Just because you’re decadent, doesn’t mean you have to live ignorant. You can pamper yourself and your clients, yet still be smart about it. More luxury beauty salons and cosmetology schools are going green, figuring out how to reduce their waste levels, present products with lighter levels of packaging, and even offer benefits to clients who help out in the process.

Denise Wall, the merchandising manager and brand buyer at upscale Kansas City salon and spa Bijin, says she remembers the day she and the owners made their decision to Go Green. “We sat down with a budget, a list of potential action items and just brainstormed for a couple of hours one weekend,” she says. “It was all about recognizing habits as just that; a habit. If common sense wasn’t involved, we dropped the habit and re-engineered a way to make it more beneficial for our business and our customers.”

The first steps were easy. Bijin Salon called a biz-to-biz recycling service that contracted to transport and re-use all of their paper and plastic waste, cans, shipping boxes and packaging used in sales and services. Later that week, Denise bought clean packaged, energy-saving light bulbs to integrate as each old bulb in the salon burned out. These two steps may seem like costs, but they actually paid for themselves after only a few months of use. This is something that any cosmetology school going green can do quickly, easily and affordably.

The next three steps Denise and the owners took were costs to the project, but aided them in designing a newer, more natural look for the beauty salon. They switched to using 100% recyclable paper and plastic bags for all their client’s retail purchases. They also designed a no-waste gift card system from recycled plastics that allow the cards to be reused when the client redeems them.

The last step was one of the most enjoyable for Denise. She set out to find a local or regional environmentally-conscious beauty products manufacturer for their salon product line. After a few field trips and phone calls, she settled on a wonderful local manufacturer named Indigo Wild, who create the popular Zum line of hygiene and hair care products. Bijin now gets the satisfaction of knowing their products are transported to them from mere miles, rather than hundreds of miles. They keep pollution and fuel use to a minimum, and have also created a nice local feedback loop of profit and wage earning.

What is your beauty salon or cosmetology school doing to go green? What are your ideas for creating a more environmentally-friendly salon experience for your future customers? You might be surprised at how easy and cost-effective it is to Go Green. Let us know how you do it!

Aveda Institute of Beauty and Wellness in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This article from the Examiner talks about the number of people getting massages doubling in the last decade for relief of stress, muscle pain and back pain. The article mentions the wildly successful Aveda Institute of Beauty & Wellness in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is a massage therapy school that those future licensed massage therapists to be successful in the massage therapy field!

Read the full article here.
More about the Aveda Institute of Beauty and Wellness in Milwaukee.

Brio Academy of Cosmetology in Niantic, Connecticut

This is a heartwarming story about 18-year-old Kimberley Gladue who struggled early in high school and didn’t have much going for her who turned her life around and now plans to attend Brio Academy of Cosmetology in Niantic, CT in the fall. She is passionate about hair, makeup and skincare, and someday hopes to open her own salon.

Read the full article here.
More about the Brio Academy of Cosmetology in Connecticut.

Bikini Waxes Cause Infection?

Another bikini wax or Brazilian wax mishap has been highlighted in the news. Women’s Health has an article featured on msnbc.com about a woman, Jennifer, that spent 15 days in the hospital after a bikini wax infection. 15 days!

The article claims she received her wax at a reputable New York salon. After the wax, she developed a 102 degree temperature, chills and pain in her left thigh. Jennifer thought it was just a cold (that’s some cold!) and waited 5 days to go to the doctor.

Well, turns out, it wasn’t a cold. Her doctor diagnosed her with cellulitis – a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection of the skin and underlying tissue. She had surgery to drain the infection and was hooked up to an IV that pumped her full of antibiotics and pain-killers. One doctor even said she could have lost her leg.

So how does this happen? Any procedure, no matter how small or how common, comes with risk. But 15 days in the hospital after a bikini wax! I argue that waiting 5 days to see a doctor with symptoms like that isn’t terribly smart.

I wouldn’t say this is a common occurrence, but it’s not the first time it’s happened. New Jersey even considered outlawing bikini waxes because of problems they were causing. That is why it is so incredibly important to visit educated, licensed estheticians you trust. Ask lots of questions of your esthetician and follow all the pre- and post-wax instructions closely.

These recent Brazilian wax and bikini wax headlines got me thinking. What safety precautions and pre- and post-waxing care techniques are current students learning in esthetician school to avoid these problems? What precautions are salons and spas taking to avoid these mishaps and subsequently getting sued? Has anything changed at the place you attend school or work at – or are the normal safety routines still working?

