Hairdresser: Style your career into shape

Do you enjoy meeting and interacting with a variety of different people every day and have an eye for making other people look good? If this is the case, then hairdressing jobs might be the perfect career path for you. A hairdresser can always find work as people always need to get their hair cut. If you are good enough, people will only want their hair cut by you so you can quite easily build a great client base and create a following.

The different kinds of hairdressing jobs

There are three different kinds of hairdresser jobs that one can look for. As hairdressing is a skill that only needs just a few tools to perform, you can practice this job at a variety of locations. Let us explain this to you in a bit more detail.

Hair Stylist employed by a Salon

This is the most common kind of hair stylist jobs and it involves you being employed by a salon on a permanent basis. You will get paid a basic salary and then you will make commission off of each client that you serve. You might get tips and depending on the salon, these tips might be pooled together and shared evenly amongst the employees.

Rent a chair at a salon

The next kind of hairdressing jobs are when you rent a chair from a salon that is owned by a private party and you work for yourself. You would pay the salon a monthly fee to have the ability to use their equipment and benefit from their advertising. This also includes the use of their water/electricity and cleaning materials. You normally have to supply your own styling equipment and styling products like the shampoo and conditioners that you make use of.

There are advantages and disadvantages to these types of beauty jobs. The disadvantages being that you have to pay a fee every month and the fact that you will have to cover this fee before you can start making your own money. The advantages are that you can build your own client base, are supplied with clients from the store’s walk in patrons and you get to dictate your own working hours.

Mobile hairdresser

As the name suggests, you do not work in a specific place or salon. As a mobile hairdresser you will be going to your clients to cut their hair. This is only possible if you have already been working in the profession for a while and you have your own client base. As you will be visiting clients, you have to have a driver’s license and a reliable vehicle.

You will most likely work in one of the first two positions until you have built up a big enough client base to be a mobile hairdresser, alternatively you can open you own salon but that will also require a client base and a lot of capital.

[youtube id=”JNL61a2KQBU” align=”center” maxwidth=”720″]

Hairdressing Courses and Training

Hairdressing is definitely an art form that needs to be learnt. You can’t just walk into a salon and grab a pair of scissors. All hairdressing jobs require you to have completed the proper training before you will even be considered. Let’s delve a bit deeper into the training.

The qualifications that are needed for hairdressing

First off you will need your National Certificate in Hairdressing. This is monitored and administered by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). All hairdressing courses must therefore be registered with SAQA and bear the logo on all course material and tests.

These courses will not only teach you how to cut hair but you will be educated about cleanliness, client interaction and sales tactics as most salons stock specialty beauty products that they sell on top of the normal service.

The mentioned course is a level 2 qualification which means that you can do another course that is a level 3 qualification and more in-depth. This course is also a SAQA registered program that teaches you about things like hair colour and various kinds of hairstyles. The first course lays the groundwork for the second.

Then there is a further level 4 course that is optional. This course teaches you how to run and operate a hair salon and would obviously only be applicable to someone who wishes to do this.

All of these hairdressing courses can be done at any beautician school around the country and some are even offered by the salons or brands themselves such as the L’Oréal Professional African Salon Institute.

Some famous hairstylists

Mark Townsend

This stylist is based in New York and cuts hair for people like Halle Berry and Cate Blanchett. You have to book well in advance and he charges about 300 dollars (about R 4127) for a haircut.

Harry Josh

Mr Josh works from the world famous Serge Normant’s shop in New York. He charges 200 dollars (about R2753) for a single process, like a single colour tint. Then 400 dollars (about R5576) for a haircut and 500 dollars (about R6880) for highlights. Now that’s an expensive hair do.

Oribe

This single named individual is definitely the most famous hairdresser in the world. He cuts the hair for Scarlett Johansson, Rihanna and Britney Spears on a regular basis. A haircut here will cost R400 dollars (about R5576).

[youtube id=”whmXjYNvXTY” align=”center” maxwidth=”720″]

As you can see, there is definitely big money in hairdressing if you can get the right clientele.

Already qualified and ready to find the ideal beauty jobs and hairdressing jobs? Register your CV on Job Mail today and start applying for the perfect hair stylist jobs that are close to you – if the job is on offer in South African then you will find it on www.JobMail.co.za.