The highlight of my summer was going to NYC to attend the level two advanced Devacurl class at the end of July. It was such an amazing experience; I have to tell everybody about it.
A little back story first. I have wanted to do this class for several years now. At this point in my career, I specifically want hands-on classes. Hair shows are a lot of fun, but everything is scattered around, with loud music, flashing lights and hundreds of people wandering around observing different professionals doing many different things to hair: Cutting and coloring techniques, special event styling, etc.
I always have fun at hair shows, but in order to take my skills to the next level, especially my curly hair skills, I knew that the Devacurl academy was where I wanted to be. In the past, I’ve played around with their products, and I knew that they were great, but I craved more knowledge!
During this class, I felt like a novice again, which is great because I really do love being “the student” and learning new things. In life, you have to constantly challenge yourself in order to better yourself, and I did that this summer.
It was a three day class Sunday through Tuesday from 10am to 6pm. The first day we went over all things theory about Devacurl in their classroom; their products, their specific haircut, their specific pintura highlighting technique using their patented comb-brush, and then out to practice everything we just learned on our very own curly headed mannequin in the salon area of the academy. All the while my two lovely instructors, plus a couple of their assistants were walking around making sure that we weren’t getting too overwhelmed or lost.
The second day was the most intense. We had to take all of our freshly learned techniques and now apply them to a live model! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, I definitely was, but I took my time, asked my instructors a lot of questions and explained to my model that I just wanted to take my time and do a good job. After all was said and done, she loved her hair and thanked me for taking the time to work through all of my questions about the new skills I was learning.
On the last day it was back to the classroom to discuss the events of the previous day, and to go over any questions that anyone might have. Then it was on to the next step; learning the Deva-bob, a short haircut created just for curls, and yet another way to use their pintura highlighting comb-brush. At this point, when everyone was running out of steam, we still gave it everything we had to get as much out of this class as we could.
What you get with your Devacut is this: A dry haircut tailored to your specific head shape, the No-Poo transformation where I’ll go over the best way to use the Devacurl products, and I’ll finish with styling and maybe a bit more hair shaping. If you’re getting the pintura highlighting, I’ll do the haircut first, then highlight/lowlight, and when that’s processed, I’ll cleanse and style it.
In the end, this class far surpassed any and all expectations I had. I thought that I would learn a little bit more than I previously knew, but in reality, the skills that I learned this summer gave me the confidence to tackle any curly head of hair, whether for a cut or highlighting. My time at the Devacurl academy in NYC was in no way wasted, I loved every minute of it. As of now, I have my level 2 advanced diploma, and soon I’ll return to become certified and share all I know with my wonderful clients.
Thank you so much for supporting me so I’m able to constantly increase my knowledge of hair. Much love.
