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Editor's Blog

What Obama’s Proposed Budget Will Mean for Beauty School Students

Published: March 02, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

Pell grants, which significantly help many students finance their beauty school education, are specifically addressed in President Obama’s proposed Fiscal Year 2010 budget. Cosmetology schools that have been accredited by the National

Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences (NACCAS) are entitled by the U.S. government to make Pell Grants available to students.

As proposed, the maximum amount of the Pell Grant will change each year to reflect the annual cost of living. The dollar figure will be tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 1 percent. So if the cost of living goes up 4 percent in one year, Pell Grant recipients will receive 5 percent more money than those who received grants the previous year. “For years the Pell Grant award has remained relatively flat while the cost of everything else, including a college education, has increased,” remarks Philip Day, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Finance Aid Administrators (NASFAA). “President Obama’s proposal to tie the Pell Grant award to the CPI plus 1 percent is a significant victory for low-income students struggling to pay for college.”

In addition, the proposed budget nationalizes the funding for Perkins Grants, which are distributed to worthy vocational programs; details are still sketchy. Of some controversial interest is the recommended elimination of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), which would replace private lenders with the U.S. government as the sole financier of student loans. I’ll keep you informed about financing your cosmetology school education.

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“Better Late Than Never” Applies to Beauty School

Published: February 26, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

The other day I came upon a story about Jude, a woman who enrolled in beauty school at the age of 45. Jude

had always wanted to pursue a career in hairdressing, but for whatever reason she got into marketing and life, as it does, went into fast gear. When she finally enrolled in cosmetology school, however, she found that it was as rewarding as she’d hoped.

If you’re in your 30s, 40s or older and thinking about a salon career, you may worry about how you will be received by your fellow students. Jude’s experience was that the “kids were pretty cool about me being so much older.” This doesn’t surprise me. Today’s higher education campuses are a mixed-age environment, with the generations sharing insights and respect for each other as they continue their learning and pursue their dreams.

Jude’s biggest challenge was working with perm rods. I don’t know whether that’s an aging issue, but as long as you don’t have arthritis you should have the physical dexterity necessary to be a stylist. If standing for long periods of time hurts your legs or back, you can always sit on a stool while you cut hair. Also, your instructors at beauty school can demonstrate how to hold your shoulders and hands to minimize stress on your body. While Jude now cuts hair only for friends, she calls upon her beauty background for much of her website content. There are many ways to apply your cosmetology education!

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Check Out This Beauty School Video

Published: February 22, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

Want to see a snippet of life in cosmetology school? Check out this video at modernsalonlearning.com, which takes you inside the Tony & Guy Hairdressing Academy in Santa Monica, California. You'll see the "seniors" worki

ng on the school's "clinical" floor—a real salon that takes real clients but charges lower, beauty school prices. Just a month or so away from graduating, the seniors are already very skilled and getting pretty confident, as you can tell from watching them.

One distinction of a school salon, at least this one, is that the students are given a full hour for each appointment. Licensed stylists typically fit a cut and blowdry into either a 30- or 45-minute time frame, and many are keeping an eye on color processing for another client while they're doing that cut. Some even do three haircut clients per hour.

On the video, the educational director at Tony & Guy explains a little about the process of preparing for the state boards. Students spend each afternoon for one month practicing the techniques they'll be expected to demonstrate in order to become licensed, while in the mornings they continue to work in the salon as usual. Before they graduate, they're tested on every phase of their curriculum. While you may not get to watch a video about each cosmetology school you're considering, you have every right to ask questions by email or in person that give you a good idea of what life at that school will be like.

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Teen Vogue’s Fashion University a Great Fit for Beauty School Students

Published: February 18, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

Heads up: keep an eye out for the announcement of the 2009 Teen Vogue Fashion University, usually held in the fall. If you’re

thinking about beauty school I can assure you that you’ll have a fabulous time if you get chosen to participate in this Teen Vogue annual event, where 500 teens gather to attend seminars hosted by fashion designers and beauty professionals. One sponsor, Redken, uses Fashion University “to expose talented students to a unique career in beauty. A career in hairdressing can be focused in the salon or on the runways where fashion happens on a regional and international level.” It’s a perfect introduction to the business before you enroll in cosmetology school.

