Beauty Therapist NVQ VTCT L2, worth doing?

[ajshard]

I am trained in manicure, pedicure and nail enhancements but am looking to expand my treatment menu.

I have found my local college is offering the above course from Sept, 2 mornings per week, it includes , mani, pedi, waxing, facials and eyelash/eyebrow tinting and shaping.

Do you think this would be a beneficial way to learn these extra services? I have considered short one days courses but dont feel that they give me much confidence to treat on completion and I dont know many people to practise on, so would college be the answer for me?? The course is still over £1000 and its quite a committment for me on time but wonder if this could be a good route to take....

Thanks in advance
AJ x

 

[MissConfused]

i think you should go for the individual 1 day courses and leave the college course.

i'm not a professional in anything in the beauty world so this isn't said as a professional, just my opinion as somebody who has been researching the wonderful and confusing world of courses haha. personally i think that is an awful lof of money to just learn waxing, facials and eyelash/eyebrow tinting/shaping (as the other subjects on the course you are already doing and doing well) - you can take individual courses for literally half that price and you wont need to give up as much of your time and you could also do an nvq in them subjects if you choose to at a later date i'm sure.

i know you said you wouldn't feel confident but you have to remember that each course is different and the subjects are different - some subjects you might really take to, some you might not. don't forget different trainers do things differently - there are many things as to why you might not have felt so confident in the past. could you maybe offer something like a discount rate until you get more confident? or maybe (i'm not sure if this is a good idea or not as like i said i'm not a beauty professional) could you ask some of your regular nail clients if they would like a complimentary treatment from you for 1 of the above, you could always drop it into conversation that in the coming weeks you will be learning a new skill atleast then they will know you have just trained too?

i must be honest though things like lash/brow tinting and tweezer shaping (can't speak for waxing or the more relaxing facials though) isn't difficult at all - that's something i did on level1 of beauty - i think they would work well with what you do also, from what i remember there was a wait time for lash tint to develope and we was told that it would be a good idea to offer the client an hand/arm massage (we were shown super basic manicure massage) while they are waiting so if you have a client just for a lash and/or brow tint you might even end up with a new mani/pedi client when they feel how great you can do an hand/arm massage? so it does seem like a waste to not offer anything extra when you could possibly promote them whilst giving a treatment that's nothing to do with it.

don't forget at college you have different subjects to learn over a set period of time with a class full of people and i know at the college i was at we had to get our own clients in aswell as use the college salons clients (though to be honest and this is what i seen and what the tutors admitted too you were lucky if you got a client that wasn't your own as other beauty rooms were doing the same thing as you and would re book random clients in with themselves for their next visit etc etc and you mentioned people to practise on wasn't always possible, so at college would that be any better for you in that respect?) and by the time you have got into class,done the register,gone over what's expected of you for that lesson, set up etc etc there isn't alot of time to practise on each other in class either so no matter which way you do it you will still need to find people to practise on to give you that confidence, only the college route is longer and more expensive.

x

 

[Zo Zo]

You are faced with a difficult decision here!

I have done both short and long courses, some were good, some were bad. A lot of people slate 'college' but there are many poor short courses out there too and tbh you have less comeback with a private institution.

My instinct is to say go with college! The main reason is that you will have more time to practice your skills in a supervised environment. For example, if the academic year is 30 weeks and you do say 7 hours per week, that amounts to 210 hours of tuition. (Plus you will have homework, believe me!) Now that is 40/50 hours per segment. Private courses are normally 6-7 hours per day, you can expect to learn both mani and pedi in one day, facials over 2 days but possibly with brow and lash thrown in, etc etc

Don't get me wrong, I have done some excellent short courses, but you don't get the range of practice in one day. At college, you are expected to cover ranges, such as young, old, male, female, new, existing, dry skin, oily skin etc etc

Maybe you can start a thread asking if anyone has done the specific course at the same college you are looking at??

 

[Tristans Girl]

As you already do Mani and Pedi, maybe you could speak to the college and find out if you can just attend to do the facial, waxing and Eye treatment NVQ modules at a lower price. I know my local college did this.

Unless of course you specifically want to be able to say you have the NVQ level 2 Beauty Qualification or work for someone else, the short courses save a lot of time. I have done the NVQ and it does take time and effort. There is a lot of paperwork and also homework so be prepared for it, and I had to find the majority of my own models anyway.

I'm sure you already know but sometimes you can get government funding for the college courses depending on what other level qualifications you have.

In general both college courses and short courses can be hit and miss, I have done good and bad in both. It all depends on how good the tutor is really, and I did suffer on one college course where the majority of the class was made up of teenagers who didnt really want to be there. All I can think of is trying to speak with current students to get an idea and even with the college tutors to find out about the class sizes and type of students they get.