The talk with the stylist from Julia Stone’s salon was really enlightening. Nicholas Carbonaro brought up a good point, which is that we are all college students, and so we have to strike up a balance between professional and practical. Most of us don’t have the time or money for a high maintenance look, but we still need to look nice for internships or other professional events. It made me think about my own hair and what I can/should do to look more presentable in the future. Something he said that stuck with me was that you can’t expect a $100 haircut for $15. Most of us look for the cheapest hair cut and then complain about how bad it is, but we need to realize that the amount of time a stylist spends on your hair is time they could be spending with other clients, and so they need to be compensated accordingly.

As far as Nicholas Carbonaro’s life goes, he has a ton of experience under his belt. He’s worked on just about every hair type, but also has hair experience from working on wax statue hairpieces where he would have to punch in each strand of hair. Nicholas knows a lot about how to make your hair work for you personally, with different products according to your needs. I think it was a great cafe and taught me a lot about how to take care of your appearance without expending a ridiculous amount of time.

When I reflect on how his advice applies to me, it makes me realize that I don’t think about my appearance in a professional context at all. So far in my life, it hasn’t been necessary. Now that I’m entering a period of my life where job interviews and internships are going to be common, I’ll need to make sure I actually look professional, which is going to require investing in my appearance. Maybe appearance shouldn’t matter, but right now in our society it does. If you want to make a good impression and be taken seriously, you can’t look too unkempt.