Double trouble at Skills MB

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This article was published 09/05/2016 (3623 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two heads are better than one, even if they are mannequins.

St. James Collegiate’s Bea Requerme and Hillary Cuthbert both recently medalled at the Skills Manitoba hairstyling competition, and the two spent many hours together in the hairstyling studio to prepare.

“That was our goal, to both get medals,” bronze medal winner Cuthbert said. “Just to hear our names being called, we were so ecstatic.”

Cuthbert executed a bombage-style haircut on her male mannequin, which is a tapered cut with longer length top section that is usually slicked back. For the woman’s updo, Cuthbert said the style can best be described as a flower.

“You start playing around,” she said of coming up with an idea. “Mine has more of a shape of a flower because it all comes out from the centre, and I was really playing a lot with colour. We create everything on our own but (Tony Scarpino, hairstyling teacher) will tell us if it looks unbalanced.”

Requerme’s male cut was a taper as well, but with less volume.

“I did a more sleek look because I wanted to focus on it looking more clean,” she said.

Of the women’s style, she knew she “wanted something that incorporated butterflies, so I’ve been looking at more playful and fantasy colours, so it took a while before I figured out what I wanted.”

The two said that the bright colours they chose for the competition wouldn’t be easy to replicate on a live model unless they had white hair, so it’s an opportunity for both to colour outside the lines a bit.

“These mannequins are pure white so all the colours are so true,” Cuthbert said. To get that colour on a real person would mean a lot of bleaching, and damage.

Requerme and Cuthbert are both currently fulfilling 1,600 apprenticeship hours to get their hairstyling licences as they prepare to graduate from St. James Collegiate this spring. Cuthbert said once high school is over she’ll be focusing on working as a stylist and hopefully travelling as part of her job. Requerme will be attending university in the hopes of getting an education degree.

“I’m trying to get into education and do math and science so I want to see where that takes me,” she said. “I definitely want to stay in the hairstyling industry and incorporate both and show people that people who are in hair can also do more.”

Scarpino said St. James Collegiate has only competed in Skills when they’ve had interested students, and is happy to see Cuthbert and Requerme’s hard work pay off.

“It’s a lot of time and effort,” he said. “These mannequins are expensive to buy, they’re not our typical kind, so when you have someone who is serious about doing it then you’re investing time and money. They deserve all the praise because they put the work in.”

He added that competing in front of peers is no small feat, and getting even that far is a win.