r/Cosmetology

Hi I currently go to Paul Mitchell cosmo school and I’m looking for some advice. I started at the end of February and it was ok at first but I really hate it now. It’s just not for me I have no motivation and I dread it so much. I only go 3 days a week and have missed a lot so I’m nowhere near done. My parents pay for it. I want to switch to a technical school and do nails. They offer a 3 month program that in total is the same cost as 1 month of the school I go to right now. I can’t keep going here and I know there’s no way I will graduate. I really want to do nails. How do I tell my parents? I’m so scared they’ll be mad bc they have been paying. Thanks so much

Ive been going through a really hard time at home. Ive been trying to find a job so I can move out, and my home life is... not the best well just say.

Ive been really good at not having breakdowns at school, and emotionally controling myself. But as of late, its like any little thing will trigger me.

Today, I started crying because I had a 9 AM color application on my books for tomorrow, and a 1 PM appointment. The 1 PM appointment is for my friends mom, who is going to come in to get me markoffs.

The issue with color application appointments, you basically come in blind to what youre going to deal with. Its either a easy all over color, or a huge color correction that will take all day. And when I asked the receptionist if I could take over other people's appointments(if the books were too full) and have someone else do it. She basically told me no, and that everyone else was a special request.

Which sent me spiraling. I didnt like scream or yell, but I went in my car and had a panic attack. And eventually I just keep building myself up and up to the point where its not even about the appointment. I was basically openly crying(trying not to) infront of everyone and shaking a little bit. I dont think I was actively mean to anyone, but I wasnt nice. I was more agressive and uncoordinated with my movements if that makes sense. Which I know makes others nervous/uncomfortable.

Its incidents like that. So far ive only had 2 or 3 of these incidents. But it used to be like, never happen, to happening once weeks. Since just 2 weeks ago I had to be sent home for a similar reason. I didnt have to be sent home as it was literally the last 15 minutes of school, but still.

I dont know what to do or how to calm myself down. I try to do deep breaths, counting, and rationalizing the situation. Then Ill calm down for a few seconds, but then Im immediately back to panicking. And theres no isolated space to hide in except my car, and I cant run to my car and spend 30 minutes calming myself down every time I feel like this.

for context, i just got on the floor 3ish months ago? i learn at a much much slower pace than normal, i’ve always been like that throughout my school years it’s honestly just how i learn. i had a cilent last thursday come in asking to have her roots touched up with some bleach since they ends and mid shaft were already blonde easy enough awesome! my teacher comes by and says i need to put more bleach on her ok cool not a problem. she comes by two more times for the same thing but the third time she does it for me and she’s just annoyed and frustrated with me. i thought we had to be careful with the amount of bleach we put on a clients head so i didn’t really saturate it because i thought it would lighten either way. so im just standing there, tears streaming down my face holding bleach while she does my service for me. i collected my self and finished my cilent up, then i noticed her talking to our director and overheard her saying she was annoyed with me constantly asking for help and found it irritating. i know it doesn’t seem like much but it really crushed me. im scared to ask for help now and have lost any motivation i had left in me to do this. i started out loving beauty and wanting to learn about hair, nails etc but the 6 months i’ve been here have been mentally draining and is killing me to the point i think about dropping everyday and just going to nail school.

I’ve been in hair school for 6 months now and I genuinely feel like I can’t do it anymore. I’m so overwhelmed and drained, and I honestly don’t know if I hate the career itself or if I just hate the school and everything that comes with it. I’ve been thinking about quitting for months, but I’m terrified I’ll regret it and wish I had stayed. I want to go back to college, but I missed the fall deadline, so I’d have to wait until winter. The thought of forcing myself to continue for months makes me feel miserable, but the thought of quitting and having nothing to do until winter also scares me. Everyone keeps telling me to stay because I can always come back and finish later, but right now I just want nothing to do with hair. I feel completely stuck and scared about making the wrong decision. Has anyone been in this situation? What did you do?

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?

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?

Would you ask for a full refund after finding out your bridal hairstylist wasn’t licensed?

I got married last week and I’m looking for some outside perspective because I’m honestly not sure if I’m being reasonable or if I’m just emotional because this happened on my wedding day.

I booked my bridal hair through a professional bridal hair/makeup company. My total booking came to about $1,170. That included $300 for my bridal hair, $200 for my mom’s hair, plus travel, an early-morning fee, gratuity, booking/processing fees, etc.

The stylist who came to our Airbnb was incredibly sweet, professional, on time, and genuinely a joy to be around. I want to make that clear because I don’t have anything against her personally.

Unfortunately, my hair did not turn out well.

My hair was finished early that morning, and before I even got into my dress around 9:30, the curls were already falling out. It was getting extremely frizzy and tangled, there were visibly straight pieces mixed in with curls, and it continued getting worse as the morning went on.

I was so insecure about it that I ended up keeping my veil on for basically my entire wedding day.

Later that night, things got worse. When I removed my clip-in extensions, my natural hair was so tangled into them that a significant amount of my own hair came out with them. I’ve worn extensions and had my hair professionally styled before and have never experienced anything like that.

I contacted the owner afterward and explained what happened.

