A career in the Hair and Beauty industry is not for the faint hearted. Often involving long hours on your feet or on the move, this demanding yet rewarding career is perfect for those with bags of energy and a love for making others look and feel their best.
Starting a career in Hair and Beauty
When getting started in Hair and Beauty, you’ll have plenty of options. You can choose to complete a college course or you can choose to earn while you learn on an Apprenticeship.
An Apprenticeship gives you the chance to earn the same nationally recognised qualifications as those in college, while getting valuable work experience and boosting your CV. You’ll have access to experienced trainers and professionals working in the industry, with plenty of opportunities to learn from their experiences.
Before you start looking into a career in the Hair and Beauty industry, consider your own skills and attributes and what you might need to work on to excel (our National Careers Service advisers can help you with this, book an appointment today).
Skills and attributes you’ll need to succeed
To succeed in the industry you’ll need to have some of the following skills, or be willing to put in work to develop them:
- Passion
- Dedication
- Patience
- Excellent customer service skills
- Great timekeeping
- The ability to listen
- Creativity
- Communication
Having a mix of these skills will be helpful when you enter the industry; passion will help get you through the sometimes difficult training while creativity will help you deliver your best work to your clients, helping you stand out from the crowd.
What to expect when training
If you want a career in the Hair and Beauty industry, you’ll have to be prepared to put in the work. Aspiring hairdressers and beauticians will often train in salons alongside experienced professionals to build up their skills and portfolio. During your training you could be washing client’s hair, meeting and greeting or completing simple blow dries for stylists.
Always keep up with trends in the industry, as clients and competitors will be doing the same and you want your client’s styles to be ahead of the curve. You’ll learn a lot about hairdressing from shadowing stylists and you should take every opportunity you can learn from their expertise; watch, listen and make notes about how they work and you’ll find this very helpful in the long-run.
Beauticians will often practice their skills on friends and family while training in a salon and can often work on select clients, supervised by an experienced beautician.
Education requirements
Your employer will expect you to complete hairdressing qualifications alongside your work; this could be done with a college course or as part of an Apprenticeship course. You could also complete some beauty qualifications too to boost your skill set and potential income stream – like gel nails or make up.
Career options
Once you’re trained in either hairdressing or beauty, you can decide where you want to go with your career. You can continue delivering hair or beauty treatments while completing ongoing training or you could choose another avenue to specialise in; like aromatherapy massage, cosmetic treatments, make up and more.
You could also open your own business, which our Business Start Up team can help with. Many beauticians and hairdressers are self-employed and either work from a salon renting a chair/room or mobile visiting clients.
If you’d like to know more about starting your Hair and Beauty career get in touch with our Training team on 01744 742045 or at apprenticeships@sthelenschamber.com
