Thursday, August 6, 2009

Episode V: The Fist Trial Run

I had my first trial run set for October 21st at Capitol School. I already had help from my girlfriend, Allyson, putting up the Mohawk once, so I was 100% confident that I could beat the record. These trial runs at Capitol were just to make sure everything went smooth on the Record Breaking Day. I did NOT want to hold a press conference and get all of these people and businesses together just to show the world how great I was at screwing up a record attempt! I had to make sure that everything went perfectly, or at least as close to perfect as I could get.




So I told you that I met with Calarice Zomer. She is the one that helped pick the students that were going to help with the Mohawk, and helped set everything up for the press conference. And, yes, I did say students. When I first got this idea, I thought I was going to need a seasoned professional hairstylist to help me. However, after seeing some of the students work, and talking with Scott and Clarice, I was absolutely certain that the students here were up to the task. Plus, I liked the idea of having students from a hairstyling school put up the Mohawk. Something about it made it seem….I don’t know…kind of like we were banding together, or forming a team to do something that we were all new to, and we had to figure it out together, and learn as we go. I think it also put a little element of risk to the task in the eyes of other people. I had complete confidence in the students, but when I told other people that it was the students that were going to raise the Hawk, they were surprised and impressed, and it made it a little more exciting to them.

The day came for us to raise the Hawk for the first time. I was charged and excited, but a little apprehensive. I came to Capitol prepared with all of the necessary provisions: Ten cans of hairspray…check. Two big pieces of cardboard…check. Order from Chaos T-shirt…check. Camera…check. Camera woman…check. The camera woman that day was my girlfriend Allyson’s mom, Alyce. I took this picture of her while lying on the table. She usually doesn't have her arms crossed, and has a wonderful smile, but I caught her off guard with this one!



It was 10:00 in the morning. I went in and Clarice introduced me to Elliot and Katie, the two stylists who were now my partners in Mohawk raising crime. We cleared off a large table that was full of mannequin heads for me to lie upon, and we got started. It didn’t take long for a crowd to start gathering. There are a lot of students there, and I must say it was pretty nice lying down on a table that was waist high and surrounded by a bunch of beautiful women.






After about 3 hours of teasing, combing, spraying, flipping, hair drying, and 4 cans of hairspray, it finally looked ready. As I sat up, the applause came...and the Mohawk was erected! I remember Elliot stopped clapping and immediately came to adjust the Mohawk, as it was leaning to the side…a lot! However, it was standing, and we knew that next time we could make it stand straight.



It felt pretty weird. I constantly had a feeling like it was falling over, and it was throwing off my balance. I couldn’t help tilting my head to the right a little bit, so I was walking kind of funny. Katie measured the Mohawk, and it was just under 27 inches. Overall, it was a success, and now we all knew for sure that it could be done, and I could beat the record.



There was a couple things we learned from the trial run. First, we definitely needed a bigger, more sturdy piece of cardboard. We also needed to find a way to prop it up a bit. You can see in the picture of me lying on my side that my head is not straight, and that’s what made the Mohawk curved. We also learned that oil-based hairspray cannot be used, because it is too heavy. It must be water-based. Additionally, even though it took a lot of time and effort, we learned that it was a lot of fun to put up a Mohawk, and we all had a great time doing it!

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