Hairstylist

Career Overview

A hairstylist provides services related to hair including cutting, coloring, lightening, and styling.

Education

All states require barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists to be licensed. To qualify for a license, candidates are required to graduate from a state-approved barber or cosmetology program and then pass a state exam for licensure.

Future Outlook

Employment of barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists is projected to decline 1 percent from 2019 to 2029.

Work Environment

Barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists work mostly in a barbershop or salon. Physical stamina is important, because they are on their feet for most of their shift. Many work full time, but part-time positions are also common.

Recommended High School Courses

Psychology
Business
Communication

Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Visual Color Discrimination - The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Clean facilities or work areas.
Clean tools or equipment.
Apply solutions to hair for therapeutic or cosmetic purposes.
Groom wigs or hairpieces.
Trim client hair.
Schedule appointments.
Demonstrate activity techniques or equipment use.
Maintain client information or service records.
Promote products, services, or programs.
Sell products or services.
Assess skin or hair conditions.
Supervise service workers.
Train service staff.
Apply cleansing or conditioning agents to client hair, scalp, or skin.
Administer therapeutic massages.
Provide medical or cosmetic advice for clients.
Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
Set up merchandise displays.
Administer basic health care or medical treatments.
Design costumes or cosmetic effects for characters.
Treat nails by shaping, decorating, or augmenting.

Schools

Atlanta Technical College

Bellus Academy- Poway Cam...

Bold Beauty Academy

Brown Aveda Institute- Me...

Brown Aveda Institute- St...

Capitol School Of Hairsty...

Central New Mexico Commun...

Clary Sage College

Coastal Pines Technical C...

Daytona College

Daytona State College

Emily Griffith Technical...

Euphoria Institute Of Bea...

Forbes Road Career And Te...

Gateway Community College...

Institute Of Business & M...

Jefferson State Community...

Johnson County Community...

Lanier Technical College-...

Miller-motte College- Fay...

Miller-motte College- Jac...

Northwest Louisiana Techn...

Oliver Finley Academy Of...

Palm Beach State College-...

Pj's College Of Cosmetolo...

Red Rocks Community Colle...

San Jacinto Community Col...

Southern Union State Comm...

Utah State University

Vincennes University- Vin...

Wake Technical Community...

Xenon Academy- Grand Isla...

Xenon Academy- Omaha Camp...

Academy Canada- Corner... ●

Academy Canada- St. Jo...

Cape Breton Business C...

Coast Mountain College...

Collège Boréal

College Of The North A...

Eastern College- Halif...

Eastern College- Saint...

Keyin College

Lakeland College- Lloy...

Lakeland College- Verm...

Manitoba Institute Of...

Niagara College- Wella...

North West College- Ba...

Northern Lights Colleg...

Portage College- Lac L...

Saskatchewan Polytechn...

Southeast Regional Col...

St. Claire College- Wi...

Surrey Community Colle...

Vancouver Community Co...

Vancouver Island Unive...

Vancouver Island Univer...

Potential Scholarships

5 Strong Scholarship

Agnes M. Lindsay Scholars...

Approx Salary Expectation

Currency:

Low End:

$19,520.00 /yr

Avg/Med:

$29,000.00 /yr

High End:

$54,460.00 /yr

Related Careers

Clinical/Mental Health Counselors

Esthetician

Marriage and Family Therapist

Social & Community Services Workers

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.