Four Warsaw Area Career Center cosmetology students recently competed at the Great Clips Competition at the Michiana Beauty College in Mishawaka, and they all placed within the top five.
Tina Streby, WACC cosmetology teacher, explained the competition takes place every year.
“What happens is I have a competition here with my students. And then my top four went to that competition, so it’s kind of local and then it goes regional,” she said.
She found it very tough to select her four students to move on to the Great Clips contest.
“Very tough because it was between my junior class and my senior class. I had outside people come in and help judge, and the highest-ranking ones got to move on and go to that competition,” Streby said. “It’s hard. It’s very hard. I have two very talented classes, and so it was a hard decision. The numbers were very close - very, very close, but they were within a very close range of each other.”
For the contest Streby had among her students, each one had to pick a picture and had 45 minutes to do the haircut and then a half hour to style that hair to look like the picture.
“And that’s what happens in the salon a lot: People bring you pictures and they want to look just like that. So they got to pick their haircut, and then they had to do the haircut, do the style. We went off how it looks, if it looks like the picture,” she stated.
The haircuts and styling were done on mannequins.
At the Great Clips Competition, the four WACC students used the same picture and had to do the same cut and styling, but on a fresh new mannequin. Before going to that contest, Streby said they did tips and tricks and helped them tweak their cut and style to look more like the photo.
First place went to senior Claire Waddle, who received $2,000. Second place went to senior Hazel Wood, who got $1,000. Fourth place went to junior Betty Shepherd, who received $150, and fifth place went to senior Taryn Haines, who earned $100.
Judges were Great Clips regional directors from all over the state.
Waddle said she was shocked that she took home first place.
“I competed last year in the same competition and didn’t win anything, so doing it again this year, I went ahead with the same mindset. I was surprised. I was pretty surprised,” she said.
The hairstyle she chose was a longer bob with lots of layers and a little bit of curl in it.
Waddle actually ended up cutting herself pretty badly in the first part of the competition.
“I learned to just power through that, because it was pretty bad,” she said. Because she was on a time limit, she had to keep going and couldn’t waste time.
As for her future, cosmetology is “definitely” a part of her plans. “I love it. I love all the people and being able to take someone and just enhance their beauty, and they leave smiling and that makes me smile,” Waddle said.
Wood said the competition was definitely fun.
“At first it was kind of a challenge with putting myself out there and getting out of my comfort zone, but I think it was a pretty fun opportunity,” she said.
For the contest, Wood went with a shorter, shaggy layered style that showed a bunch of texture.
“It was definitely a technique where I could go in and do a bunch of different things to wow the judges,” Wood said.
Having a bunch of people watch her while she cut and styled hair made her nervous, but she said it was easier than she expected.
“It was definitely very nerve-racking at first, but then I got very comfortable because all the people who were there were very supportive and they were very helpful and it was a very positive environment with the way people were cheering us on,” Shepherd said.
For her hairstyle, Shepherd said she went with a layered zero-degree haircut, with a lot of layering at the top.
“Just kind of a typical haircut that you would get at the salon,” she said, adding that she just wanted to practice a practical haircut. “I really like that haircut, and it was a blowout and that’s my favorite style to do after a haircut.”
This was the second year Streby had students compete in the Great Clips contest. Last year, she had a senior place fourth. This year, she had three seniors and a junior place.
Besides the prize money, Streby said the girls got real-world experience and swivel sheers, which are a big thing in the hair world.
“We like our tools,” Streby stated. “... It was nice they were able to do prizes or give them things like that for being in the competition. And it brings great knowledge to Great Clips. It gives my students the ability to see what they offer.”
At the competition in Mishawaka, Great Clips had informational booths set up for students to learn about the company, taking care of tools and other stations. The students also got to meet other people who are trying to do the same thing as them, Streby said.
Shepherd said from the contest she learned how important it is to keep her tools clean, as well as just some other tips and tricks in cutting hair.
Haines said she was nervous during the competition because so many people were watching her at once.
“And I was facing against my friends. I was in there with my friends, so that definitely made me nervous because being against your friends is different than being against random people,” she said.
The hairstyle she chose was a longer textured bob with bangs. It had lots of layers because the contest asked for layers, she stated, and lots of texture in it. It also was curled.
In the end, she learned confidence is key when going into competition.
This is Streby’s third year of having the cosmetology school/beauty shop open. Her seniors are on the beauty salon floor at Lakeview Middle School in the afternoons on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. They’re open to the public to take appointments. Her juniors just started on the floor Wednesday, and are there in the mornings on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Juniors do spa stuff like nails, facials, haircuts, styles, pedicures and manicures; while seniors do everything from haircuts, highlights and perms to all the other services.
To make an appointment, call the beauty school at 574-371-5085.