What a Hair Stylists is Looking for in an Assistant

The biggest turnover we have in the salon is with our assistants. Unfortunately it can be difficult to find someone who is talented and humble enough for the job. Being an assistant is hard. You've just graduated beauty school and all you want is to get your hands into some hair. Standing around watching other people do hair and make good money while they're at it can be really tough during this stage, but it's extremely important to begin a career as a hair stylist in this way. You can only learn so much in beauty school, the salon floor will teach you so much more. Seeing hair stylists in action with their clients will give you further insight and skill that will help you when it comes time to build your own clientele.  

Below you'll hear from hair stylists themselves about what makes a great assistant. The harder you work as an assistant, the sooner you'll be on the salon floor. 
1.  Be Intuitive
One of the biggest complaints that stylists make about their assistants is the need to tell them to do every little thing. For example, if you see you the next client waiting for their appointment, ask your stylist if they would like you to shampoo them so that they'll be ready when the stylist is done with their last client. Or if you see them sitting there waiting, and you know it's not time to get them ready, offer them a drink or a magazine, or hang their coat up and get them into a gown - anything to acknowledge their presence and let them know that their stylist knows they're waiting. If the stylist doesn't have to ask you to do any of this in the first place, then congratulations, you're an intuitive assistant. 

Remember to think for your hair stylist. Have their tools clean and ready throughout the day, offer clients drinks and magazines, have them draped before a color service. Whatever you can do to stay one step ahead of the game will get you onto the salon floor faster than you know it. 
2.  Come to Class Prepared
Often times you will receive continued education while working as an assistant. You'll be required to bring models in once a week for cutting and styling classes. I used to teach these kinds of classes in New York and I can't tell you how many times assistants would show up unprepared and without models to work on.

I completely understand how nerve wracking it can be to try and find multiple models for classes, but these days it's easier than ever! When I was an assistant I'd have to walk up to people out of the blue on the street and ask them if they wanted a free hair cut, but now there are plenty of websites dedicated solely to bringing hair cutting assistants and clients together. So no more excuses in class!
3.  Keep Busy
When assisting in a hair salon there can be a bit of downtime, but you can't make it look like there is! If you're not needing to help your stylist, ask anyone else if they need help. If they don't need anything then start folding foils, organizing color, refilling the back-bar, cleaning, sweeping, anything! Just don't do nothing. Your hair stylist will really take notice of your proactive approach to assisting which will again get you on the floor much faster than sitting around.