Guest post by Katrina Tinsely, a TUBC student at our Indianapolis campus.
Doing hair is so much more than just a haircut or just a color or a style. It’s about people. We not only make our clients look good, but we make them feel good as well. As far back as I can remember I’ve been interested in the beauty industry. My first job was working the beauty counter at a local drug store and from there I was hooked. There I saw how this entire industry changed not only how people looked but how they felt too. As simple as a new lipstick or cheek color completely changes the way a woman feels about themselves.
While working at the drug store I discovered how well I worked with people. It was so easy for me to carry on complete conversations with total strangers. That’s when I decided that this is what I wanted to do, in some way shape or form I wanted to be in the beauty industry.
My mother, Grandmother, and Great Aunt all did hair but they all quit after a little while because they didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t want to make that mistake. So early on I started learning as much as I could about hair, skin, and nails. I read my Mom’s cosmetology books, and my mom showed me different things that I couldn’t learn from reading. I started practicing on my friends and family, and soon I knew it, I was made for this! Some people go their entire lives doing a job they hate just to pay the bills. I feel so blessed that I was given the opportunity to pursue my passion. Every day I get to wake up and do exactly what I want to do.
So here I am, in cosmetology school, and I love it. Every day I learn something new about myself. I’m 25 years old, and before II got here I thought I knew myself pretty well, but the truth was that there was a whole other side that hadn’t been discovered. The feeling I get when I’m standing behind my client is a whole new joy that I never knew was there. I don’t know exactly where I want to go when I graduate, but I know that this is what I’m supposed to do. I love that fact that I’m not limited to being a stylist only. I could be a makeup artist, I could work with the elderly in a nursing home, and I could work on a movie set doing hair and makeup for celebrities. The possibilities are endless, but regardless of the job I choose I know that I will be helping whoever my client is. It is so much more to this industry than just makeup, hair, glitter, and money. This industry gives women and men the ability to be whomever or whatever they want to be if even just for a few hours. There’s that feeling when you get a new haircut, when your all dressed up with your make up done, that feeling when your husband says you’re beautiful. It’s all of that rolled up into one word, Cosmetology.