How insulting!

[Beautybexter]

I went to a grammar school and it was very rare for people not to do a-levels let alone leave to do beauty therapy! Even after I applied for college they still made me pick a-levels 'just in case beauty wasnt mentally stimulating enough' I was very lucky my mum was behind me all the way as she had been made to do a-levels instead of going into catering and now is stuck in a job she hates! I love my job and am so lucky to be in a full time job in this climate while most of my friends who have just finished uni are finding hard to get even a part time job! I know some clients are shocked when I tell them the science behind products and their skin i do sometimes want to scream I'm not as stupid as you think!

 

[Papillion]

I went to a grammar school and remember they recoiled in horror when I said I wanted to do hair and beauty. I was told I was too intelligent! It was so wrong and rather a bizarre attitude.


I ended up not knowing what else I wanted to do and falling into an awful office job that I hated. Worst advice I have ever received.


I wonder if it is because it is traditionally a job that women have mainly done it is not given the respect is deserves. It seems to be looked on as a job rather than a career path. I also think that more industry regulation would help.

My experience was 20 years ago. Sad to see that this attitude is still out there.

 

[sazzle_g]

Alan Sugar said on the last series of The Apprentice if he wasn't doing what he is now he would invest in the beauty industry beacuse it is THAT good an industry.

Hate ignorant gits that don't know what they're talking about. I have a degree in Tourism Management and people say to me literally ALL the time 'So you will get me cheap holidays then??' :grr: Ehhhh NO because i am not a travel agent, i have a business degree!!!!!!

Rant over :hug: x

Lol I also have a degree in tourism management and always got, so you gonna b a trolly dolly then? during the course, and realised i prob wud or be a rep so never did anything with it.

I'm now 30 and studying to b a hairdresser, a long standing dream! and now have fresh set of assumptions to deal with! I dont care tho, I'm finally getting to do what always wanted to do and think I'm actually better off doing it older as I'm so committed, esp against my 17 yr old expat brat counterparts! (studying abroad). tho do wish a little I'd got to do it years ago.

 

[Alex-Lydia]

I'm going to mention another thread now, but it's not just outside the industry, many salon owners think that college educated hairdressers and therapists are useless, and won't employ them, is this the way we should be to "our own kind"? Or should we take them under our wing and try our best with them to gain their confidence in the "real world"? Xoxo

This is not how I interpret the thread you are talking about - I think that debate is about full time courses verses apprenticeships, and how FE colleges deliver education. The question was not about the quality of the students but the quality of the colleges. In fact, I think that most salon owners felt that some colleges were letting full time students down.

To stop idiots believing that we are 'dumb' we need to get the best training possible and keep training, and when we do not get the training we expect, rather than blame the people pointing it out, blame the people who should be delivering it.


Eleanor Roosevelt said 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent'

 

[Perry_Althair]

I always say to people...the best thing you can do in this day and age is work for yourself or run a business...

3 years after starting hair (I know it's nothing in comparison to the time a lot of geeks have been in the industry but I don't think of time as the most relative factor) I'm working for myself, charging on average £20 an hour, a year ahead a could be working 40 hours a week if I can get my clientele boosted this year.

If you're going down the route of college and uni, 4 years after finishing school, you're still studying and have thousands of pounds worth of debt and you're STILL not guaranteed a job at the end of it.

Who chose the wrong career path?

Hair ALWAYS grows!

 

[sarah_clancy]

I always say to people...the best thing you can do in this day and age is work for yourself or run a business...

3 years after starting hair (I know it's nothing in comparison to the time a lot of geeks have been in the industry but I don't think of time as the most relative factor) I'm working for myself, charging on average £20 an hour, a year ahead a could be working 40 hours a week if I can get my clientele boosted this year.

If you're going down the route of college and uni, 4 years after finishing school, you're still studying and have thousands of pounds worth of debt and you're STILL not guaranteed a job at the end of it.

Who chose the wrong career path?

Hair ALWAYS grows!

Woo hooooo... Well said!!!
xx

 

[Lovebeauty14]

The way I look at it, we're doing a hugely enjoyable job, making people look beautiful for people who are so thankful that we get huge job satisfaction from it. And for our job we can make ourselves look as beautiful as possible and the more we put into make up, nails, etc, the more we advertise & the more clients we'll get. What other job is as rewarding as this? I'd do it for free!!
Let people say what they want, it's their money were taking, they're the ones coming back and we're the ones going home with a huge smile on our faces from doing such a rewarding job.
Let them get on with their 'skilled', 'highly educated' jobs. They can take their stress, worry, uni debts, the lot and keep it. I'm the one whose going to be laughing all the way home and to the bank.

