What do you do if your daughter wants to drop out of college and go to cosmetology school?

[Anonymous]

If she's always made so-so grades she shouldn't be in college. It's also a waste of money.

Cosmetology can be a great career. She can make decent money, go in to business for herself and have great work/life balance and flexibility.

So support her in going but she needs a plan.

She needs to apply to a legitimate cosmetology school and program and enroll.

If classes aren't full time she needs to be working part time.

If she can't get into the school for next semester she needs to be working full time until she is admitted to a program.

[Anonymous]

Another option would be to see if she would want to get a BFA in Wig and Makeup Design. My sister works as a costume designer on Broadway and she works with some very well employed folks who are trained in stage make up and hair. I understand that wig makers/stylers are paid especially well. If she's interested, look at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, which is a public university in the NC system.

https://www.uncsa.edu/design-production/wig-makeup-design-hub/index.aspx

[Anonymous]

What exactly does she want to do? Have her shadow someone for a few days. My hairdresser didn't realize how standing all day every day would be so tiring.

[Anonymous]

You do nothing. I'm afraid you are mistaken, cosmetology is a very lucrative industry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She has always gotten so-so grades and not been particularly motivated. We are a very education-oriented family. I know this will make me sound like a snob, but I fear her slipping down in terms of the lifestyle she will eventually have if she goes this route.

With your attitude you should teach her to be a trophy wife.

[Anonymous]

She can go to cosmetology school and take small business management classes on the side. Maybe she'll want to open her own business one day. It can be a very lucrative career and like a pp said, it can't be outsourced.

[Anonymous]

I am very close to my hair stylist who has a successful business in Bethesda. Her clients are willing to pay top dollar for highlights, etc.

Although she views hair as her passion, she does really want her own 3 kids to go to college. She wishes she had some options other than hair.

She also indicates that the exposure to chemicals (in highlights) may not be ideal, as well as standing all day. She also wishes she could spend the occasional Saturday with her children, but Saturdays are a must for hair stylists.

She reports that a lot of hair stylists are "big partiers," but she'd kind of past that stage.

People open up to her about their personal problems, but she does not mind because she is good at helping people talk through their problems.

[Anonymous]

I’m glad that everyone has a hairstylist who seems to own their own salon and love their job. Some things to consider though.

For every RISD grad, or Bobby Brown, or LA hotshot, there are hundreds of women working in cartoon cuts, or the Hair Cuttery and very not “making bank”. One of them is my cousin. Her three kids by 2 men mostly live with my aunt, because when her kids are out of school (weekends, evenings) she is usually working. And because she is between men and can’t pay for childcare, or really support them at all.

If your hairstylist hates her life chooses, she isn’t going to whine to you, the customer about it. You are paying her to listen to you gripe. Not vice versa.

It is a tough lifestyle. To earn, you need to work at least some evenings and weekends, which is tough if you have kids. And if you don’t own the business, you may not control your schedule.

Maybe owning your own salon does give more financial security. But OP has said her daughter has no interest in the business side. Without that, there is little chance of her making a decent living.

You people are hip and cool. But sometime in your 40 s, it is tough to be one your feet 8-10 hours a day, and you are no longer young and hip. And then what do you do for a Irving?

I would not want my DD doing this. Not because she is too good for it. But because it is a tough lifestyle, with inconvenient hours, a low paycheck and not a lot of longevity.

Op— I would encourage your DD to get a PT job washinging hair in a salon (midrange, not super chic) PT during schooland FT this summer. Let her see first hand what thi looks like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m glad that everyone has a hairstylist who seems to own their own salon and love their job. Some things to consider though.

For every RISD grad, or Bobby Brown, or LA hotshot, there are hundreds of women working in cartoon cuts, or the Hair Cuttery and very not “making bank”. One of them is my cousin. Her three kids by 2 men mostly live with my aunt, because when her kids are out of school (weekends, evenings) she is usually working. And because she is between men and can’t pay for childcare, or really support them at all.

If your hairstylist hates her life chooses, she isn’t going to whine to you, the customer about it. You are paying her to listen to you gripe. Not vice versa.

It is a tough lifestyle. To earn, you need to work at least some evenings and weekends, which is tough if you have kids. And if you don’t own the business, you may not control your schedule.

Maybe owning your own salon does give more financial security. But OP has said her daughter has no interest in the business side. Without that, there is little chance of her making a decent living.

You people are hip and cool. But sometime in your 40 s, it is tough to be one your feet 8-10 hours a day, and you are no longer young and hip. And then what do you do for a Irving?

I would not want my DD doing this. Not because she is too good for it. But because it is a tough lifestyle, with inconvenient hours, a low paycheck and not a lot of longevity.

