Hairdressing & Hairstyling

What is Hairdressing & Hairstyling?

A Hair Professional is anyone who works with hair – cutting, colouring, and styling hair to enhance or maintain a person’s appearance.

Hairdressers and Hair Stylists deal with all manners of grooming the hair on a person’s head. Working with their clients to produce the look and style a client has asked for and offering advice and assistance in choosing the best style or colour to suit the person when needed.

What courses are available?

Universities and colleges in Ireland are offering courses in the following subject areas:

• Hair Styling – the study of the skills and practices needed for a career as a hairstylist.
• ASP Insights – this course will give you a complete understanding of ASP colour portfolio, from semi-permanent to permanent colour.
• Cut and Blow-Dry – this course is designed to detail cutting and blow-drying techniques.
• Beginners Hairdressing – the study of the basic skills of hairdressing and then progressing to creating your designs.
• Introduction to Barbering – a practical course in traditional haircutting and barbering techniques and skills.
• Basic Cutting – Beginners cutting course for hairdressing trainees with approx. 6 months of full-time experience in a salon.
• Hair Up-Styles – a study of the various techniques for hair up-styles, suitable for beginners to qualified hairdressers who want to learn new skills.

Studying Hairdressing & Hairstyling in college

Hairdressing & Hairstyling courses are very hands-on, practical courses for the most part with some theory work and assessments. Some courses will have models available to practice on so that you can work on a variety of types and styles of hair.

With the wide variety of courses available you can study part-time or full time or even take a night course, so there is something to suit every schedule. Courses can run over a couple of weeks or over a year depending on the type of course and level of certification you would like to receive. Practical examinations will take place before you can progress further in your studies.

Career options

Hairdressing and Hairstyling are very sought-after professions that are used in so many industries in the personal care, entertainment, and event industries. A great hairstylist can go far on word of mouth and quickly become booked solid months in advance.

In this industry a good reputation is vital and if you are great at what you do and are always professional and pleasant to work with you can do very well for yourself. Working hours for hair stylists can vary vastly depending on the salon you work for, if you work for yourself or if you work within an industry with very early or very late call times. Working in events can often mean working after hours or over the weekend. Typical salon hours are 9 am-5 pm with work on a Saturday.

Self-employed hairstylists may decide to work from their own homes or make visits to clients’ homes. In some salons, it is possible to ‘rent a chair’ and work independently. There are salons in every town and city, and people everywhere needing their hair cut and styled so it is unlikely that you would have to relocate to find a job.

Related jobs include:

• Hairdresser
• Hair Stylist
• Hair technician
• Barber
• Style director
• Personal Stylist
• Salon Owner
• Salon Manager
• Mobile Stylist
• Beauty Therapist
• Make-Up Artist

Further study

Hair Stylists may choose to study further so that they can expand their knowledge base and increase their opportunities. A broader range of skills and knowledge will give a Hair Stylist an edge, especially if you want to work in the entertainment or event industry. A Hair Stylist who is also a skilled Make-Up artist could have more success booking engagements if the client only needs to book one person rather than multiple.

You may also want to go into business on your own, in which case courses in Business Management or Marketing and Sales may be beneficial.

FAQ

Are there any particular qualities you need to study Hairdressing & Hairstyling?

Hair Professionals need to be prepared to be on their feet all day. They need to be friendly and professional with customers and clients. A good hairstylist will be flexible and quick on their feet as they may have to deal with problems as they pop up calmly so as not to alarm their clients.

Hairstylists should be creative and have great attention to detail. They should work well on their own but also with a team. Communication skills are a must for both listening and explaining concepts and processes to clients and being able to listen to what the client wants and deliver it for them.

It is also important to be able to take some criticism as you will have clients who aren’t happy with their look and you will need to be able to work with them to get to a place where they are happy even if it goes against your style – it is their hair that they will have to live with every day after all.

Where can I study Hairdressing & Hairstyling?

Explore your options here

Did You Know?

• The average person has 100,000 – 150,000 strands of hair.
• Hair is the second-fastest-growing tissue in the body after bone marrow.
• Hair contains information about everything that has been in your bloodstreams, such as medicine, drugs, minerals, and vitamins.
• The only thing that CAN’T be identified by hair DNA is gender.
• The amount of weight an entire head of hair can support is equivalent to 2 elephants, or 2 TONS!