Categories
Scholarships

Scholarship Information @ P.M.C.A.

Working Scholarship Requirements

At Penny Miller Cosmetology Academy we believe that excellence in precision hair cutting and image design, evolves from carefully selecting members to our team, a commitment to excellence in a continuing educational program, creative stimulation, and a positive and a professional  team environment.  Our goal is to reach higher levels of excellence in meeting the student and the client’s needs. We want all of our valued clients to be able to visit any member of our team with confidence.  All student work is supervised by our educators and master stylists.  The working scholarship program is designed to help potential salon professionals come on board and get the education they deserve.

Student must meet the following requirements to qualify for the P.M.C.A. Work Scholarship program.

  1. Fill out application with all necessary documentation.
  2. Provide short essay (250 words or less) as to why you think you can contribute to the professionalism and be an asset to the cosmetology field.
  3. Provide three personal letters of reference.
  4. Maintain 90% attendance.
  5. Maintain a 3.0 GPA.
  6. Follow all rules, regulations and ethic standards of P.M.C.A.
  7. Maintain monthly payments without fail.

Benefits of Program

  1. Learn the Value of Excellent Customer Service.
  2. In depth training in salon operations.
  3. Learn how to grow your business.
  4. Learn how to Market your business.
  5. Learn the need for a Team Environment.
  6. Extended training in advanced hair services.
  7. Students establish positive work habits.
  8. Students learn how to self motivate.
  9. Improved stylist performance.
  10. Build self-esteem.
  11. On-going education.
  12. Learn how to Network, with others in and out of your field.
Categories
Famous People

Vidal Sasoon passed away at age 84

Vidal Sassoon, Hairdresser and Trendsetter, Dies at 84

May 9, 2012.

Vidal Sassoon, whose mother had a premonition that he would become a hairdresser and steered him to an apprenticeship in a London shop when he was 14, setting him on the path that led to his changing the way women wore and cared for their hair, died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles police, who were called to the home, on Mulholland Drive, confirmed the death, attributing it to natural causes. Mr. Sassoon was known to have leukemia.

Mr. Sassoon brought a kind of architectural design to the haircut in the late 1950s and early 1960s, developing a look that eschewed the tradition of stiff, sprayed styles with the hair piled high and that dispensed with the need for women to wear hair curlers to bed and make weekly trips to the salon.

For Mr. Sassoon, the cut was the thing — just about the only thing — and he fashioned his clients’ hair into geometric shapes and sharp angles to complement their facial bone structure. His short, often striking styles helped define a new kind of sexy. They were also easy to care for and maintain — the wash-and-wear look, it was sometimes called — and they helped propel the youthful revolution in fashion (and just about everything else) that gripped London and then America and the rest of the world in the 1960s.

One of his early clients was the mod fashion designer Mary Quant, who created the miniskirt. Referring to it in a 2010 documentary film about him, she said to him, “You put the top on it.”

“He changed the way everyone looked at hair,” Grace Coddington, the creative director of American Vogue, said in an interview on Wednesday. “Before Sassoon, it was all back-combing and lacquer; the whole thing was to make it high and artificial. Suddenly you could put your fingers through your hair!”

Ms. Coddington, who was a model for Mr. Sassoon in the 1960s, wore the original version of the quintessential Sassoon style known as the five-point cut, a snug, sleek helmet with a W cut at the nape of the neck and a pointed spike in front of each ear.

“He didn’t create it for me; he created it on me,” Ms. Coddington said. “It was an extraordinary cut; no one has bettered it since. And it liberated everyone. You could just sort of drip-dry it and shake it.”

Mr. Sassoon’s salon on Bond Street in London became a hive of beautiful people, as did the ones he opened on Madison Avenue in New York in 1965 and, afterward, in Beverly Hills. Eventually he operated more than 20. Roman Polanski used the London salon for his film “Repulsion,” starring Catherine Deneuve, and he later created a sensation when he paid Mr. Sassoon $5,000 to cut Mia Farrows  hair for “Rosemary’s Baby” and invited the news media to see it. The very short cut became Ms. Farrow’s signature, and the film proved to be a fine advertisement for him.

