Going to a Beauty College for Coloring

Hi,

I've read a lot of posts from people who have home coloring disasters they need fixed but who don't have a lot of money to pay what pro salons charge for something that is a bit more advanced and complicated than the average home hair dyer knows how to do.

A possible alternative to seriously consider is getting your coloring (done / fixed) at a local beauty college.  I recently did this and had a really good coloring experience at just a fraction of the price I would have paid at a pro salon.

How I see it:

Benefits:  They have all the knowledge, tools and products needed and they're all included in the lower price of the work (you'd still have to buy all the stuff to do it to yourself anyway); there are experienced teachers who oversee the work of all the students; an extra person to do the tricky back-of-the-head hair part that is hard for a person at home to do to themselves; did I mention a very significant savings compared to what a regular salon would charge? :-)

Tips to have a good experience:

1.  Bring a photo (from a magazine or book, of a friend's hair that you like, etc.) so the student stylist has something visible to go by.

2.  If your coloring situation is difficult, have the student stylist get one of the teachers to consult with the student AND YOU together about how to best proceed to accomplish your objective.

3.  Be realistic.  Don't expect to go from black permanent dye in your hair to platinum blonde all in one day.  They should let you know what you can reasonably expect in coloring results by the end of your visit.

4.  Don't get greedy with your savings.  Yes, the students are there to utilize your hair to gain practical experience and are giving you a big discount for the privilege of doing so, but they're not slaves.  If the student does a good job, give them a good tip afterwards; you'll STILL be saving a large amount on the total cost.

Good luck!  I hope it will turn out as well for any of you as it did for me. :-)

Ok, so I know not all stylists are created equal.But I wouldnt reccomend a beauty college if you really like your hair.I think a cut or something simple would be okay.But definitely not for a color correction.I know people who went to beauty school and they caused more than a few hair disasters in school.One girl bleached a guys hair to white blonde from medium brown and then permed it!!!.And then she was suprised when it fell out in clumps.If you go to a beauty school keep in mind they are still learning.

Hi Longhairdreams,

Absolutely not trying to be argumentative :-), but I do have a few points that I think are worth discussing in regard to your comments.

You said that you think a cut would be much more appropriate to have done at a beauty college and definitely not a color correction.  I feel exactly the reverse.  My color correction couldn't have gone any better and I think that was due to a few things:  1.  I made sure an *experienced* person (the teacher) was in on the consulation BEFORE anything was done.  It wasn't just a student experimenting on me to learn and "let's see what happens".  The teacher had seen it all before and knew the best way to steer us both AND gave me a very good idea of what to expect for results.  2.  I COMMUNICATED.  I had a photo of the color I wanted and made them explain everything to me so we could all decide together what was the best route to take (thus I got no complete stripping, but will have a somewhat gradual change over time with highlights and lowlights until ALL the black is gone).

I *wouldn't* recommend a cut at a beauty college.  Cutting hair is really a learned art and skill to be finessed over time with a lot of physical practical experience, and this especially applies to curly hair like mine.  Students just haven't had enough time yet to acquire that skill with their hands.  Many expensive stylists who work in real salons don't know how to properly cut curly women's hair well; I think because they just don't have a lot of experience at it.  Coloring with a teacher's guided input, however, is a different story.  If you do X, X, and X, this will be the likely result.  It doesn't take any big skill to section off hair and brush gunk on it, so long as you have help on the chemical knowledge part of it and proper steps from a teacher.  I couldn't have cut my own hair but I could have done a credible job of color correcting if I would have had the the teacher to talk to *in detail* beforehand.

You wrote:
"I know people who went to beauty school and they caused more than a few hair disasters in school.One girl bleached a guys hair to white blonde from medium brown and then permed it!!!. And then she was suprised when it fell out in clumps."

Disasters happen BOTH at beauty schools AND pro salons.  I know many people, myself included, who have paid a lot of money for the "gift" of a bad hair cut/coloring at a fancy salon.  The girl you mentioned obviously didn't consult with her teacher before she did that because any teacher worth his/her salt would have counseled her against it.  I don't think so much that the problem was the girl in a school, but rather the fact that the inexperienced person didn't bother to consult with an experienced person before they proceeded.

Lastly, I also try to follow a general rule no matter where I go:  I won't let a person whose own hair looks like a total whack-job touch my hair anymore.  If they have a big chunk of fake-looking fire-engine red highlights or a "crazy" haircut, they probably won't be in tune with my own desire for a conservative, well-structured cut with natural looking highlights.