Signing up early gets you a chance to possibly attend Redken’s “The Salon Experience,” where the teens have personal consultations with hair stylists who create each season’s looks on the runways of New York City’s Fashion Week. The stylists explain what it’s like to work backstage at a cool event like Fashion Week—how they design hair to complement clothing fashions and where a career in runway hairdressing can take you. It’s inspiring!

After attending the event last year and speaking with Kris Sorbie, Redken’s education artistic director, teen Anne Farrell Mudd decided to enroll in cosmetology school. A Redken spokesperson says, “Redken hopes to inform teens of the possibility of a career in beauty and the excitement and fulfillment it brings and also to inspire them in ways such as Sorbie has with Mudd.”

Photo: Teens get Redken makeovers at Fashion University.

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Freelance For Big Money After Massage Therapy School

Published: February 15, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

My friend Nancy is long out of massage therapy school and has been a massage therapist now for several decades. But she doesn't work in a salon, spa or doctor's office. She freelances. She takes her portable massage table to her cl

ients' homes, or her clients come to her house. This has worked out well for Nancy's massage therapy career, because she wanted to split her time between working and being a mom and homemaker; the money she's brought in part-time has provided the perfect supplement to her husband's income.

Recently a well-known massage chain launched a branch in our town. The franchise owner called Nancy and asked whether she'd be interested in working there, quoting her a $17 hourly rate of pay. That sounded pretty good to me. It's double the pay that someone could make at a lot of retail jobs; working a regular 40-hour week and taking two weeks for vacation, you can pull in $34,000 before you even add tips. Not bad. But Nancy didn't see it that way.

"On my own I earn from one client what it would take me three clients to earn there," Nancy told me. Wow! Imagine what she'd make if she did work 40 hours a week! For someone just out of massage therapy school who needs clients, taking the job would be a great choice. But by now Nancy has built up a solid clientele, can be her own boss and can command top dollar for her skills.

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Beauty School Grads Redefine "Weekend" As They Please

Published: February 10, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

Last time I explained why working Saturdays after you complete beauty school is key to building your clientele. So when you're a licensed, professional cosmetologist, do you have to work six days a week? The short answer is: "No." The more complete

answer is: "Well, it couldn't hurt!"

Whether you become a salon employee or you lease space on your own, how much you work is usually up to you; you're in charge of your income. True, Saturday is a must-work, but Sunday—well, that's one of the industry's best-kept secrets. If the salon you work at is open Sunday, you betcha that it's a great day to get new clients. Not only can Sunday be very busy at a salon, but fewer stylists are there so you can get more of the walk-ins and call-ins.

That still doesn't mean you have to work constantly. Stylists who want to work a five-day week might create a Monday/Tuesday weekend for themselves, while others prefer to break up the week and perhaps take off Sundays and Wednesdays. Another popular method, especially among moms with young children or people who enjoy working evenings, is to work more days but fewer hours per day. And there's the opposite—pile a lot of hours into a four-day workweek. Decide whether you want to work 30, 40 or even 50 hours, and then split up the week however you and your salon owner can agree on. How to define "weekend" when you're a professional cosmetologist? It's up to you!

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Cosmetology School Grads Must Adjust to Working Saturdays

Published: February 06, 2009
by Rosanne Ullman

Going to cosmetology school is a lot like having a 9-to-5 job, because those are pretty much your hours—9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. On weekends you can do what you want, although it’s always a good idea to use the ti

me to practice what you learn in beauty school classes on mannequins—or on good friends who won’t hate you if you turn their hair green! But once you graduate and get your license, it’s another story.

I was interviewing a salon owner for an article I was writing, and she brought up this very topic. “You wouldn’t believe how many applications I get from people who want to work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5,” she told me. “I tell those applicants, ‘You didn’t go to the right school then. You should have gone to secretarial school!’ Salons are open Saturdays. In this business, Saturday is our busiest day.”

She’s so right. Eventually you’ll be able to work the hours you choose. But when you start out after cosmetology school, Saturdays are your best bet for building your clientele. That’s when the salon has the most walk-ins, and it’s when other stylists get overloaded and may ask you to help them out by taking a client. It’s always up to you to get the client to come back to you, but if you work on Saturdays you'll at least have an easy way to recruit them for their initial visit. More on this next time.

Photo is courtesy of Redken.

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