“It’s Vidal Sassoon!” Ms. Farrow says to a shocked character in the film. “It’s very in.”

Mr. Sassoon became a business pioneer as well, creating a line of hair products under his name. The shampoos, conditioners and other products were famously sold in television commercials featuring a woman with a lustrous head of hair and the handsome, debonair Mr. Sassoon at her side, declaring, “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Sales reached more than $100 million annually before he sold the company in 1983.

“He was the creator of sensual hair,” John Barrett, founder of the John Barrett Salon at Bergdorf Goodman, said Wednesday. “This was somebody who changed our industry entirely, not just from the point of view of cutting hair but actually turning it into a business. He was one of the first who had a product line bought out by a major corporation.”

Born in London in 1928, Mr. Sassoon was the child of poor parents. After his father left the family, he was raised partly in a Jewish orphanage until his mother remarried and reunited with Vidal when he was 11. He was an avid soccer player as a boy — and a lifelong fitness devotee — but he turned to hairdressing after his mother claimed she had had a vision of his future. She took him to a local shop where the proprietor decided the boy would do as an apprentice because he had good manners.

The shop was in a working-class neighborhood, and young Vidal, dreaming of better things, took elocution lessons to rid himself of his cockney diction. Meanwhile, he joined a Jewish organization that battled in the streets with the Mosley-ites, anti-Semitic British fascists who were followers of Oswald Mosley. In 1948, he traveled to Israel and fought in the war for its independence.

Mr. Sassoon opened his first salon in 1954.

“I made up my mind then that if I was going to be in hairdressing long term, I wanted to change things,” he recalled in the documentary “Vidal Sassoon: The Movie.” “I didn’t have a picture of what hair should be, but I had a definite picture of what hair shouldn’t be.”

Over nine years — inspired, he said, by Bauhaus architecture — he evolved his geometric style.

“When I looked at the architecture, the structure of buildings that were going up worldwide, you saw a whole different look, in shape,” he said. “My sense was hairdressing definitely needed to be changing.” He added: “To me hair meant geometry, angles. Cutting uneven shapes, as long as it suited that face and that bone structure.”

A breakthrough came in 1963 when he cut the long hair of the Hong Kong-born actress Nancy Kwan into a bob with sharp face-framing points; photos of what became known as the Kwan bob or the Kwan cut or simply the Kwan appeared in British and American Vogue and on fashion pages around the world.

Mr. Sassoon is survived by his fourth wife, Rhonda, and three children. A daughter, Catya, died of a drug overdose in 2002.

Especially in the early days, Mr. Sassoon was a disciplinarian as a salon keeper, known to send employees home if their shoes were not shined or to admonish a client touching her hair in mid-cut with a slap of the comb. As he developed his ideas, he did not always have patience with clients who wanted things their way rather than his. Once in frustration, he confessed, he threw a pair of scissors in the air and they stuck in the ceiling.

Clothes designer Mary Quant, one of the leading lights of the British fashion scene in the 1960's, having her hair cut by another fashion icon, hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.

Rebecca R. Ruiz contributed reporting.

Categories
Motivation

Self Motivation Tips

Have you ever asked yourself,  What can I do to get motivated?   How can I get all the stuff I have to do, done?  What am I doing wrong?  Why won’t it all work?  If you try hard enough you will find more and more excuses to help you not to succeed.  These days, it seems that self motivation is a thing of the past.  People are happy to do a job half way, and they feel that you are lucky if they do it at all.  So in our current society, how can we get past all these excuses, and find a way to motivate ourselves???

I was reading an article on self motivation tips, and I thought others might appreciate these tips also.  So here it goes.

  1. Set Goals.  The first and foremost of these self motivation tips is, of course, to have goals or dreams that we actually work towards. There should be something to make us get up and get out of the bed in the morning, right?What kind of goals?It is important to identify realistic and attainable goals that really inspire us, and get us moving.