 

[brittone05]

I think the biggest issue is societies conception of the beauty industry. People think that it is "easy", that it takes little effort or time and only for people who are vain themselves and spend 24 hours a day retouching their nail varnish and lipstick!

If ONLY if was that easy!

Few people realise that you can spend 4 years at college to do beauty or hair, that you have to spend thousands on private education to keep you at the top of your game, that you face a continuous uphill struggle with clients being late/cancelling/changing their minds, that you get calls at 8 in the morning from Mrs X panicking that she trapped her nail in the car door and can't possibly go to the school twice with it broken

The grief that therapists deal with daily is unreal - massage is more than just rubbing oil on someone, hair is more than just slapping a DIY kit on or buying scissors from Boots, nails are more than just using an emery board and white tips. All of the career choices within the beauty industry involve intelligence, common sense, timekeeping skills, memory skills above and beyond most normal jobs, science/chemistry, health and safety, people skills - and so so much more.

It is high time that the people who think it is a walk in the park and only for dropouts started realising how hard it is to maintain a good stance in this industry - especially when they are griping that their cheap nail polish isn't drying quickly enough or their DIY peroxide has given them a carrot orange glow!! xx

 

[sharmalee_amie]

It's soo nice to see all your replies, well said to everyone! We all need to stick together and show these ignorant people that hair and beauty isn't for drop outs! We have all worked our butts off to join this industry I for one will not be allowing anyone to call me stupid!!!! : )

 

[LaLaLayla]

What a jumped-up, rude little madam . I have a science degree and an MBA and I'm going into the beauty industry

 

[McKendrick22]

Im half way through my level 3 beauty therapy at college but also spent my last three years at school doing my level 1 and cosmetology so at only 18 i really am keen on learning all about this industry. Whenever someone says 'oh your a beauty therapist? I could do that you don't need any qualifications and all you do is paint nails and do makeup!' they soon regret it when i start asking if they can name every bone and muscle in their body and how their lymphatic system works.
Vicki xx

Sent from my GT-I9100 using SalonGeek

 

[Lolly22]

This particular teacher is a very articulate and educated woman - she also teaches in a private school part time alongside our kids school. she pushes the kids which is great but she will rue the day that my daughter decides she also wants to go into beauty and she tells her she "can't" because she is too clever!!!

I knew from the instance we walked in that she was a snoot but I will not be spoken to like that by anyone I don't give a hoot how many degrees they have lmao xx

Good for you! What a snooty snooty cow! Sounds like she has a good old stick up her arse!

 

[Tomme]

I really don't think they know that a beauty therapist knows more about the skeleton and it's functions (I have no idea too as im not a beauty therapist, but I know this) than most nurse's, just point that out, who's more educated now?!? Xoxo

 

[HairByAlly]

I really don't think they know that a beauty therapist knows more about the skeleton and it's functions (I have no idea too as im not a beauty therapist, but I know this) than most nurse's, just point that out, who's more educated now?!? Xoxo

They're obviously just jealous of us all!! Haha x

 

[persianista]

I had a schoolteacher once say to me "You are nothing without a degree" (while I was cutting her hair)

I bent down and whispered in her ear

"I earn a lot more than you do, and I don't have a degree"

 

[jemjem33]

I love these posts...this is exactly what happened to me... Finished school and wanted to do hair & beauty, Dad told me no! " I've not spent all this money on your education for you to go and do that" Went and did a BTEC in Health & Social studies and NVQ in care. Started uni to do childrens nursing and didnt finish it. Moved away and when I moved back and worked in retail did NVQ Level 2 in Beauty at night. Now working Full time in an office but hopefully will start using my qualifications in Beauty of an evening to get some clients built up and actually do what I enjoy doing!x

 

[Brad1984]

Hi all, this is officially my first post (just thought I'd let you know - woohoo).
It's unfortunate that hairdressers/beauticians are constantly stereotyped as being 'stupid'. I myself have worked hard trying to eliminate this stereotype by working in an office for the past few years. After 8 years as a stylist I decided to further my career and become more business savvy (eventually returning to the hair industry and starting my own business). I had never worked in an office environment before, neither was I a university graduate but I was determined to give it my best shot. Two years on I'm now the business' Financial Analyst and a partly qualified accountant. I still get a bit of banter from my colleagues for being a hairdresser but it's all in jest. I plan on a imminent return to the hair industry but currently enjoying a few more extra months proving that hairdressers aren't as brainless as people think.