A day in the life…

Hairdressing has a reputation for being an easy career choice and one that is suitable for anyone, as long as they can cut hair!

This may have been true, years ago, when jobs for girls were more limited. Seemingly, you could either be a secretary, hairdresser or housewife!

Times have changed and thank goodness they have. There are many skills that you will need when you’re a stylist. First, you have to get through the training. Usually 2 years of splitting time at a college or academy and a salon.

Language is one of the most important skills, as communication is key when dealing with customers on a daily basis. We have to understand their needs and requirements and there has to be a solid understanding of vocabulary.

We also have to learn to interpret hidden meanings for example, if a client has recently split from a relationship and demands that he or she dies her hair purple and cut it all off, what they’re really saying is something deeper and we have to listen, understand and work out how to get to what they really want. They may just want to be noticed and feel good about themselves with a small change.

During formal training, some of the subjects covered include, science and medical terms, such as scalp and skin conditions and how to recognise and treat them. As hairdressing apprentices, we learn how to make shampoo and how it works on the different types of hair. What ingredients are used and what conditioner does to the structure of hair.

We learn about the structure of hair and what effects certain chemicals have on the many layers. There are many elements to colouring hair and the science behind it. This knowledge has to be kept up throughout any hairdressing career as formulae changes constantly.

Hairdressers are often thought of as amateur psychologists and counsellors! Often, when building relationships with clients, they will confide in you and perhaps tell you some secrets too. It’s a very intimate situation between a client and their stylist and it’s a real skill to be able to keep the relationship professional but friendly. Clients can become friends too, especially when you see them every other week for years on end.

We have to understand health and safety matters and keep up good practise, not to mention artistic skills, needed for cutting and styling hair…

After all is said and done, the skills needed to make a good stylist are unique to the hairdressing trade. There aren’t many jobs that allow people to use most of the skills we learned whilst training, every single day and we try not to be complacent about them by striving to be the best and keep up with trends.

So you see – to try and imagine a day in the life of a hairdresser isn’t as easy as you might think. Hairdressing is a fantastic career choice and we feel privileged to be let loose on the general public! We are eternally grateful that we are trusted by you, to deliver a great service.

There’s still no better feeling than making people look and feel special by changing their hair.