Snip your way to Success

In a Growing Effort to Always Please Society’s Glamorous Needs, It’s no Mystery that a Career Like Hairstyling Has Gained Prominence, Finds Alisha Sheth

From a lazy bun to the ‘Rihanna bob’, people are turning more and more to hairstylists for the latest looks and trends. In short, they are taking it way too seriously! Little wonder that a career like hairstyling has really moved forward. Hairstylists are often called to do a variety of events like weddings, commercials, photo shoots and movies.As a hairstylist, it’s imperative one is always on top of one’s work and personality. Being charismatic, passionate and joyous comes through in your work and in your personality. Deepti Aggarwal, hairstylist at Psalms 23 Salon, speaks about qualities in a stylist that can help further one’s career. “You need to be able to talk and do an effective consultation. Getting a client to trust you and building a relationship with them is very important. How you present yourself is also important. Being confident, hygienic, looking fashionable and being aware of what you’re doing also helps both the client and you. Hair plays an important role in a person’s life and can change their entire personality. My job is not boring, it’s all about creativity and thinking outside the box. I’ve always been determined and I love what I do. I wouldn’t have it any other way”.

Skills/Qualities

To be a well-known, polished, and lucrative hair stylist, the most important quality one needs to possess a passion for cutting hair. In addition, hairstyling requires attention to detail, precision and patience. Being creative and having a strong insight into fashion also can prove beneficial.
Your success as a hairstylist is also dependent on your social skills. As a hairstylist, you need to be able to interact efficiently with your client and ensure him/her that they’re in good hands. After this assurance is established, a hairstylist must also have a keen eye for visualizing changes in appearance. It is important to know what styles will suit a person’s face and even personality. After all, a disgruntled client can be disastrous as people are protective of their precious tresses. Therefore, it is essential to please a client’s needs and preferences and have the ability to suggest positive styles and cuts that would suit the client appropriately.

Qualifications

In order to become a hairstylist, you can pursue a degree in hairstyling right after you complete your class 12. However, if you wish to keep your options open, you can pursue a bachelor’s degree in a subject that interests you and then undertake a hairstyling course. Many established hair salons also run academies where they offer a variety of hairstyling courses. These courses range from four weeks to one year in duration, depending on the level of specialisation you wish to achieve.

Job Prospects

As a hairstylist, there are a variety of job opportunities one can take advantage of. There is the most obvious one, which is working for a salon. Usually, people enter this profession as an apprentice or trainee and work under a senior stylist to learn more about the job. After that, you can move on to becoming a trained stylist, and then a senior stylist earning the highest salary. The roles in a salon progress as your experience and training does. If you have good customer satisfaction and are confident in handling clients, you can take the receptionist route and have the task of setting up appointments, handling any hair care products sold in the salon and answering phone calls generally about the salon. These skills can help you progress into a management position. Job opportunities are also available to motivated people with a sales background in hair care products. These people can sell and market hair care products for a salon and work with hair care companies affiliated with salons.
There are also other situations where there is a demand for hairstylists in events such as weddings, fashion photo shoots and films. These often require strenuous hours of styling but tend to be more exhilarating and also tend to help build up your clientele. Some hairstylists also manage to juggle their salon duties with other freelance projects.

Remuneration

As a trainee in this industry, you can earn about Rs. 10,000, which is decent for someone working their way up. After you acquire more experience as a trained stylist, you can earn about Rs. 30,000-40,000 per month. As a senior stylist, you can earn up to Rs. 1 lakh per month. As with most jobs, you must work your way up the corporate ladder to gain more experience and money.

Challenges

The challenges faced as a hair stylist vary. One is that a hair stylist requires extensive knowledge on different kind of hair and their needs, plus the treatments that are suited best for this type of hair, which inevitably can take years to master and memorize a difficulty also faced is customer satisfaction. Most girls are extremely conscious of their hair and can be extremely over protective of it (even guys), pleasing your client and listening to their vision is also a quality needed. Sometimes the look envisioned by the client is not what you have in mind, but learning to integrate both visions into one cohesive one really marks the character and patience of a stylist.
In a world where looks and beauty matter, hairstyling is definitely an up and coming career option.

Course Canvas

• Jawed Habib Academy, all over India
•  B Blunt Academy, all over India
• Emeralde Institute of Hair and Beauty, Mumbai
•  Spratt Academy of Hair Design, Bangalore

Volume 2 Issue 3