Assistant expecting too much?

[missbusybee]

Hi all,

So I have a question as I’m new to the industry (28 year old career changer).

I have been working at a salon as an assistant alongside attending (self funded) college for 5 months now and they have not offered to trade test me/ asked me to do anything that helps me upskill my TRADE during my working day.

I spend my days non- stop cleaning and prepping but never get any chance to blow dry/ apply colour/ foil/ hair up (all of which I’d be more than happy to get stuck in with as I’ve now passed my level 2). I accept my timings need work but how can I get better if I literally have next to no time to practice practice practice???

Is it the case that you are expected to clean for a few years before you’re trusted enough to handle hair…. All seems a bit backwards to me and I’m starting to loose the spark I first had when I started there, if I was to be really pessimistic I’d say they are possibly using me for cheap labour?

I should mention that when I signed up for the role I was told that during slow times I’d be able to practice on a block head, this hasn’t been the case as slow times never happen with us assistants there. When it’s slow they either send us home (unpaid) or text us at the beginning of the day saying don’t bother coming in today you can make the hours up….. it seems really one sided but I also know im chronically impatient by nature so am also trying (TRYING) to temper this with being reasonable.

I should also mention that the training they offered me as part of the package sounded great at first but in reality it has meant on top of my typical 6 day weeks (day job/ college and bar work in evenings to top my money up to break even) I have had to also source people to come in and pay for services with me (in order to pay the “teacher”…. I use the term teacher loosely as out of the stylists that also teach us only one of them is worth his weight in gold and I get great feedback from, a few are mediocre at best and the majority are happy to finish early/ don’t give any useful feedback (one literally writes N/A in the comment sections of the forms their supposed to fill out… seriously wtf is that about?!?!….and when you ask questions they act as if you’re questioning their authority (I’m not I’d just like a straight answer to a straight question).

Training is 2-3 hours per week (outside of working hours) which also doesn’t feel like long enough in return for the sacrifice I’m making to them of selling my time soooo cheaply to clean, just clean!

My other gripe is the other assistants there have been there aggggessss and don’t seem in any sort of hurry to progress which I find weird/scary because if I’m being measured against them I’m definitely going to look like an impatient problem child, cart horse race horse springs to mind :/


Ughhhh I just don’t know what to do, I know I’m not the full all singing all dancing package right now but I feel like this job is stealing my time and blocking me from being able to progress more quickly… it feels like soaking up all my hours on what is essentially a cleaning job is surely going to hold me back from progressing my hairdressing skills further yet most hair jobs require 1-2 years in a salon as an entry requirement, so should I suck it up and accept being a cleaner for a year and sacrifice valuable practice time?


Do any salons take assistants seriously or am I better off just growing a pair, renting a chair and building my own clients from scratch and learning the “hard way” as a lone wolf? Or is there annother option? This experience is making me not trust salons….. is what I’m describing standard industry practice?

Side notes:

-the owner talks a good talk about progressing and being committed but he takes no actual time to train his assistants, he delegates it to people that (apart from one) clearly don’t care/ have low standards for teaching.

-I also have to work a bar job around this “assisting (cleaning)” as I’m an adult with bills to pay and the assistant wage doesn’t even cover half of what I need to break even each month, the owner is aware of this but still doesn’t seem in any sort of hurry to get me up and running and earning.

Please help/ from what I’ve laid out do you think I’m doing something wrong here?

I’ve thought about straight up asking for the trade test but as the months have passed I’m now irritated that it hasn’t been offered and almost feel like I don’t want to be there at all as their actions have shown that they just see me as a cleaner who doesn’t deserve to progress (or at least that’s how I’m reading it) …… I’m starting to resent being there and also starting to think that the clients arnt exactly the target market I’d actually want to be working with long term anyway. I’m just scared if I jump salons that the same thing happens again and it’s so exhausting and demoralising when I really brought into them and what they said on the front end of this.

I’d really like to get into session work too and event hair (the salon doesn’t do either) so perhaps the writings in the wall…. Or should I just be grateful for any old exposure considering how I’m only level 2 qualified? I just can’t help that I’m wasting valuable learning time by staying there now :/

Thanks
Bee x

 

[TheDuchess]

Wow Bee! I feel your pain.

Well done for taking the plunge and congratulations on passing your level 2.

