Cosmetology students competed in the third annual cosmetology contest at Cy Ranch High School on January 25 taking home three awards. 

Senior Nataly Guajardo won first-place honors in nail art and second in live nail art, junior Madison Hicks won second-place honors in the day and evening comb competition, and junior Lois Hill was awarded first place honors in fantasy hair design. 

“It’s kind of stressful, especially if you do live makeup or hair ‘cause it’s like at the moment and they keep watching you so you don’t want to mess it up because they’re determining what your placing is,” Hicks said.

The cosmetology competition was optional for cosmetology students, with anyone starting from Intro to Cosmetology allowed to enter. In addition to fantasy hair and makeup, nail projects were also open to compete with. The CFISD program works towards helping students get the Texas Cosmetology Operator License, one of the few licenses that can be obtained in high school in CFISD.

“What happened Saturday,” Guajardo said, “I got second place for the nail art and I knew I could do better, so right now I’m striving to do better than what I did.”

Multiple students based their projects on personal stories and experiences such as family members and friends. According to Hill, her inspiration was her grandmother who recently passed away. She dedicated her fantasy hair design project to this and used elements of her favorite music to keep her memory alive.

“My grandma passed away and I did her favorite thing that would make me feel like she’s still in my heart and she’s still there with me and that came to mind with Elvis because it was around my house and I grew up with that and the music so I recreated him and it was beautiful,” Hill said. “I even put a little memory of her on it.”

Because this has been the third annual cosmetology competition, things are still getting started. Each year, more people come along with more creativity and passion. Roughly 100 projects were submitted two years ago, with double that being entered last year and even more this year.

“It was amazing what you could see out there and what they created,” Hill said. “It’s a really fun experience, it’s really cool to see what young people can do with the talent we have.”