Extension Installation Initiation

(This is a real life experience)
I do not wear a weave nor don an extension flowing down to the back of my shoulders, but I do cherish installing them. True to say, the shear excitement that comes after every installation knows no articulate words. From a time when I could not tell a bob cut from a short weave, time has surely revealed the other side of beauty; through my own hands!
Reality hit me like a brick amidst a yoga session. At a time when a young man with only dreams to hope in stumbled upon the chance of a lifetime to change his life; and he took it. A generous chaperon took the young lad and transformed him into a master hairdresser. Everything else seemed to just fade away in to the distance. Nothing beyond the glass doors inside Roots by Theo mattered. Day and late nights soon paid off.
The days of a shampoo boy in a multicultural environment were soon over. I craved to be as good as my trainer, Theodore. His fervent dedication and attention to detail inspired me to be the perfectionist that he was. In everything he did, Theo left nothing to chance. Clients and staff alike envied the work of his hands, especially the genuine Brazilian extensions. For me, all I sought was to be his replica. There was no one better in the whole of Western Cape who could give me the skills required in the hair and beauty industry.
For months, I watched keenly everything that Theodore did. For my sake, he had me shadow him all day long. Closing shop late never bothered me one bit. My life basically revolved about my boss and around the salon on the busy Reagent Road in Cape Town. As a foreigner there wasn’t really anything else of interest outside the salon doors that would interest me apart from the novel experience of being good at something.
In all the days of my life, nothing had ever made me scared as the moment when Theo handed me the bonding tongs and gave me the green light to install a winter look on a client. `She is all your Sam, make me proud’. That’s when I made for the backdoor toward the rest rooms. Looking back now, I harbor no regrets about my quick exit. I would have thoroughly embarrassed myself, and my boss.
After taking a leak, I marched back into the salon with a resolve to make Theo proud. The client sat poised against her seat as I fumbled unintentionally with the Italian crystals. Her gaze on me did not scare me one bit. I knew who she was, and so did everybody else inside Roots by Theo. The gorgeous model from France was a common sight on billboards in the mother city advertising this or that. Presently, she sat calmly staring up at me across the mirror, awaiting her new winter look. My exit upon the unexpected bladder attack had been primarily because of the famous model. I had to take some time to collect my confidence if I was to style her hair.
Shampoo and washing was the easy part. After I dried her off, I set out to pre-bond the natural hair extension imported direct from Brazil. Her front hair line and sides were slowly receding. I treated her entire hairline with ladine; a multivitamin that helps grow hair back where is has been damaged by much strain. I bought enough time to finish cutting and bonding the extension while she hummed inaudibly to French music from her iPod. My hands worked fast. My concentration was at its peak. I couldn’t take a chance and let myself get distracted for I risked burning her tender scalp with red hot tongs.
The hours seemed to fly by like light years. Throughout the day, I had few interruptions from the lady in front of the mirror. She was the calmest client I ever handled, but I was scared witless if she did not like her new hairdo, then I would have been the greatest disappointment in the history of hairdressing. That, I vowed silently, would never happen under my watch.
Under the tutorship of my boss, I had learnt that genuine Brazilian hair extensions were specially weft with an elastic band running along the length of the weave. To achieve a more permanent result with her curly hair, I had cut the weave into strands. Each strand still attached to the weft and the elastic lining made it easier to bond. First with the Italian crystals; the rest of the work was like grafting hair with more natural hair, as long as I didn’t burn her real hair or her scalp, I knew that I would definitely make my boss very proud.
Albeit the weather was hot, being in the middle of summer, Theo served my client and me refreshments. It was a good sign that I hadn’t messed up, I hoped to keep it that way until the last strand of hair was finally fixed in its place. Needless to say, it took me the whole day and some hours into the evening. I succumbed to the fatigue of standing all day long but not after I propped up the voluminous hair with moose and styled her up. She never raised an eyebrow in the last few minutes. She was waiting to unveil the curtain herself as soon as I was done with the final touches.
The lady slowly opened her beautiful green eyes. I folded my arms to my chest as if her reaction would seek out my weak heart and devour it. Then she smiled. The most beautiful smile I ever saw. I was all I needed to chase my fear of failure away.
By the doorway where Theo sat at his desk, his face lit up the entire room. I suddenly felt at a loss that my colleagues had gone home before they could see the work of my hands. I had had enough of their constant teasing and lame jokes about how I would always be a barber or a shampoo boy while they handled all the important clientele. As if Theo could read my mind, he took a snapshot with his blackberry.
The winter look was perfect on the lady. Her hair now ran all the way to the small of her back with its natural curls complementing her curvy physic. Her facial features seemed more enhanced. Theo jolted my thoughts back to reality as he processed the lady’s payment. I could tell that he was equally mesmerized, just as I couldn’t get over myself over my first successful extension installation. It was almost midnight when the three of us drove off into the Cape Town night life in a cab; it was the boss’s invitation to my client and her foreign stylist. None of us could say no. Nobody eve turned Theo down; not ever!