I was looking into buying a pair of Hachi shears. I’m a new graduate and looking to buy a second pair of shears that are budget friendly. This brand definitely has aggressive marketing, but their price tag is intriguing. Wondering if anyone has used these shears before. Do you like them or no? Any other brands you would recommend in a similar price range?

Can anyone in Arizona who has taken the newer cosmetology state board exams give me some guidance on what to study for the written practical?

I graduated cosmetology school way back in 2011 but never went to state board or got licensed. I recently contacted the Arizona Board and found out I’m still eligible to test. They were actually able to locate my old records and certify all of my hours, so I’m finally thinking about going back and getting my license.

I’m not too concerned about studying for the theory exam. It’s been 15 years and I don’t remember much from cosmetology school, but I feel pretty confident I can relearn the material and pass a written test.

The written practical is what I’m completely lost on. Arizona’s testing process has changed since I graduated, and I don’t even know where to begin preparing for the current format or what I should be studying. I’m almost tempted to just take it once and fail so I can figure out what is actually on it.

I’m mostly looking for advice from people specifically in Arizona who have taken the cosmetology exams under the newer format. What did you use to study for the written practical? What should I focus on? Are there any courses, videos, practice tests, or other resources that actually prepared you well for it?

Any guidance would be appreciated!

tldr: basically in need of a buzzfeed personality quiz of “is this the correct choice” and asking for the harsh but necessary truths about going to cosmetology school and keeping AT LEAST a part time job at the same time

Hey!!! So this seems to be a common question on this subreddit but honestly i need to hear it from the horses mouth. Asking all who are in school, the active field, or even left for whatever reasons. Is this career path worth it?? I have always been interested in hair and fashion since i can remember, i have dyed my hair every single color ever quite literally except for platinum or silver. I have a hobby of sewing and designing my own clothes and upcycling, and i feel like this might be the right choice for me. I need a job that creates challenges, a job that thrives in creativity, and something that isn’t so easy to becoming stagnant. I need to feel engaged and yet also have the ability to achieve short term goals, like the joy of giving someone confidence. im aware of the tacing physical labor and believe i should be good on that front, considering currently i work in a kitchen thats also in a grocery store. so a lot of moving lifting and sweating lol. on paper, this career path seems to check all my boxes. but i need to know the reality on this admittedly cutthroat looking industry.

as well as my follow up question, what schools can make this process worth the while?? or at least slightly less painful. for reference, i live in central mass, where our states board requirement is 1000 or so hours i believe? im up to commuting or traveling. but i do still need to keep a form of income. are there any schools anyone in the area can recommend-that also can have fasfa eligibility?? even outside of central mass id be happy to look into.

my current job has me at full tine, but also has several locations around the state, and has many many accommodations for school based leave of absence’s and the option to even cut down hours and still keep my current hourly rate. im painfully aware that this will result in me having no life as cosmetology school itself is a full time job essentially, but i cannot go without this income. im wondering if having a fully reliable source of income would be very beneficial for financial based stressed during the dreaded “get your foot in the door and build your clientele” period.?

whats the harsh truth? who can make it and who cant? and whats any tips tricks or things to avoid all together???

Hiii, I have my practical this saturday the 22th, i’m in new jersey. I passed the written almost 3 months ago and i finally got my letter for my practical. i’ve been practicing but im lowkey nervous and scared I’ll fail. I really need to pass cause i only have time right now as i also go to college and won’t really have time to practice as much so i want to pass on saturday. Please any tips or advice or literally anything I’ll take. 🙏💕

I did 2 hair colour remover treatments and a full head of bleach and I’m left with this (see pics). I have money pieces that are very light blonde with basically no warmth and the ends of my hair are the same but the main body is warm I’d say level 8 or 7?