Paul Mitchell – The School in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis beauty schools are teaching much more than just hair techniques, including community outreach, multiculturalism, and thinking “green.” Paul Mitchell – The School in Memphis is a perfect example of a philanthropic community school, and they even participate in the Hair for Oil Spills program we blogged about recently!

Read the full article here.
More about Paul Mitchell – The School in Memphis

Empire Beauty Schools in Arizona
Empire Beauty Schools cosmetologists in training have teamed up to fight domestic violence, like participants in the Cut It Out program we blogged about recently! The Arizona Coalition Against Domestic Violence has been working with Empire Beauty Schools in Arizonato train current beauty school students how to recognize signs of abuse, and find ways to help their clients.

Read the full article here.
More about Empire Beauty Schools in Arizona

It seems more and more these days that science and chemistry are surfacing in cosmetology education and training. This addition to the basic beauty curriculum can be attributed to the more sophisticated procedures and methods used in hair care and skin care.

Ten years ago, if you said ‘esthetician,’ most people wouldn’t know what you were talking about. Nowadays, you can choose your beauty professionals like you choose your clothes. With so many different avenues that have branched out of beauty, like esthetics, massage therapy, aromatherapy and advancements in hair treatments, customers can choose a trained beauty professional for their all their different beauty needs.

Salons have also transformed into tranquil and stress-relieving sanctuaries that are making people turn their beauty regimens into a sacred and peaceful event – some beauty treatments even lasting for hours.

How does chemistry come into the equation? Since these beauty procedures have advanced into the science realm, schools are beefing up their classes to include anatomy, the study blood-borne pathogens, chemistry basics for hair treatments, the use of microscopes to determine different types of skin-related problems, and many other scientific aspects of beauty.

These new and advanced classes help each beauty student to take their career from solely a hairdresser to a full-fledged cosmetologist who can not only style hair but recognize skin problems, promote healthier choices for your mind and body, and perform advanced treatments for hair and skin.

What about your school or salon? Does your cosmetology school infuse the science of beauty with traditional beauty education? Tell us all about it!

House of Heavilin Beauty Colleges in Kansas City, MO

Kansascity.com takes a personal look into Kansas City’s oldest beauty school, House of Heavilin Beauty College. This is an inspiring story, telling both the passionate history of the school’s founder, and showing how the school’s programs are changing the lives of its current students.

Read the full article here.
More about House of Heavilin Beauty College in Kansas City

Dior School of Cosmetology in Modesto, CA

California beauty school owner of Dior School of Cosmetology is waiving tuition for fellow Iraqi-American refuges as part of the World Relief program.

Read the full article here.
More about Dior School of Cosmetology in Modesto

Stage/Film/Theater Makeup - Photo by MK Media

It may not sound quite right, but some beauty school students are experiencing an education in ugly-fication. Is there a market for this, you may ask? It turns out, there is!

If you’re a cosmetology student looking to break outside of the standard “pretty” box, you might consider a cosmetology school that offers courses in special-effects and stage makeup. Whether you’re most excited about turning your client into some sort of un-dead creature, a serious head-wound victim, or anything else your imagination can cook up, these courses can help you learn the unique techniques that make your ideas come to life.

In addition to the traditional cosmetology skills such as hair design, nail technology and esthetics, many cosmetology schools offer makeup training for theater and film. It also turns out that these courses aren’t just for the Hollywood types. In schools all over the country – including Tahlequah, Oklahoma – students are exploring the depths of spooky, gruesome, shocking makeup.

As a Master Instructor at Tahlequah’s Beauty Technical College, Heather Crowell says she wants to provide her students with a broader spectrum of cosmetology skills they can put to work in their careers. After all, cosmetology is much more than just doing hair.

Crowell also explains why students in Oklahoma could find this unique education opportunity useful. She says, “We actually have a pretty big film industry in Oklahoma, so there’s a lot of things [students] can do with it. They have to volunteer their time right now, but that just builds up their experience so when they get out, they can make a lot of money doing this.”

Many of the students at Beauty Technical College remember being surprised when they first realized they would be learning the science behind realistic-looking slashed necks, pencils through the head, or dramatic injuries to several different extremities. But what do these students have to say now?

Sarah Cookson, a student at the school, says, “I really, really enjoy [the class]. I could do gross makeup all day!”

So, where does the road lead for gurus of grotesque makeup? Crowell sees great potential for many of her students. “I would love to see them end up in California or New York doing this professionally,” she says.

Think your active imagination and flair for dramatics could work for your career? Check out some schools with cosmetology or makeup programs that interest you.

Hair Clippings Save Marine Life

Saving otters, birds and other marine life is all in a day’s work for many salons and beauty schools across the country. How can your salon or cosmetology school help care for our oceans and the creatures in it? By donating hair clippings to the Master of Trust program, Hair for Oil Spills!

As it turns out, hair is great at collecting oil out of the air and off of surfaces like the water. It’s adsorbent, meaning it clings to the pollutants (whereas absorbent means to soak up the pollutants). Participants in the Hair for Oil Spills program stuff loose, washed hair into nylon stockings. The stockings get made into “booms” which surround and soak up oil spills. Hair mats are also made for emergency oil spills and for oiled bird and mammal cages.

More than 370,000 hair salons in the United States collect about one pound of hair per day. (That’s 135 million pounds of hair per year for those who are keeping track.) The salons sweep up the hair clippings into plastic garbage bags, reuse the large boxes they get from shampoo deliveries and mail the hair.

Help your salon or beauty school help Planet Earth by joining this program. Find out more information and sign up for the Matter of Trust Hair for Oil Spills program here. It’s easy to help save our environment with excess hair. Besides, how can you resist the cute little otter guy?

The package says “organic,” but how do you know for sure?

In the world of beauty schools, beauty products and beyond, “organic” has become one of today’s hottest buzz words. As more and more consumers learn about the importance of Earth-friendliness, an “organic” label can make or break many people’s purchasing decisions.

But who decides what exactly makes a product “organic?” In Europe and the United States, consumers are still trying to decode the organic certifications they find on the labels of their favorite brands.

Amarjit Sahota, the managing director of Organic Monitor, explains that the one word that defines the organic certification process in Europe and the United States is “confusion.”

Companies and manufacturers that produce organic beauty products want their customers to feel confident in the product’s organic certification. But with three different organic certifications in the United States and two different certifications in Europe, many companies don’t know which standard to choose.

Unfortunately for consumers, beauty schools and salons, this means confusion for them as well. Each beauty product on the shelf may carry a different certification logo, and many consumers are torn between trusting that logo, or trusting a brand name.

Like many professionals in the organic product industries and the beauty industry, Sahota would like to see one global organic standard. He believes that uniformity and cohesion within the industry will benefit everyone involved – not to mention, planet Earth!

What are your thoughts on the organic issue? Do you work at a salon or beauty school going green? How do you choose your organic beauty products when you’re standing in front of that shelf in the beauty aisle?

1. Do what you love.
For your business to be successful, you have to be passionate about the services you provide. You figured out when you attended cosmetology school for beauty training what you do and don’t like to do. This means if you’re an esthetician but you don’t enjoy waxing, you don’t necessarily have to provide this service. Or if you’re a cosmetologist who isn’t passionate about hair extensions, why waste your time? Do what you love and be amazing at it. If you love every minute of what you do, your clients can tell. They will recognize your passion for beauty and keep coming back.

2. Create a website.
Websites are one of the top ways people find services. A beautiful website sets the mood for your business and can be a deciding factor for a potential client who is choosing between you and your competitors. It can also be an additional way to provide product for your clients. Online social networking is also a great way to spread the word about your business and your website.

3. Sell top-of-the-line products and services.
The products and services you offer don’t have to be extremely expensive, but they should be something your clients don’t have easy access to. Make sure the products and services you provide are something you truly believe in. For example, if you are passionate about organic beauty products make sure that is what you provide to your customers. Finally, know about your products to the tiniest detail, and be prepared to answer any questions your clients might have about them.

4. Network.
Word-of-mouth is a great way to boost your clientele, so be sure get your name out to as many potential clients and industry professionals as possible. Don’t be afraid to hand out your beautiful business card! Networking can also lead you to possible partnerships and long-lasting professional relationships. Beauty business owners can often partner up to cut down on costs and increase clientele.

5. Take care of yourself.
When you’re running a beauty business, it’s often difficult to make time for yourself. But it’s especially important in the beauty industry because your appearance matters to your clients. Take care of yourself not only for clients – but for you as well. Pampering yourself can help keep you focused, relaxed and happy even with the stresses owning a business can bring.

Are you already a successful beauty business owner?
With these 5 tips as a springboard, you will be well on your way to successful beauty business ownership in no time. You’ve got the beauty skills, now show them off! Are you already a successful beauty business owner? What success tips do you have to offer other aspiring beauty entrepreneurs?

Networking is crucial to building your beauty business.