This is our last week in Finland. We cannot believe how quickly the time is going by! The Finnish people have been so kind to us and made us feel so welcome. Janika, our teacher/ second mom, went out of her way to make sure that everything was going as planned and that we enjoyed our stay. We are very grateful to have met her and have her take care of us these past few weeks! It was very sad for us to say goodbye to her this week. We explored a lot of Pori this week, it's a beautiful town. We got to know our way around more and experience some of the Finnish culture. We really enjoyed work this week. All of the girls on the salon are lovely. Even with the language barrier we are able to communicate and get on well. When orders come into the salon, we make space on the display shelves to put them up. The shelves must always look neat so that they are eye catching and will make the customer want to buy them. This was an important job as product sales are is a main income for the salon. We were comparing some of the brand names with Emelia, one of the hairdressers. Majority of their products are found in Ireland but no shop/salon would have the variety like they do in Hairlikiini. On a quiet afternoons, myself and Carrie are allowed to wash and blow dry each other's hair or style them some how. We were very excited to test out the brands of shampoos and treatments. While shampooing Carries hair Sinija gave me tips about the shampoo. She told me that I should use the Lumi Silver Shampoo as Carrie has blonde hair but it has developed yellow tones which she doesn't like. The Lumi shampoo is blue, this neutralizes the yellow brassy tones cooling them off and turning them an nice ashy blonde. After Carrie had shampooed my hair she tried to find some product to put in my hair. Sini came over to see if see needed help. Carrie explained that she thought Morccocon Oil was the best choice as the ends of my hair are pre-lightened so they tend to be quite dry. Sini agreed but she suggested not to use the light oil as that is for fine hair where as I have an abundance of hair so she gave Carrie the thicker oil. This salon is a great opportunity to learn about the different hair products. Most salons in Ireland would only support one brand so we were thrilled to be able to use so many and see what we would prefer in the future.
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During the week, Nelly had put up a sign outside the salon saying all conditioning treatments including blow dries carried out by the trainees ( Myself and Carrie) are €15. Today we had our first customer, her name was Karoliina. She spoke fluent English and was excited to hear that we are from Ireland as she has many Irish friends in college. Carrie carried out the shampoo and conditioning treatment. She used Kératase moisturizing balm conditioning treatment as the mid length to ends were slightly chemically damaged. I then blow dried her hair straight. After the blow dry I used the Moroccan Oil serum in the ends of the hair to keep it sleek. She was delighted with her treatment and myself and Carrie were more than happy to carry out a service!
Today was the busiest day so far as it is coming up to the weekend. Each hairdresser had a couple of appointment for the day. Nelly had an appointment for a full head of highlights and Sini had a perm booked. We were surprised to see a middle aged woman who had very long hair come in for a perm as they are not a poplar style these days. The technique she used was a nine section wind, we recognized this as we learned it in college last year.
In the afternoon, Nelly informed us that her client was due in soon. So she asked if we could set up her station. This consisted of Ashleigh neatly ripping up foils and Carrie finding the client card and setting up the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). It felt just like being in our salons at home. On Wednesday, we were shown the massive range and selection of products they have in their salon. They sell branded products such as; Moroccan Oil, Kérastase by L'Óreal, Curtin and Schwarzkoph. Half of the salon is devoted to selling all these products. When you first enter the salon you see shelves among shelves filled with products. We have noticed a lot of people just come in to purchase these branded products (including lots of men!). The men in Finland seem to like to take care of their hair as they are mindful of what shampoo they buy. This afternoon a big delivery of stock came into the salon and Nelly wanted us to check the invoice to see if everything was there and carry out stock rotation.
