Totally different career choices this man pursued, and, yet he was able to tap into his skills he’d acquired from graphics design, and put it into his new line of chosen career path, hairstyling…translated…
When He Was Lost, the Line from “Ladybird” Moved Him, “Don’t You Think Love & Focus are the Same Thing?”, He’d Started Contemplating on, When He’s at His, Highest Level of, Concentration………………
“That very first day of class I’d, cut my, hand.” Tai Huang recalled five years ago, when he was in that very first barber course, he sounded, very, hyped up, like the injury was, a medal that marked his, adventurous, journey.
That was the year he was, thirty-three, he’d worked in graphics design for nearly a decade before, and decided to switch tracks to become, a hairstylist, to now, his fifth year since his switch. Although these two paths are related to aesthetic, but, in graphic designs, you work with a computer, and in hairstyling, you’re dealing with the heads of your clients, no matter it was the techniques, the laboring of the body and mind, the necessities of social interactions, the two are, completely, opposites. I’d known many graphic designers in my circle, but this was the very first time that I’d heard that one became a hairstylist, so I was more than curious of the turns in his life, and I’d, admired the process of his career, switch.
The Enlightenment from a Dream
Tai loved doodling and art since he was a young child, in his technical high school years, and university, he’d studied in the design related majors, and so, naturally after he’d graduated, he’d found a job in graphics design; after working for four years in a famous designer studio and publisher, he’d taken the cases on his own for three more years. The three years of taking the cases on his own, he’s schedules are freed up, but, there’s this lack of reliability of his source of, income, and, as he’d begun jobhunting, he’d selected a tech firm, and, was put in charge of the designs of the companies Cloud sales pitch.
illustration from UDN.com
It’s quite busy, working in the tech industry, despite he’d felt fatigue from the repeated communications, but, the wages were so much higher than the creative industries, so the upsets from work he’d felt, would quickly, simmer down. By 2021, the pandemic messed up his original balance, the designing part usually takes more of the graphic work than the production, for the social media groups to use. Although, he worked from home then, he was forced to work overtime a lot, plus one time, his higher up manager questioned his performances, it’d made Tai doubt himself, that he may no longer be fitted for this line of, work.
Tai wanted to quit his job then, but didn’t know what his next steps in life was. He’d realized, that for the past decade, he’d been trapped in the vicious cycle of “job hunting, getting the hang of his job, feeling the pains, because the work didn’t fit to his interest profile, quitting”, although finding a graphics design job for himself again wasn’t difficult, but he couldn’t imagine himself ten years from then, doing the same job. “The job description of designing is basically solving problems for others, you basically had to satisfy your managers, your managers’ managers, along with the needs of other departments in the firm, until all who are related to the project is completely, satisfied with what you put out, and yet, all the initial passion I took into the designing all got, abrased through this, whole, process.”
There’s the two options of the top of the ladders for graphic designers, you either open up your own work studio, or you make it all the way up the ladder to a brand company as a manager or a director. And Tai clearly knew, that neither was what he wanted, as he’d felt lost, the line from the movie, “Ladybird” touched him, “Don’t you think love is the same as focus?”, he’d begun thinking, what he’d done, that’s kept him focused at the most? The morning following, he’d had a dream, that he was barbering someone’s hair in a space. The day following, he saw a poster in a café that had, “let it come, let it go, let it flow.”
The Hundred-Day Record Refresher Course
Thinking back to it now, the heavens had, delivered his exams in his life to him one right after another. I curiously inquired, how long before he took action. “I’d immediately looked it up! There’s the offer of ‘Making you into a professional hair stylist in a hundred days!”, he became motivated, but, as he’d checked into the details, he’d found that the courses run from Monday through Fridays, from 9:30 in the morn to 5 in the afternoon, and the program is for a whole of, six months, that registering meant he’d had to quit, what’s more awkward for him was the closest time was in December, and if he’d signed up, he wouldn’t be receiving the year-end-bonus from his graphic designs firm. But the next time the courses start is in June of the, following, year………he’d situated himself down, calculated the funds that he currently had, if he pays for the nine hundred thousand dollars of tuition, could he still have enough to pay for his rent, his life, for six more months without working. After two months’ worth of considerations, he’d signed up for the course at the end of the year. “Later I’d found, that the June session the year following didn’t make, and the same course that came afterwards never made ever again.”
There are many industries that are related to the aesthetics, why would Tai consider hairstyling as he was contemplating switching tracks? Tai thought for a while, and recalled something in his past. When he was studying in the university in Yunlin’s countryside, he’d not known where he can get a haircut, so he’d, gave himself his own haircuts, those were the days without YouTube videos, and he can only go by his feel, but, nobody noted that something was up with his, hairstyle. Until a bit later, a classmates asked Tai if he could trim his hair for him. “He was too shy, and felt uncomfortable, having to tell the barbers at the salons what he wanted.” And Tai had been trimming this classmate’s hair since college, to now. “I’d thought back then, this classmate was willing to be my client for over a decade, there may be more like him.” Tai viewed this classmates as a godsent, and promised that after he received his barber certification, he will have his haircuts free of charge for the rest of his, life.
