capable of it.

My mom, one of the first few followers of this blog, lives by "THINK BIG." Her thoughts on all this are just what I thought they'd be, "I'd love to see you settle down and make a life for yourself and get more involved with the church, but you gotta do what you gotta do." Between this and her always saying, "keep being a rockstar" before she hangs up the phone, I've got my mom in my heart through this all.


As if God was trying to tell me this was the right thing to do, special circumstances brought my time at Altamoda to an end yesterday. Leaving behind a beautiful salon where I found a home when I really needed one, I had a lot of mixed feelings. Really, I should have been devastated. If I didn't have this plan in the works, and already plan on leaving, I would have been. I knew I had to leave now or I might not ever.

It's almost surreal. Yesterday on my way to work I was coming up with a speech for each of my 3 bosses that I planned to give one on one with each of them. I had nothing but good to say, and while I sat in the office with all 3 of them, I felt it was time. Phillip and Eileen Rosado have shown me the best of the art of hair. Phillip trained me in Toni&Guy hair cutting, which is invaluable. Eileen showed me the precision work necessary for the knock out color I look for. And Stefanie Corbet showed me, through her own actions and words, how to make yourself an animal in the workplace and keep your heart from going cold.

I promise there will be pictures soon, I'm planning to showcase some of my recent clients and give a little bio about them all. I'm also lining up some clients to do on location in the next few days, so I'll get some work up a.s.a.p.

I'm also trying to design a flier. A handbill with a link to my blog and a short excerpt about my adventure. My phone number or email, maybe a photo of me. I've recruited the help of an artistic genius of sorts. I consider myself an artist, but when I get all wrapped up in colors and fonts and design, well, I'll get stuck for days designing a flier.

Today I talked to a recruiter for the Hair Cuttery. I know, I know. The Hair Cuttery? Honestly I need to make some serious dough this summer, and if I was thinking long term I'd find another nice salon to build a clientele in. But with me leaving, I just need something high volume where I can meet a lot of people and make awesome tips. I figure if I'm doing good at a salon downtown, I should be okay in a corporate joint... we'll see.

I'm about to get ready and hit the town. Bus 30 eastbound from Alafaya. I'm headed to the beauty supply to get some... beauty supplies. I'm excited, I've never bought professional color with my license before, I've never had to at the salon.

Wish me luck.

FRIENDS!!!!

Today I woke up and could barely get through a very rushed work out before I sat at the computer and put in some work on this project.

I've made this awesome contact in Savannah through couchsurfers.org and I just added him to my facebook. This is the photographer I mentioned last night. His name is Bryce and he looks like he does some really awesome work. Even better I'm looking at pictures of his friends and there is some sick hair in Savannah!

This got me going on some foundation work today. I'm going through all my friends on myspace and facebook and telling them about my project. Over the years all my friends have scattered themselves throughout the country, and while I hated it when it happened, now I'm thankful. I'm loving the idea of turning our social network into a real community as I ask people for their support and help setting up appointments in their cities. One guy thinks he can organize a whole day event at his house where I just do hair for all his friends.

I have a facebook friend who has been doing some writing for well-known magazines, and today I broke the facebook-ice and actually sent her a personal message about my project. Hopefully she'll be a fan!

Last night I emailed some clients and asked what they thought of my idea, and asked permission to put they're photos on my blog. I know you guys are gonna wanna some some hair soon!

Today I'm working at 2, that means I'm getting on the bus at noon. I'll have a lot of time to come up with more ideas.

PLEASE comment!!!

Gunnar