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All About Hair...and So Much More.
Welcome to All About Hair—where education meets inspiration for stylists and hair lovers alike.
Whether you’re starting your career behind the chair or just obsessed with all things hair, this channel is your go-to spot for real tips, honest advice, and plenty of inspiration.
You’ll find pro techniques, career-building tools, and everyday hair hacks—plus the encouragement to grow with confidence and creativity.
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All About Hair...and So Much More.
EP 319: From Student to Stylist: Why Being a Salon Assistant Changes Everything
Ready to trade your mannequin head for real clients? That transition can be terrifying—but there's a proven bridge that can help you cross with confidence.
After spending thousands on beauty school and hundreds of hours practicing on mannequin heads, many new stylists feel underprepared for the realities of salon work. The truth? Cosmetology school primarily teaches you to pass state boards, not how to navigate real-world client interactions. Mannequins don't talk back, reschedule appointments, or require thoughtful consultations about face shapes and lifestyle needs.
Looking to accelerate your hair career? Find a salon that aligns with your values and has a structured education program. Remember, you're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing you. Download my guide "It's All About the Little Things" from danisekeilitz.com and discover how small actions can lead to major career success.
The Salon Success System: $97 Course
The Training Toolkit is your step-by-step roadmap to building a confident, high-performing salon team—without the overwhelm. Designed for salon owners, this course gives you proven onboarding strategies, easy-to-use training templates, and real-world systems that save time, boost retention, and drive growth.
Grab your FREE PDF of The In-Salon Training Toolkit today.
Level up your onboarding and education! This free toolkit gives salon owners practical, done-for-you templates and strategies to train new stylists quickly, consistently, and with less stress—so you can focus on growing your business, not reinventing the wheel.
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Train With Confidence. Lead With Impact.
Running a salon is hard enough—training new stylists shouldn’t feel like a second full-time job.
If you're constantly pulled in a dozen directions, struggling to teach while juggling clients, and wishing your new hires would just get it faster—you’re not alone. And more importantly, you don’t have to keep doing it the hard way.
Download The Ultimate In-Salon Training Toolkit today and start onboarding your stylists with clarity, confidence, and zero guesswork.
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You know, going from mannequin heads to real clients with real expectations. Yeah, that is a leap and it can be terrifying, but there's one proven way to bridge the gap with confidence becoming a salon assistant. Today, we're going to talk about that. Welcome to All About Hair, where we talk, shop, share stories and spill the secrets behind great hair and a great career. I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former salon owner, educator and a lifelong hair crusader. Whether you're a new stylist, building your book or just someone who loves learning about all things hair, you're in the right place.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I've shared this story with you before, but I started my career 30 years ago being an assistant. I actually grew up never, ever, ever, going to a salon. I grew up in a small town in Kansas and, to tell you the truth, we didn't have the money to be going to any salon. My mom used to cut our hair at the kitchen table. I don't know how many of you can remember, but we used to get perms at the kitchen table, get our haircuts at the kitchen table, and really I had no experience in a salon. I just knew that I loved table and really I had no experience in a salon. I just knew that I loved hair and I knew that someday I wanted to be a hairstylist. I just didn't know how I was going to do it, because the hairstylists I knew in my small town weren't really successful, if you can kind of imagine that. So I was kind of afraid to even say that I wanted to do hair. That was until I moved to California and I actually saw that people were making a living doing hair and I wanted to be part of that. So I actually went to school. It was a community college in Oceanside, california $600 to go to beauty school. I think it was a nine month program. I think it took me a little over a year to do it. However, when I graduated, I really didn't know where I was going to go and, luckily, someone I graduated with said hey, this salon that I'm going to needs another assistant and they're looking for someone if you wanted to apply there. So that's what I did apply there. So that's what I did, and it was in San Diego. I got the job $4 and 25 cents an hour.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was a wonderful salon. What it was it was I assisted, did a lot of rinsing, perms and shampoos and conditioners and sweeping hair and cutting foils and getting coffee and even babysitting every once in a while. However, on Mondays was our education days, and that's when we were expected to bring in a model and we were taught my mentor, karen Angel. She would teach us foundational haircutting skills, consultation skills, perm skills, coloring skills, everything, and she expected a lot out of us and that was the most fabulous experience ever. I didn't know it at the time, of course not. We don't know it at the time because we're going through the season of life and we're learning. However, I wouldn't be the person I am without going through that.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about what does it look like to be an assistant, and why should you seriously? If you're graduating from beauty school, why should you seriously consider being a salon assistant? Because, in my personal opinion, it is the one thing that you need to do when you get out of school Because, first of all, you are actually earning money while you're learning. Back in my day, it was minimum wage of $4.25. Nowadays, depending on where you are, of course, it's going to be more than that. It's still going to be minimum wage, probably. However, you're still getting paid and you do get some tips, too, on top of that. So it's kind of like paying your dues. But if you can get over that mindset of like, wow, I went to school, I probably paid $20,000 to go to school and I'm still not making money, let me tell you it is probably the fastest route to become successful. Even though you think it's not, let's talk about what the problem really is.
