Cosmetology Students Seek Trophies

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Noemi Anaya
Model :Hayley Byrne Hair: Alanna Abott. Makeup: Noemi Anaya.



Sharon Ho
Issue date: 9/28/09

Armed with their faithful brushers and blushers, two teams from the CSM cosmetology department will be competing Oct. 11 in this year's 15th annual Nino Faggiano Student Team Competition.

More than 40 teams from across California will vie for 15 trophies and cash prizes totaling $1,000, with an additional $100 for the school that travels farthest.

"The last time CSM won the Mardi Gras fantasy-themed competition was in 2005, with the winning team creating a feline look for their model," said Suzanne Russell, cosmetology coordinator and instructor.

Russell, who was responsible for coaching the 2005 CSM team to success, is training this year's teams.

"We blew [the judges] away, sweeping up the two most prestigious awards - the best team trophy and also the best hairstyle award," said cosmetology coordinator Becky Boosalis-Oler.

"The ongoing Mardi Gras fantasy theme will give our cosmetology competitors an opportunity to use their imagination and demonstrate their skills," said cosmetology coordinator and adviser Andria Nalls.

The competition is open only to student barbers, cosmetologists, cosmeticians and manicurists. Each team consists of two or three students who will each create fantasy-themed makeup, nails and hair on their models.

"We are given 90 minutes to do everything, so basically we have about 30 minutes to work on each aspect because it's too difficult for us to work on our model all at once," said student competitor Raquel Toledo, nail technician for her team.

The Mardi Gras fantasy theme allows for more flexibility and a greater scope for creativity, although there are some rules that may cause restrictions. Student competitor Noemi Anaya, the makeup artist in her team, said that the hairstylists are not allowed to use hair pieces that take up more than one third of the skull area of their models and that hair ornamentation should not consist of more than one quarter of the completed hairstyle. Also, only female models are allowed.

"I'm doing makeup, so I don't really have many restrictions for my segment, except if like I'm using feathers and I need to make sure they stay on my model's face," said student competitor Magdalena Molina.

Teams began practicing on their models two weeks ago, giving them about a month to prepare for the competition.

Molina's team starts working on their model around 5 p.m. on weekdays as she and her teammates often have classes and clients that keep them busy between 8 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"I joined this competition to have fun. I'll still go all-out but I am not really going to be too competitive about it," said Molina.

"We've worked really hard and we're really excited about [the competition]," said student competitor Marisa Saucedo, nail technician for her team.

The competition, sponsored by the California Cosmetology Association's central district, is part of the yearly "Beauty at the Beach" event held at the Coconut Grove ballroom on Santa Cruz's beach boardwalk.

The competition's namesake, Nino Faggiano was founder of the local cosmetology association. He was inducted into the California Cosmetology Association Hall of Fame in 1993.

"We named the competition after him because he used to donate a lot of his time to teaching classes at the various cosmetology schools and for the association as well," said competition President Ella Fay Cullen, a cosmetology coordinator at the Central County Occupational Center in San Jose.

Faggiano began his career as a barber's assistant in his father's salon in Italy at age 13. He opened his own salon in Santa Cruz in his 20s and continued to work there until he died in 2006 at age 91.