As Tai became a student again, he’d made two decision that changed his life in the future. “That very first day of class, I’d opened up an IG account, to document these, hundred days’ worth of, course I was taking.” The records he’d kept her simple, what day is it, whose hair he’d trimmed, how he’d felt trimming the hairs of the clients. The second decision came, a bit after he was into his course, and needed live clients to practice his hairstyling skills on. Other than asking for volunteers on his social media, he’d also contacted all the friends, classmates he’d made along the way, and asked if they would be willing to let him practice his hairstyling skills on them. “During that time, there were forty, fifty friends I knew who’d come, some of whom I’d lost contact for many years, and soon as we met, I’d begun, patting them on their, heads.”
As the hundred day came to an end, Tai received the private message from his current boss, asked if he were interested to work in his studio. His boss came from the same system as he, through the courses, finding Tai’s IG account documentations. “Those friends who’d allowed me to use his head for practice for free, became my new clientele for the first few months I’d begun working as a hairstylist.”, Tai smiled and told.
What was Missing in His Career Switch Was the Skill Set He Needed for His New Career of Choice
As he started working, he didn’t have that many clients, the first year, his monthly pay was only a little over $30,000N.T.s “The first two years, I’d still taken the designing cases. Before I go to work, I’d made the drafts at the cafés, and after my work is finished in the salon, I’d returned back to the café to continue working on the designs.” The café my interview with him was in, was where he’d worked on the drafts for two years, Tai looked around the walls and the surrounding environment, seeming to be recalling his ten-plus workday from before. It was his editor who’d gave him a case who’d introduced him to me, and the man sighed and told me, that it was such a shame, that Tai didn’t take the graphics design cases anymore, Tai told me, with the clientele of his hairstyling increasing, he’d begun taking less and less cases in graphics design.
Why does he love hairstyling? Tai thought for awhile, then told, that as he begun trimming the hairs, he would get into that flow of mind, and the sense of achievement is immediate. “The moment I’d trimmed the hairs for a client, I would immediately know if s/he loved the style I gave her/him, if I trimmed seven clients in a day, there are five who are satisfied with my work, then that would be, awesome, and if I had a good time in conversing with three out of these five, then, I feel, extremely, achieved.”
A new experience that came with hairstyling for him was that he got to interact with people from various walks of, life. for guys, they come in for a trim once a month, there was a client who was healthy, who’d become his returning client, to falling gravely ill, and the medical professional told the client that he only had two months to live, “at that time, I’d thought, will he show again?” he’d paused, then told, thankful the man made his full recovery. And there would be the clients who’d shared the stories of their lives with him. There was a client with tattoos over his body, in the midst of the dragons, phoenix flying, there was, a cute Peppa Pig, that was the favorite character of his daughter who’d died. Tai told, in that small studio of his, everyone who was there all listened in silence, as this man shared the loss of his daughter.
To the end of our interview, Tai presented him with a small present he’d, designed, that was filled with the stickers, the cards, the good luck charms……………he’d told, that he would present the good luck charms to his clients on their, birthdays, during Christmases, he’d given them the fortune cookies with the blessings, the slips of red for the Chinese New Year. From when he worked in design, he gotten into sales too, and so he’d known to estimate the costs of these items, finding the manufacturers of these items, and the timing of gifting all of these items out to his clients.
First day of work in the salon, the owner asked his goal, “I’d told him I want to start my own studio one day”. Then, I’d had to, start building up my clientele right then and there. As some heard, they’d felt he’d wasted ten years, that had he gone into hairstyling right after he graduated, he would’ve owned his own, salon by now. But Tai doesn’t believe there’s the time well wasted. “I’d heard of a stylist who took the courses to learn to take shots of their clients’ hair after they’re done cutting them, but, I’d already gotten my foundations in what other hairstylists aren’t used to, sales, packaging, and photography, changing track isn’t starting from ground zero, what I’d needed was only the skills in hairstyling.”
So, this still showed, how there’s NO useless skills you’d learned, everything has its place, you just hadn’t found a place to put what you learned to use is all, like for this graphic designer turned hairstylist, he is a perfect example of how we should pursue our dreams if we have them, to learn as much as we possibly can, and, if we do all the preparatory work completely, then, opportunities will eventually present themselves to us, and by then, all we need to do, is to, grab these opportunities, and become whatever it is we’re meant to be in our lives.
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