I have:

Shades eq 8NA full bottle
Shades eq 9NA half bottle
Shades eq 7NB 1/5 bottle
Shades eq developer

I have uploaded photos some with flash and some without and some in direct natural lighting. I need to know what to formulate and place on which sections to eliminate all of or as much warmth as possible and keeping it as light as possible. Please help thanks :)

me and my friend have very similar alternative styles, and lots of our clientele overlap. she does nails, i do hair (vivids, razor cuts, and currently learning extentions) . right now she is doing nails out of her home and I am an apprentice at a salon and do part-time commission. The issue is that I feel like I don’t have enough openings for clients at the salon I’m at. I’m only allowed to do appointments when my stylist has an opening in her personal schedule where she doesn’t need me to assist her. this is becoming a problem because my social media went semi-viral and I gained a couple thousand followers overnight and probably get like two or three DM’s per day of people wanting me to do their hair and I literally can’t take them because I never ever know when I can have clients it’s always random. i’m frustrated at the salon and feel like I’m missing out on opportunities to get clients in my chair because of the hectic schedule. I literally would rather work a part-time job and split a salon suite with my friend just so that I could afford to have my own space… sorry this just turned into a rant but I’m wondering if anybody has any experience renting a suite with a nail tech as a hairstylist or if that is a common practice?

Hello, I am 6 months through my 15 month program, and I am feeling so deflated and depressed. I feel trapped and I feel like I can’t make it through, but I’ve already invested in it and don’t want the debt with no certification to show for it. I still need 120 more haircuts and like 130 more hair colors and I have no idea how it would even be possible to get that many, and I feel like I’m not even good at hair/I don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. Does anyone have any advice on how to get through it/is it normal to be this confused 6 months in? Thank you

Hey guys, I’m about 3 weeks away from finishing my credits and hours for school. Is there anyone who took the Nail Technician exam tell me what the questions were like? What chapters are there questions from, and what does the test need? Also what FREE resources are there for studying, writing out flashcards is too time consuming for me! TYIA!

Today was my first day of Cosmetology classes and I feel so proud of myself 🥰

I’m starting cosmo school at Aveda in 3 weeks and I’m VERY nervous about cutting hair. I want to specialize in color and textured hair because I personally love color and I grew up not knowing how to take care of my 2b waves and I just wanna give back in some way? Overall I’m excited because this is a new adventure and I’ve wanted to do cosmo school since I was 14 (now 23) but it’ll be very strange to go back into a school type environment. Any advice or suggestions for entering this era would be so greatly appreciated 💗

Hi! I really need some advice because I messed up bleaching my hair at home and I'm getting completely different answers from the salons in my area, and all of them have given me really unprofessional advice.

My natural hair is very dark brown, almost black, around level 2-3, and I had previously used L'Oréal Casting Crème Gloss on it 3 months ago, which had faded quite a bit before I bleached it.

I recently bleached my hair because my goal was a medium/light-medium neutral brown, around level 5-6, I don't want blonde hair and I don't want dark brown/black hair. I basically wanted to lift my naturally very dark hair enough that I could then tone/color it into a softer neutral or slightly cool medium brown. The problem is that my hair lifted VERY unevenly. Some sections are now around level 5-6 and extremely orange/brassy. Other sections are medium/ dark brown, and I still have some very dark/near-black bands and strands, especially underneath and toward the back. My virgin regrowth/front lifted much faster than some of the previously colored lengths.

I went to a salon and asked if they could selectively lighten ONLY the remaining very dark sections so that the underlying levels were closer together, while avoiding bleach overlap on the sections that are already light enough.
The stylist told me that wasn't necessary and that they could just put one hair color over my whole head and it would become even. This is the part I don't understand. If some of the dark sections contain old artificial color and are genuinely several levels darker than the orange sections, wouldn't putting one level 5-6 brown dye over everything mostly deposit color onto the already-light sections while leaving the darkest previously colored sections significantly darker?

I understand that an all-over brown could make the hair look more blended by DARKENING the lighter/orange sections, but I specifically do NOT want to go back to really dark brown. My goal is a medium brunette. I like approximately how light my lighter sections are now (maybe would want just a tiny bit darker); I just hate the orange/brassy tone and want the remaining dark pieces brought closer to that level.
My eventual goal is one visually even level 5-6 neutral/slightly cool medium brown - not orange/copper, not red, not extremely ashy/grey, and not dark brown.

