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Rob Cradle, best hair stylist

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The Best Hair Stylists inspire the rest of us

Hair stylists have a job that allows them to touch peoples lives in a number of unique ways. If they are good at what they do, they become good listeners, sometimes good joke tellers and sometimes they become someone who can physically make people feel better about themselves. That’s where this best hair stylist found his life’s calling, to make others feel good about who they are and therefore better equipped to fit into society.

“Best Hair Stylist
I Know”

I ran across this story in People magazines, “Hero’s Among Us,” piece and thought I’d share it here. All of us have opportunities to ‘give back’ and this is just one way a best hair stylist found to do that.

Robert Cradle opened the first African-American barbershop in the small town of Odenton, Maryland in 1991. He must have had some notion of what was to come because in his spare time he began taking classes on financial planning, fundraising and non-profit management.

A woman walked into his shop with her two foster sons, who Cradle realized had little money and he offered to wave his normal $12.00 haircut fee. He immediately felt the joy of giving, not just a free haircut, but a better feeling about themselves. As he watched them admire their new look, he says, “I felt that I was giving them care and security.” It was just a matter of months before he would start “Rob’s Community Barbershop Foundation.” He visited homeless shelters and gave free haircuts.

Cradle sold his shop in 2003 and has raised a reported $500,000 and contributions from individuals and foundations. With the money he can pay backup barbers and he has installed 7 chairs at two city shelters and a children’s home.

The foundation currently sponsors 3 in-house barber salons at local shelters. He approached the shelters and encouraged them to fill out an application for sponsorship. Then he sought out organizations interested in underwriting them for a year for the cost of equipment and construction, reported Adriane Watson, staff writer for, West County Gazette.

Mr. Cradel is a “fabulous resource,” say Ms. Zeitler development associate at St. Vincent’s Center, a therapeutic residential facility for emotionally and behaviorally-challenged children. “Children at the center often feel like they’re not good kids, but when they get to get their hair done they really feel special,” says Zeitler.

Thanks Rob Cradle for what you do as best hair stylist in my ledger.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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Nicole wins short hair challenge

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Short Hair Challenge . . . Surf’s Up!

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My favorites were Nekisa and Nicole. Just look what Nicole’s short hair cut did for her surfer guy, whew! His longer hairstyle hides his great features. His new short hairstyle not only highlights his features, but works great with his lifestyle.

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Nekisa wins my vote

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I had picked Nekisa as the winner in this challenge and Nicole as second place. She transformed this surfer from boy to model within 30 minutes. He looks more like a surfer now than he did before with his nondescript, no style, hairstyle. She didn’t take much hair off, but enough to give it a cool and easy to maintain shape for his face shape.

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Elimination challenge starts with a clean slate

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This was an excellent challenge for a number of reasons, my favorite challenge yet. The stylists have more options, as far as length and shape of a hair style goes, as they pick a wig for their client. They can evaluate the clients face shape and lifestyle and go from there. In many ways it may be harder to decide where to go by having so many choices.

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Cutting a hair style into a wig is much different than cutting normal hair. Wigs need to be thinned out, thinned out and thinned out again. Look back at times you have recognized someone wearing a wig and it most likely was because it looked more like a helmet on the head than natural hair. If the wig is long hair, it tends to look like too much hair on the face. So, an artful touch of layering and thinning is necessary to give the wig movement and a more natural look.

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Paulo’s first place wig hairstyle

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First place went to Paulo, who did this long layered Farrah Fawcett type hair style. I think he did great with it, mainly because you can see through the hair. It could have been a bit lighter in the bangs. The shape frames her face well and it fits her desire to have “nightclub sexy” hair. You can imagine this hair has movement and that gives it more believability as being real hair.

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Nicole was given second place in this challenge. I gave her first place again. She clearly took the biggest risk going this short and blonde! It was the best transformation in my book, and the client loved it as well.  She was fearless as she said she never had cut a wig before. But then she thought she made a big mistake as the wig didn’t react as normal hair and she ended up in tears.

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Great hair stylists take risks! They may end up in tears at times, but these are their biggest teaching moments. (And most of these seemingly mistakes can be easily corrected and aren’t all that bad after all.) These are the stylists who will update us to our next new hair style that makes us feel renewed and like a million bucks.

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I can guarantee you the hair stylists learned a lot from this competition. They learned once again about their strengths and weaknesses. There is a fine line in this business, between having a healthy amount of confidence and having a hugely over-inflated ego. The former is a good thing, the latter, if you spot it in your stylist my suggestion is to . . . run like the wind! 

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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Easy Hair Updo

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Sebastian Professional gives up cool and easy hair updos.

I like this easy hair updo for a number of reasons but mostly because it’s got an edgy feel to it. This shape artfully combines a smooth, sleek, shiny, soft look, with a curly, voluminous, matte textured look.

“Easy Hair Updos”

Apply into damp hair, a strong holding styling product that will leave your hair full of body like, Gel Forte, by Sebastian. Blow dry for body. Take a section from crown to behind the ear to the nape. Use a strong holding spray, like Re-Shaper, by Sebastian and set sections with hot rollers.  Leave the rest of the hair in front of ears straight or smooth out with a flat iron. Release set. Tease hair to create a cushion and pin into shape. Use straight hair at the front to “cover” and blend the two textures. Place and hold using Re-Shaper.

Gel Forte can also be used in dry hair for a stronger hold and separation.

Re-Shaper is a humidity resistant, brush able spray and can be used on damp or dry hair. It also works as a root lifter or a finishing spray for all hair types.

Got a question, war story or comment about this topic? Click on the "Leave Your Comments" link at the very bottom of this article. Some of my best ideas for future articles come from reading reader comments. I'd love to hear from you!

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