5 Ways to Prepare for Beauty School

In May of 2014, I walked across a stage to receive my college diploma and thought, Finally. I'm free of this educational prison. I'm never ever EVER doing anything like that again.

Needless to say, that is not how things played out at all, and a year and a half later I found myself right back in school.

Before I quit my job as a reporter I did my best to have a plan mapped out for my next career move. I knew I wanted to be an esthetician, I just had to take the giant leap required to get there. Which meant more school, which meant paying money, which meant debt. I dove headfirst into the experience but came out four months later with a list of, What I wish I knew then...

If you're considering going down that same path of beauty school, here are a few things I learned along the way!

Be patient

I thought I would start school immediately after returning home. I just needed to get approved for a loan, no big deal, right? Wrong. I needed a cosigner. I needed to fill out forms. I had to wait for the loan agency to send a check.

I also had to wait for things to go through at the beauty school I attended. I had to get a passport photo, find my high school diploma and wait for my loan check to be sent out before I could completely register. I spent nearly a month and a half dealing with all of this, not working, and essentially dying a slow death.

While beauty schools vary, there will be a registration process and unless you're lucky enough to have a couple thousand dollars hanging around, you'll have to deal with a loan, too. This isn't something that can be done in a week so buckle up and just breathe, and be patient.

Prepare for that 8-5 grind

College was great, as happy as I was to be out of there. For four years I made my own schedule, skipped class if I needed/wanted to, and had ridiculous amounts of time to nap.

Beauty school was a harsh, cruel return to high school with two extra hours added in. 8-5 six days a week, in one location with no added benefit of class changes to shake up the environment. It took me a long, long time to get back in that mindset and the first few weeks of school I honestly started to regret my decision (obviously I got over it and continued to hustle).

If you've been out of school for a few years, returning is a huge change. Those who go to beauty school straight from high school have a better advantage, in my opinion. Once you get used to your own schedule free of studying and classwork, it is much, much harder to switch all that up.

Experiments are an everyday thing

I dyed my hair three times in one week while in school. Granted, the last two times were because of a botched first attempt but hey, whatever works.

Beauty school is about applying what you learn in a hands-on way. I've been coloring my hair since I was 12 so I was the perfect guinea pig for the cosmetology girls who wanted to try new trends and methods. I was able to get my pixie cut shaped up (for free) and I even left one day looking like a poodle because of a new curling wand somebody wanted to try.

In my own facial room, I got to try out paraffin waxes, facial steams and extractions on the other girls. Despite saying, "I'm not sure how this will turn out..." they were all eager to sit in my chair for whatever I was learning that particular day.

As we went through our eyelash extension training, we all walked around with crooked lashes, screamed as we dealt with the adhesive remover burning our eyes and begged others for extensions so we could use it as an excuse to take a nap.

Despite some uh-oh moments, this was the best part of school for me.

Tips are rare

This is purely anecdotal and probably varies from school to school.

Services at beauty schools tend to be cheap since students are offering the services. We saw a wide range of people come through our doors, but it was mostly those looking for a deal. Normally, they didn't tip (I did have some great clients I could always count on, however).

It sucked, and made not having a job even harder to handle. In the real world, though, my clients now have been amazing and 99 percent of them always leave me a tip.

Your face will probably break out...a lot

This goes along with the experimentation. Access to facials whenever we wanted meant we got them pretty regularly, though not with the best products. My rosacea flareups were more frequent and my breakouts came often.

All of the makeup trials certainly didn't help, either. Nor did my constant sampling of a slew of product lines until I decided which one I wanted to carry once I was out of school. But once I was on my own and not putting something new on my face every day, things calmed down.

Beauty school is fun and offers the chance to learn really interesting things, but it isn't for everyone. Take the time to think of every possibility before registering and make sure it's right for you.