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

[Anonymous]

My hair stylist (who charges $200 for my 1.5 hour color & cut service, and has a 2nd client booked during the same period to avoid wasting downtime while my color is setting) dropped out of college after her first year and went to cosmetology school. She loves what she does, makes great money, and has been at the same salon for at least a decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The dummies responding encouraging this are as bad as the idiots who claim dropping out of college isn't the worst idea while citing Bill Gates and Zuckerberg [genius IQ autistic computer whizzes who dropped out of HARVARD!].

Service industry is full of broken dreams and regrets and substance abuse.

Wtf?

Hair dressers In upscale salons have awesome careers and make great money.

They are also very unlikely to be replaced by robots. People go to their hairdresser for tyeraphy as much as a good sut and style.

If OPs daughter is good with people and knows how to get others to talk about themselves as well as good enough of a stylist to make them feel beautiful, she will always have work.

There’s no way of knowing whether this young lady will be working in an upscale salon or the Cartoon Cuts. She should finish school so she has options and then start cosmetology school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The dummies responding encouraging this are as bad as the idiots who claim dropping out of college isn't the worst idea while citing Bill Gates and Zuckerberg [genius IQ autistic computer whizzes who dropped out of HARVARD!].

Service industry is full of broken dreams and regrets and substance abuse.

Wtf?

Hair dressers In upscale salons have awesome careers and make great money.

They are also very unlikely to be replaced by robots. People go to their hairdresser for tyeraphy as much as a good sut and style.

If OPs daughter is good with people and knows how to get others to talk about themselves as well as good enough of a stylist to make them feel beautiful, she will always have work.

There’s no way of knowing whether this young lady will be working in an upscale salon or the Cartoon Cuts. She should finish school so she has options and then start cosmetology school.

Amen to this. Hope for the best but plan for the worst. She needs a back-up in case the upscale goal doesn't go as intended. It is a highly competitive and very insular community. One highly vocal, catty, unhappy customer or a fight with an insider can easily mean that an aspiring hairdresser is blocked from the better salons in a market.

[Anonymous]

I landed here after searching for others thoughts about the OP’s original question. Lots of good advice here.

How does one find a good school?

I suspect this is just like any other field- a Harvard degree is as least as much about who you grow up with while in school as it is about what you learn. Harvard professors and visiting lecturers are also much more likely to be leaders in their fields of study/research than whoever is teaching night classes at the community college.

So how would one pick the best in the country?

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of college graduates working at Starbucks (before Corona).

Why does she need a backup for a Cosmetology degree?

[Anonymous]

My hairdresser goes on international trips every year. She is not married. She brings her Dad and her kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I landed here after searching for others thoughts about the OP’s original question. Lots of good advice here.

How does one find a good school?

I suspect this is just like any other field- a Harvard degree is as least as much about who you grow up with while in school as it is about what you learn. Harvard professors and visiting lecturers are also much more likely to be leaders in their fields of study/research than whoever is teaching night classes at the community college.

So how would one pick the best in the country?

I have heard of kids going to Aveda institutes and Paul Mitchell schools. Keep in mind they are for-profit and cost around 45k total

[Anonymous]

OP -- who is going to be in the greatest demand as soon as stay-at-home orders are lifted? It's not going to be me, college degree'd office drone. It's hair dressers. They have a skill, it's a skill they can take anywhere and get a job anywhere.

I say let her give it a shot. She can always go back to school down the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP -- who is going to be in the greatest demand as soon as stay-at-home orders are lifted? It's not going to be me, college degree'd office drone. It's hair dressers. They have a skill, it's a skill they can take anywhere and get a job anywhere.

I say let her give it a shot. She can always go back to school down the line.

Oops, just saw this is a years-old thread!

Anyway, I don't know where you are located, but in my neck of the woods, Paul Mitchell School is the big one.

[Anonymous]

Some stylists do well (UMC income or more) but let’s be real, the vast majority don’t.

OP is not wrong to be afraid of this choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen what DCUMers pay for hair services? If your daughter is talented she can do really well.

The woman who cuts my hair is a college graduate and seems perfectly happy doing what she’s doing.

OP:. She has a flair for style but she would not have a degree to fall back on. I also feel she will regret not having a four year college experience like her friends.

She probably won’t miss the debt from a useless degree.

[Anonymous]

Dangit the old threads always get me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would heave a heart to heart with her and start researching the heck out of options. There are lots of folks out there who have gone really far in the beauty industry. I would try to narrow down her interests, maybe research the backgrounds of some beauty professionals that she admires, and try to come up with a solid plan for her. Maybe a good cosmetology school now, but what she really hopes for career-wise might involve business school at some point; maybe that could motivate her to further her college education, now or later.

This. Those jobs don’t have benefits so she should figure out (with your help) what kind of life she wants and hope to get it.

[Anonymous]

I have had two stylists through the years who both went to college for parents . Graduated then did cosmetology school. Both beautiful and also married well. Also charged a ton of money!!

[Anonymous]

Now I've got Beauty School Dropout in my head. Good luck, though.