Well, my little job in the neighborhood beauty shop didn't last long at all. Nobody wanted me to fix their hair. Even the owner wasn't all that busy. Then I saw the ad in the newspaper, Clayton's Beauty Salon way out on the south side of town was hiring. Even though I didn't have a car to get out there, I called and responded to the want ad. He practically hired me right over the phone and said he would like to meet me in person, and would like to take me out to see the salon. He asked if we could do that and I said okay. He told me what kind of car he would be driving so I would know it's him before I got in the car. ( If I heard of a young girl doing that now I would be horrified!) It never even occurred to me that this could be dangerous. Times were just different and I was invincible, not to mention naive.
The shop was fairly new and was beautiful. It had a water fountain in the middle with all the booths around it. He hired me and arranged for my transportation. One of the girls that was already working there had a car and she would be picking me up.
So I had a better job in a beautiful new Salon, but I still didn't have any customers. I would get a drop in once in awhile but most of the time I did nothing. Mom told me to stick with it (she knew I had very little patience) She said it would just take time to build up my own customers so I stuck it out.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
All The Fish In The Sea!
My boyfriend and I had broken up right before I moved to Springfield. I wasn't planning to come back home every weekend, and it would be ridiculous to keep going steady with someone you would see so seldom. Boys always manage to hang out in the same places that the girls hang out. One of our best hangouts was just a little diner next door to the Y. We'd go in there, order a soda and fries or chips, play the jukebox and just visit and have a good time. Fun can be found just about anywhere, you just need to allow it to happen.
I wasn't up there (in Springfield) but a couple months when Elmer moved up and into the YMCA which was conveniently right across the street and down about a block. He had enrolled in a business college. Although I still liked him, he really started cramping my style. He was very immature and also very jealous. I knew this from when we were home too, if he saw me with someone else he would really pitch a fit and sometimes do something stupid or dangerous. I went out with him once in awhile, but mostly I was dating some of the "other fish in the sea". Most of these "fish" were more mature, very nice and easy on the eyes.
I wasn't up there (in Springfield) but a couple months when Elmer moved up and into the YMCA which was conveniently right across the street and down about a block. He had enrolled in a business college. Although I still liked him, he really started cramping my style. He was very immature and also very jealous. I knew this from when we were home too, if he saw me with someone else he would really pitch a fit and sometimes do something stupid or dangerous. I went out with him once in awhile, but mostly I was dating some of the "other fish in the sea". Most of these "fish" were more mature, very nice and easy on the eyes.
Monday, May 4, 2009
The State Board
The course I took at beauty school only took six months. Then I had to go to Jefferson City to take the state board test for my license. I chose mom to be my model for two reasons. First of all I needed her to take me up there and secondly I had worked with her hair before and it was fairly easy to manage.
The first part of the test was a written one. The second part was when I worked on mom's hair with their scrutinizing eyes watching me like a hawk. (It felt like it but they probably really weren't). I gave mom the required haircut, she had been letting it grow a little bit so I would have something to cut. What a mom! Then I had to do some finger waves, that is waves down the back of the head like old ladies use to wear. After that I set it and put her under the dryer. Of course she came out of it looking lovely. I passed the test and just had to wait a few weeks to get my license.
While waiting for my license I started to look for a job in a beauty shop. One of my main problems is that I didn't have a car. I did find a small shop within walking distance. It was just a very small one that only the owner worked in. It only had two shampoo bowls and a couple dryers. She hired me so that I could take any walk-ins and overflow. Problem is I would sit there all day and there was no drop-ins or overflow. Back then, a beautician earned no base pay. We worked for commission only, we made 50% of the cost of the service. In other words, if you didn't have a customer all day you made nothing!!
The first part of the test was a written one. The second part was when I worked on mom's hair with their scrutinizing eyes watching me like a hawk. (It felt like it but they probably really weren't). I gave mom the required haircut, she had been letting it grow a little bit so I would have something to cut. What a mom! Then I had to do some finger waves, that is waves down the back of the head like old ladies use to wear. After that I set it and put her under the dryer. Of course she came out of it looking lovely. I passed the test and just had to wait a few weeks to get my license.
While waiting for my license I started to look for a job in a beauty shop. One of my main problems is that I didn't have a car. I did find a small shop within walking distance. It was just a very small one that only the owner worked in. It only had two shampoo bowls and a couple dryers. She hired me so that I could take any walk-ins and overflow. Problem is I would sit there all day and there was no drop-ins or overflow. Back then, a beautician earned no base pay. We worked for commission only, we made 50% of the cost of the service. In other words, if you didn't have a customer all day you made nothing!!
TGIF--It's Hair-do-Day
Friday was our favorite day at beauty school. On Fridays us students got to do each other's hair. We would get and give a shampoo, set and style. It was great to get your hair done every week and it was fun giving the hair style to your partner. We sometimes gave each other manicures too, but we didn't do pedicures. My friend and I often put velvet ribbons in our hair because of the hit song at the time was "Blue Velvet". It was one of the "Bobbys" that sang it, I think it was Bobby Vinton.
The classes were set up in two levels. T he beginners were called juniors and the advanced students were called seniors. There were certain hours we were open to the public and "patrons" could come in and request either a junior or senior to do their hair. The students were supervised closely, especially for a haircut. I was so nervous the first few haircuts. If you screw up you can't put it back. lol
After we got our hair done and school let out, my friends and I would go to Woolworths dime store and get our pictures taken in the photo booth. It was a small booth with curtains. I think it cost a quarter and you got a strip of four small black and white pictures. Sometimes we would pose nice for them, and other times we would make silly faces. I know these booths are still around because I've seen strips of pictures of my granddaughters.