Op— I would encourage your DD to get a PT job washinging hair in a salon (midrange, not super chic) PT during schooland FT this summer. Let her see first hand what thi looks like

Your cousin’s poor life choices don’t have anything to do with being a hairdresser. I’m sure most hairdressers know how to use birth control.

[Anonymous]

Let her do it. One of my friends did the college thing, struggled with a corporate job and after 10 years does make up full time now, for Channel and has her own bride make up business. Could have saved 10 years, she loved make up in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m glad that everyone has a hairstylist who seems to own their own salon and love their job. Some things to consider though.

For every RISD grad, or Bobby Brown, or LA hotshot, there are hundreds of women working in cartoon cuts, or the Hair Cuttery and very not “making bank”. One of them is my cousin. Her three kids by 2 men mostly live with my aunt, because when her kids are out of school (weekends, evenings) she is usually working. And because she is between men and can’t pay for childcare, or really support them at all.

If your hairstylist hates her life chooses, she isn’t going to whine to you, the customer about it. You are paying her to listen to you gripe. Not vice versa.

It is a tough lifestyle. To earn, you need to work at least some evenings and weekends, which is tough if you have kids. And if you don’t own the business, you may not control your schedule.

Maybe owning your own salon does give more financial security. But OP has said her daughter has no interest in the business side. Without that, there is little chance of her making a decent living.

You people are hip and cool. But sometime in your 40 s, it is tough to be one your feet 8-10 hours a day, and you are no longer young and hip. And then what do you do for a Irving?

I would not want my DD doing this. Not because she is too good for it. But because it is a tough lifestyle, with inconvenient hours, a low paycheck and not a lot of longevity.

Op— I would encourage your DD to get a PT job washinging hair in a salon (midrange, not super chic) PT during schooland FT this summer. Let her see first hand what thi looks like

And? There are plenty of college grads out there working shitty jobs too (that don't even require a degree)...and the likelihood that OP's daughter winds up in one of those is pretty high if she doesn't do well in college...

[Anonymous]

In the time it took me to get my bachelor's degree my friend finished cosmetology school, did the extra training to become an instructor and had been working as an instructor for a year in addition to having a chair at a salon. Granted this was in a small midwest town, but it definitely made me wonder if I should have chosen a different path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m glad that everyone has a hairstylist who seems to own their own salon and love their job. Some things to consider though.

For every RISD grad, or Bobby Brown, or LA hotshot, there are hundreds of women working in cartoon cuts, or the Hair Cuttery and very not “making bank”. One of them is my cousin. Her three kids by 2 men mostly live with my aunt, because when her kids are out of school (weekends, evenings) she is usually working. And because she is between men and can’t pay for childcare, or really support them at all.

If your hairstylist hates her life chooses, she isn’t going to whine to you, the customer about it. You are paying her to listen to you gripe. Not vice versa.

It is a tough lifestyle. To earn, you need to work at least some evenings and weekends, which is tough if you have kids. And if you don’t own the business, you may not control your schedule.

Maybe owning your own salon does give more financial security. But OP has said her daughter has no interest in the business side. Without that, there is little chance of her making a decent living.

You people are hip and cool. But sometime in your 40 s, it is tough to be one your feet 8-10 hours a day, and you are no longer young and hip. And then what do you do for a Irving?

I would not want my DD doing this. Not because she is too good for it. But because it is a tough lifestyle, with inconvenient hours, a low paycheck and not a lot of longevity.

Op— I would encourage your DD to get a PT job washinging hair in a salon (midrange, not super chic) PT during schooland FT this summer. Let her see first hand what thi looks like

Okay but couldn't you say the same thing about college graduates. For every liberal arts grad who went on to work at a bank or become a lawyer there's another one who couldn't find a job with their history degree and is doing work that doesn't require a degree. Or for every business school grad that went on to Wall Street there's another one who works on commission selling widgets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone so obsessed with OP's DD getting a college degree first? She has the credits, she can always return to school if she wants to. Why waste the money on 2.5 more years - particularly if DD's grades aren't very good?

Because higher learning helps with developing critical thinking skills as well as things like empathy. I know our capitalist culture doesn’t value those as much. But they are important.

OP, How long is cosmetology school? Is it something she can do in the summer? Are there related classes at college that would interest her? Are you paying a fortune for an out of state SLAC or is she local at a reasonably priced college? I’d really try to encourage her to finish college AND support cosmetology school.

[Anonymous]

You know your kid best and school is not necessarily for everyone. I had a classmate in college, super smart, full ride to college on the pre-med route. Figured out that he didn't really want to be a doctor after shadowing a surgeon during his freshman summer and dropped out. Went to LA to join his brother's band, got messed up and went to learn to become a hair stylist. He's now a pretty successful hair stylist and has done work for various celebrities for magazines. He's also into the real estate investment business now. Not saying a college degree is trash, but it's not a requisite to become sucessful.