Today was our first day of placement in Hairlekiini! We meet our lovely boss Nelly, she was so welcoming when we first arrived to the salon which really took the nervous away from us. She introduced us to the other members of staff that were working with her today. Their names were Amelia and Sini. Nelly explained to us that the majority of hairdressing salons in Finland work by a "Rented chair" scheme. This means that the hairstylists do not work for the owner of the salon. They are self employed freelance hairdressers who pay the owner for the chair and bring in their own commission. This particular hairdressing salon is located in the shopping center called Puvilla. It works on a walk in basis and would not have many appointments. For this reason the salon can be very quiet during the weekdays. Compared to other salons they do not have as much regular clients because of the walk in basis. Amelia and Sini showed us around the salon, they showed us things like how to us the basins and where the colors are stored which took up most the day.
Today Janika had organised for to us do an up-styling course in a local finish hair company called Aphrodite, when we got there we were greeted by the owner of the company. He showed us around the place and told us about the history of the company. He said the company imports its products from many countries including Japan and Korea. They're main clients would be hair salons all around Finland. After that we were introduced to Ogie, who is a hairdresser/teacher and he was going to be guiding us through the up-styling course today. He was showing us how to do one up-style but in doing so we learned how to incorporate these techniques into other up-styles. He explained to us that in Finland they like to have smooth and sleek hair, while in Ireland its more popular to go for a natural messy look. We really enjoyed the course today, and we learned a lot. They were so nice that they even gave us a goodie bag after to show how grateful they were to have Irish hairdressing students in their company today. we were overwhelmed at how generous they were.
Today was are final day in Sateudu college. This morning the beauty students in the college used us as models for mini facials as a treat to say goodbye! They used many creams, lots of which are sold in the salon. It was very relaxing and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. After lunch we wanted to return the favor to the girls so we offered to style there hair whatever way they wanted, they all seemed to want voluminous curls. These would be very popular on a day to day basis in your typical Irish salon but we have noticed in Finland the majority of the women have fine straight hair. It was so nice to see how excited the girls were when we had finished there hair and they were so appreciative. Below is one look we carried out!
After this we said our goodbyes to the girls and Janika we headed for the bus to Pori where we are staying for the rest of our trip!! Day 4: Today Jakinta had organised for us to do some of the students hair, they were so friendly and delighted to be getting their hair done. We set up our stations and the girls showed us where the styling products were. It was really cool to be able to use and test out their range of products. The pictures below are just some of the looks we did today.
Day 3... The students welcomed us into their salon. The plan for today was to observe the customer service here in Finland. We watched as the students spoke to the clients. It was all in Finnish but we could learn about the body language like eye contact and smiling :) The salon was very busy in the morning, every student had a client so there was a lot to take in. We watched the students cut hair, mix and apply colour. We noticed many things are done in a very similar way to us in Ireland. In the afternoon, the salon quietened down and the students were allowed to practice some treatments on us, which was a nice surprise! The three of us got a lovely relaxing hand massage and we were also allowed to try their compression boot treatment which helps swollen lymph nodes. We each lied down on a bed for fifteen minutes wearing the boots and it felt like a blood pressure monitor. This is a very popular treatment in Finland. We really enjoyed today and seeing behind the scenes of a Finnish salon. After college, we explored the small town of kokemaki. We came across a frozen lake and took some fabulous pictures as it was evening time and the sky was just beginning to darken. We were starstruck watching the red sunset!
Day 2 ... today we woke up extremely tired, body clock still not regulated yet. This morning we were picked up by our lovely host, Janika and were brought on a tour to the lighthouse in Pori and the local beach....what can we say it was absolutely fabulous. We then were brought to Sarah's hair salon practice placement for next week, the salon is outstanding ,the people are so welcoming and friendly and of course the products are just amazing.... the excitement is real. We also visited Ashleigh and Carries work placement but the owner was not avaliable to meet. We briefly looked around and were all so eager after today to start our work placement. We had the opportunity to have a tour of Pori. Janika very kindly drove us to Vanha-Ulvila where the lighthouse and beach are. The scenery was extremely beautiful. The sand on the beach was covered in a thick blanket of snow. Janika explained that the snow will melt away in just a few weeks.
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