In bedrooms turned makeshift salons and kitchens under early morning lights, frustration has been replaced with confidence. Fly-aways are laid to rest, and curls are coaxed into order. At the center of it all stands sophomore Sarah Fite with a comb in hand and a satisfied smile on her face. Although there is no sign on the door, no appointment book, and no large paycheck waiting at the end of the day, her reputation has grown amongst friends and strangers.
Fite first began tackling the art of hairstyling four years ago. She began with her own hair in middle school and has continued to practice her craft; all the while, her skills and confidence have grown.
“I started doing my own hair in sixth grade,” Fite said. “I had been getting salon haircuts, and they were just so expensive, so one day I decided to do it myself instead. At first, I just cut my hair, and I’m not going to lie, it was definitely a rough beginning. But, I slowly began to get it down, and I moved on to learning more skills, like dying and bleaching my hair.”
Despite this rough beginning Fite was deterred. She kept learning through a process of trial and error until she felt skilled enough to begin working on hair other than her own.
“I didn’t start doing other people’s hair until about two years ago,” Fite said. “I needed the time to make sure that I felt ready because it is a lot of pressure and trust that someone gives you when you do their hair. I first worked on my friend’s hair, but now I’ve gotten in contact with a few people that I didn’t know at first, and I’ve done their hair, too.”
One of Fite’s clients is fellow grade-level student and friend, Scarlett Wray. According to Wray, they have known each other since sixth grade and have been close friends ever since then. Wray had her hair done by Fite this summer, and was one of the first people that Fite began doing hair for.
“I told Sarah that she could experiment on my hair at the beginning of this summer,” Wray said. “I came to her with the idea to do a teal color that looked like the Baja Blast drink from Taco Bell. I wanted it done on the underside of my hair. She also added some of her own flair to the style by adding raccoon tails. I thought it all turned out really good and the color stayed for a long time.”
Wray has not only been one of her clients, but she is also Fite’s connection to the professional beauty industry. Wray’s mom, Holly Wray, owns Yellow Door Salon, which is a local beauty salon. According to Fite, this connection to a licensed beautician offers many learning opportunities to hone her skills.
“I have helped Sarah just here and there,” Holly said. “Sometimes adjusting the cut or helping with color which usually consists of helping bleach her roots. She honestly doesn’t need much help.”
According to Holly, Fite is very creative and bold which is something that stands out about her when it comes to hair styling. As mentioned by Holly those traits have the potential to open up many doors for Fite in the beauty industry.
“What I’m most impressed with is that Sarah actually has the balls to cut her own hair with no actual education in how to do that,” Holly said. “I think the sky is the limit for Sarah. She is super creative and willing to try things that I never would have done, especially in high school. She definitely has a look and a knack for hair and is willing to take risks and mess up. She doesn’t care what others think and doesn’t feel the need to look like everyone else. I love it”
While Fite does spend time doing hair, for her, it is more of a hobby than a job. She doesn’t typically charge for her services and just lets herself enjoy the process.
“Doing people’s hair is just fun for me more than anything, it doesn’t feel like a chore,” Fite said. “It’s more of a ‘pay what you can’ if it’s a haircut or something easy, and if it’s something I want to do, then obviously, I won’t charge. But if it’s going to take five hours of bleaching and cutting, then some money would be nice.”
Fite has experience with a variety of hair types, including curls and more masculine hairstyles. According to her, one of her favorite styles to do is highlights.
“I love working on different hair types,” Fite said. “But, doing highlights is a lot of fun, and more complicated than other styles, because it really depends on the type of hair that you have and how light you’re trying to go. There are a lot more things to take into consideration. And bleach is a more volatile form of lightning, so you need to be careful. I’ve even had it explode in my bathroom a few times.”
According to Fite, she has come very far along her hair journey. However, things weren’t always smooth sailing, and she has had some rough patches that required her to rebuild her confidence. The biggest one was the last time she got her hair professionally done. They had not given her the hairstyle she wanted, and she had the idea to do it herself to avoid another salon fee.
“My hair had been really long before. I wanted it cut shorter with layers added,” Fite said. “They definitely didn’t give me layers, and my hair was cut to about a bob length. I was really upset with it, and I thought that I would be able to do the layers on myself. So, I took craft scissors and, without watching any tutorials, I started cutting. Let’s just say it turned out very unfortunate, but I’m the type of person who takes bad situations and uses them as a motivation to improve.”
When thinking about continuing her career in the beauty industry, Fite is still unclear. As she doesn’t want hairdressing to become a chore instead of a hobby, but as of right now, she still plans to expand her knowledge and keep enhancing her skills.
“I feel like once you turn a hobby into a job, it stops being a hobby,” Fite said. “If I do end up getting my cosmetology license, I would use it to get better materials, but I don’t think I would work in a salon full-time.
As Fite reflects on her progress, she considers how far she’s come and what doing hair means to her.
“Doing hair is my way of expressing myself. While some people get piercings or tattoos, styling hair is its own form of art,” Fite said “I love the ability to change something about myself and the freedom that it gives me. When I think back to the beginning, I would tell myself to just keep going, because it has been so worth it. Looking back, I feel like I’ve become the person that I was looking up to.”
