Graduating from Beauty School? Here’s How to Plan Your Next Steps-Full Guide
We’ve watched a lot of stylists walk out of beauty school. Some with a clear plan, and some without one. The ones who hit the ground running almost always had one thing in common: they knew what their next step was before they graduated.
If you’re getting close to finishing school, this one’s for you.
Don’t leave beauty school without knowing what’s next
Beauty school is where you learn the basics. But the transition out of school into a real salon environment is one of the biggest leaps you’ll make in your career and it goes a lot smoother when you’ve planned for it.
The advice is simple: Look for a mentor - find someone who can help you figure out your next step, and start that conversation before you graduate. Whether that’s an instructor you trust, someone at a salon you’re interested in, or anyone who can help connect you to where you want to go, make that connection now. Don’t wait until after you’ve walked out that door.
Beauty school is where you make your mistakes, so make them
Here’s something we feel strongly about: there are no mistakes in beauty school. There are only learning opportunities. That’s literally what the environment is built for.
Try everything you want to try with hair, nails, anything you’re working on. Practice on mannequin heads. Push things a little further than you think you should. You don’t know if you’ve gone too far until you’ve gone there and that’s okay when you’re in a school setting.
Ask every question. Be curious about everything. That’s exactly what this season is for.
Head straight into a commission salon
Our strongest advice for what to do right after graduation: find a reputable commission salon and go all in. No matter how good you are in school, you are not ready to go out on your own yet. You just aren’t. You need time to be under a mentorship program, under the wing of someone else, and you need to build your clientele.
Some people come out of school and want to go straight into renting their own booth. We understand the appeal. But that’s holding you back. There is so much growing that still needs to happen, and renting a booth too early means you miss a lot of it.
In a commission salon, you’re surrounded by a team. You have coworkers with different strengths to lean on when you’re struggling with something even on the days when the owner isn’t around. Being around other like-minded people and having people to help brainstorm is something you can’t put a price on early in your career. Booth rental will be there down the line. Start in a team environment first.
Be humble when you walk in the door
You might have been the top stylist in your beauty school class. You might have had a strong clientele, great technique, and real confidence. And that’s wonderful. But walking into a salon full of experienced stylists can be a rude wake-up call if you’re not prepared for it.
Come in humble. Come in willing to learn. Work ethic matters enormously in those early months: be willing to work the evenings and the weekends, be willing to take every client who comes through the door, and be willing to ask questions rather than wing it.
That combination of humility and hustle is what separates the stylists who grow quickly from the ones who plateau.
Education never stops
Your learning starts in school, but it doesn’t stop when you graduate. It continues through your whole career. Even after you’ve gone through an apprenticeship program, even after you’ve been behind the chair for years, you keep learning. There are always platforms, salons with continuing education, and opportunities to grow.
We’re still learning to this day. That’s not something that ever stops, and honestly, it’s one of the best parts of this industry. So graduate with that mindset locked in: school was the beginning, not the finish line. 💛
