Cut hair, not throats

ISS Haircut   (NASA photo)

Cutthroat competition is what drives some to a life of crime.  Lacking the skills to succeed in a nine-to-five world, they resort to survival tactics.

Carmen Shehorn is doing her part to reverse that trend.  She teaches cosmetology at Valley State Prison in Chowcilla, California.  This is a men’s facility, and yes, you read that right.

Inmate students “tackle everything from perming hair to gel manicures to eyelash applications.”  When it comes time for hands-on practice, they even work on staff. 

This level of trust entails careful screening.  Committee approval is needed for joining the popular program (which has a waiting list), and “only those inmates who are a year or less from their release can take the exam.”

Juan Brizuela, who served 22 years for second-degree murder, is now leading a productive life outside the prison walls.  He attained his cosmetology license via Shehorn’s program, and now works at a “celebrity hair salon” in Pasadena.  

Shehorn taught him to save face in more ways than one.  Brizuela explained:  It was much more than just learning a trade.  It was learning about yourself and life and how humans really interact on a positive level with one another.   

Resources

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news/this-prison-beauty-school-preps-inmates-for-a-career-post-incarceration/ar-BBNs4gX?OCID=ansmsnnews11

Copyright September 20, 2018 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved