CRESTVIEW — There’s more to cosmetology than crafting the coolest hairdo.
“It’s not a bunch of fun playing with hair all the time,” said Deanne Jackson, who teaches Crestview High School’s CHOICE cosmetology program. “We have a lot of theory and bookwork involved.”
But if students stick with it, upon graduation and turning 19, they’re prepared to take the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Board of Cosmetology exam and become licensed cosmetologists.
CHS's program, which began three years ago with two classes, has grown to 208 students learning in three buildings on the campus’s north side.
“Last year I taught six classes and this year we have nine classes,” Jackson said. To meet demand, the program hired Cassi Huntley as a part-time teacher and erected a 24-station teaching salon with drying and pedicure chairs and a facial bed.
Thursday morning, the facility resembled any other beauty salon, as friendly chatter filled the air, accompanied by the snip of shears — they’re not “scissors,” Jackson says — while students learned hair-cutting techniques.
Three practice dummies — “Jake,” “Lexi” and “Caitlyn" — waited as students like sophomore Skyler Martin trimmed their long tresses. But Jackson plans to have advanced students serving the public by the middle of the school year.
Services will include haircuts, hair coloring, facials, waxing, manicures and pedicures, she said. Small fees will be charged to cover expenses and provide supplies and equipment. Students will also learn business management skills including taking reservations, welcoming clients and handling money.
TECHNICAL CURRICULA
Many students begin cosmetology studies to see if they really want to make it their chosen profession, Jackson said. “Some of them stay and some of them realize, ‘It’s not for me,’” she said.
Some beginners are dissuaded by the program’s technical demands, Jackson said. Cosmetology is more than just hair, she said. It also includes skin conditioning, finger and toe nails, and massage.
“It’s very in-depth,” she said. “Sanitation, disinfection; they learn a little bit of everything. There’s even anatomy and physiology. They say, ‘What do we have to know that for?’ You have to know muscles for massage techniques.”
Senior Victoria Feliciano says while her ultimate career might steer her toward becoming a nurse practitioner, “cosmetology will always be my number 1 thing.”
Junior Mikayla Stevenson, however, plans to enter the profession she’s been practicing for since late childhood. “When I was younger I did my sister’s hair a lot because my mama passed away and I was the only one who knew how to do it,” she said. “But I just love hair in general.
LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES
Danielle Josey Lambert, Essence Salon and Spa owner and a 2007 Crestview High alumna, said she wishes her alma mater offered cosmetology while she was a student there. “I think it’s a great opportunity for students who want to start getting involved and be ready for after graduation,” she said.
“It’s great for students to have that training if it’s a career path they’d want to take.”
Crestview High students might find an opportunity in area salons such as hers, Josey Lambert said, where they could watch professional cosmetologists at work to grow in their learning. “We look for assistants and people who shadow (the professionals) who want to be in a salon environment before they graduate and get a feel for what they want to do and see how to interact with customers in the real world,” she said.
OPPORTUNITIES
Working in a beauty salon isn’t the only career option for CHOICE cosmetology program graduates.
Crestview High alumnus Montavius Diamond — a state licensed cosmetologist and graduate of the Okaloosa County School District CHOICE High School and Technical Center’s adult cosmetology program — said career options are many. They could include serving in cruise ship beauty salons, as a masseur in day spas, and working in beauty supply shops or as supply distributors, where intimate knowledge of the products is necessary. “That’s what attracted me to it,” he said. “You don’t just have to work in a salon if you don’t want to.”
Diamond said getting a cosmetology license is a good fall-back option for people like him who want to work in a well-paying industry to earn money for future studies in another field.
“The thing about cosmetology is the students can use it throughout their life,” Jackson said. “It teaches them a lot of stuff they can use, whether they choose cosmetology as a profession or not.”
DO’S AND DON’TS
Crestview High School CHOICE cosmetology instructors offer students these do’s and don’ts:
Do Don't
TweezePluck
Color Dye
Shampoo Wash
Lighten Bleach
Polish Paint
Use shears Use scissors
OTHER C.H.O.I.C.E.S.
CHOICE — Community High Okaloosa Institutes for Career Education — recognizes that not all students attend college.
CHOICE students receive industry certification upon completing their program, facilitating licensing, where necessary, or entry into the workforce.
The CHOICE cosmetology program joins Crestview High School’s similar industry-certified vocational instruction programs in automotive service technology, electrical design and repair, engineering, welding, networking and robotics, information technology, crime scene investigation, digital design and web design.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Big hair: Crestview High CHOICE cosmetology program expands (PHOTOS, VIDEO)