Cosmetology student makes the most of opportunity

Larissa Grinnell is a Master Student at Headlines Academy in Rapid City. She will be graduating in December, 2019, and one day hopes to own her own business. (Photo by Richie Richards)

RAPID CITY – A young woman is making a name for herself in the cosmetology and hairstyling industry, and she is still a student.
Larissa Grinnell, 25, has been a student at Headlines Academy in Rapid City since Jan., 2019 and is preparing to graduate in December. She has earned Student of the Month in September and is currently a Master Student.
Grinnell has had to overcome challenges in her life to be in the healthy place she is in now, this includes becoming sober one year ago. Sobriety is a title she holds close to her heart, as it gives her an opportunity to lead by example.
Since the age of 14, she has been cutting hair for her father, family, and friends. She said her father preferred his hair in a military style, like a crew cut, ‘high and tight”. These early haircuts at home developed her passion to do this professionally. This is why she eventually enrolled at Headlines Academy.
“It took a while to get to this point, to this step to doing it (becoming a student). I mean there’s a lot of things that kind of helped me back then, but once you overcome some obstacles in life you have to live and learn to see what you need to do to get through life,” said Grinnell.
The master student said she battle an alcohol addiction and poverty. “It’s kind of a blessing and a curse at the same time, because I’m breaking the cycle that came from many generations and I’m proud to be a sober Native American and an educated one,” she proclaimed. Grinnell said she cannot be more proud of her parents who are business owners themselves.
She hopes to use her life as an example for others in her family, especially her brothers, she said. The budding cosmetologist understands the challenges youth face in today’s society, challenges that differ from her own childhood. “Being better requires letting go of a lot of generational curses and overcoming those things. It’s a really good feeling once you do.”
The loss of her maternal grandfather recently caused a minor disruption in her education, but she soon recovered. During this period, she supported her mother and cut off her own hair to follow the Lakota tradition of mourning. This experience gave her encouragement to continue. “I can’t stop because of something bad. I have to keep moving forward because it only shows my true character,” she said.
Grinnell said she has only one client during her time at Headlines who was not happy with the final product. The haircut was quickly fixed and the customer left satisfied with her work. “My best experience here at Headlines has been making my clients happy.”
In the field of cosmetology, returning clients is a benchmark of success. Having a client come back for services is how a student marks their growth. Fridays are the days in which she does mostly requests from clients who have been with her prior. “I have actually two clients that want to follow me after I graduate. They sound pretty genuine about it,” she said.
“I became student of the month for the month of September for good grades meaning that I’m meeting goals. My grades and attendance are excellent,” said Grinnell. She does this while working part time in her parents’ business. Her strong work ethic is important as it shows clients she cares.
“I completed everything I needed to complete in order to graduate, so I am pretty much here to get my hours and focus on other things. I’m still a master stylist. You have to be good with your time management plus we have a level system that we meet every couple of months and I’ve met those goals each time,” she said. She is enjoying the perks of being a master student, which includes better parking and being able to wear professional attire, which helps her to stand out from other students. “It’s kind of cool to stand out from the crowd.”
Among her biggest challenges at Headlines so far, has been doing the formulating and understanding the science and chemistry behind hair coloring. “It’s the chemistry behind hair coloring. It’s tough because you have to learn the different levels, texture and density of peoples’ hair. Everybody’s hair is different so when they want to get to a certain level, you have to be able to find that chemistry and get to that level without damaging their hair. Cause like you can send them home with their hair in a bag and that’s not good. We don’t want to do that,” she said with a student’s smile.
When it comes to wanting to be a positive influence in other peoples’ lives, Grinnell said, “Find your inner peace to love yourself, because we if you don’t love yourself enough to reach your goals in life, you feel like you’re always going to be in that struggle. That whole idea of ‘you can’t get out’ I’ve been there. I felt like I couldn’t do anything. I just felt like my life is supposed to be just lower because that’s what I grew up seeing. There’s more to life than that. You have to have that mindset or concept of getting up and getting out to reach your goals regardless of how we grew up and how much money you had. I grew up with nothing. I am proud of my parents because of what they did for us.”
Larissa Grinnell has a dream of opening her own shop or salon one day. She has not named this future business just yet, but she also wants a component of her business to be a mobile shop which travels to the reservation to provide hair care and other cosmetology needs. This idea of wanting to give back to the people is what makes her a unique stylist.
“The type of business I want to run is like a mobile shop, so I can get to places where other people can’t get to, like the reservation. And anywhere on the outskirts of town. A lot of my clients that do come in here (Headlines Academy), have trouble getting here because they live so far away. I think it would really be beneficial for a mobile salon to be able to go to those places for them to be able to get their hair done, or whatever their needs they may have,” closed Grinnell.
Zack Crouch, 29, is a Specialty Instructor and teaches advance student classes for Headlines Academy. He works with students to help them develop relationships with their clients. He said that even with difficult clients, Larissa goes above and beyond what a normal stylist would do to meet their needs. “he’s not biased and she’s not judgmental. She really looks at the total service and not the person. She is just amazing at what she does,” said Crouch.
“I see her being a very great entrepreneur in the cosmetology field. She can do everything from hair, skin, and nails,” Crouch said. “I think she has the opportunity to open up her own business. She can do whatever she wants. She’s got the skills to basically make whatever career she wants out of this industry.”