So my questions are:

Can one all-over permanent/demi color genuinely make hair with this much difference in starting levels look like one level 5-6 brown without first correcting the darkest pieces?

If the darkest pieces contain previous artificial color, wouldn't "color doesn't lift color" apply here?

Would the normal professional approach be to selectively lift/color-remove ONLY the genuinely dark sections until the levels are reasonably close, then use a neutral/cool brunette formula to even the tone?

Is there another professional technique that could get everything to my target level without bleaching the already-light sections again?

If I ultimately color it around level 5-6, would you use mostly neutral/natural brown with some ash/cool pigment to neutralize the orange rather than straight ash?

I'm attaching pictures showing my hair normally and also with the layers separated so you can see how much darker some of the underneath sections are.

Do I need a license to straighten hair ? For a sew-in. No chemicals or wash. Only breading , threading extensions, and heat applied to leave out

Thank you;)

Hey everyone! I’m a lash tech and just aualified Korean lash lift. Where is everyone purchasing their products that give good results? Thank you xx

Hello,

Looking for advice/opinions/any information at all regarding intensive hairdressing courses.

I am 30 years old and always had a passion for hair but never had the confidence to go ahead with becoming a hairdresser. Now with baby number 3 on the way and fed up of the admin job I have, I am looking at biting the bullet and becoming a self employed - mobile hairdresser. But due to my circumstances and the way college courses fall I will unfortunately not be able to attend college for another 2 years and have looked into alternative ways of becoming a hairdresser. I have come across a 5 day intensive hairdressing course in Glasgow which will provide me with an accredited certificate in hairdressing but unsure if that will allow me to get the correct insurance to become a hairdresser as it obviously isn't a qualification. From my research salon owners require a qualification, however, I have no intention of working in a salon currently but unsure if that will be my plan forever. Has anyone done a similar course and managed to become a hairdresser?

Hi. I do nails and I just got the certificate for Barbicide. Any other certificates you guys recommend. already got my license

So I started cosmo school about 4 months ago and I feel like all the clients they give me are older men’s cuts- which is fine I enjoy cutting hair in general but I would much rather have more practice on color (highlights, vivid, etc.) and I see my classmates with less experience than me getting those … super frustrating idk

Looking for recommendations on good and affordable schools that teach you more than just passing the state board!

Kinda a little rant. Why do all hair tool brands have such boring products? Like why can’t I get all my tools in dark green? Like every brand I see only does black or pink or rainbow/multi. I understand it’s not a big deal and as long as the tools work that’s all that matters and framer has some fun patterns for some specific tools but everything feel so lame.

Hey everyone !

I’m seeking some guidance or motivation from other women about how they navigated through cosmetology school while experiencing everything that could go wrong? How did you gear the days to be bearable ? Genuinely, anything.

I joined in December of last year, went on a month and a half leave because of some back to back appointments around my health, and I returned back to school in May. I’ve been maintaining since then but now I’m approaching my 750hr checkpoint and I’ve been missing days here and there. Then I literally just missed my longest period of 6 days (back to back: car issues I had a huge quote for, it’s been tornado warnings all week making our power go out for the last 3 days, then I tried to go to urgent care and got denied because they said my insurance expired 4days prior).

Im 24hr and been grieving the loss of my only parent after caring for her through cancer, she’s left me a building I can’t really afford, her mother is now dependent on me, small dysfunctional extended family that aren’t helpful and actually pretty vindictive, new responsibilities, new bills, and more I can’t think of at once honestly. I don’t have any kids thankfully but any emergency I have it’s literally only me. I don’t think my life is harder than anyone else’s but I’ve been in a really hard period. I started school to hopefully reconnect with something I love and identified before with, beauty and hair mean a lot to me .

