Christi's Story continued...



After her modeling career, Christi applied at the John Robert Powers Modeling School to teach. She quickly became the Executive Director, enabling her to spread her passion for helping women look their best and finally ... getting paid for it. One day the owner asked Christi to update the curriculum for the makeup class. This was an easy task for Christi since she had eagerly absorbed every thing she could learn while modeling. After the makeup class curriculum was favorably received, she was asked to write the curriculum for the skin care class. Since Christi knew virtually nothing about skin care, this project wasn't easy. It required extensive research on what causes oily and dry skin and how to control problem skin. After consulting medical and biology books, Christi finished a very detailed curriculum of exactly what the students needed ... the basics of how the skin functions, not advertising propaganda based on any certain product or "potion in a lotion". With classes starting soon she was given a budget to purchase skin care products for classroom usage.
After going from one cosmetic counter to another in store after store, she realized no one made skin care products to work with the way the skin actually functions. She couldn't find anything to back up her research. Quickly she realized that the cosmetic industry is based mostly on marketing gimmicks, not actual skin biology. It was then that Christi knew she would not sacrifice her integrity to teach the students one thing and use products that were useless. She asked herself, if skin works one way and we are all born with normal skin, what happens to the skin to make it oily, dry or out of balance? A little bit of knowledge was all she needed to begin her quest for beauty in a bottle.

When she discovered a chemist lived in her neighborhood, she left a note on his door. He called her back and they later became fast friends. Intrigued by her dilemma, he voluntarily created some skin care samples, based on her research. Christi asked her students to try the skin care and they received amazing results. Soon after Christi, at the very young age of 21, founded Christi Harris Cosmetics. She was on her way to fulfilling her dreams.
In 1977, she left JRP to begin her own Christi Harris Beauty Clinic in her hometown area of Abilene, Texas. She knew the start up cost for a school would be too expensive in Dallas, so she traveled back and forth every other weekend, conducting classes at the Abilene Civic Center. Her Beauty Clinic was a complete finishing school for all ages where subjects, such as Visual Poise, Voice and Diction, Personality, Social Graces, Wardrobe, Makeup, Skincare, and Exercise were taught ... all curriculums written and directed by Christi. Christi's students ranged in ages from 11 to 65 and traveled to Abilene from all over west Texas. The fee, a mere $650.00 for a 20 week, 40 hour course, changed the lives of over 100 individuals. This revenue, along with a $5,000 loan from her parents, allowed her to further build her cosmetic company. She added professional makeup and brushes to her already developed skin treatment products; and she did what she knew how to do ... teach women how to be beautiful and confident. Through her educational background of empowering women to learn to be their own stylist, makeup artist and beauty expert, she began to build the Christi Harris brand.
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