 "Photo: Chris Nguyen")
A good haircut can define self-image, increase a person's confidence and is often too expensive for the average student, said Anna Shoemaker, amateur hairstylist and studio art junior.
"Your hairstyle is a physical part of who you are, and that's why it's so important to your identity," Shoemaker said. "I think the way we look really defines who we feel we are."
Shoemaker said she was tired of paying princely sums at local salons for sub-par haircuts, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. Since fall 2002, Shoemaker has been offering students free hairstyling services from her room in Blanton Dormitory.
"I would go home and do little touch-ups to it with regular scissors," she said. "It lead to me figuring out, if I can do the touch-ups, why don't I try to teach myself how to do the whole thing, and then I don't have to pay for it at all."
Shoemaker's first customer and roommate, Claire Altman, a sociology junior, said now she rarely leaves the dorm for a haircut.
"I was her first-ever client, and it was great," Altman said.
Word of mouth about Altman's haircut made her roommate a celebrity at the honors dorms. Shoemaker now has a list of 10 regulars whose hair she has been styling for almost two years. She also gets the occasional newcomer. Shoemaker said her usual customers are mostly friends.
David Tianda, a stylist at Alante hair salon on Guadalupe Street, expressed concern that operating out of a dorm room might violate state regulations.
"If someone does something like that, and they're not thorough ... that could be a problem," Tianda said.
But code 1602.002 of the Texas Occupations Code defines cosmetology as "performing or offering to perform" cosmetic services for compensation.
"State legislature gave jurisdiction to cosmetology laws only where compensation of any kind is put in place," said Antoinette Humphrey, executive director of the Texas Cosmetology Commission. "So the key is, if they're not charging anything or receiving compensation, it is not cosmetology."
Shoemaker said she gives haircuts for free. She said it is not about the money - she enjoys the creative outlet.
"I've always been a visual artist," Shoemaker said. "If grad school doesn't work out, maybe I'll go to cosmetology school."
Shoemaker will be taking her skills to Paris, France, where she will study next year. Friends who've come to rely on her hairstyling skills said they will miss Shoemaker.
"Next year, when Anna goes, I'm going to have to pay to get [haircuts]," Altman said.
But she said she won't miss the "leftovers" from her roommate's art projects.
"It's always interesting when I come home and see a big wad of hair in the trash can," Altman said. "I know Anna's been cutting hair."
Shoemaker said her lack of professional training does not keep her from feeling comfortable with a pair of scissors between her fingers.
"In a weird way, it is artistic," she said. "I enjoy getting to do it. I'm glad people let me."
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