# how many of you also do hair?



## little_angel (Sep 25, 2007)

i'm thinking about taking a hair styling class to make myself more marketable. i can get by doing a teeeeny bit of hair just from my past pageant experience, but it seems like so many people want 'hair AND makeup' in one person/booking. i don't feel qualified to say i offer it as a service, i've just done it on shoots in a pinch, really. 

have any of you taken any hairstyling classes? if you have, has it helped grow your business as a freelance artist?


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## pixichik77 (Sep 25, 2007)

I do hair, but I am also a licensed cosmetologist and a wig maker/stylist.


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## MisStarrlight (Sep 27, 2007)

I took the hairstyling course at MUD.  It did help in getting jobs, but there was a while there where people only wanted me to do hair and were hiring another makeup artist.  Since hair is not my strongest suit I would feel like I was shorting my clients & myself by doing hair-only gigs.

So after that I would only take makeup only or hair & makeup gigs....and then it got to be too much, that I wasn't able to focus my attention properly in either area....now I insist that they hire a separate hair stylist on most gigs-unless it's just something like a ponytail or a flat iron or something simple.


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## j_absinthe (Sep 28, 2007)

I try and avoid doing hair like The Plague. My sister is the hair stylist, not me. I too insist whoever's booking me to book a seperate hair stylist; in the long run, the client will benefit more, having had two forces focusing on each aspect instead of one being spread thin.


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## Ella_ (Sep 28, 2007)

I actually started off as a hairstylist but couldnt finish my apprenticeship because of skin sensativity issues - any products with amonia in them made my whole body break out in hives, which means I cant do any chemical processing on clients. I can however cut and style hair.

Ive found it a huge asset, I can fix up hair on a photoshoot, I can style it if the hairstylist is a no show or has to race home for whatever reason. I also can do bridal styling etc.

If you do decide you want to offer hairstyling services I would suggest taking a basic hairstyling class that covers blowdrying, setting - both wet and with hot tools and upstyling. That will cover all your bases as far as practical knowledge goes. Buy a headblock and a clamp for at home practice, get yourself a set of straighteners, curling iron, hot rollers and hotsticks. Bobby pins, elastics, fringe pins and those plastic hair combs as well. And practice like mad. Once you master styling on the block, get all your friends to sit for you because styling on the blocks is a lot different to working on people


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## lara (Sep 28, 2007)

I can do hair/wig wrangling, I just choose not to.


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## simplyeloquence (Apr 5, 2008)

i have my cosmetology liscence and my esthetician liscence and certification in hair ext. the more certifications you have the more money you make people are willing to trust you when you know what your talking about and can educate them on products .. i say do it, money talks


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## TIERAsta (Apr 6, 2008)

I don't do hair, but it's something that I'm considering learning... although I don't have the time or the moolah right now!

Most of the MUAs I know in Hawaii also do hair, so I feel it's almost a necessity to keep up with the market.

I agree that many Clients are definitely looking for the convenience & possibly finances factor of having one person do both. I also agree, though, that if you're not able to do both to the best of your ability in one sitting, you're short-changing your client (and possibly devaluing your reputation) by taking on more than you can handle successfully.

So, I guess I'm now leaning toward taking some classes as a back-up, but still marketing myself primarily as a MUA.


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## _ohmygosh (Apr 8, 2008)

I'm currently studying, and we're learning both hair and makeup as you said, many clients like to get them both done


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