To her credit, she was extremely kind and apologetic. She offered to refund the $300 bridal hair service in full and did so. She has been very professional in all of our communication, which is part of why I’m struggling with what to do next.

Then I discovered something that completely changed how I felt about the situation.

I happened to find my stylist’s professional Instagram. Her bio said:

“Bridal hair bookings will open after licensing.”

I had absolutely no idea she wasn’t licensed yet.

Nothing during booking or before my appointment indicated that the person being sent to do my bridal hair wasn’t licensed. She also came to the appointment completely alone — there was no licensed stylist, instructor, or supervisor there with her.

I emailed the owner again because I honestly thought maybe I was misunderstanding something.

The owner responded and confirmed that the stylist had not completed her cosmetology licensing.

She explained that she had not realized this herself and believed the stylist had already completed cosmetology school. She called it an oversight on their part, took responsibility for not catching it, said their bridal hair artists are supposed to be licensed, and told me they will not have this stylist perform any more bridal hair services until her licensing is complete.

I genuinely appreciate the owner’s honesty. She could have been defensive or tried to avoid answering me, and she didn’t.

But at the same time, I’m having a really hard time getting past this.

I specifically hired a professional bridal company because I wanted to be able to trust that the person they sent was appropriately qualified to do my hair on one of the most important days of my life.

I wasn’t told she wasn’t licensed. I wasn’t offered a discounted student service. I paid the company’s normal $300 bridal hair rate, and I would have requested a different stylist if I had known beforehand.

Had my hair turned out beautifully, maybe I would feel differently. But knowing that it was already falling apart before I put my dress on, that I spent my wedding day hiding it under my veil, that I lost a concerning amount of my own hair removing the extensions, and then finding out afterward that the stylist wasn’t licensed has made the entire situation feel very different.

The company has refunded the $300 specifically charged for my bridal hair.

I’m now considering asking them to refund the remainder of the booking, meaning the rest of the approximately $1,170 I paid, including the associated travel/early-morning/booking fees.

I’m also considering reporting what happened to the Idaho cosmetology licensing board. I’m not looking to destroy anyone’s business or get this stylist in trouble. I just feel uncomfortable knowing that an unlicensed stylist was apparently sent alone to perform a full-price professional bridal service, and I feel like the licensing board is probably the appropriate place to determine whether that was allowed.

So I’m genuinely looking for outside opinions:

Would you ask the company for a full refund in this situation?
Would you report the licensing situation to the state board?
Am I being reasonable in feeling like the $300 hair refund alone doesn’t really address what happened?

I’d especially love to hear from licensed hairstylists/cosmetologists, salon or bridal beauty business owners, and other brides.

I really am trying to be fair here because the owner has been kind and has taken responsibility. At the same time, I can’t shake the feeling that I paid a professional company specifically so something like this wouldn’t happen.

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

Cosmetology loses a lot of people at the 3-5 year time frame … being real, what should someone know before they go to cosmetology school?

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

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.

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.

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

hello everyone ive been in cosmetology school for about 10 weeks now and ive left school early a couple of days friday (8/7/26) being one of the days and today (8/11/26) being one of the days, friday i didn't really have a reason so if it was about friday i would completely understand that but there wasn't an issue until today when i left because of feminine problems and on my way home my school had called and messaged it didn't ring/ notify because i had my phone in school mode, they then sent me an email stating that i was suspended for the rest of the week "for a pattern of leaving class early" they also stated that they would be determining if my enrollment will continue , i did try to call the school back but nobody answered so i left a voicemail explaining my situation for today and i also sent the school an email stating pretty much the same thing that the voicemail did, where im confused is how is it a pattern of leaving class early if i have only ever left class early 2 days out of the 10 weeks, i really do love going to cosmetology school and i don't want to be kicked out, so what im wondering is can they really end my enrollment if my attendance is still above 95%, i have passed ALL of my written and practical exams the first time i took them, and i've never had any other issues until now. i just feel like im being targeted right now because one of my classmates is related to one of the staff members and it really seems like theres some favoritism because there have been so many issues with this classmate that have been brought to staff's attention and nothing has been done (some of the theses issues could get this classmate into legal trouble if taken that route) but yet i leave early 2 days and i get suspended it doesnt make sense. going through cosmetology school has been my dream for as long as can remember and i will be wrecked if my enrollment is terminated

Im a baby stylist, and I just had a “shadow day” (what the salon owner called it, she said to come in for a shadow day, no other explanation?) tryout for a job in a salon. they had me come in at 11am and I don’t know what exactly I was expecting but it wasn’t a full 7 hour day of unpaid labor. I did three hair washes, sweeping, taking care of stuff around the salon, and partial blow dry. She let me off at 5pm.
I got a 30 minute break, but it just feels like this maybe isn’t legal??
There is no document signed, no other information shared, she just said she would be in touch.
What can I do in this situation??

I’ve had a bad experience before this in a salon where they fully hired me and said I was doing great, then had me come in for my shift in the morning, pulled me aside after putting my stuff down for the day, and then fired me because they couldn’t train me.

Why is being a baby stylist so hard!!!!!! How do I get out of this, is there any legal action I can pursue???

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