Speaker 1:Okay, First of all, when you graduate from beauty school, you're feeling overwhelmed and underprepared, aren't you? Because, really, cosmetology school just provides a foundation. They're really just there to teach you how to pass the state boards and anymore. The hours have gone down and down. I think it's where I'm at. I think it's only a thousand hours now. When I went to school, I think it was 1600, 1800 in California, I can't remember exactly. But a thousand hours is not a lot of time to learn what you need to learn.
Speaker 1:And cosmetology school is not real world rhythm, if you know what I mean. Being in the salon is a lot different than being at school. It's a faster pace, it has real people. You know, mannequin heads don't talk, they don't move, they don't complain or they don't require any consultation skills. So when you're in beauty school, you're not really learning those things You're not learning time management, efficiency, consultation skills like how to read face shapes, or body language, for that matter. That's a huge one, because your guest might be telling you one thing, but their body is showing you something completely different and, as an effective communicator, you need to know how to read that.
Speaker 1:What happens is a lot of new stylists. They come out of cosmetology school and they hit the floor too early and they either one burnout because they're hustling like they're going to a franchise and they're getting haircuts after haircuts and a lot of these franchises. It's all about how fast you can do it and that's fine. If you want to go that course, that's fine. Talk about jumping into the fire. You got to learn how to do haircuts and learn how to do them like every 20 minutes, and some of my best hair cutters in my salons came from some of these franchises.
Speaker 1:So I'm not definitely not putting them down or anything like that, but it's fast paced at those franchises and you either burn out or, worse, you damage your reputation by going into a salon that does not have an assistant program and you're sitting there getting walk-ins and you don't really know what you're doing. So you're experimenting on every single person's head and tell you the truth. That feels terrible, not only to the customer, not only to the salon, but to you and your self-worth and your confidence. It is really, really hard to feel good about what you're doing If you don't even know what you're doing. Trust me, I've been there many times. I remember standing behind somebody cutting their hair and having no idea what I was doing no plan of action, no map. I didn't know how it was going to turn out. I just prayed to the hair gods and I'm shocked. I can't even remember if those people came back to me because I didn't know what I was doing. I just think it's imperative that you give assistantship at least a thought.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you this straight out of the chute being an assistant is not glamorous. It is not. You're not going to feel like, ooh, I've made it to the big time. No, but it's so crucial to your development as a successful hairstylist. Your day is going to look like ripping foils, folding towels and more towels and towels and more towels. Yeah, it's a thing. You might have to go grab coffee for your fellow stylist. It's all part of it. Sweeping hair and you're rinsing perms and you're rinsing color and your back hurts because you're leaning over the shampoo bowl all the time. I know I was there, I did it, and sometimes it feels like you are working for pennies and nobody sees how hard you're working.
Speaker 1:But you have to keep this in perspective. You're not just assisting, you're training for your future. This is your future. You're setting yourself up for success. You got to have that mindset. You got to really be on the floor. You got to be asking all the questions and watching the seasoned stylists and asking them do all your work, but also asking can I watch, can I ask questions as long as I'm staying out of your way?
