A Cut Above: Hairstyling grad gets more bangs for his buck

Posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2018

Stefan Jenkins was just a kid when he realized his love of hairstyling was a permanent condition that would give him more bangs for his buck. No teasing.

“I always used to play with doll heads or my friends’ (hair), constantly braiding my friends’ hair or pretending to play hair salon,” he says. “I always wanted to be doing things to my own hair.”

So when it came time to consider life after high school, Algonquin’s two-year diploma program in Hairstyling was an obvious choice.

Jenkins, owner of Static, a modern loft-style salon in Carleton Place’s historic Old Church Shoppes, says the program provided an ideal foundation. “At Algonquin, we learned the fundamentals of hairstyling, everything you needed to know to start and to move forward with advanced education. It was … everything you would need to kick start your career.”

As good as it was, the Hairstyling program has only gotten better since Jenkins’ graduation in 2011.

When Jenkins was enrolled, the program’s hair styling “labs,” where students would have a chance to practice their art on living human heads (clients seeking professional styling at discounted prices), were located in the basement of Nepean’s old Confederation High School. “A dungeon,” Jenkins recalls.

Since then, the program has been relocated to a state-of-the-art salon on the Ottawa campus. But, says Jenkins, the learning opportunities haven’t changed.

“We offered hair services three nights a week,” he says, “real services that you would get in a salon. We constantly had a flow of clients that you didn’t know what they were coming in to get, so it was surprise every day.”

“Mannequin heads only go so far. They’re not a true example of what a human head would be like in hair density and hair textures. So having multiple different people with different hair textures coming in really got you on your feet and made you think.”

The program, Jenkins says, provides a thorough grounding in the basics of washing hair, highlighting, cutting, and blow drying. “That’s basically what we do every day (in any salon). Over time you develop your own style, but basically everything you learn (in the Algonquin program), you pretty much apply daily in the salon.”

After graduation, Jenkins honed his skills as an artistic educator for a hair-products company. “What that means is that I actually got to go into other salons and educate them on advanced trends and proper ways to use the products.”

Learning by teaching was one of the techniques practiced in his Algonquin program, Jenkins says. “We would learn a technique singly and then we would be paired up and have to teach another person the technique (we) just learned. That really helps keep the knowledge fresh and locked in your mind.”

Running his own salon is a dream come true, he says. “The hardest thing about running my own salon is that you are everyone. You are the owner, hairstylist, you are the inventory person, the receptionist. Basically, every aspect of the salon falls on your shoulders.

“At the same time, being the owner, everyone tends to know you. You are the face of the company for the most part … and I am in control of my every day work life, which I love.”

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