Salon Apprentice

You're at the bottom of the salon food chain, which means you shampoo heads, sweep hair, fold towels, and fetch coffee for stylists who treat you like an intern at a fashion magazine. You're learning by watching, and every now and then a senior stylist lets you blow-dry someone who doesn't care. It's humbling, your hands are always pruney, and you're basically paying to work — but everyone who's ever held shears started exactly here.

Learn the skills

Courses and certifications to get you job-ready

What you'll actually do

• 01Shampoo and condition client hair until your hands look like raisins
• 02Sweep up enough hair to build a small mammal by the end of each shift
• 03Fold towels with military precision because apparently that matters
• 04Watch senior stylists work and absorb techniques through osmosis and desperation
• 05Restock product shelves and learn every ingredient name you'll immediately forget
• 06Practice cuts on mannequin heads that have seen things no mannequin should see