Speaker 1:And if you're in the right salon, they have a program that is set up to help you succeed. They're going to get your hands in there. They're going to give you blowouts. They're going to give you maybe even some tent touch-ups after you've proven that you can do it efficiently. They're going to let you have many, many touch points for the client experience, because they want to get you up and running too. And I'm going to just short little plug here If your salon does not have a program set up, please let your salon owner know that I have a program that they can go to my website and download. It's less than a hundred bucks and they can download it and it is a map for a three month program to get you from graduating beauty school to on the salon floor in no time. So at least your salon owner can have the confidence that you can have the confidence and you can start taking those foundational walk-in clients.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about what the difference between a so-so assistant and the really standout ones, because I've had some really awesome assistants I can think of a few, and if they're listening right now they know that they're one of them. And then I've had just some so-so ones who wanted really to just be there for the paycheck and they really didn't want to be an assistant. They wanted to be behind the chair and they just thought they didn't need to go through the hassle of being an assistant. Well, that's not how it works. A standout assistant is ever present. They're engaged with what's going on in the salon. They're prepared. They show up early, they come prepared. They can almost expect what's happening next. They're sweeping up, they're prepping the station for the next guest, all these things up. They're prepping the station for the next guest, all these things and they're curious. They ask questions, they wonder what they can do next. They're practicing on their mannequin heads, they are showing up for classes, they go the extra mile because that's what it takes.
Speaker 1:With the right mindset and the right strategy, you can approach being an assistant and know that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. So here's some of the key behaviors that you should be showing to be a great assistant. You arrive early and you set up the station and set up for the day without being asked. You should not be prompted saying hey, I've you know, if the stylist you're assisting has a client coming in at nine o'clock, you should be there at least a quarter till nine already, making sure her station or his station looks perfect, presentable. Read the appointment, get the tools out, just be ready for the day.
Speaker 1:Make it so your stylist that you're assisting has a very smooth day, because it'll be much better for your stylist you're assisting and for you, and it's a lot of fun. I mean you can almost make it a game. Make sure that you're watching everything, you're listening to conversations, especially the consultation, so that way you can practice that and make sure you're asking questions even while clients are in the chair. Now make sure it's okay with the stylist, your assistant. You don't want to butt in on a conversation, but when we had our assistants, we would expect them to ask questions and we would let our clients know that, hey, this is how we operate. We're training them so they can be stylists in our salon. And it is actually a magical, magical thing. Our clients loved it that we had so much education going on in the salon, because they learned things too, and it really makes you, as a stylist if you're a seasoned stylist listening to this it makes you, as a stylist, be a better stylist, because you have to be on your game. You can't be lazy if you're trying to teach somebody how to do things right, right.
Speaker 1:A great assistant also treats every task, no matter how small, as an opportunity to grow. Say, ripping foils oh my gosh. Nobody likes to do that. Hate it, but it needs to be done. Nobody likes to fold towels, but it needs to be done. Nobody likes to take out the trash, but it needs to be done. I mean all these things. It's for the success of the salon. Just treat every single thing that you're doing as an opportunity to grow, even if that means that maybe one of these days you have the idea that you want to own a salon. Great, you are learning what it takes to do that at every opportunity, because every single touch point is something that you'll need to learn how to do.
Speaker 1:You also want to build relationships with the clients that you're serving, because guess what, if the salon is doing it right, some of those clients that you're serving, that you're shampooing, that you're building relationships with if the stylist they typically see is busy and they can't get in, who do they know in the salon that they trust and they've built a relationship with you? So what happens is you are suddenly getting clients from the stylist that you're assisting and it's things that you can do touch-ups, blowouts, maybe, eyebrow waxes, conditioning treatments, smoothing treatments, perms, whatever. But these clients trust you because you've built rapport with them. And also you want to build relationships with the stylist, not just the stylist you're assisting the other stylist, because every stylist in the building has something that you can learn. They have a different perspective of things. They have a different way of verbalizing things, talking. They have a different style, different way they cut hair. Nobody's the same. That's what makes our industry so wonderful is that everybody has a different approach to it and you can learn from every single stylist in the building. And you also want to understand the salon culture and the team dynamics from the inside of the salon. You really want to adapt to the culture and you want to be a good representation of the salon that you're working.
