By Mike Deak
I learned in college a blanket statement that I carry with me to this day.
“Free food is good food.”
In the literal sense, as a college kid, if someone offers you a free slice of pizza, you take the slice. In a figurative measure, it can blanket statement anything someone wants to obtain on the cheap.
For the past five years, I learned that free haircuts are better than paying for haircuts. I just had to learn to trust that high school juniors and seniors could have me walking out of the Fairfield Cosmetology salon not looking like Oscar The Grouch. As my life’s journey has brought me into my second year at West Noble, I wanted to continue my relationship with Fairfield Cosmetology with someone from West Noble. I was paired with West Noble senior Melissa Ledesma, whom I had never met prior to September, nor knew any of her people.
What I fast learned as a client with Ledesma, she is incredibly talented as a hair stylist. It took me one session in her chair to explain how my hair grows, and how to work with the patterns and styles. Session two was amazing, as Ledesma not only broke out of her reserved shell, but she immediately went to work and had my haircut done in about a half hour. She claimed that she had practiced on her dad, and a couple weeks later at a football game, her dad verified it.
“When I began my work at Cos until now, I feel like I have come a long way especially with men's cuts,” Ledesma said. “Starting this year with clients I looked at the schedule and Ms. Firestone (Lisa Firestone, Fairfield Cosmetology coordinator) put me down for two men’s cuts. At the time I was not confident but she told me, “You will be fine and I will be here if anything does happen”.
Ledesma is one of about two dozen seniors from several different schools who have been working with live clients this year at the salon, and another wave of juniors picked up live clients the second half of the school year. The students work in the salon half days to earn a required set of hours, and there is bookwork involved as well. As they develop their talents, some choose to enter skills competitions, such as through SkillsUSA, where they can compete at the local, regional, state, and occasionally, national levels.
I truthfully tell Ledesma each time we wrap up a session, the time in the chair truly is ‘the best half hour of my day.’ Her confidence in her craft has grown exponentially, she is now much more chatty both at the salon and on campus, and eventually I got my own distinct barbering cape. Her future in the business is extremely bright, and just this week, she passed her exams that puts her on the path to get her cosmetology license.
“Getting out of Cos is going to help me by just having my license in hand and working in a salon or barbershop,” offered Ledesma. “I would continue my education just by taking some extra classes here and there that would help me better my techniques and just overall better my skills.”