Students learn and practice the art of haircare during cosmetology classes at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
The beauty shop is an American staple right up there with apple pie and baseball.
Call it what you will — beauty parlor, style shop or hair salon, everyone has probably stepped foot in one, sat in a chair, thumbed through the year-old magazines, watched soap operas, chatted and caught up on “the latest,” and gotten the works. Or as some would say, got “fried, dyed and laid to the side.”
Learning the proper technique when rolling sectioned hair one of Delta Technical College’s Cosmetology classes. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Maybe it started in MeeMaw’s or Big Mama’s kitchen – permanents and hot combs, playing with dolls or putting ribbons in the pet dog’s hair. Whatever planted the seed — a yearning to “do” hair and nails and learn the trade, grew into a passion that can lead to working in one of those beauty places or owning one, being a hairstylist and make-up artist to the stars or even a beautician for the dearly departed. The options are endless.
An instructor prioritizes a “to-do” list for a student at Delta Technical College’s cosmetology school. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
Braids, weaves, relaxers, dye-jobs, extensions, skin-care, perms, manicures, wigs, touch-ups, trims, cuts and even emergency assistance when that home treatment goes sideways. The salon is where it’s happening. Cosmetology is popular, big business and ever growing.
Enter, Delta Technical College and its School of Cosmetology, located in Ridgeland.
Students learn haircare and maintenance during Cosmetology classes at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
There’s Theory, where students in classrooms learn the ins-and-outs, do’s and don’t of the business from veterans with real-world experience. And Practical, where students are in a salon setting receiving hands-on training from seasoned instructors, all of which leads to testing to become board certified.
An instructor demonstrates the correct way to section and detangle hair. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“I have a passion for it,” said instructor Marcia Williams, who teaches a Theory class at the school. “I’m a 22-year instructor and, honestly, I know these students want to take it to another level and I help them to do that.”
A student is shown by an instructor how to detangle hair during a Cosmetology class at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
“I ask students what their short and long term goals are. I help them to know, whether opening their own salons or being an educator, you don’t have to go to a four-year college. It’s about work and passion. I see their dreams and ideas. It can be 10 years later, and I’ll hear from former students and they’ll ask me, remember when…? That’s what it’s all about.”
A student works on a wet head of hair during a Cosmetology class at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayCosmetology students attending Delta Technical College learn every facet of haircare. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayCosmetology students at Delta Technical learn about and practice what they’ve learned using heads such as these to hone their skills. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi TodayCosmetology students theory class conducted by instructor Marcia Williams (center) at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
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It’s care of hair and much more in the cosmetology school at Delta Technical College
Vickie King has experience as a professional photographer spanning 35 years- from childhood purchasing her first camera by selling flower seeds to neighbors, as a stringer for Associated Press in Des Moines, Iowa, a freelancer shooting an album cover to your loved one’s wedding, and your kids and pets at a J.C. Penney portrait studio. She joins the Mississippi Today team as a photojournalist.
A native Mississippian and resident of Jackson, Vickie was born in Laurel.
You know her work from years as a staff photographer for the Clarion-Ledger. Her award-winning photography has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Editor & Publisher Magazine, People Magazine, in national news broadcasts, and books depicting the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the glory of Ole Miss football.
Most recently, she is the former photographer, Special Projects Officer IV, Staff Officer I, videographer, and online content producer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. She is also a Pulitzer Prize nominee for Spot News.
Vickie is a graduate of Simpson College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Relations.
