Having completed the New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Salon Support) in February, Zildari Van Heerden decided to enter year 2 of the full-time New Zealand Certificate in Hairdressing (Emerging Stylist) programme in March.
Since then, she has found the journey both challenging and rewarding.
“I'm going to be honest,” she says.
“Nothing in life is easy, and for people to learn and grow things have to get complicated to learn and grow out of it. And so that is exactly what will always happen in what ever you do in life.”
Although difficult, Sildari has loved her course.
“I love how this hairdressing course is not just about throwing colour on heads and cutting hair, there is so much more to it,” she says.
“It's challenging, but doable.
“Hairdressing is interesting if you are a person who enjoys doing hands on work, working with people, thinking with your brain, doing a bit of maths and even science, and still get joy out of it, this is for you.
“It's different and it's also a good trade to have, because you can do so many things and travel anywhere with having this trade.”
Hairdressing wasn't something Sildari was initially interested in. She simply fell into it, having discovered that she needed a lot more work and life experience if she wanted to join the police, the army or become a firefighter.
She thought, why not go study something for the time being? And that's where hairdressing came in.
“I chose hairdressing because, just like the police acadamy, you work with people, and alongside them,” says Sildari.
“My first year was like a tester and as months past I started liking it, enjoying it, excited to learn something new.
“And now I'm a second year in, in studying and I still like it and it's a course and a future career that I see myself enjoying and doing for many years to come.”
Sildari enjoys working with and alongside people.
“If you're a people person like me, believe me you will like this.
“I love making client feel good about themselves, seeing results and differences that you have created on their hair.’’
Now in her second year (Emerging Stylist), Sildari’s favourite part of the course is cutting and learning new skills and tricks that weren’t taught in year 1.
“ I enjoy cutting with a razor and learning more about colour and the theory behind everything is my favourite.”