I’m not a hairdresser I’m in beauty and, like you I had a life before I retrained. My experience of training is that most people are not at all ready for paying clients when they are freshly qualified. Training someone - even. post qualification - is hugely expensive. The rate for a service suitable for a junior is a fraction of what I normally earn and it takes 3x as long. You can’t help think about the paid work you could be doing instead

In general, the role of junior (or assistant) enables you to learn where everything is, how the workflow is organised, find your feet with the team, and they with you, and settle into a rhythm together. It makes it so much easier than starting in a new job with none of these advantages AND doing services on clients who expect the usual service standard. I can’t imagine learning the “hard” way. Where would you find all the clients prepared to pay you to train on them? Who would work alongside someone not working to professional standards and give them advice and guidance? You feel you’re ready to progress faster and you’re frustrated at the lack of opportunities. How many opportunities are there to jump in and work on a client that doesn’t mind an assistant doing their hair for the stylist rate and it taking longer than usual?

As well as cleaning, my juniors learn to anticipate my needs, to have everything ready for me, to tidy around me unobtrusively, make me tea and generally make my life easier so that I have time to pee, drink the tea and cover extra clients to pay the junior’s wage as well as my own. When I have a minute to show them something, they pick it up quickly because they have been watching. Watching an expert helps to train your brain and significantly cuts down the amount of practice time needed. You can answer a lot of your questions by watching an expert - you see how they deal with something you find tricky. At first you may not understand what you are looking at, but gradually it makes sense (like watching football or learning a language).

My juniors find themselves customers and they tell me they are ready to work unsupervised. I respect their enthusiasm but it is my reputation at stake. If their confidence is misplaced I have to redo the service or refund. It’s my responsibility to resolve any issues. My feedback ls to ask them how they think it went? What went well, what could be improved? They need to learn to critique their work. I give them one additional point to reflect on. Every training session is a trade test. As soon as I can see that a junior is bookable for a service, I’ll book them!

Don’t forget that a stylist is always looking for clients. Your models are your leads. They should be thrilled with their visit, asking what else they can book in for and telling their friends about you. This is how you build a fully booked column. People very rarely walk in off the street to book without having heard of you or read great reviews online.

So my advice is stop wasting energy feeling frustrated about things you can’t change. You can’t change your Boss or colleagues, you can only change yourself. The salon has a tried and tested system that works for them. Find a way to make it work for you too,

 

[missbusybee]

Wow Bee! I feel your pain.

Well done for taking the plunge and congratulations on passing your level 2.

I’m not a hairdresser I’m in beauty and, like you I had a life before I retrained. My experience of training is that most people are not at all ready for paying clients when they are freshly qualified. Training someone - even. post qualification - is hugely expensive. The rate for a service suitable for a junior is a fraction of what I normally earn and it takes 3x as long. You can’t help think about the paid work you could be doing instead

In general, the role of junior (or assistant) enables you to learn where everything is, how the workflow is organised, find your feet with the team, and they with you, and settle into a rhythm together. It makes it so much easier than starting in a new job with none of these advantages AND doing services on clients who expect the usual service standard. I can’t imagine learning the “hard” way. Where would you find all the clients prepared to pay you to train on them? Who would work alongside someone not working to professional standards and give them advice and guidance? You feel you’re ready to progress faster and you’re frustrated at the lack of opportunities. How many opportunities are there to jump in and work on a client that doesn’t mind an assistant doing their hair for the stylist rate and it taking longer than usual?

As well as cleaning, my juniors learn to anticipate my needs, to have everything ready for me, to tidy around me unobtrusively, make me tea and generally make my life easier so that I have time to pee, drink the tea and cover extra clients to pay the junior’s wage as well as my own. When I have a minute to show them something, they pick it up quickly because they have been watching. Watching an expert helps to train your brain and significantly cuts down the amount of practice time needed. You can answer a lot of your questions by watching an expert - you see how they deal with something you find tricky. At first you may not understand what you are looking at, but gradually it makes sense (like watching football or learning a language).

My juniors find themselves customers and they tell me they are ready to work unsupervised. I respect their enthusiasm but it is my reputation at stake. If their confidence is misplaced I have to redo the service or refund. It’s my responsibility to resolve any issues. My feedback ls to ask them how they think it went? What went well, what could be improved? They need to learn to critique their work. I give them one additional point to reflect on. Every training session is a trade test. As soon as I can see that a junior is bookable for a service, I’ll book them!

Don’t forget that a stylist is always looking for clients. Your models are your leads. They should be thrilled with their visit, asking what else they can book in for and telling their friends about you. This is how you build a fully booked column. People very rarely walk in off the street to book without having heard of you or read great reviews online.

So my advice is stop wasting energy feeling frustrated about things you can’t change. You can’t change your Boss or colleagues, you can only change yourself. The salon has a tried and tested system that works for them. Find a way to make it work for you too,

 

[missbusybee]

Thanks for such an in depth reply.

I appreciate from a salon perspective that they need to operate in a way that works for them but without time to practice what I’m watching I’m just struggling to join the dots.

