Hi Lark- I know that there are probably at least a hundred different opportunities available for someone in your shoes - some that you wouldn't even guess at. I'm sure other stylists will leave suggestions, but here are some of the cooler ones I've heard about.
In the last issue of MODERN we had two people who do somewhat unusual (and really cool) jobs with their cosmetology license. One is the wigmaster for Broadway musicals, David Brian Brown, who has been doing it for 28 years. You can read his story online, by clicking here. Also, in Ask the Experts, we had Dean Banowetz, the "American Idol" hair guru talk about how he got to be a TV stylist. Here's what he had to say: “Everyone’s journey is different,” he says. After he attended basic beauty school in Davenport, Iowa, he paired his work in the salon with stints on regional dinner theater productions throughout the Midwest, creating wigs for the actors and also performing on stage himself, and he caught the bug. “I moved to California and enrolled in a school in Santa Monica called On Set Motion Picture Hair Academy, a school dedicated to teaching the tricks of the trade to do hair in Hollywood,” he says. “The owner of the school [Susan Lipson] is the one responsible for making me send out my resume.” Banowetz emphasizes that advanced education and specialty classes are always a good way to explore and learn the intricacies of doing TV hair—a very different skill than doing clients every day. Some stylists intern, some assist, some just get themselves out there and meet as many people as they can, he adds. Eventually someone may be able to recommend you for an audition, which is what eventually happened to Banowetz. “It is about your talent, but it is also how well you interact and get along with others,” he says. “On set, with the high level of intensity, time constraints and knowing that millions of people will be seeing your work, you need to be able to work well with others and maintain a level of professionalism.”
In a similar vein, I also once got an e-mail from a woman who did characters' hair at Disney World. How's that for a fun job??
I know exactly how you feel. A few years back, a product distributor for the salon I worked for encouraged me to try out for the Trevor Sorbie artistic team. Years later and I'm currently on the Redken team, traveling around the country and even the world. I've enjoyed a career of teaching, doing hair shows, and especially meeting up with hairdressers from all over the world. Can you believe that hairdressers in Thailand aren't that different from those in Chile and even Iceland?
The best part is that this career path has given me the confidence to do hair on stage and to break into the editorial and entertainment industries. For example, in the next month, I'm going down to Orlando to the Redken Artist Exchange, then working a few runway shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in NYC, and finally wrapping it up with Project Runway! Oh, I also have a few photo shoots for magazines tentatively penciled in as well.
So, by all means, if you are itchy to try something new, GO FOR IT!
Ellen