Nofu Chronicles #3: I'm a Student!

Being in school for four months went quickly, like the blink of an eye. We went from studying the biology of the skin to hands-on training with our peers and, later on, clients who would specifically come to the school for discounted student treatments. 

I had a real problem with extractions at the time, as fear entered my body when performing them. Scared to hurt anyone, I would do fake extractions on the client while sitting next to my male esthetician student in the lab. We literally would "fake" pop away. Our Russian teacher knew this and would scold us afterward. 

One day in the lab, we were practicing bikini waxes. It was my turn to wax a peer's bikini line. I placed the wax but forgot to pull the skin tight when lifting the muslin strip. My peer shrieked in pain. Then I kept saying out loud..."I'm a student, I'm a student." I felt terrible hurting my classmate. She didn't care, and the funny thing is that she opened her own esthetician/cosmetology school in the South of Market area a few years later. I would teach the students skincare, and we would always tell the newbies the story "I'm a student, I'm a student." It turned out to be a very funny story to tell later down the road. The newbies would laugh hysterically. 

We still had lecture time towards the end of our schooling; this would consist of hearing about all the different estheticians you could be. Our teacher would speak to us about working in spas, wax-only spots, and some eccentric skincare places. One that she spoke of was a shop in Oakland where I lived. There was a woman who specialized in African American skin. She specializes in acne and problem skin and wrote for all skin care magazines. The minute my Russian teacher spoke of this woman in Oakland, I knew that this was the niche of skincare that I wanted to specialize in, even if I was not genuinely performing extractions at the time. 

During my skincare school stint, I developed grade three Rosacea. This would entail a bright red chin and cheeks with pustules in those areas. It was painful and embarrassing to be having this type of flare-up in esthetician school. My Russian teacher was convinced I had been making out with someone for several hours and that a scruffy beard had done this to me. She would ask me several times during class in front of everyone, and my skin would flush bright red from embarrassment. 

I ended up taking some time off and seeing a dermatologist for this painful condition. My prescription was now a topical cream called Metro Gel. Plus, I learned that the trigger was super high stress, drinking coffee (caffeine), eating spicy food, drinking red wine, and extreme exercise. You see, all of these things create heat in the body. I was ticking every single one of these triggers. I had just broken up with my boyfriend of eight years, was drinking coffee every morning, red wine at night, and eating lots of spicy food. I never exercised super strenuously because of my back injury from Trader Joe's. I was a Yogi through and through.  

I took a month off from school to heal my face. I went off of all the triggers and used my Metro Gel religiously. It worked! Slowly, my acne pustules went away over time, and my skin was less red. Yay! It was time for me to return to school and finish my last month. This would consist of practicing for the State Board test in Sacramento. We all received facial kits to practice with and bring to our hands-on exam. You must bring a model with you to perform all of the hands-on stuff; the first thing in the morning is the written exam. I passed both on the first try. I was now officially an esthetician. Yippee!