Susan MacCoy: News | April's Makeover

Want makeover success? Get a good coach

Teen basketball star discovers the lasting value of an experienced image mentor

By Maria R. Traska

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CHICAGO — A good coach and a good team can pull you through when your own skills and experience fall short. A great coach, however, can make the difference between winning and losing, even when the team has all the know-how. Nobody knows that better than athletes, not least Michael Jordan, who always credited first his collegiate coach Dean Smith, then Zen-coach Phil Jackson for a large part of his (Jordan's) success in the NBA. As one teen recently discovered, the same is also true for makeovers: all the skills and self-discipline in the world can't beat having a great coach, but a great coach will always improve the skills of even a fantastic player.

BM: April in gear
Before makeover: April in gear
Photo by Mel Hill Photography

College basketball player April McCarron knows the value of practice, teamwork and coaching. Currently a freshman at Harper College in northwest suburban Chicago, she's been a dedicated athlete for years. None of this experience, she realized some months ago, would make her ready for looking her best for college. Worse, her body was on the verge of young adulthood but the mirror still reflected a girl barely in her teens, despite April's svelte, toned 6'2" figure. April determined that she didn't have the skill set necessary to make herself look the way she wanted to look — and that's when she consulted a friend of her mother's, hair artist and beauty consultant Susan MacCoy.

What April and her mother, Jill McCarron, originally had in mind was just a new haircut or a perm. No one was more surprised than April when she was offered a free makeover instead. The idea originated with Susan and salon owner/skin expert Elizabeth Adam. The two women had been planning for some time to showcase Susan's talents and the salon's services, and April turned out to be the perfect candidate for a re-do.

Step 1: Assembling the team

What makes a good coach — and why you should get one

CHICAGO — Why get a makeover coach? To make sure you get results, of course! However, coaches aren't just team leaders, says Nino Siciliano, former coach, ex-Marine, and a Chicago-based personal trainer. Rather, they are the key overall analysts and strategists, the ones who pull everything together.

"Coaches are mentors. They lead by example, and they're experts," Siciliano explains. "Coaches help build discipline, a good work ethic, and motivation. They improve attitude, teach you about being in the right frame of mind to play."

In addition, the coach is in the business of skill building. "One of a coach's big jobs is to constantly reinforce skills."

Moreover, when you're down or in a slump, a good coach prescribes whatever's needed to maneuver you out of it. And he or she is probably in the best position to do so — after all, a coach probably sees a trainee more often than anyone else does, which is why the coach is the most important motivator a player can have, Siciliano remarks.

The best coaches, he reminds us, "read people very well — we get into their heads. You're trying to detect internal obstacles, push people to the next level, read their feedback, and keep making adjustments. You have to get excited about what they're doing yourself."

Which brings us to one other activity: a smart coach is constantly evaluating the rate and direction of progress. When a player's performance begins to plateau, it's the coach's responsibility to make adjustments — fine-tune the training, so to speak — so that progress can continue. The coach, in other words, is the one person on the team who keeps an eye on the big picture while on the details and progress of the change process, and that makes him or her indispensable.

Susan MacCoy was a good choice for a coach. She has been awarded the Clairol Hair Fashion Award, appointed to the prestigious Clairol Presidential Haircolorists' Council, and selected as Chicago's Stylist of the Year and Today's Chicago Woman's Colorist of the Year. Susan did an initial evaluation of April's appearance and goals and quickly assembled a team to plan and execute the makeover strategy. The starting lineup included:

Elizabeth Adam, salon director and skin care expert;
Basia (Barbara) Walasiak, skin treatment specialist;
Rya Reznick, nail care specialist;
Irina Zinchikeva, eyebrow artist; and
Paula Sino, make-up artist.

"We are conditioned through the media that makeovers are instant fixes, and an amazing amount of transformation can be accomplished in an hour or two," Susan observes. "However, making improvements requires planning and a change in everyday behavior to last. You need to take the time to learn the skills, review your progress, make adjustments as necessary, and practice, practice, practice. Over time, the new image can be integrated and sustained. Then, you can play your best and do it with grace and ease."

Step 2: Planning the makeover strategy

April's makeover consisted of two parts: the makeover program and a skills/maintenance program. The makeover strategy included:

haircut, light perm on the ends, two-tone mini-highlights, and several deep conditioning treatments;
two-phase, six-stage facial cleansing and peeling program to clear up April's severe acne and calm the skin, augmented with a home care program;
professional eyebrow arching and a styling lesson;
professional make-up evaluation, make-up palettes for daytime and dressy evening wear, along with a make-up lesson and supervised practice session;
nail restyling and manicure, along with a paint-at-home-like-a-pro lesson; and
overall image and style analysis to develop a fashion/image style suited to April's face and body type and her taste, activities, and busy schedule.

Step 3: Executing the strategy

The new skills April learned included daily skin care, including how to blow-dry facial lesions; daily hair care and how to maintain her new cut and change styles for different occasions; nail painting at home; and daily make-up practice (this had to wait a few weeks until her skin was under better control). After each session, April was invited to bring questions or problems to the team, which she did.

April and her team began to see initial results after about six weeks, Susan noted. By the nine-week mark, her skin was much clearer, and coincidentally, her braces were ready to come off. During the nine weeks, however, April did more than just practice her home-care skills: she learned time management like never before. That was an absolute necessity.

First, she was playing in four different basketball leagues over the summer, to keep up her physical abilities. Next, she had to be able to keep her frequent makeover appointments on her own, so she needed a car and had to be able to drive herself. To that end, April got a job — to pay for both the car and the new clothes she'd later buy as part of the image re-do — and learned to drive herself the long distance from Schaumburg, where she lives, into downtown Chicago, a commute of 45 to 60 minutes even in good traffic. And she still maintained a social life, to her supportive mother's amazement.

Midway, with braces: all smiles
Photo by Mel Hill Photography

"Through it all," Susan says, "April never balked, never missed practice or appointments, and she never complained. She organized herself and her schedule. That's when I realized her training as an athlete was what kept her going. She went the extra quarter-mile."

By the end of the first six weeks, "we became the April cheerleading team," Susan adds. "What was really gratifying was watching her grow into it. The girl we started on was not the girl we ended up with."

April, who says she noticed improvement a mere three weeks into the makeover process, is so pleased with her results that she highly recommends both a makeover and using a coach to other teens. "I have more confidence now," April says. Even if you're a little afraid of the process, "do it, because it's fun to do, and you'll like yourself better afterwards."

Her advice for others who decide on a makeover: stick with the program developed for you. "Follow instructions really strictly, because otherwise, it'll take longer to get results."

Hair artist Susan MacCoy is based at Elizabeth Adam Salon and Day Spa, located in Chicago’s Water Tower Place. She has taught in venues as diverse as the Goodman Theater of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Clairol Summer Sessions at Northwestern University; classes offered by Helene Curtis in the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and Africa; Clairol, Inc.’s Famous Haircolorists’ Educator Program; and sessions for Glemby International, as well as in training videos for beauty professionals and students. Formerly manager of the Glemby International Salon at the Drake Hotel and long established on Michigan Avenue, MacCoy has served many famous clients, including Barbara Walters, Princess Diane Von Furstenburg, Lucille Ball, and Lady Bird Johnson.

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