    These can be business, work, school or personal goals – short term or long term goals – it is something that you like, that you are working on right now, or planning to work on in near future.

    Setting and pursuing goals is also a great way to find happiness in one’s life.

  2. Breath Life into your Goals.Equally important self motivation tip is it to verbalize them (say them out loud enough for you to hear), talk about them with family or close friends or associates, and write them down (stick it where you can see everyday).In other words, breathe life into your goals, and make them as real as they can be, to you.
  3. Prioritize.  If you have multiple goals, don’t be overwhelmed. Can you pursue them together? You can have a business goal of making so many sales in the next six months, and an independent personal goal of finishing landscaping your yard this summer.On the other hand, if multiple goals demand your full attention, don’t try to get them all done at once. Instead decide which one is your most important objective at the moment, prioritize, and put your focus on just one of those at a time.Prioritizing is also one of the commonly suggested stress prevention tips.
  4. Get it done NOW.  Avoid procrastinating the tasks that you need to do, to achieve you what you want to achieve. Simply put – it is better done today, than tomorrow.Why?Again, to put it simply – because once you are done with a certain task, you don’t have to do it tomorrow anymore! Tomorrow can be focused on something else, and that makes you that much closer to your goal.

    What if what you are working on is not something you necessarily enjoy, but have to get it done anyway? Realize that procrastination still doesn’t help. Because, the sooner you work on getting it done, the sooner you are done with it. There is no way out here.

    Keep this in perspective, however. Don’t procrastinate doesn’t mean don’t take a break! Don’t procrastinate beginning your task, or keep moving with your task; but, by all means take a break as necessary. A little break every now and then, away from your work, is essential to keep your motivation levels right.

  5. Reward Yourself.  Reward yourself on each significant step you take towards attaining your objectives.   If your goal or dream is really long term, divide it into plenty of short term goals, which are easier to track. And reward yourself every time you successfully complete your mini-goal.What kind of reward?Well, little nothings here and there, a movie, a dinner, an outing, your favorite piece of cake, whatever it is that you really enjoy. No need to go all out here.
  6. Visualize.What about the times when you are bound to be a bit let down? We all do, every now and then, don’t we?Visualize your “end product”, spend a second imagining realizing your goal, whatever it is that you are working for, now. Make it real in your mind. Enjoy the feeling. Savor it. You will know that you need to keep doing what you are doing now, to get there soon enough.If this is one of those things you just need to get done, you can still use the visualizing technique in that circumstance too. What would happen if you don’t do it? Spend a second on the worst case scenario, and that might help get you on feet as well.
  7. Mistakes Happen.

    If you hit a stumbling block? It’s part of the design. You will make mistakes along the way. Be patient, and work your way around it. Learning from mistakes and moving forward is how we end up gaining self confidence.
    Remember this..

    The more the mistakes, chances are, the closer you are to the success you want.

Final Word

Stay healthy. Eat well – healthy eating is fun. Exercise. Sleep well – with good, positive thoughts in your mind – before you lie down. A regular, consistent routine with these good habits, adds up to your overall levels of motivation, and makes rest of the self motivation tips work better for you.

If you take care of your body & keep your mind stimulated it will do wonders for your own self-motivation.

 

Categories
Skincare

What is a Facial?

What Is A Facial?

A facial cleans, exfoliates and nourishes the skin to promote clear, well-hydrated skin. A facial is given by a licensed cosmetologist or esthetician, sometimes called a facialist, who analyzes your skin and picks the right products and treatment for your skin type (dry, oily, combination, or normal) and skin conditions (acne, sensitive skin, aging, sun-damage, dehydration, etc.)