The classes were set up in two levels. T he beginners were called juniors and the advanced students were called seniors. There were certain hours we were open to the public and "patrons" could come in and request either a junior or senior to do their hair. The students were supervised closely, especially for a haircut. I was so nervous the first few haircuts. If you screw up you can't put it back. lol
After we got our hair done and school let out, my friends and I would go to Woolworths dime store and get our pictures taken in the photo booth. It was a small booth with curtains. I think it cost a quarter and you got a strip of four small black and white pictures. Sometimes we would pose nice for them, and other times we would make silly faces. I know these booths are still around because I've seen strips of pictures of my granddaughters.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Blue Bonnet Beauty Academy
On the first day, while I was walking to school, I was a bit nervous and apprehensive. I think most people are their first day of a new experience. I was walking with a small group of girls that were going for their first day also so that helped a lot. When I got there, I was given a small blue suitcase full of supplies that I would need to fix hair and give manicures. I was also given a book to use during classes.
I would have preferred just hands on learning, just being shown how to do it. Well it does not work that way and I knew it wouldn't, but I could still prefer it. We would have a few hours of class studies and then we would practice doing hair on "dummy heads". They were like rubber mannequins like you see in stores except it was just the head. They were attached to a clamp that would hook right on to our desks. We curled and styled these heads just as we would do people except we couldn't give them a haircut. We would put their hair in rollers and put their heads on a shelf under a dryer. I much preferred this to the book. The book was boring and had so much stuff in there that we would never use. The chapters I particularly didn't like were on electricity and chemicals. I learned it okay, I just didn't like it!
I would have preferred just hands on learning, just being shown how to do it. Well it does not work that way and I knew it wouldn't, but I could still prefer it. We would have a few hours of class studies and then we would practice doing hair on "dummy heads". They were like rubber mannequins like you see in stores except it was just the head. They were attached to a clamp that would hook right on to our desks. We curled and styled these heads just as we would do people except we couldn't give them a haircut. We would put their hair in rollers and put their heads on a shelf under a dryer. I much preferred this to the book. The book was boring and had so much stuff in there that we would never use. The chapters I particularly didn't like were on electricity and chemicals. I learned it okay, I just didn't like it!
School Preparation And The Neighborhood
Mom and I had gone shopping and got me some white uniforms and some white support shoes like nurses wear. I was dreading getting the shoes because I thought they would look like "old lady support shoes". The ones I got were not bad at all, a litle stylish if you could call any support shoe stylish. We had to wear the uniforms and shoes to the school everyday.
The Blue Bonnet Beauty Academy was only a few blocks from the Y where I lived. This was part of the reason we chose for me to live there. So every school morning, all of us girls in white uniforms would walk to classes together. Some of the girls went to another beauty academy that was also within walking distance. We had a little rivalry going on with them and would tease each other back and forth. My roommate, Jane, was going to a business college.
Blue Bonnet was right on the city square so we were real close to the large shopping district. I think there was a Sears, Penney's and Montgomery Wards there, plus Woolworths ( a dimestore). There were also grocery stores in the area. I thought it was such a good and convenient set-up. I thought to myself, "I think I am going to like it here!"
The Blue Bonnet Beauty Academy was only a few blocks from the Y where I lived. This was part of the reason we chose for me to live there. So every school morning, all of us girls in white uniforms would walk to classes together. Some of the girls went to another beauty academy that was also within walking distance. We had a little rivalry going on with them and would tease each other back and forth. My roommate, Jane, was going to a business college.
Blue Bonnet was right on the city square so we were real close to the large shopping district. I think there was a Sears, Penney's and Montgomery Wards there, plus Woolworths ( a dimestore). There were also grocery stores in the area. I thought it was such a good and convenient set-up. I thought to myself, "I think I am going to like it here!"
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Moving into the YWCA
I had about a month of summer before I moved to Springfield Missouri to attend the beauty college. Mom drove me and my "stuff" up there, it is about an hour's drive. I was moving into the YWCA. It had a real nice common use lobby and there was a desk for the lady in charge to sit at. She answered the phone and called us on the intercom to tell us we had a phone call. The only phones were downstairs. in the middle of the hallway. We would hear our name on the intercom and then we would go out in the hall and holler "yes" to let her know we were up there. Then she would tell us we had a call. When I first moved in I had a room on the third floor. All the rooms were for two girls. I, of course, didn't know any of the girls including my roommate. She was nice enough but was so quiet and timid. As I got to know some of the other girls I moved to a couple other rooms. The first move was to a room in the basement with a girl named Gloria. She was nice and kind of funny, but she would wear my clothes sometimes and stretch them because she was a bit larger then I was. Then I moved in with a girl on the second floor and that one worked out just fine. I stayed there all the rest of the time that I was at the Y. When we would have a visitor, the lady would tell us so over the intercom . No boys or men were allowed past the lobby. Whenever we went out for the evening we would have to be back "home" by midnight because that is when they locked up the doors and there would be no getting in.
This was a good place for me to live in between leaving home and living in an apartment. I was not immature, but I was still very young. This arrangement worked out just great for quite a while, and then Jane and I decided to move into an apartment. This was about a year later.
This was a good place for me to live in between leaving home and living in an apartment. I was not immature, but I was still very young. This arrangement worked out just great for quite a while, and then Jane and I decided to move into an apartment. This was about a year later.
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