Thanks again

Bee

 

[Hairgurl]

Hi all,

So I have a question as I’m new to the industry (28 year old career changer).

I have been working at a salon as an assistant alongside attending (self funded) college for 5 months now and they have not offered to trade test me/ asked me to do anything that helps me upskill my TRADE during my working day.

I spend my days non- stop cleaning and prepping but never get any chance to blow dry/ apply colour/ foil/ hair up (all of which I’d be more than happy to get stuck in with as I’ve now passed my level 2). I accept my timings need work but how can I get better if I literally have next to no time to practice practice practice???

Is it the case that you are expected to clean for a few years before you’re trusted enough to handle hair…. All seems a bit backwards to me and I’m starting to loose the spark I first had when I started there, if I was to be really pessimistic I’d say they are possibly using me for cheap labour?

I should mention that when I signed up for the role I was told that during slow times I’d be able to practice on a block head, this hasn’t been the case as slow times never happen with us assistants there. When it’s slow they either send us home (unpaid) or text us at the beginning of the day saying don’t bother coming in today you can make the hours up….. it seems really one sided but I also know im chronically impatient by nature so am also trying (TRYING) to temper this with being reasonable.

I should also mention that the training they offered me as part of the package sounded great at first but in reality it has meant on top of my typical 6 day weeks (day job/ college and bar work in evenings to top my money up to break even) I have had to also source people to come in and pay for services with me (in order to pay the “teacher”…. I use the term teacher loosely as out of the stylists that also teach us only one of them is worth his weight in gold and I get great feedback from, a few are mediocre at best and the majority are happy to finish early/ don’t give any useful feedback (one literally writes N/A in the comment sections of the forms their supposed to fill out… seriously wtf is that about?!?!….and when you ask questions they act as if you’re questioning their authority (I’m not I’d just like a straight answer to a straight question).

Training is 2-3 hours per week (outside of working hours) which also doesn’t feel like long enough in return for the sacrifice I’m making to them of selling my time soooo cheaply to clean, just clean!

My other gripe is the other assistants there have been there aggggessss and don’t seem in any sort of hurry to progress which I find weird/scary because if I’m being measured against them I’m definitely going to look like an impatient problem child, cart horse race horse springs to mind :/


Ughhhh I just don’t know what to do, I know I’m not the full all singing all dancing package right now but I feel like this job is stealing my time and blocking me from being able to progress more quickly… it feels like soaking up all my hours on what is essentially a cleaning job is surely going to hold me back from progressing my hairdressing skills further yet most hair jobs require 1-2 years in a salon as an entry requirement, so should I suck it up and accept being a cleaner for a year and sacrifice valuable practice time?


Do any salons take assistants seriously or am I better off just growing a pair, renting a chair and building my own clients from scratch and learning the “hard way” as a lone wolf? Or is there annother option? This experience is making me not trust salons….. is what I’m describing standard industry practice?

Side notes:

-the owner talks a good talk about progressing and being committed but he takes no actual time to train his assistants, he delegates it to people that (apart from one) clearly don’t care/ have low standards for teaching.

-I also have to work a bar job around this “assisting (cleaning)” as I’m an adult with bills to pay and the assistant wage doesn’t even cover half of what I need to break even each month, the owner is aware of this but still doesn’t seem in any sort of hurry to get me up and running and earning.

Please help/ from what I’ve laid out do you think I’m doing something wrong here?

I’ve thought about straight up asking for the trade test but as the months have passed I’m now irritated that it hasn’t been offered and almost feel like I don’t want to be there at all as their actions have shown that they just see me as a cleaner who doesn’t deserve to progress (or at least that’s how I’m reading it) …… I’m starting to resent being there and also starting to think that the clients arnt exactly the target market I’d actually want to be working with long term anyway. I’m just scared if I jump salons that the same thing happens again and it’s so exhausting and demoralising when I really brought into them and what they said on the front end of this.

I’d really like to get into session work too and event hair (the salon doesn’t do either) so perhaps the writings in the wall…. Or should I just be grateful for any old exposure considering how I’m only level 2 qualified? I just can’t help that I’m wasting valuable learning time by staying there now :/

Thanks
Bee x

Sorry I’ve only got time for a quick response here- find a new salon if they’re not training you. If they are relying on college to train you, you won’t come out of it ready for clients. Do some research, maybe on social media, of salons that are big on training and openly prioritise their assistants’ education over the time spent cleaning. There are places out there that do this, mainly the central city salons like in London. You might have to move for a decent salon, but in the long run you need a really good start in the industry. Speaking from experience, I didn’t get this and it’s taken me the best part of a decade to catch up and learn through lots of mistakes and stressful situations before I finally feel confident to do a good job of someone’s hair (mostly from paid-for courses).