  1. Cleansing. A facial begins with a cleansing with cotton pads or sponges and a product chosen for your skin type (normal, dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature.) This can be done manually or with the aid of a machine, such as a European Skincare Machine.
  2. Skin Analysis. The esthetician, or skin care specialist, covers your eyes and looks at your skin through a brightly lit magnifying lamp or a woods lamp that reveals various skin conditions. This treatment can be optional, but it really helps to show the specialist everything that is going on with your skin.
  3. Exfoliation. Using a mechanical or chemical exfoliant. Mechanical exfoliation has a gritty texture and usually happens while a steam vapor is directed at your face. A chemical peelcan be a stand-alone treatment or part of the facial. It is generally an “upgrade” and done in a series.
  4.  Facial massage. Using classic strokes like effleurage, petrissage, & percussion to both relax you and stimulate your skin and facial muscles. Massage helps to feed the skin, removes toxins, exercises your muscles to help to strengthen and tone the facial structure. This increases stimulation to the skin and will give you a more youthful glow.
  5.   Speciality mask targeted to your skin type (dry, oily, combination, sensitive, mature) and condition. We carry a wide variety of facial masks, my favorite pick is the non surgical face lift. It is aloe vera based and is great for all skin types. It tightens the pores and tones the skin, and will not over dry sensitive or dry skin.
  6.   Toners, Fresheners, and Tonics.  These products are used to re-balance the pH of the skin, close down the pores and remove any residue left behind after the facial. This will not over dry the skin, and it is essential to finish the service.
  7.   Moisturizer.  The final step.  Moisturizer is very important to protect the skin after the service. It will create a protective barrier from dirt, and debris, and will seal your skin and keep bacteria out.  It also locks moisture in, which will keep your skin hydrated, soft and supple.

Advice on home care.  The technician will tell you how she thinks you can take better care of your skin and recommend products for you to use at home.  Don’t forget to feed your skin from the inside out, with a well balanced diet, plenty of water, reduce stress & toxins, and try to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine, but don’t forget the sunscreen.

How often should I get a facial?   Usually once a month, the skin regenerates itself every 28 days, so this is the perfect amount of time for a regular facial.  However, if you have any special needs such as excessively dry, or oily skin, or severe acne, you may need to see your skin care specialist more often.

 

Categories
Men's Hair Care

Men’s Hair Color

Does your Gray hair make you feel older than your years? 

Are you ready to make a change?

We now offer several new lines of haircolor for Men Only.  Quick and easy, in as little as five minutes we can blend your gray and give you a fresh youthful look.

BLEND GRAY, YOUR WAY… IN AS LITTLE AS 5 MINUTES

TIRED OF THE GRAY?

Do something about it!  New Haircolor for Men only gives you options including our New Customized Camouflage Service. Want to blend a little gray? In just 5 minutes you can look years younger. Want to blend even more gray? You’re just 10 minutes away from increased coverage and a younger look!  New Customized Camouflage Services are fast, easy and discrete:

  • Reveal younger-looking haircolor in only 5 or 10 minutes
  • Customize how much gray you want to blend
  • Applied quickly and easily right in the shampoo area
  • Leaves hair with natural-looking results that fade gradually
  • Easy, discrete, customized service that can be done on a lunch break.

Call us for an appointment at 405-238-3426, and we will be happy to introduce you to this quick and easy new service.

Categories
Nails

Advice for Nail Biters

Onychophagy-Severe Nail biting

Clients who suffer from cronic onychophagy may benefit from the attention of a good nail tech.

What is it? Because nail biting is so common, it’s easy to dismiss it as just a bad habit instead of the nail disorder that it is. Onychophagy is a sub-group of OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). The sub-group also includes people who chronically pull or pick their hair, bite the inside of their cheek, or pick at the imperfections they see on their face or skin. Some patients with chronic onychophagy bite their toenails, fingernails, and the skin surrounding their nails until they bleed. Others bite and pick until they have literally removed an entire nail.

How do you get it? Onychophagy can begin because of severe stress, tension, or anxiety, but it can soon develop into a habit, which remains even when the stress or anxiety is gone. When a client doesn’t have the ability to muster the inner strength and discipline to stop biting her nails regardless of the products you choose, nail biting isn’t a habit, it’s a compulsion.

