It Was All For This...

It's started to sink in. I knew it would as soon as my mom and the girls had left town. It's back to me now, the madness is all over, and it's this whole new life I'm looking at.

I've tried my best not to be too emotional over everything, but saying goodbyes on Saturday night to a few of the girls I know I won't get to see very often, if ever, was incredibly tough. Not only that but having that be our last day was a really strange feeling.

This incredible group of girls I have been surrounded by every weekend for the past 6 months have become like my family away from home. They have all inspired me, encouraged me, befriended me and truly cared about me. I never thought in a million years that I would make this good of friends going into this course. I wasn't in it to be best friends with anyone, I was in it for the hair. I just wanted to go in there, plug away and do my thing. I expected nothing but immature 18 year old girls who didn't really care about being there and instead I met some of the most inspiring and amazing women I've ever known.

It was announced at the beginning of our hairshow on Saturday that our class had the highest marks of any class that's taken the Hair Art Design program at John Casablanca's. It showed. Everyone did beautiful work and I congratulate every single one of them for what they've all accomplished. I know how hard it was for me to make it through this 6 months and there were a few girls in there who put forth a phenomenal effort. Kara in particular flew to Vancouver every single weekend from Fort St. John. Not only did she do that, but she is also a mother to three beautiful little girls. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it was for her to get through it. Tonya also traveled from the Sunshine coast every weekend, also leaving behind her adorable little ginger kid son. While they always enjoyed themselves while they were here I can only imagine how much they missed being home.

Katie-Rose, Jessica, Jamie, and Lisa have been phenomenal, the best of friends, and my biggest competition. I knew from day one who would be above and beyond and I think we could all agree that Katie-Rose outshone us all. She had an unbelievably contagious personality that drew every single one of us to fall in love with her. She was given the top student award so a HUGE congratulations goes out to her for all of her unbelievable work and massive efforts. She is an amazing stylist with a huge heart, huge talent, and more passion than most people could ever even dream of having.

I am so proud of everyone.

When I get a chance I will post more pictures from this weekend and the show but unfortunately due to the fact that I was so incredibly busy with my own models I don't have too many pictures of anyone elses. I had Wendy take pictures during the show so there's some from that but I just don't have the energy to go through them all yet. The cougs wore me out this weekend!

A HUUUGE thanks to Danielle, Brandi, Chelsey, Laurel, and Phil for taking time out of their schedules to help me out with this show. I couldn't have done any of this without you guys and you all made me so incredibly proud.

Here's a few pictures of my models from Saturday's Grad. My theme was "Modern Mythology." My hair was inspired by Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Chelsey (far left) - Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt.
Laurel (second from the left) - Athena, the Goddess of War.
Brandi (third from the left) - Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Sexuality.
Phil (the only dude in the picture obvs) - Apollo, the God of Music.
Danielle (you should all know her by now) - Hera, the Goddess of Marriage.

For Brandi's look I wanted a soft and beautiful classic look. Soft curls pinned up, with a red based brown for her colour (with some blonde peek-a-boos that are hidden in the updo) and a long layered haircut. It's both a timeless cut and colour and she rocked it! I chose a strong lip with a soft eye, a look that is incredibly in right now. I chose the colours to reflect love since naturally it is associated with reds and pinks. I also had her wear an outfit that was soft, subtle, and flowy.

For Chelsey I wanted a look as natural as possible. I went with a very finely weaved golden blonde highlight with a very natural colour that mirrored her own natural colour. I cut a blunt bob and backcombed it for a bit of a wild and unkept look. I chose light neutral colours for her makeup with a strong liner for the eyes. She wore a plaid and floral print sundress with a fur coat (cause what hunter doesn't like fur?) with brown boots.

For Laurel's look I wanted something bold with strong personality to reflect such a strong Goddess. I went with a deep vibrant red for her all over colour and added some slices of blonde and orange through just the fringe and then point-cut into the bangs so the red would show through more. I cut her hair into a soft edge but I also undercut it. It's not shown in this picture but the left side of her hair underneath is cut quite a bit shorter so if she parts her hair to the side her hair becomes asymmetrical. I went with strong eye-makeup, a nude lip, and all black clothing. We added a bullet belt to her look as well for some extra emphasis. She was so brave to let me go for it so a big thanks to her for that!

Not going to lie, this is straight up my favourite. Danielle was perfect for this. Her hair is stunning as is and I used to refuse to ever want to dye it, BUT I changed my mind last weekend and decided to do an all over rich ebony colour. It's something that's not too much darker from her natural colour so it wouldn't be a huge shock to her, but it would add more depth and shine to her hair. Plus, her porcelain skin with the dark hair is an amazing combination. I cut a few inches off of her length, layered her hair and put it in an updo. I actually stuffed nylons in there for height and wrapped her own hair around them to hide them. I added some pink extensions in the front that I braided into a 5 strand braid. I braided about half the length of the hair, tied it off with an elastic, pulled the braid apart for a more interesting effect, twisted the braid and pinned it. Then I fishtail braided the other half of the hair, pulled it apart, twisted it and pinned it as well. It gave it almost a "rope" effect without actually doing a rope braid. We went with a bold lip and light eye for her as well (I'm a fan obvs if you couldn't tell already...) and she put this little outfit together. It was exactly what I pictured in my head so I love that her and I can seem to collaborate and both have the same image in mind.

As for Phil's hair, I didn't bother taking a picture of him specifically since it was just a basic mens cut and we didn't do a colour on him. I just had him dress in more of a skinny jean, white shirt, he had his lip rings and I made him wear his sunglasses during the actual show. It worked out pretty good.

All in all, everything turned out exactly how I wanted. I couldn't be any happier! About two weeks ago I was a little apprehensive about how ready I was to graduate. I wasn't sure I would be ready to be in a salon yet, but after this show I can definitely say with a lot of confidence that I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished and I can't wait to get started.

Get ready for hair shows because I will be starting to compete in anything and everything I can, but the contessa's will likely be my first big competition. I'll keep everyone updated as I go of course.

PS... a huge thank you to everyone that's sent me well wishes and congratulations. You guys are unbelievable and it's blown me away some of the things people have had to say. Literally, I've cried a few times. I definitely appreciate all of your support and I hope to see you all in the salon when I'm all set up and ready to go!