Education has always been something I’ve been very passionate about. Over the past three decades, I have held educator positions with a few product companies, developed classes within a long-standing salon and taught each incoming stylist at Ambushed Salon through my Curl Immersion Internship Program. Throughout my career, there has always been a shortage of curly hair education. Although more recently there’s been an increase, especially in individuals sharing their own experiences on social media and YouTube and more classes have started to pop-up, frankly, there’s still not enough education, not enough stylists, and not enough awareness.
The other preceding current methods available typically focus on dry or wet cutting methods exclusively. After investigating and listening to curly clients opinions, I saw a space where I believe the concept of bringing wet and dry techniques together provided more freedom to the stylist to satisfy all textures and curls. I believe there is plenty of room in the industry for different philosophies to co-exist. My goal is to provide stylists with education that could serve as a strong foundational base or be an expansion of their current skill set.
Traditionally, clients have come to expect stylists to be able to only service those who look like them. I wanted to show that it doesn’t matter and that any stylist, though knowledge and ability, is able to connect with their client through their passion for diversity of all textures. Creating and perfecting my methods were based on my passion to provide options to the Naturally Textured Curly Community.
Often times, a cutting demonstration will show how to do a specific haircut as a whole. I found most stylists still did not understand exactly how they achieved the haircut at the end and were unable to modify it to fit a different scenario. This inspired me to instead teach the information broken down to the most basic form, where the stylist would then be able to use the pieces to build their own haircuts and shapes. By mastering the smaller pieces, they have the freedom to create their own inspirations and those of their clients. I desire to make this information accessible to stylists around the world and teach it in a way that provides them with a system for success that is repeatable using easily understood fundamentals.
There is no reason that every stylist shouldn’t have the knowledge and understanding to skillfully serve their curly haired clients. I want to change the way the industry views natural curl and texture and inspire change in the way it is taught from the very beginning. A dream of mine is to see this being taught from the start as part of the curriculum in the schools. While the ACA serves as a source of education, I also hope to inspire stylists to stay curious and never stop learning.
-Amy Bush
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