How is it treated? The treatment for onychophagy varies depending on the severity of the problem. Some patients respond to consistent nail maintenance, such as manicures, and topical applications on their nails, such as nail polish that tastes bitter, creams, or even hot sauce. Other treatments include behavior modification techniques such as snapping a rubber band on the wrist every time they bite their nails. Many nail biters reach a point in their lives where they are so sick of the embarrassment and pain of nail biting, they stop biting by sheer willpower.

What can a tech do? First, talk honestly with your client about the frustration and embarrassment nail biting causes her. Discuss her preference for treatment — does she want enhancements or does she prefer to grow her own nails? If she chooses enhancements, be sure to apply them very short at the first appointment. Schedule a follow-up appointment for no later than one week. As her natural nails grow underneath, the enhancements will look more natural. If the client chooses to grow her natural nails, talk with her about the need to commit to a weekly treatment schedule. During the manicure, groom her cuticles, removing frayed skin. Apply a nail polish formulated for nail biters, such as “No-Bite” from Barielle. Let the client know you’re applying a foul-tasting polish so she isn’t shocked when she puts her nails in her mouth. Apply a cream to the nail and cuticles that heals the damaged skin and makes the skin supple to prevent hangnails.

What else? Educate clients on how to care for their nails at home. Provide them with an at-home treatment package to purchase. The kit should include a file, a bottle of the polish you chose to prevent biting, and cuticle cream. Recommend the client apply the polish every other day. The cream should be applied multiple times during the day. Take before and after pictures to add incentive and to celebrate the client’s achievement.

End Results…With the correct treatment and at home maintenance your client will see the results they desire, beautiful, healthy nails plus a boost in self-confidence.

 


Categories
Beauty Tips Cosmetics

How To – Mineral Cosmetics

Mineral Makeup……..tips & tricks.

Pure mineral makeup has become popular because it’s less harsh on the skin than other products. But before using this makeup, it helps to have a few tips. Read on to learn how to achieve smoother skin with pure mineral makeup.

2013 Aug 457

 

Always cleanse the face first and then apply moisturizer before using mineral makeup. Even individuals with oily skin may experience some dryness and flaking when using this type of makeup. Applying a moisturizer with SPF will make skin look softer and provide protection from the sun.

facial hydrate

Mineral cosmetics now come in a variety of packages.   For light coverage, or a very natural look, use a large brush when applying the makeup, swirl the brush around in a circular motion all over the face until the level of coverage is achieved. For a full coverage, which is best for photographs and special events, use a large round sponge for the main areas of the face and an angle sponge for those delicate areas around the eyes, nose and hair line.

cosmetics

Use a finishing spray. If after applying mineral makeup, your skin still looks dry, apply a moisturizing finishing spray to the skin. This will get rid of that “flaky look” and make skin appear more flawless, and dewy. Simply spritz a large round cosmetic sponge with the finishing spray and then blot gently all over the face.

cosmetics - Copy - Copy

If you have any questions or comments please contact me @ 405-238-3426.  We keep a full range of cosmetics, and skincare in stock to help you with your beauty needs.  Don’t underestimate the power of good skincare, we offer a complete line of facial services, as well as make-up lessons if you need more help.

skincare

Categories
Featured

Welcome to Penny Miller Cosmetology Academy!

Penny Miller Cosmetology Academy is an upscale Beauty college that offers the finest training in cosmetology available for students who are serious about career advancement.

Becoming a cosmetologist can lead to a lucrative career and going to cosmetology school is the first step in the process. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, expected growth in the cosmetology industry will likely surpass many other professions. Cosmetologists are required to become licensed to work in the United States and each state has a board that sets the standards necessary to obtain licensure. We are located in Oklahoma and therefore we work closely with the Oklahoma State Board of Cosmetology to make sure our students are educated in policies and procedures pertaining to Oklahoma Law.