Speaker 1:So a strong assistantship it actually builds your confidence and it gives you a foundation to build a long-term career. Because when you have a strong foundation it's just like building a house. If you don't have a strong foundation, the house you might be able to build it, but it's going to crumble. First earthquake, it's going to go right. But if you have a strong foundation you can actually build that house and it'll take a lot for it to come down.
Speaker 1:When you're being an assistant, you're going to walk in onto the floor when you get a chair and you're going to know how to consult with confidence. You're going to learn how to formulate. You're going to know all of that and you're going to know how to finish the service strong, and by finishing the service actually mean pre-booking for the next appointment selling retail. I'm not just saying finish the service like a nice blow dry and curling iron work. I'm saying follow through because you want that client to come back. You have to learn all that. They don't teach that in beauty school. You might have one chapter that you read, if you read it, about how to do back. You have to learn all that. They don't teach that in beauty school. You might have one chapter that you read, if you read it, about how to do that.
Speaker 1:It's actually being in the salon and experiencing all this that you get to learn and build your confidence. Hopefully, your salon gives you scripts on what to say, how to say it. You can practice in the mirror until it becomes yours, or you listen to somebody else saying it and adapt their words to say it. You can practice in the mirror until it becomes yours, or you listen to somebody else saying it and adapt their words to your words. But you'll also have connections. You're going to have a mentor and you're going to have a deep understanding of the salon culture that you're working on. But, most importantly, you're going to be respected because you put in the work. You're going to be respected because you put in the work. I want to say that again when you put in the work and pay your dues, you're going to be respected by not only the salon owner, the other stylists, your clients, but also yourself. You're going to feel really, really good about that. So let me just say assistantships are your fast track to real world confidence and success and hopefully, what we've discussed today you've gotten that message loud and clear.
Speaker 1:I strongly believe in assistantships. I love it. I love to take people under my wing and show them the ropes and bring out their confidence and teach them the little things that it takes to be so successful. It's not just about cutting hair, it's all the people skills. But how do you make this happen? You need to find a salon that aligns with your values and your educational goals.
Speaker 1:Not every salon has an education program. That's why we were so successful when we had our two salons. We actually had an academy within the salon to teach brand new hairstylists, licensed hairstylists, how to become successful. We had it all laid out and again I have a program that has it all laid out for you. I mean, it's my same template. You just put your brand on there and you can do it. Tell your salon owner or go to my website. It's under a hundred bucks. You can get this. Okay, it's a very simple format to follow. It's not easy to do I'm not saying it's easy to do, but it's a simple format and it's already done for you.
Speaker 1:Again, you want to find a salon that aligns with your values and has some kind of education. Don't go in there and they promise you education and they don't have any kind of path or clear, clear outline of what they're doing, cause a lot of salons promise education and they don't have anything set up to do it for you. It might be hit and miss. You might go to a few salons until you find one that really works for you. That's okay Because, like I said, not every salon has education. You really need to do your homework and when you go out to interview salons, you have to remember that you're interviewing them too. They're you have to remember that you're interviewing them too. They're not just interviewing you, you're interviewing them and it has to meet your standards and your values and your goals.
Speaker 1:Now, if you want more information on how to become a successful stylist, really kind of quickly, make sure you download my list. It's not about the little things, it's not about the little things, it's all about the little things. The link is in my show notes. You can also go over to my website, denisekeilitzcom, and get it there, but always, always, remember, when you know better, you do better. Thanks for tuning in to All About Hair. If you loved this episode, hit, subscribe, leave us a review and share it with a fellow stylist or hair-loving friend. You want more tips, tools and behind-the-scenes goodness? Follow me on YouTube or head to my website at denisekeilitzcom. Yes, I know it's hard to spell, so don't worry, the link is in the show notes. Until next time, keep learning, keep creating and keep loving what you do.
