Training - The Story So Far
So I thought I'd do a post relating to my training and how I'm getting on with it all.
I'm currently into my 9th week working here at The Barber Shop Shrewsbury and I'm absolutely loving this new experience. I did my first cut after 3 weeks of solid observations and tutorials from the Head Barber, Vern, and to say I'm chuffed is an understatement! Since then I've done a number of cuts on friends and volunteers and my progress is nice and steady with each fresh cut being a new learning experience for me. The learning curve required for barbering is a long one so I'm taking the whole experience at my own pace with the hope of being at a good level of quality cuts within the next few months.
There's a few things you have to get used to when learning how to cut hair, and one of the biggest things that strikes you when you first start is touching peoples heads. As odd as it sounds, you never really think of it when you're sat having your hair cut but when you're the person having to handle anther person's head it's quite a strange thing to have to get used to. Combine this with having to move ears around when trimming the sides of the head it certainly makes for a new experience and is something you just have to put to the back of your mind and get on with the job at hand.
As I mentioned above each cut I do presents a new challenge and is a new learning experience for me. The traditional 'short back and sides' is by far the most common style requested when you get a client in the chair but there are so many variations of this, and with everybody's head of hair being very different, it always presents a task that requires a new strategy and approach to be done properly. Learning the basic technique to apply for this style of cut is quite straight forward and doesn't take too long to pick up, however being able to apply this to all types of hair is the real learning curve with this as you need to be able to assess the client's hair and formulate a plan of attack before you start.
I'll continue to post on here to update on my progress and hopefully build up a good portfolio of photos from all the cuts I do in the mean time.
