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Original poster

Am I too old for a hairdressing course?

28 replies

Mummytotwox · 20/12/2013 22:27

I am 23 (24 next July). I have just signed up to start a hair dressing course I September. I can't wait, I want to become mobile, and specialise in hair extensions. I mentioned it to someone yesterday and they said that they thought you should be 16 and just left school to do hairdressing. I know worried, that maybe I am too old :-/. I was a mum at 16 and 18, I did a photography and design course throughout both pregnancies, but it's not something I want to do. I'm a sahm while my husband works. And I. September my son starts school, so I would love to do an evening course. Ahh but now I'm doubting myself :(

My dream job is a midwife. But after 3 attempts to get on the course and failing because I'm too dumb, I have to realise that will never happen.

OP posts:
Middleagedmotheroftwo · 20/12/2013 22:30

Of course you're not too old!!! You're still just a baby. Go for it.

BuffyxSummers · 20/12/2013 22:32

Definitely not too old. Our local college does separate classes for mature students because there are so many.

Lillilly · 20/12/2013 22:32

I thought you were going to say you were 43! Course Yanbu!

WorraLiberty · 20/12/2013 22:33

I don't understand posts like this

Surely you know full well that 23 isn't too old to take up hairdressing?

Do you take this much notice of everything anyone says to you?

PumpkinPositive · 20/12/2013 22:35

You need to work on your confidence, OP. Have you been accepted on the course?

Garcia10 · 20/12/2013 22:35

You are 23!!!!!!! Even if you were 43 I would say you weren't too old.

You have a view on life that I did. I wish I had retrained when I was in my 20s but felt I was too old. I wasn't and neither are you.

Good luck!

ShesEverSoFamous · 20/12/2013 22:36

You're being daft, and you don't actually have to be a hairdresser to do extensions. You can do that course as a stand alone. Also hairdressers aren't thick, the exams are pretty hard going. The course takes two years to complete for a reason, be ready for a lot of badly paid, back breaking work.

Original poster
Mummytotwox · 20/12/2013 22:37

Thank you. I take to heart everything everyone says, :(.

Not been accepted, but I hope I do! X

OP posts:
RaspberryLemonPavlova · 20/12/2013 22:37

My SIL did hers in her 40s. She completed her Level 3 last summer, when she was 46. She is really good too.

Garcia10 · 20/12/2013 22:37

Also why are you too dumb to be a midwife? Are there any training courses or work experience you could do so test you are better positioned? You are a very young women - no doors are closed.

Thesebootsweremadeforwalking · 20/12/2013 22:41

Lots of people join hospitals as healthcare assistants, then train as nurses/ midwives later once they've got some experience. I'm not certain but I think an HCA might earn roughly what a hairdresser in a salon did (if wages are roughly the same level as they were when my friend was a hairdresser, anyway).

PumpkinPositive · 20/12/2013 22:41

Women (and men) of all ages go to the hairdressers. So it figures that hairdressers would be all ages too. Some women, rightly or wrongly, would be put off by an eighteen year old let loose on them with a pair of shearers, just as some sixteen year olds would not want to be attended to by "geriatrics" (ie, over 25).

Wittsend13 · 20/12/2013 22:42

My friend has just started a college course and she's 45. You're never too old!

32flavours · 20/12/2013 22:50

You're just a baby! 23 is definitely not too old to start a career. I'm planning on changing career in a couple of years and I'll be 30 then. Look at it this way, chances are you'll be working until you're 70 so bearing that in mind even training to do something different at 50 means you'll still have 20 years work in you.

Amy106 · 20/12/2013 23:40

You are never too old to try something new. I wish you every success! Smile

Mrswellyboot · 20/12/2013 23:48

Oh please be kinder to yourself !
Go for it! I had a work experience student who went on to do nursing on her 40s after raising her daughter.

New Year is nearly here. It's determination that pays off. Fake it till you make it, as they say.

SeaSickSal · 20/12/2013 23:52

Mummytotwox what course were you taking that you failed for midwifery? There might be alternative routes in. Was it just maths you were struggling with or did you struggle altogether?

You might be able to get a job on a maternity ward not as a midwife but perhaps an auxillary nurse, breast feeding support worker or similar.

It doesn't sound like your hear is really in hairdressing, do you think you could look at some jobs like that around midwifery? If you learnt on the job and gained knowledge you might find that in a few years you feel much more comfortable training for midwifery.

I reckon you should look into training for something more similar to midwifery if your heart is really set on that.

pigsDOfly · 21/12/2013 00:02

Your OP doesn't come across as written by someone dumb mummy. Have more confidence in yourself and never tell yourself you're dumb.

At 23 you're only just starting out. People retrain for all sorts of things in later life. You wouldn't be too old to start training for something new if you were twice your age.

Hope it works out for you.

2OfUsHerAndHim · 21/12/2013 00:37

You have decided to do this because you want to. That means you are half way there already. We both hope you succeed in whichever path you choose and, if you believe in yourself, you will succeed. At your age you could have several careers and enjoy them all. Go for it.

MiniMonty · 21/12/2013 01:05

Are you too old at 23 ?
I may s**t myself laughing.

At 23 you are too old to suck a dummy, too old to walk into the road without looking and too old to have your Dad to collect you at eleven o'clock. Apart from that - sky's the limit.

I'll tell you this - if I were 23 I'd hop the first boat to Australia (work as a waitress on the way), or maybe do the hairdressing course then work as a hairdresser on the boat - either way, the future is a lot brighter OUT of the UK and at your age - it's easy to do.

Go girl. Be brilliant.

SeaSickSal · 21/12/2013 01:47

That's what I thought pigsDOfly. I'm wondering if it was mainly maths she was struggling with. That post does not look like the post of someone thick.

ThatVikRinA22 · 21/12/2013 01:57

my lovely pal is a hairdresser and she has a friend who has just qualified at the age of.......
60!

you are never too old! go for it!

Original poster
Mummytotwox · 21/12/2013 05:10

English and maths I struggled with. I'm dyslexic.

You need 70% to pass I kept getting 60/65. It was an access to higher education course x

OP posts:
threebats · 21/12/2013 08:11

Too old? My actual arsehole - no way!! Mummytot
Listen I am 43 and went back to a hairdressing, beauty and Holistic centre within college last September to learn massage so I can go on to learn sports massage. There are lots of women my age there and older on all the different courses run there.
You are not thick if you study hairdressing either - they work hard, seriously. And massage is no picnic either - the amount of anatomy and physiology there is to learn is mind boggling.
Go - do it. If you want all the certificates hanging on a wall one day showing that whatever somebody wants, you can do it? Then go learn it. Go learn your craft, become your own boss and live the life you want.

Merry Christmas and remember in the New Year to go inquire for hairdressing and get on with it - the sooner you start? The sooner you will be qualified! Good luck... Smile

threebats · 21/12/2013 08:14

Mummytot Within a college there is help for those who score low on those tests - there is a woman on my course who scored in the 40% range on both - she is dyslexic -sailing through the class. Once a week she goes in early and talks through assignments and so on with the lady who's job it is to help her and others. She gets extra time on tests and can take them verbally if she feels she needs to. When it comes to practicals? She is ahead of all of us as she is more comfortable learning from memory. She is helping the rest of us learn the routines...

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