Behind the Chair: What the Beauty Industry Doesn't Say Out Loud
I remember starting cosmetology school, getting my Milady instructional book, and being so excited to soak up all this information. In the beginning, you are very eager to learn everything the proper way and use all the right terminology because after all, that is why you came to cosmetology school. So I'm in my administrator's office collecting all my belongings for my cosmetology journey. When she hands over the instructor's book and study guide, I want to find the classroom and seat so I can start looking over this book and all the sections we will learn and discuss.
Once I sat down, I looked through my book, the table of contents, and since I wanted to focus on natural hair care and extensions, I went to the section it was listed in and quickly turned to the pages of the book to the content. Excited, I turned each page, hoping for greater complexity and richer detail on each hair type and texture, and I quickly realized that the section was smaller than I expected. Then I went into my next favorite section, which was the business section, and it was even smaller. It was in that moment that I realized there had to be more to this than what they're sharing in the text. From that moment forward, we had to figure out how to be businesswomen/men on our own with very little insight. Personally, I started seeking out additional resources and mentors. I watched online tutorials specific to natural hairstyling, took specialized workshops, and spent hours practicing different techniques on friends and family. On the business side, I read articles, watched YouTube vlogs, read books, and even reached out to salon owners in my area to learn about salon management, marketing, and finances. Filling in these gaps wasn’t always easy, but it made me more resourceful and confident, and I want others to know that you can find the knowledge you need beyond the classroom, too.
I thought the beauty industry was a place where you could find a community of like-minded professionals who share the same values and offer adequate support and information to make sure each other is providing the best care to customers. While in school, I quickly realized that the educators are not going to teach you about the business side of things as much as you think they would. If you want to really learn and understand natural hair care and styling, they are not going to teach it because they are focused on teaching you the bare basics of treating and styling for every other ethnicity except African American hair/beauty. I get a little annoyed even just writing this, because from my perspective, if I hadn't had my salon training before hair school, I would have come out of it poorly equipped for the real beauty world.
Everything Beauty School Taught Me
It taught me the science and the historical context of cosmetology (hair, skin, nails).
It taught me the appropriate terminology and products/techniques for each basic service.
It taught me how to identify scalp and body ailments, diseases, and disorders. As well as who can treat them properly.
It taught me about proper client/ environmental safety, salon/station sanitation, and disinfection procedures to ensure everyone's safety and well-being.
Proper technique for cutting, coloring, and altering the texture of someone’s hair.
How to properly work in a salon setting.
How to consult, analyze, and service a client’s hair based on their desired outcome.
Now this is everything Beauty school did not teach me
How to work with African American coarse hair.
How to do facials, makeup, or nail artistry basics.
How to braid, cornrows, or install extensions.
How to find your niche.
How to work the BTS of your business (marketing, sales, systems, and structure)
How to scale your beauty business.
How to transition from a commission-based salon to a booth renter to a suite owner to a salon owner.
How to do CRM (Customer Retention Management) and Accounting.
Product Vending & Manufacturing. White labeling for professionals.
As we compare and contrast this list, I realized (I hope you do too) that everything I really wanted to drive home to equip my beauty business for the world and ignite my creativity was not covered or taught during my 18-month cosmetology school program. And honestly speaking, that’s some bullshit. If you’ve been to cosmetology school and have more to add to the list, then feel free to put it in the comments section. Let’s compare together.
If you’re reading this and feeling like you aren’t getting all the knowledge you need, I encourage you to be proactive. Seek out additional workshops, take online courses, or connect with local mentors. Building your own network and investing in your skills can make all the difference in how prepared you are for the industry. Don’t wait for someone else to give you all the tools—go out and find them for yourself.
I had the privilege of watching my cousin run and operate a full-service natural hair care and wellness salon and learning the business side of beauty. I started as a concierge, then a shampoo assistant, then a junior stylist, and eventually a part-time natural haircare specialist at her salon. I learned how to greet and welcome customers, cold-call, schedule/manage other stylists’ appointments, conduct consultations, operate the cash register, thoroughly clean, and perform closing procedures every night.
Watching the salon go through its struggles helped me see that running a successful salon isn’t easy by a long shot. Still, it will have you calling on family for help, looking far and wide for an accountant, losing relationships, and being used by people you’ve tried to train and teach to grow. They don’t really talk about the days of cold calling customers that haven’t been back to the salon in weeks, or walking up to strangers in full shopping mode to promote your business. I’ve also had to watch my peers come out of cosmetology school and not know how to use their talents effectively to grow their clientele. Some of them eventually sparked, and some flames fizzled out.
If I could have learned one business truth in the first few weeks of school, it would have been about balancing finances and marketing in the digital age. Leaving school, I had no real understanding of how serious daily accounting is, or the importance of having a dedicated marketing budget. You can physically market your services every day, but you have to learn how to use marketing strategically for it to work. Had I known these systems well, I believe many beauty pros like me would have had better footing when leaving beauty school — and a real plan for transitioning from commission-based work to building something sustainable.
The beauty school system benefits from its students only knowing how to work in a commission-based salon — where you don’t really discover how talented you could be. You perform the basic services the average consumer wants, consistently. You are not trained to be an owner or operator; you are trained to be a loyal employee. That kind of system only serves corporate salons that need to keep their machines running, leaving the average stylist with no room for growth beyond selling add-on services and retail products. The service prices at corporate salons are so low that if you maintained that pace for two years, you would earn less than a livable wage. This is why so many stylists eventually choose to go out on their own — to reduce business costs and build income that’s actually sustainable.
If I could add anything to that Milady Cosmetology book today, the first thing I would add is an in-depth, chronological history of natural hair — braiding, cornrows, and locs — each sharing its own evolution into modern-day styling. I would incorporate interactive learning around customer service, consulting, and CRM training. I would add accounting templates and business structure guides to help students learn how to apply real systems from day one. I would expand the business section so that students have a true internal guide to keeping their business and their dreams alive — growing with them as they grow in the industry. The goal is to make sure every student leaves well-equipped to use their gift to serve, express, and sustain their communities from every walk of life. Because that is what builds true confidence.