Had to pick between getting my cosmetology license in a salon or at a school and I'm still not sure I made the right call

I was dead set on going to a big beauty school because it felt like the 'proper' way to do it. But then I talked to this stylist at a salon near my apartment in Austin who did her apprenticeship there instead. She said she learned way more practical stuff in half the time, no textbook theory about sanitation that she already knew from watching YouTube. I got scared though because I thought what if I miss some basic thing or the salon drops me halfway through. So I picked the school route, spent like $15k on tuition, and now I'm 6 months in and bored out of my mind. We spent two weeks on finger waves that nobody even asks for anymore. Has anyone here done an apprenticeship and actually gotten a decent foundation from it?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_gavin1mo ago

That 15k hit sounds rough, sorry you're stuck in boring classes.

jade_hernandez1mo ago

Dude the finger wave thing is so real lmao. My friend did an apprenticeship at a trendy Austin salon and she was doing balayage and lived-in color by month three while I'm over here practicing roller sets on a mannequin. She said some days she just shadowed and answered phones but the payoff was way faster than sitting through theory lectures. You can always patch up your basics with a weekend class later if you feel gaps but that 15k hit is brutal.

james5331d ago

Huh, that's a good point about the basics though. I bet a lot of those apprenticeship grads are great at trendy stuff but freeze up when an old lady walks in wanting a classic perm or something. The mannequin grind might pay off in the long run in a different way.