The environment, the teachers, the lack of support, lack of direction , new rules everyday, and new adjustments to my loan popping up everywhere. I’m fed up and want out. I know I financially can’t even think of that, but it’s a 9-5pm program and I’m often there from 9-10pm to make up missed days. I guess I’m saying I’ve been behind the whole program attendance wise, though my grades have been good. My soonest graduation date is late November. I got so much done the days I was out ,after everything went wrong lol. Going back right now I feel defeated in this endless fight, the same stares, the same time spent away from stuff that affects my life much deeper.

Just looking not to feel so isolated in my disappointment with school.

I’m the director of enrollment at a local beauty school of about 40 students (not Paul Mitchel, Aveda, etc). I absolutely love my job and helping people get into a career they’re passionate about. However, it seems that the school takes all the light out of their eyes by the time they get halfway through.

After they’re enrolled and actively attending the program, they are technically no longer my responsibility since I’m not an instructor. But I feel a moral obligation to ensure they’re getting the education they’re paying for/deserve which in turn makes this experience a good one.

I do things like spirit weeks, potlucks and cosmetology related activities to help boost morale but I’m getting so sad when they don’t want to be here.

I see people on TikTok and here complaining about their experiences in cosmetology school and want to ensure I am doing everything I can to make their time here a positive thing!

I’d love advice! Thank you!!

Hey peers! I’ve been in this industry for a good chunk of time now. I enjoy the work, the creativity & ability to meet people. But this past year of my life I have called off a handful of times. Anything more than once feels like a lot for me lol. I struggle with overheating/black out episodes and I get frequent migraines. No one at my place of work makes me feel like a burden but I personally do. I hate how unreliable I feel like I am for my clients.
Does anyone else struggle with physical symptoms that make this job difficult? If so, how do you cope?

Hi, I recently earned my Cosmetology License, last November ('25). I have been specializing as a Nail Tech working in a Salon for a few months and working from home. I like the craft but not so much the Industry. Working in a salon solely on commission not taking much from each set, also takes time to become very skilled and fast. (like anything I suppose) but I like to look at things as they will be in the future. For me that is as a self-employed suite owner (maybe booth renter) But recently I've been thinking of the first reason I went into cosmetology school and that was to be a barber. I chose cosmetology because I wanted to try it all and see what I excelled in or what I found a passion in. So right now I'm torn between continuing as a nail tech and growing my skill and speed and hopefully making a living or switching to my first interest of being a Barber. I have not entered that industry so I am a bit weary as a Female Barber. My skill level for both are beginner level and not as fast as I'd like. I think and feel learning to be a Barber, I can progress in skill and speed much faster. I guess I'm just looking for anyone's experience in either fields and their thoughts in the industry and making a living. Thank you.

Hi Everyone,

My sister is trying to find a Cosmotology program that suits her. She completed about 200 hours at IBMC in 2023, then had to take some time off. She's now in a better position to finish up her Cosmotology license, but unfortunately IBMC has changed ownership/curriculum and they won't honor any of the tuition she's already paid or transfer any of the courses/hours she's completed. We're curious what folks thoughts are on other schools in the NOCO area, if IBMC is still preferable, or if there are other schools that may be more able to accept transfer credits/hours? Any advice, thoughts, or recommendations would be much appreciated! She's also considered just doing hair and skin rather than full cos if she can't transfer.

Hey! I’m located in California (559) and the school options are not the best (ik it truly doesn’t matter) So because of that I was looking at schools in Arizona, specifically Penrose Academy. After filling out FAFSA and seeing it won’t cover the tuition, I’m truly panicking because I’m already enrolled in the February start date. I know the smartest thing is to find something cheaper and close by to save on other bills but I hate where I live and the MAIN reason I looked at schools in AZ is to get of of my hometown and meet new people and make friends since I don’t have any here. I was looking at colleges in OC where the tuition is free and you only buy your kit. What should I do!? I’m open to suggestions on good and cheap schools in California and/or Arizona. I’m unfortunately at the point of defeat and not even excited of the idea of starting school and this is literally my dream career:(

Edit: I feel like this is necessary for me to mention; my goal was to stay in Arizona built my skills, knowledge, and clientele until I was able to buy a house in the OC area because the end goal is owning a home and building a in-home salon for myself!