To think I could be a mobile hairdresser and work school hours?

[Boredboredbored2016]

I have worked in a boring office job(s) since I left uni. I currently work 9.30-2.30 in a minimum wage admin job. Great for school hours but dull. I pay for a holiday club in the school holidays which DC would prefer not to go to. I have inherited a small amount of money which would allow me to retrain. I have always wanted to be a hairdresser (which my parents discouraged) and have found a Saturday nvq at a local college which I could do while working. AIBU to think I could become a mobile hairdresser working school hours? And maybe have the schools hols off? Or do most people want evening/weekend appointments? Am I living in fantasy land or is there anyone that does this? I have also got excited looking at beauty courses too which are run part time. I really want to overhaul my life instead of spending my days in a dull job but still want to work school hours! Anyone hairdressers/beauticians or anyone that uses one I would be grateful of any advice!

Worra you make me grin i always think of that when I hear the word brazilian.

OP I am on a course now to retrain as a hairdresser. The part time courses are such hard work and you really need to give yourself 2-3 years before you will feel anywhere near comfortable to set out on your own. After a year I would say simple cuts and conditioning treatments could be offered to your clients which will not bring in anywhere near the income. So probably worth factoring that in when you think of how old your DC will be and the options available to you. It is also clear from my course how competitive the industry is especially mobile these days. You will need to be both flexible and offer alternative treatments.

I also offer ear piercing, nails and eyebrow tinting/waxing. These have all been through short courses that I have taken while doing hairdressing training.

For me I have loved every minute. There is nothing like making someone feel good about themselves.

I'm not sure you would be able to get away with not working in the summer holidays though. Don't most people want regular appointments every X weeks? I think you could lose clients if you couldn't see them from 3rd week in July until start September.

Agree with rabbit ^
Don't go into it thinking it is an easy option job. Its hard! My friend is so successful because she is very experienced (over twenty years, previous manager at leading salon and top stylist, colour specialist, has been on loads of courses), flexible (will sometimes be going home at 11pm) and has a very good reputation. You will need at least a few years training to be up to a confident standard. That said, if you really want to do it, then do it! It might not be a quick career change, but you will get there

Lots of different views! Something I need to do some more research on then before making a decision! Thank you everyone!

Does your DH know his shift patterns a week or two in advance? If so, you could fit in certain evening or weekend clients around his work.

You would prob get a lot of retired customers, which is fine if you want to work with the elderly. It takes a special set of skills and patience. (My job involves a lot of elderly people.)
You would potentially be providing them with an invaluable service.

You could do a mix of things. My Mum is a holistic therapist, does aromatherapy massage and other types of massage too, but a lot of the friends she made on those courses do various bits within the industry too, like hairdressing, make up, manicures, pedicures, waxing, etc. Same with my SIL who studied hair & beauty at college but now is also studying massage courses, a lot of the mobile/ad hoc therapists mix and match to what they are interested in. It takes a good few years to get a few different aspects under your belt, but once you have one and build your client base there you can get another qualification, then another if you so choose. It's certainly not easy to get into hair and beauty type work though, and a certain amount of flexibility seems to be key to becoming successful when starting out!

Felicia - the curly hair specialist in the midlands (trained by curly girl lady, Lorraine Massey) is always fully booked for months in advance and people travel far to see him - curly cuts are very sought after!

Go for it, you could easily do school hours. My hairdresser does the same. She works three days a week from 9.30am until 2.30pm. A cut and colour is 50.00, more if you have long hair. Two of my friends have their hair done by her too, we alternate between houses and all have our hair done at the same time. One of them has a 15 month old so while mum is getting done we look after the little one. Hairdresser likes it because she saves travelling time and also she earns at least 150.00 pm the day. Good luck, go for it.

Its a good point from the PP who pointed out that six weeks off each summer would be an issue.
If you think about it, most people want their hair cut every 6-8 weeks. (At least the sort of clients you hope to get will want their hair cut regularly.) So what are you going to say to your regulars - are you going to require that all of them get their hair done mid-July and early September? No one can have it done just before they go off on holiday?
Customer loyalty is really important to a successful business and the best way to lose a customer is to let them try out a competitor because you couldn't accommodate them.

Do it, advertise on your local Facebook group, find a parent one if possible? I had a home hairdresser when I was on Mat leave.

Also contact local care homes etc, they are always needing hairdressers.

Do colouring too if you can, also the hair extensions. I know a non hairdresser making big money with extensions, just went on a one day course! tbh the end result looks like salon quality.

Hmmm I might need to think of something else as I don't want to drag my DC round with me while cutting people's hair either!

some people wouldnt want you bringing your DC anyway when your supposed to be working, i know i wouldnt tbh

I would target older people - not the most exciting haircuts to do, but my nan has a mobile hairdresser who I think cuts most of the estates hair! She brings her little granddaughter with her too (by arrangement - my nan loves babies!). Would work with school hours!

My friend is a stylist 3 days in a salon and does 3 days doing homers, its perfect for her. No dc but works round her oh's days so 9-4ish and is always mobbed.

I usually get my hair done 9am ish when the dt's go for their nap, or she comes over the back of 1 to do mine, then when mine is done the dd's are in from school so get theres done too

I would advise against doing loads of different courses in different things. If I want a hairdresser, I want someone who specialises in hair, not someone who dabbles in it with loads of other things too.