Courses offered in cosmetology school include basic sanitation and hygiene, hair care, nails, waxing, facials and customer service. At Penny Miller Cosmetology Academy we provide kits for our students that include tools they will need for their course. Students are given classroom basics for the first one hundred and fifty hours of their coursework, and then go out onto the floor to perform services for clients, each day they start with Theory Class, and then they start working with clients and mannequins to perfect their services. They are not paid, but can accept tips during their practical service hours, and they gain experience in all aspects of the course they have chosen.
Categories
Featured

Information from the U.S. Dept. of Labor

Cosmetology Career Opportunities …

The following definitions and growth statements originated with the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Cosmetologists provide beauty services, such as shampooing, cutting, coloring, and styling hair. They may advise clients on how to care for their hair, straighten hair or give it a permanent wave, or lighten or darken hair color. Additionally, cosmetologists may train to give manicures, pedicures, and scalp and facial treatments; provide makeup analysis; and clean and style wigs and hairpieces.

Estheticians exclusively provide skin care and treatment. Manicurists and pedicurists, called nail technicians, work exclusively on nails and provide manicures, pedicures, coloring, and nail extensions to clients.

In addition to their work with clients, cosmetologists, nail technicians and estheticians are expected to maintain clean work areas and sanitize all work implements. They may make appointments and keep records of hair color and permanent wave formulas used by their regular clients. A growing number actively sell hair products and other cosmetic supplies. Those who operate their own salons have managerial duties that include hiring, supervising, and firing workers, as well as keeping business and inventory records, ordering supplies, and arranging for advertising.Overall employment of cosmetologists, estheticians and nail technicians is projected to grow equally as fast as the average for all occupations through 2012, because of increasing population, incomes, and demand for personal appearance services. In addition to those arising from job growth, numerous job openings will arise from the need to replace workers who transfer to other occupations, retire, or leave the labor force for other reasons. As a result, job opportunities generally should be good.

Our Educators attend special on site training with several professional companies, and hair shows to help stay on top of the latest trends and newly released and reformulated products, then they bring this information back to the academy to share with the students.


Hands on education is always the best in Cosmetology Training.                            

Categories
Hair

What’s New in Beauty?

Here are five of the latest haircuts and colors Hot in Hollywood! 

As you can see colors are deep, rich and very vibrate.  Tones can be both cool or warm, but the shine and health of the hair is vital to ensure the vibrancy.

 

VERY SHORT HAIR: Milla Jovovich

Sure, this asymmetrical undercut isn’t for everybody, but it’s a stunning option for the client who wants to stand out from the crowd. Solid Color with a deep rich chocolate brown. Who should try it: It’s best for a strong, independent woman who is looking to cut her hair off and keep with trends.

 

 

SHORT HAIR: Cameron Diaz
Cameron’s short layered bob is fresh and fun with lots of movement. In short, it’s an idyllic summer look and one that clients from all walks of life are drawn to. Beautiful Soft Summer blonde with highlights and lowlights. 
Best on women with square and oval face shapes.

 

 

 

SHORT HAIR: Ali Larter 
A clean, asymmetrical bob screams elegance and edge. This look is a good option for the client that wants to go shorter “but not too short!” Leaving the length around the face makes the client feel as though her hair is still long. Haircolor is a Honey blonde with golden blonde lowlights.

 

 

MIDLENGTH HAIR: Olivia Wilde 
This textured, collar bone-length bob and soft fringe is an essential summer style. It’s a great look for the everyday woman.Who should try it: Anyone! This cut can be adapted to any face shape. Color is Ombre’ – Rich deep golden brown with golden highlights for a tone on tone effect.

 

 

 

LONG HAIR: Taylor Swift 
Who says long hair has to be lifeless? Taylor’s angled, lengthy layers look summertime cool with a soft, eye-skimming fringe. Adding a fringe to a long cut is a great way to update a style without doing anything too drastic. Taylor’s color is a light golden brown with soft golden highlights. 


 

 

 Hot – Trendy – Fun Colors from Pravana!   Color Splashes are a great accent for deep dark tones in the hair.  Bold can be Very Beautiful!  

Hot New Color Splashes are all the Rage for Summer! Model wearing Wild Orchid and Violet on a dark base.

Using the Right Products are most important to maintain these new fun colors, see our professionals for our recommendations for your specific hair type and color!