Happy New Year! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your business and support this last year. I enjoy so much what I do every day at work and I know that it wouldn't be as much fun without such awesome people walking through the door.

I have a few announcements, so please bear with me. Hopefully these bullet points will make it less boring (like on the 6 o'clock news).

• I am having back surgery on Wed, January 28th. My last day in the salon will be Saturday, January 24th. My first days back will be February 13th and 14th. If you are close to running out of products, now is the time to plan. Please let me know in advance via text or email what products you need and I can give you a total so you can just swing by with a check already written out. This will minimize interruptions to me and the curly girl in my chair.

• As a reminder, if you are booking a repeat haircut visit, please be sure to come with cleansed and dried Day 1 hair (day 2 if it is exceptional). This will ensure the best cut and minimal editing afterwards. If you are having a root touch-up, please arrive with your hair detangled as much as possible.

• Exciting news: I am in the process of completing the paperwork in order to be able to hire an assistant. I am currently booking the first part of May, so with an assistant I am hoping my books will open up with more availability. If you have any leads of a licensed hairstylist who you might think would be a good fit for Oly•Curl, please let me know. They must be willing to learn and have an intense passion for this industry. Curly hair is a plus!

• I received an honorable mention as Curly Hair Artist of the Year from my colleagues in the CHA (Curly Hair Artistry). It is an honor to be recognized by the best in this field! You can read that article here.

• Lastly, if the life of your hair has changed and you feel I have had an impact on your curls, please consider voting for Oly•Curl as Best Salon in Best of South Sound. When you vote you will be entered to win some great prizes from the sponsor. It's easy to register and you can even use your facebook to register. Here is the link for the voting: Best of South Sound

Thank you for reading, and I would appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery so that I can be back behind the chair changing curls for the better! Now go vote, please!!!

Your Partner in Curl,
Yukiko 

I am late posting about my CHA training in Detroit in the latter part of October, but better late than never! I had an amazing time curl-laborating with the best of the best in the curly hair world. These are top-notch stylists from all over the world who have devoted their businesses and careers to the study and beautification of curls . I am honored to be counted amongst them and to be able to bring back to Olympia what I have learned from these intense trainings. 

We were able to choose our models with the intention of learning. So I reached out for Tasha who was very shy and quiet, but excited to learn along with us. She had never been able to wear a "wash-and-go" (a natural hairstyle without any braiding or manipulation of curls) because she could never achieve definition in her very tight 3b/3c curls. 

Having recently just had a haircut, we got to spend all our time figuring out how best to work with her curls. With the assistance of Keina Morgan, Curly Hair Artist and Consultant, my partner Laura McGraw and I got to really get our hands in Tasha's hair and learn from this texture. I loved every minute of it and gained much more confidence in working with this hair type.

Below is another highly-textured client who was an absolute joy to work with. I love her hair! Her main goal was to compact her hair as much as possible, because unlike myself, she does not like big hair! "Whaaaaat?!", you say. Yes, it's true, but I can work with that and I used the same technique of applying product that I learned in Detroit and got excellent results.

I frequently get asked if I do "black" hair, or "ethnic" hair. The answer is yes, but I like to remind people that I work with texture of hair, no matter the color or race. Some hair is more challenging than others and that's okay. I'm up for the challenge if you are up for the journey!