While I've had good massage from beauty therapists, I've only had great massage from people that make that their focus.

I think there would absolutely be demand for weekdays only, especially the retirees, the infirm and the housekeepers (male or female, with or without children). Only you can know if that is a sizable market in your area.

School holidays might be a bit of an issue, but you could manage it by working more in the couple of weeks either side. People are understanding of holidays and childcare issues in general imo. Anyone that isn't wouldn't be your ideal client anyway.

I used a mobile hairdresser whilst my twins were at nursery. My appointment would be at her place as she was next to the nursery. She would drop her kids off at school and I would wait for her to return home. She could do a colour, cut and blow dry before 11.30 pick up.

Don't underestimate the number of SAHM's people who work part time or have days off during the week. I did not want to go out during the evening, didn't want DH and kids around whilst we had a natter and she did my hair, there was too much going on in the evening. Nor did I want to waste my weekend having me hair done.

Same hairdresser would also cut kids hair at the local playgroup on a certain days. Really popular before they all go to nursery or reception as it was cheap and reluctant kids would see others having it done. I think she gave the playgroup (her friend) 10%.

Agree with the above poster who says train in hair extensions and treatments. These are so popular and time consuming perfect for daytime.

Good luck OP

Op if you really really want to be a hairdresser then do it. You only get one shot at life and your children won't be children forever.

This

I'm pretty shocked by all the answers here.
There seems to be an assumption that you can just become a hairdresser with a few sessions on a Saturday . No wonder people are so scathing ( not on here btw) of hairdressing as a job.
OP. Two years training in a salon full time so are aware of seeing every type of cut and then an improver year . My apprentice would not be doing hair on the salon till then.
If you are very good then improvers would do reduced price cut and blow dries for a while, it however takes ages to become confident at advanced modern hairdressing.
Sorry to burst your bubble .

Being able to do high quality haircuts and great highlights takes a long time to master

The disappointed clients that you read about on here must give folk some idea as to what can go wrong if you have your haircut by someone without experience / extensive training .

Worra,your comments about salons struggling due to losing " bread and butter clients" are so inaccurate it is funny .
Most our our clients have a cut and blow dry with about 50% having colour.

We are nearly always fully booked weekends and late nights . The odd regular having a blow dry only.
I'm assuming you mean more old fashioned salons where setting / blow dries were a staple . We never even do perms in our salon !

It is hard to get apprenticeship in a salon if you are older due to the minimum wage for over 22 year olds unfortunately .
Maybe offer to do some work experience in a salon ?
Good luck, but please be realistic.
Sorry for rant but no one else is being realistic !

One of my friends set up her own business at her home - she works from her conservatory which is her salon - before she had the sink etc put in she washed hair over the bath upstairs it was great ad I could take my kids and they played with hers whilst o had mine cut and then she would cut theirs too.

Wouldbsomething like that work for you?

Yes I feel the same as gubbygubby
You have to put the hours in a salon in forster surely to get proper experience of all sorts of styles
Young people spend 2 years washing and watching and sweeping up hair first before being let loose on cutting

Do it! I'm annoyed I allowed my mother to talk me out of it.

There is about 3 years of training I think but you can work and train, it's not three years until you can take out a scissors.

Go for it!

And then get a facebook page to publicise yourself and your work and make it funny. Somebody in my area does that and he's so funny.

If you are open to retraining, why not pick something that is more lucrative? I do web design work and while it can be a bit stressful during a down time (as with any freelance career), on a good run I can earn about £1k a week. I have a developer in India who acts as my backup, so that I can continue to work when the kids are off school.

A good freelance book keeper or accountant is worth her weight in gold. The world always needs mortgage brokers too - see this.

I think you need to think more carefully here. There's no reason why you shouldn't have a reasonably well-paying freelance/school hours career after you spend this inheritance retraining, but for the love of God, don't pick another minimum wage job.

icanteven - I find your post really odd tbh.

The op has mentioned that she's thinking of training as a hairdresser and you mention she should think of accounting, web design or being a mortgage broker.

Your suggestions are just so random - not everyone has the academic ability to be a mortgage broker or an accountant and pass multiple exams etc (not saying you couldn't op but yknwim). A hairdresser is a very skilled job, requiring lots of practical training and practice but it's a universe away from being a mortgage broker or accountant!

surely the pint of a mobile hairdresser is that they are available to come to your house when an ordinary salon would be closed
Or people would just go to the hairdresser?
Unless they have mobility issues, in which case, they will be your client base

I've been a beauty therapist for 20 years with salons, I'm semi retired from that looking for a new challenge, however I still do clients at home which gives me a good income. I retrained at 30 and it was the best money I ever spent it's given me a fantastically lucrative career a great social work life balance and a lot of fun. Having said all that I retrained at a private college full time over a year and had my first salon a year after graduating, if I had my time again I would have gone to Toni and Guy and done their hairdressing course as I believe hair is more lucrative. That said I have seen a profession ruined by cheap offers, barely trained people and I feal strongly that you should do a really good course and be the best you can be, after training for a year on a Saturday you would ideally work in a salon to get valuable experience - I did retrain to be a barber and even though theoretically I should have been able to pick it up really well I found it impossible and I hated the hair !