New career as a Barber

[barba]

Hello

I am interested in learning to become a barber and found this site. There is lots of interesting information on here.

My plan at the moment is to save up money, go on the 10 week full time barber NVQ 2 at Saks Academy and then go to hopefully find a job. I have no experience in cutting hair and am only interested in cutting mens hair.

Is it possible to find work with the course being your only experience? Do most places work by renting you a chair? Is the Saks academy any good (it is very expensive)? Are there any realistic alternative routes in London for somebody over 25?

I think I may be too old for an apprenticeship but will be happy to volunteer if needed to gain experience.

Cheers for reading

 

[Rees]

Hello

I am interested in learning to become a barber and found this site. There is lots of interesting information on here.

My plan at the moment is to save up money, go on the 10 week full time barber NVQ 2 at Saks Academy and then go to hopefully find a job. I have no experience in cutting hair and am only interested in cutting mens hair.

Is it possible to find work with the course being your only experience? Do most places work by renting you a chair? Is the Saks academy any good (it is very expensive)? Are there any realistic alternative routes in London for somebody over 25?

I think I may be too old for an apprenticeship but will be happy to volunteer if needed to gain experience.

Cheers for reading

Hello

I've just applied to do my NVQ 1 and 2 Barbering at my local college, tbh you wont need any previous experience in doing Barbering when you enter level 1, when you complete level 2 my college gives me an option to go and work as a junior barber with one day at college.

I pay for all my courses and this one was not that expensive for an NVQ for the full year, just under £300 including the kit.

I know some college's are bringing in alot of these bite size cutting courses, i'm currently doing ladies and men's cutting that will teach me the basics of cutting a short graduation, uniform layer and scissor over comb and clipper techniques.

This will give me some experience before doing the NVQ levels, maybe see what cutting courses are available at your college.

 

[Tomme]

I was quite lucky with this, I have I ly done ladies hair, but to do the scissor over comb is quite hard to practice as not many ladies come in, in the end we asked the mechanics to come in now and again to help us practice, we then used the graders on them to give them their " usual " it really helped while I was training as I'd do te same on uncle's and cousins.go for it, no one is ever too old to learn! Xoxo

 

[barba]

Thanks for the replies.

Is it possible to get work after doing a 10 week NVQ with no relevant work experience?

 

[soosh]

Hi Barba,

I've started a part-time evening barbering course with Saks, for 6 months. To be honest, half of them will be only about theory, going through health and safety, consultation etc. But once u start on clients, you need as many as u can so u can practice your skills.
If u want to book with them, phone them and ask about how many clients a day u will be doing ( as a person, not as a group!). Because there's no point of paying all those money and learning on a dolly's head! And u will do learn on dolly's head, which is soo frustrating.
Besides that....barbering is sooo difficult. It took me a couple of cuts to learn only how to thin hair, and i still can't do scissor over comb perfectly. And i've done over 20 male cuts so far. I have reduced my time from 3h to now 45 min, but i still need to be faster and more careful. So my opinion, don't expect to finish in 10 weeks and be ready to go out and cut. What u will have is a good foundation, but...it's all up to practice. Good luck!xx

 

[Rees]

Hi Barba,

I've started a part-time evening barbering course with Saks, for 6 months. To be honest, half of them will be only about theory, going through health and safety, consultation etc. But once u start on clients, you need as many as u can so u can practice your skills.

So my opinion, don't expect to finish in 10 weeks and be ready to go out and cut. What u will have is a good foundation, but...it's all up to practice. Good luck!xx

I agree i think 10 weeks is awfully short to even learn what is needed in Barbering, thats why i think doing a full time or even part time NVQ course at college is much better and more cheaper in the long run.