melinda perez

Hello my name is Melinda and I am 23 years old. I grew up in Lakewood New jersey and was primarily raised by my grandparents. I have a one year old son and another on the way. i am currently attending Paul Mitchell the school jersey shore and plan to graduate in June . Growing up, my grandparents were pastors and so i spent most of my time in church and under a very strict household. Believe it or not, my grandparents were the first ones to teach me that image was very important and how its the first thing people judged you by. I am Puerto Rican  and so naturally i have thick curly hair just like all the women in my family before me. Although, growing up you wouldn't be able to tell because my grandparents believed that having my hair curly meant that it wasn't done. In fact, i was about 12-13 yrs old when  i actually saw my grandmothers hair curly for the first time. We were on vacation in Florida and had spent the day at the pool. Naturally, after being in the sun all day the last thing my grandmother wanted to do was do her hair. instead, she took a shower, slapped some product on it and rocked a very cute curly fro for two days before she washed it and blew it out again. this moment was a defying moment in my life. my whole life, for as far back as i can remember, we woke up every Saturday, spending most of the day at Dominican salon. Every single week we went and spent hours on receiving treatments, sitting under a dryer in roller sets, and getting our hair blown out. i Even received a relaxer at the age of 8. when my grandmother revealed her curly hair i remember thinking to myself why are we so ashamed of our curly hair. My grandmothers curly hair was really something to envy and i realized that my curly hair was just as beautiful. From that moment on i learned to embrace my curly hair. As i got older i let my natural hair thrive more and more and eventually it became my new norm. Growing up i always had a love for hair and makeup and maybe it was because of all of my trips to the salon. nonetheless i generally loved having my hands in hair. i had all the barbie and bratz doll heads and i always tried playing with my relatives hair. In my teens, i spent most of my time on you tube trying out heat less curls and different makeup trends. However, even though i loved doing these things, my family didn't really view cosmetology as a career goal. It just wasn't their standard career choice. i moved out of my child hood home at a very young age before i even graduated high school. Even though i was no longer in that household their beliefs still stuck with me and i didn't believe cosmetology was where i needed to be. so instead, i went to school to become a forensic psychologist. I ended up getting pregnant with my son, i fell behind on my school work and overall realized that I wasn't happy in the choice i made so i dropped. After careful consideration, i realized that my passion had always been hair. Having curly hair like mine proved to be a challenge to some hairstylists. When i moved out of my grandparents home  I Stopped going to Dominican hair salons and ventured to other hair salons. i realized that my hair didn't turn out the same and had a hard time finding a stylist that could handle my mane. Most of the time i  was doing my own hair and started to wonder how many other girls have had  the same problem. This, with the combination of the arrival of my son, pushed me to go to cosmetology  school and i love every second of it. It doesn't feel like school, it doesn't feel like a job, and its because i love what i do and am finally happy with my decision. No doubt in my mind, this is where I am supposed to be. Overall i am passionate about embracing yourself and your natural beauty. Of course you can get your hair and makeup done but its important to understand that whats underneath all the changes, is whats most important. I generally want to make people feel good. i know what its like to be going through a tough time in life and not loving yourself enough to do something about it. For a very long time i was stuck in a fog of thoughts that didn't belong to me. I never want that for anyone. Hopefully after graduating and obtaining my license i can help my community in the ways i wish i would have had growing up. i want to be able to perform washes and cuts on the homeless. I want to be able to help survivors of abuse and become a part of their journey. i want to be able to help cancer patients and survivors feel just a little bit better. I just want to embrace those around me and touch the lives of as many people as i can with my talent and passion. The overall goal is to create a safe haven for people to be themselves, get their hair done, and escape from their world even if just for a moment.