Why You Should Keep Learning After Hair Design School

If you’re a licensed hair stylist or cosmetologist, you’ve already learned many tips and techniques for great hair design. But if you want to be the best hairdresser possible, hair design school should be the beginning of your learning process, not the end of it.

Don’t get us wrong: Graduating from hair design school or cosmetology school is a huge accomplishment. Yet here are a few reasons why you should keep learning long after you’re a seasoned hair professional.

Maintaining Licensing Requirements

Depending on what state you live in, you may be required to take around 10 hours of continuing education classes a year in order to maintain your license. Check your state’s guidelines. Some states dictate what kinds of classes will count toward this total, like how to properly sanitize and clean your workstation. Others are more flexible and will accept technique or styling classes to fulfill this requirement.

If you can decide what kinds of classes you take in order to maintain your license, think about what new knowledge and skills you need to grow professionally. Even if you aren’t required to take classes to maintain your license, these other reasons should get you inspired.

Staying on Trend

It’s your job to be on the cutting edge of hair design. You can achieve this not only by taking classes, but through many other means as well. Going to trade shows, following trends on social media, and keeping tabs on the hairstyles of celebrities and models are all ways to ensure you’re familiar with current styles in hairdressing.

Staying on trend is an important way to increase client satisfaction. Sometimes, a client may come in with a photo of a model or celebrity and want you to replicate their hairstyle (more on that in a second). Or they might be uncertain how they want their hair styled and ask you to make a suggestion.

Either way, staying on top of current hair fashions will help ensure that your clients leave your chair feeling fashionable and attractive.

Honing Your Skills

There’s no such thing as being too good at your craft. While cosmetology school taught you a lot, no one program can teach you everything at once. Hairdressing is a global industry. Many top hairdressers have their own favored hair cutting or styling techniques or are developing new ones. And new hair products, treatments and styling tools are constantly flooding the market. You need to know how to use them.

Again, trends in hair design are constantly changing. That means you have to learn how to create hairstyles or perform hair treatments you’ve never attempted before. Learning from other professionals is the best way to ensure you’re prepared.

Not everyone’s methods will be right for you, but why not explore what’s out there? You never know what tips or ideas you’ll get. Combining multiple techniques and tools in your own way will help you become a unique and talented hair stylist.

Market Yourself

Hairstyling is a competitive business. So why not stand out by learning how to perform new hair treatments? Offering a wide array of services can help you retain your existing clients happy and get new clients as well.

Taking classes, going to trade shows, and learning about new products is also a great way to network. The more people you meet in the hair design industry, the more opportunities you’ll create for yourself down the line. Who knows—that person you take a class from or chat about a new product with could become a colleague someday. Or they could help you grow your business in an unexpected new direction.

If you’re passionate about hairdressing, continuing to grow your knowledge should feel fun and exciting. For more information about cosmetology programs in your area, search for “hair design school near me” and “cosmetology school near me.”