Marlene Lamont, owner of hair salon Urban Hair & Beauty, reflects on the path of apprentice to stylist and the fundamental skills learnt along the way.
An apprentice’s journey from beginning to stylist is one that shows determination, growth, technicality and professionalism.
The level of progress experienced within an apprenticeship is unmatched; you are blessed with the opportunity to put your skills to the test right from the get-go, developing your technicality alongside client care, which is essential in this line of work, where building trust with your clients is at the heart of your service.
What is Mentoring a Hair Apprentice Like?
It’s very rewarding to nurture apprentices and help shape their careers by providing them with practical hands-on experience, professional training, and passing down any personal industry expertise.
I've learnt that you're not the only one teaching in this scenario: it's a two-way street. They give you a fresh perspective, teach you patience and test your skills in articulating complex instructions clearly and understandably.
What Can Hair Apprentices Expect in the Early Stages of Salon Life?
The early stages will usually involve apprentices supporting the day-to-day routine duties within the salon, keeping surfaces clean, practicing cutting on mannequin heads and shampooing clients' hair.
Now, as simple and fundamental as it sounds, these are essential for client care, giving you the perfect chance to start building confidence in your communication skills and getting to shape relationships between future clients before you’re behind the chair.
Following this, you will be allowed hands-on experience under close supervision on basic cuts, colour and styling, along with holding client consultations to gain a clear understanding of what the client is looking for.
This is the perfect crossway between putting your technical skills to work while understanding what the client is asking for because at the end of the day, you want the client to walk out of the salon happy.
Hair language must be clear and understandable for the client to build trust with you and will aid you in advancing your technical skills in styling and colouring through the later stages of your apprenticeship.
The Benefits of Taking on Hair Apprentices
In my own salon, I always take on apprentices because it’s my way of investing in the future of the industry. Encouraging their curiosity, questions and confidence really shapes the environment within the salon. Along with the direction the industry will go down in the long run.
One apprentice shared with me that they are proud of the journey they have undertaken from apprentice to graduate stylist and are thankful for the fellow academy apprentices who have become close friends along the way.
This supportive community, where my academy stylists are encouraging each other and celebrating the small wins is something I am so happy to be part of, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
About the author:
Marlene Lamont has owned Urban Hair & Beauty salon for over 20 years, has been in the hairdressing industry for over 40 years. A majority of her team started in apprentice roles.
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