Welcome to the webpage for the 9th and 10th grade Hairdressing and Barbering teacher, Mrs. Smallwood.

During the freshmen year, students are introduced to hairdressing/barbering. All Grade 9 students go through the Exploratory Program, which allows them to rotate through all of the trades available in the school (3 days each), select 3 trades to spend more time in (6 days each) and make a final selection. The exploratory program is a hands-on experience that encourages student discovery, provides individual student career assessments, compares aptitude with likes and dislikes, develops decision-making skills and challenges students in the application of knowledge.

Students deciding to enter the field of hairdressing and barbering will be exposed to the basics of safety and sanitation and personal hygiene, as well as equipment identification and usage. Students are introduced to professional image, sterilization and sanitation methods, draping, product knowledge, hair design and styling, nail structure, skin care and permanent waving. Trade-related mathematics, reading-writing-vocabulary and science are taught by the instructor as required.

In Grade 10, students are introduced to: professional image, sterilization and sanitation; draping techniques; shampooing; rinsing; and conditioning; haircutting; hair designing; permanent waving; hair coloring; chemical hair relaxing and soft curl perm; artificial hair techniques; nails; skin care; hair removal-temporary; electric current and light therapy techniques; styling enhancers and salon business and management. Attention is focused on learning the basics especially with haircutting (sectioning, club cut, basic layer, and angle cut), mock applications of hair coloring, chemical hair relaxing and soft curl perm. Tenth grade students can do inside (student) customer work only.

Students continue to receive instruction on safety, sanitation and personal hygiene, and demonstrate sound safety practices. Trade-related mathematics, reading-writing-vocabulary and science are integrated throughout the curriculum.

About me:
I did my hairdressing training in the state of Washington, in the Seattle area. Washington state is very different for cosmetology requirements than Connecticut. My training included 1600 hours for cosmetology, 600 hours for Esthetician, 600 hours for Manicuring, 1000 hours for Barbering, and 500 hours for teacher training, for a total of 4300 hours of school training for licensure. That is alot of hours, compared to the 1500 hours that is required for the state of Connecticut! All students will complete 1500 hours of documented cosmetology hours to qualify to take their state board exam.

I love teaching hairdressing. After managing salons in the Seattle area, and seeing that stylists were exiting schools with very little for skills, I opted for a change of career and went to school for my teacher training. After my training was complete, I started working at a technical high school, West Sound Tech, in Bremerton, Washington. I worked there for five years until my Navy husband was transferred to Groton, Connecticut. Shortly after moving here, I accepted a job at Grasso Tech in the Hairdressing Department.

I hope that this website will offer information for students and parents, as well as perspective students interested in Hairdressing.