Mackenzie Cruikshanx

Mackenzie Cruikshanx, 18 years old works at Aveda in Jacksonville.

She is going to beauty school with Aveda Monday's, Tuesday's and Wednesday's for 13 months. Cruikshanx is primarily focusing on nails and hair for her studies.

To get a license in Fla., you have to be certified with 1200 hours of training. Aveda requires their student's to have 1600 hours of training. Different states require different licenses but since Cruikshanx will have 1600 hours completed already, all she will need to do is apply for a new license wherever she wants. She will not need to make up any more training hours. 

An interesting fact about Mackenzie, is her name used to be Noah. 

When (Noah) first started high school she knew she wanted to become Mackenzie. 

Mackenzie lived her high school years in the foster care system of SAYS (Saint Augustine Youth Services). She pays for her own medical care and has been since she was in high school. She has to buy her own hormones as well in order to go through this process. 

Cruikshanx chose Aveda for many reasons, such as they do not test their natural products on animals, only humans. 

Cruikshanx's ambition is to have her own salon called "En Femme" a salon specifically for trans gendered people. She will specialize in cosmetics important for that role.  

"Men have different needs for skincare, in terms of makeup, instead of skin colored foundation, we start with and orange color to hide the facial hair." Cruikshanx explained to me that it takes a lot more work to put together a males face with makeup because you have to start from the bottom and paint a new face.

Cruikshanx, 18 years old working at Aveda in Jacksonville Fla. 

Cruikshanx works until 8pm on Monday's, Tuesday's and Wednesday's. She also works at Staples in order to receive and income. Cruikshanx gets $5000 from the government to help pay for her schooling. She had money saved up from when she lived in foster care, however that was spent very quickly given her living expenses. 

She has somewhat of a relationship with her father and stepmother. Cruikshanx says that her father understands her gender changing decisions more than her stepmother does. 

Living by herself in apartments in Jacksonville, Cruikshanx dreams of being in New York City, and is working towards her goal.

Mackenzie left SAYS in June and has 9 more months left of training in Aveda before she can get her license. 

Cruikshanx has been battling being a woman trapped in a males body for a very long time. She has not received the surgery yet, but is seriously considering getting it in the foreseeable future. 

Cruikshanx loves to pose for her pictures. She always wants to try to show her best features. She is extremely proud of who she is and wants to exceed in life, regardless of her obstacles.  

This is the Aveda beauty salon where Cruikshanx studies.