The Search Begins

I started looking for beauty schools in my area.  I checked out Regency Beauty Institute, where I got my hair cut the week I was off work after my dad died.  I had been very impressed with the campus and it was a brand new school.  I contacted the girl who cut my hair after I found a post by her on Regency's Facebook page.  She was super cool and excited to hear from me and had glowing accolades for the school.  I made an appointment for the campus tour and was further impressed.  I wanted to make sure I checked out all the schools in the area so I made appointments for tours at Paul Mitchell, The Salon Professional Academy and another local school which shall remain nameless.

Imagine, A Paul Mitchell Partner School was beautiful, upscale, posh and loud!  The music blared on the cutting floor and I think my 38 year old ears wouldn't be able to take it.  I was impressed with the marketing rep's enthusiasm and knowledge.  She really knew the same geeky stuff I knew like that there is a projected increase in demand of 24% in the next 5 years for cosmetologists.  (I checked the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupation Outlook section on their website to make sure I wasn't looking into a dead end career ;-) ) I also felt what I would learn here would be on the cutting edge in both color and design.  The Paul Mitchell name carries quiet a cache and would look good to potential employers and clients.

I  loved The Salon Professional Academy and felt it would have been a great match for me.  They are a Redken Partner School, had REAL spa chairs for pedicures, an in depth aesthetician program and used Redken's proprietary performance evaluation system. I was particularly impressed with the evaluation system and their explanation that it was the same one that Redken uses for their salons to gauge a stylist's performance.  It gave you reasonable, attainable goals and showed you rewards for progressing.  The atmosphere was upbeat without being overpowering.  I felt their curriculum was top notch and it had the power of the Redken name behind it.  They also took a different philosophy towards the kit purchase than some of the other schools in that they didn't include clips, combs, etc in them as they provided those to each station on their own.  This practice they said cut down on some of the drama of  "so and so took my such and such".  Of the "Big 3" schools, this was my favorite AND it was the least expensive at about $14,000. The only drawback was that they were not accredited at the time and therefor were not eligible to receive federal financial aid.  The only way I can afford to go is to get as much federal aid as possible.

The "School that shall remain nameless" has been around town for about 30 years and looks like it.  The owner seems to run it like her private fiefdom and I got a bad vibe when I checked it out.  She was the most expensive of all the local schools and her facility looked shopworn and tired.  Maybe I had been dazzled by the pretty shiny shops down the road, but even the housekeeping seemed lackadaisical the day I was there. I now go to school with a girl who went to this school for a while and from hearing her war stories feel validated in my gut reaction to run away fast!

Here is the breakdown of local school prices in my area as of Summer 2010.

Nameless - $20,000 out of date facility, looks for ways to accrue additional fees.  If you miss a day you pay to make it up, no ifs, ands or buts.
Regency - $18,000 and probably worth it.
Paul Mitchell - $17,000 and probably worth it for name recognition alone.
Salon Professional Academy - $14,000 and will probably regret not going.

There is a new school opening this month and looks like it will be a good one.  It is only $6,500 for the program and they are offering a $2,000 discount for the first 38 people who sign up. Since they are new, I doubt they have their ducks in a row for accreditation and probably don't have access to federal financial aid. It looks like they are going to have a kick butt aesthetician program and are offering laser skin treatments.  Skin isn't the area I want to go into, but I am fascinated by it and want to learn as much as I can.

In future posts I will write about where I ended up going, how I got there, who helped/is helping make it possible, more about my "team" because I didn't get and can't stay this fabulous on my own.  Come back soon.

Confidentially yours!