Episode Five

Shortcut Challenge: "Surfer Boy Polish" Today: Men's cuts on the beach -- 1/2 hour to do it Kicker: Make a surfer go from the ocean to night out on the town. We couldn't shampoo their hair or use blow dryers. My model Rocco actually is part of the crew. Totally kewl guy with nice hair. Gave him a great cut. Oscar (Blondi) was guest judge. He said my cut wasn't all that different. Hmm. I cut so much hair off his head -- strange. He also said that there wasn't enough texture. Interesting considering 98% of his haircut was done with texture blades. Whatever! So Nicole wins. Did a nice job. Go girl. The twist was that in the elimination challenge, she was going to seriously affect four of her fellow competitors. HMMM?!? We'll have to wait and see what that means!

Elimination Challenge: "Women with Alopecia" What an emotional challenge. This one will make the viewers cry! As soon as we got the challenge, I turned into Ricky from Project Runway. Changing a client's look is an emotional experience, especially when they have no hair! Shear Genius provided wigs by Hair-U-Wear, at $1,000 per wig. WOW! All the women were so strong and brave. They all had Alopecia Universalis, which is total hair loss! So Nicole picks first. Then she picks me! YAY! WOOT. So that means that I'll style with her and have full time, 1 hour and 45 minutes. My client Kylie was such a sweetheart -- 18 years old, had gotten alopecia 4 years prior and had only 1 wig. It was a blonde wig that had a short, straight cut, and it actually looked really cute on her. I asked what she wanted. She said she would like a wig that she could wear when going out with the girls. Something that made her look and feel FIERCE. So we went for RED.

She wanted hair that made her feel sexy. So I did long rotational layers with heavy side bangs, texturized the hell out of it, curled it, and lightened some underneath panels in the front. It was crazy that the bleach over processed hair turned slightly pinkish - which ended up being a great surprise. So I told Kylie about it and she was totally down for it. AWESOME! So, I proceeded to style it, and curl the whole wig with a curling iron. I made it look sexy and hot and she loved it. She owned her new look. With or without the wig, she was a sexy mama! Time for Judging: Top 2--Me and Nicole! OMG. Finally in the Top 2! F*** yeah! WOW! WOW! WOW! I couldn't believe it. Honestly, I thought that Nicole was taking it. So Jacklyn says-- Paulo... Pause...pause... Your work was Shear Genius! OH MY FU****** GOD! NO WAY?! It was so amazing to see the look of approval in everyone's eyes. Wow. Jacklyn asked me how it felt to finally be the winner and my reaction can be best described as: GYRATING WITH EXCITEMENT! Sure as hell felt good! Finally! Whew. Now for the bad news. Bottom: Nekisa, Charlie, Gail I knew that Charlie wasn't going to go home. Although it would be a shocker. Then Jacklyn calls Nekisa's name. OMG. Bottom 2--Charlie, Gail Gail goes. The judges said that she lacked confidence and that without it, she wouldn't be able to move to the next level. I agree, but she's a sweet girl though. : ( But this night, it was all about ME! The fu**** up thing was that in this elimination challenge, you don't get immunity. Damn! Figures--my luck.

"Phone Call" So today I was able to call home and talk to Geordie because of the situation with the credit card and money. Had to keep it totally business. That was soooo hard! I miss him sooooooo much! I tried to keep it business. But when he said, "This is so weird -- I'm hearing your voice" and broke down, I lost it. This is the hardest part of this whole experience. So messed up! I'm still in the game with no plans on going home, but man, when I do get home, I'll have such a new appreciation for everything I have there! I love that man of mine!!! Xxoo!