For Stacy Padden, a 26-year-old hairstylist at Looks Hair Design and 2008 Penn State graduate, Split Ends was an awesome experience on reality TV, not pesky damaged hair.

"I never thought I would do anything like this," Padden said. "The show is all about doing things out of your element, and I did a lot of weird things."

The Emmy-nominated show is in its fifth season. The plot of the show involves two hairstylists from different areas and lifestyles who switch salons for a week and take each other's clients. The episode, featuring Padden and Sammy Mar, a "tough-talking" stylist from Seattle, will air at

9 p.m. Saturday on the Style Network.

Padden said her friend in Los Angeles got her in contact with the show.

"They loved my bio, my pictures, videos, and they really were into the Penn State concept," she said.

Anita Yearick, Looks salon manager, said there was another fun Penn State twist - Mar gave new hairstyles to eight Penn State Women's Volleyball players at the end of the episode.

"When I was in Seattle, I absolutely loved it. There was great style, beautiful mountains, chill people, and fresh Starbucks every morning," Padden said.

When she stepped into Mar's salon, Padden faced her share of clients who were very different from the students in State College.

"We also had to go out of the salon and do some crazy activities," she said.

Mar's presence at Looks Hair Design was very interesting, Yearick said, who also promises the episode to be "sheer entertainment."

"She was from a completely different environment, and her look and attitude was opposite of Stacy's," Rachael Taylor, Padden's assistant at the salon said. "I was really weirded out by the way she would talk to clients and the staff."

Yearick said Mar was very talented, but the relaxed environment of her shop in Seattle was different from the way Look's employees operate professionally.

"There were no rules in her shop in Seattle, and she would try to do whatever she wanted to do here too, like being late and vulgar," she said.

Yearick also said she gave the clients who had appointments with Padden that week the option to reschedule, but most were excited to take part in the filming and said it was a cool thing to happen in State College.

Padden described the week-long taping of the show as "physically and mentally exhausting."

"I don't know if I could ever do a whole reality TV series," she said. "It's crazy with the cameras watching 24/7, but I learned a lot about the reality TV process."

Taylor said though it was a great learning experience, she was exhausted by the week's end.

"It really showed me how people can be so different coming from different places," she said.

Padden and Yearick both promise a fun and entertaining episode.

"People who watch want to have fun, and we are able to deliver the fun," Yearick said.