First Week at Aveda

Whew! My first week at Aveda Institute was pretty exhausting, even though we barely did anything other than sitting on our butts! Also I think I had an allergic reaction to something yesterday, what with all these bumps on my arm, but whatever~

Okay, so this is what a strand of hair is:
-Medulla: the core, it's...the core. It doesn't do anything really.
-Cortex: the guts, the main attraction. It's also where your hair pigment is, and the shape determines the what kind of hair (curly/wavy/straight) you have.
-Cuticle: the shell, it protects the cortex and it's transparent. It's made of scales that will open shut and close.

I learned some interesting things:
-Volumizing products literally open up the cuticle and put...stuff...into it to make it look bigger, so if you're using it and have your hair dyed, your color can (and probably will) fade faster, because the pigment is literally falling out of the cortex.
-Hair dye you buy in a box from a store is expired or faulty product normally sold to salons and beauty supply shops. Seriously! That's why it never works the same way twice, because it's literally crap. Never knew that.

We learned how to correctly hold scissors shears. And we learned how to part hair into 6 sections...IT'S HARD. You wouldn't think simply parting hair would be so difficult but no one got it perfect. In an hour and a half. Shampooing and conditioning hair in the shampoo bowls was also an interesting experience. Yes...interesting. Especially the hoses; if you turn the water on before you grab them, they act like fire hoses and go everywhere! ...And yeah, a few of us learned that the hard way! Bahahahaha

Also, we learned one of the Aveda rituals, the one we give before a haircut or style. It's a scalp and shoulder massage that takes about 3-5 minutes, of course it took us about 20.

Oh, and my class is really small, 22 students, so we know most of each others' names now. Most classes are like 50+ but it's nice having a small class.

Gosh, Aveda has a lot of really nice products and I wish I could try them all! I'm concerned about the fact that most of them contain wheat though, since gluten and dairy both make me break out. But who knows, it could just be an internal thing, maybe just putting them in my hair/scalp won't be a problem! Wish me luck. (:

Btw these are the products I'm most interested in, especially the madder root system: