I’m frequently shocked by the vast number of people who ask, “Am I too old for cosmetology school?” Reality check! It’s never too late to achieve your dreams of becoming a beautician.

Diane Rickard was 59 when she enrolled in cosmetology school, unable to find work in another field in today’s rickety economy.  Now, just a few of years later, she is the proud owner of her very own beauty business - AvaShay, a natural nail spa in Brighton, Michigan.

If you are passionate about beautifying people and you’re ready for a change of scenery, switching to a cosmetology career may be perfect for you – regardless of your age. Some things to think about are balancing current career responsibilities with getting your beauty education, your family’s reaction, and facing your fear of the big change!

In today’s tough job market, jobs are hard to find - particularly for someone who is older or interested in switching careers.  But the beauty industry still offers opportunities for someone who is people-oriented and not willing to let anything stand in their way. Diane Rickard was the oldest person in her cosmetology class when she enrolled at Brighton Institute of Cosmetology - and now she’s her own boss.

Live the dream. Find out what it takes to enroll in cosmetology school - no matter how old you are.

Something big is brewing in Texas. Cosmetologists and barbers are both feeling pretty indignant, and judging by the comments in articles like this, their clients have pretty strong feelings, too.

So here’s the deal: some Texas cosmetologists are challenging laws that allow barbers – but not cosmetologists – to shave customers. Cosmetologists want to be able to legally shave their customers, but barbers (who feel that cosmetologists are encroaching on their monopoly over men and boys already) want to keep the razor-wielding privileges for themselves.

Now, Texas law has allowed cosmetologists to trim beards and mustaches since 2001. But where does trimming end and shaving start? Texas has no legal definition of shaving, or even of a “razor.”

That means we’re not just talking about Sweeney Todd-style straight razors? Umm … nope. Legally, Texas cosmetologists can’t even take a pink Lady Bic to the bottoms of a client’s sideburns. The cosmetologists feel like this is silly – they’ve been handling safety razors since they were preteens, and even tattoo artists in Texas are allowed to use disposable razor to shave the area they’re going to tattoo.

Barbers, on the other hand, feel like their exclusive right to shaving customers represents the last thing that sets them apart from cosmetologists. Trained in the 14 distinct strokes of the classic straight-razor shave, they feel they’ve earned the right to at least a small population of men.

So … what do you think? Is it silly that cosmetologists (who often undergo longer beauty training programs) cannot shave their customers, even with safety razors? Or do barbers have a right to hang on to something that’s set them apart since the days of white-and-red striped poles?

When licensed beauty professionals need a brush-up on training – what’s the best way to continue your education? Some beauty schools are now offering online cosmetology training courses for licensed beauty professionals. Why? It’s easy and flexible.

Since higher education has largely turned to the Internet, students can now take classes from institutions that are not even located in their city, or state for that matter. Now, beauty schools are seeing the transition to online beauty classes, and don’t want to be left unplugged!

Given that this is a new avenue for beauty schools, there are some rules. You must already have your cosmetology license to take online continuing education beauty courses. Not all states accept online training for additional certificates or mandatory continued education so make sure you check with your state’s cosmetology licensing requirements before you enroll in online beauty school classes.

If you live in a state where you can enroll in online beauty courses then it can be the perfect way to brush up on your cosmetology skills or learn new beauty methods or procedures. Some of the courses you can take are:
• Additional coloring methods
• Mandatory sanitation information
• Building your career tips
• And more!

We know that attending a cosmetology school in the flesh is the best way to get hands-on cosmetology training. But in an online environment, you don’t have to worry about when to go to beauty school – it’s all in front of you on your computer on your own schedule. It’s perfect for stylists who want to continue their cosmetology education and not have to go to a classroom, or for individuals wanting to return to a beauty profession they left for a while. But

What about you? Have you thought about, or ever taken any online beauty school classes? Do you feel you get as much out of it as a class in a real beauty school?

Holistic means ‘whole’ and holistic health focuses on the whole self: mind, body and spirit.  The practices used in holistic therapies are also sometimes referred to as alternative medicine.  These holistic and alternative approaches to medicine may not be a part of mainstream health care, but they are growing in the world of cosmetology.  The National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine , a research group, has found that 38% of American adults use some form of alternative medicine.

People may think that the holistic health industry is separate from cosmetology, but that simply isn’t the case.  Cosmetology has extended far beyond hairstyling alone.  Many cosmetology schools offer programs in esthetics and skin care, nail care, hair care and massage therapy.  Each of these areas of cosmetology can work well with a holistic approach to health.  Cosmetology schools and beauty schools focus on outward appearance, and many people may not realize that outward appearance is often a reflection of our health.  When we are stressed, we may have tense muscles or more skin breakouts.  If we aren’t eating right, we might have brittle hair and nails.  All of these outward issues may be indicators of bigger problems.  As a society we need to be less stressed and focus more on our health.

Cosmetology and holistic health can work together to reach this goal.  We need to focus on our minds, bodies and spirits, and we need to be training future cosmetology professionals to help their clients find that same focus.  Getting a beauty treatment can help relax your clients.  As an esthetician, you can give advice on not only soothing broken out skin, but also mind/body/spirit exercises that can help prevent skin problems from coming back.  A session with a massage therapist can calm clients’ muscles and keep them relaxed as they go through their busy lives.  The health of the whole self is linked to outward appearance, so the cosmetology industry and holistic health industry should work more closely together to help our society become and remain healthy.

What about you? How does your cosmetology school or beauty salon tie holistics and alternative medicine into your services?

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!

“CUT IT OUT!” is suddenly much more meaningful than just being a signature catchphrase of Uncle Joey Gladstone on Full House. (Don’t tell me you don’t remember his accompanying hand gestures.)

According to their CUT IT OUT web site, it is a program of the Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund, dedicated to mobilizing salon professionals and others to fight the epidemic of domestic abuse in communities across the United States.”

The Alabama-founded group works to build awareness of domestic abuse through awareness materials to be displayed in salons, the Adopt-a-Shelter initiative to involve salons in helping local domestic violence agencies, and training salon professionals to recognize warning signs and safely refer clients to resources. This would be a great program to implement in beauty and cosmetology schools, too!

Training sessions help salon professionals learn to identify domestic abuse and know what to do when they suspect it. Because domestic abuse victims are often held captive by their abusers, but still held to a high physical standard by the same captor, salons are often some of the few places that they continue to visit.

Kudos to CUT IT OUT for an important initiative that has already been backed by groups including Salons Against Domestic Abuse Fund - a partnership between Clairol Professional, the National Cosmetology Association, and Southern Living At HOME.

Is your salon or beauty school interested in getting involved with CUT IT OUT? Visit their site today to find out how!

Cut It Out: Salon Professionals Against Domestic Abuse

Why not turn your passion for fashion into a profession?

The cosmetology field employs creative people in every city, in every state in the country. According to a national survey released by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences in December 2007, nearly 53 percent of salon owners had job openings for trained and educated beauty professionals. That’s right. Even in this economy, job openings in the world of beauty are still flooding in.

Nearly three quarters of them, though, said that they had a hard time finding qualified applicants. If that doesn’t scream opportunity, I don’t know what does! More than half of the salons in the country are full-service salons, so they offer all kinds of different beauty services to their clients such as hairstyling, nail services or makeup. There are tons of spots open around the country for people fresh out of cosmetology school and equipped with the hands-on training and knowledge to do an awesome job in real life.

So for all you beauty-loving, makeup-obsessed, creative people who have a passion for fashion, why not turn that passion into a profession? Whether you’re fresh out of high school and just beginning to consider a career or you’ve been in the working world for a while and want a new direction, have you thought about a career in beauty?

Professional cosmetologists use a wide array of equipment to achieve desired looks – equipment they begin to acquire the very first week of beauty school.

Cosmetology Student Kit Mannequin

After you begin your cosmetology training, it’s time to start investing in everything from shears, clippers and brushes to mannequin heads and more. Many of the professional items included in your student kit can stay strapped to your tool belt years into your professional cosmetology career.

Most cosmetology schools provide student kits and simply include the cost in your tuition. Other schools give you contact information for trusted beauty vendors so you can make your purchase directly. In either case, you will occasionally need to purchase miscellaneous items that are not already included in your kit.

Here is a handy list of sites you can count on to supplement your beauty supplies throughout your training. You can find everything from extensive student kits to smocks and bottles of hair dye.

•    Burmax
•    Jazz-z
•    Universal
•    Sally Beauty Supply
•    My Cosmetology Kit
•    Beauty Kit Solutions
•    Professional Beauty Network
•    Makeupart.net
•    Universal Techniques
•    Marlo Beauty Supply

Unveiling the contents of your student kit is really exciting – it’s kind of like unwrapping your future. It also means that you’ll have at least one mannequin head of your very own!

So what’s in your cosmetology kit? What did you need to purchase that wasn’t in the original package? And if you’re already a professional licensed cosmetologist practicing in the field, what did you get in your original cosmetology student kit that you still use today?

Unfortunately, domestic abuse is something many of us have become all too familiar with. Countless women and children are subjected to violence within their own homes on a daily basis. Even worse, some of these victims are forced into silence, fearing retribution at their partner’s hand.

Domestic violence victims often don’t know where to turn for help. They may have controlling partners who put extreme restrictions on the everyday freedoms some women take for granted. Many victims are too afraid to seek help from the police or an abuse shelter.

This is where the program, Cut It Out: Salons Against Domestic Abuse, comes in. Cut It Out began as a statewide program in Alabama. By 2002, more than 500 salon professionals in the state had been trained to recognize signs of abuse and to connect domestic violence victims to abuse professionals. In 2003, the program went national. Today, salons across the country have access to Cut It Out’s domestic violence prevention specialists.

Cut It Out’s mission is to teach salon professionals to recognize the warning signs of domestic violence. Because of the close relationship some hairstylists enjoy with their clients, salon professionals can be an important lifeline in the fight against domestic violence.

Check out some of these websites to learn more about Cut It Out. If you ask me, this is just another reason to feel great about a career in the beauty and salon industry!

Visit Cut It Out’s website to learn more about domestic violence and to support its mission:
http://www.cutitout.org

Find a Cut It Out trainer near you with this list organized by state and city: http://www.cutitout.org/DVTrainerList.aspx

Here’s an article about how Cut It Out helped the stylists in one salon:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/nyregion/20salons.html?hp

On a whim yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a manicure and pedicure . And I’ve read a lot about student salons at beauty academies – but I’d never actually been to one! So I called and made an appointment at a nearby school.

First great thing – they had me in right away. And “Amy”, the student who used me as a guinea pig, was great. I originally wanted a French manicure, but she hadn’t had the chance to learn that yet. She offered to find me a more experienced student, but I told her it was fine.

The salon itself was nice – it was huge and divided into smaller sections. The equipment looked top notch. The teacher-supervisors were all cheerful and smiling and things felt busy but not chaotic.

Amy was new enough that she still had an instruction card she referred to, in order to make sure she was completing all the steps. But she did a great job on my pedicure – my toes look like little gems! I am definitely planning on going back to see if I can get a beauty facial in the near future.

Checking out a student salon is a great way to get a feel for the local schools while giving yourself a little treat. Just don’t forget to tip!