Mentorship, or muscle memory in mistakes.
"If you just jump right in, you pick up bad habits. You do things just to get by, but you really don't know what you're doing, and then you make mistakes that you don't even realize you're making. What happens over time is that you build muscle memory in mistakes."
"I don't think there's a right or a wrong path. Your mentorship path will really set you up for success. Finding that salon that is education focused, and really taking their time to train you properly and not rushing you to get behind a chair when you don't have the confidence or the repetition to give the clients what they're looking for."
Nina Pelfini. Nina got her own license through a two-year, 2,400-hour apprenticeship, assisting a mentor full time on the floor. It is the model Bilancio has run since 2008.
Weekly training breakdown
Ten weeks. Written down. Worked through with your mentor.
Shampoo bowl routines
Our technique, choosing your products, hair masques, shampooing extension hair
Rooting and toning
Application, rooting and toning techniques, timing
Blow drying
Hair types, techniques and volume control
Iron work
Barrel sizes, flat iron, curl type and techniques
Color theory
Mixing Aveda color, working with Shades EQ
Cutting
Square, round, point cutting, thinning, razor, bangs
Assisting on the floor
Rows, foils, and guest care alongside your mentor
Color technique: new growth
Color technique: new growth weave
Highlighting
Techniques and patterns
Aveda color theory
We are Aveda Artists. You learn to mix and formulate the line, work with Shades EQ, and build color for a skin tone rather than copy a swatch.
Vidal Sassoon cutting
Square, round, point cutting, thinning, razor, bangs. Shapes that balance a face, taught the way Nina was taught.
The NBR® method
Natural Beaded Rows® is licensed and taught by DKW Styling. Assisting on installs and re-tightens here is how you get the repetitions before you ever pursue the certification yourself.
After the ten weeks
The breakdown is the floor, not the ceiling. After it, you keep assisting, you start taking guests for the services you are signed off on, and you build your book inside the salon's. The chair comes when the work is ready. Nina decides that with you, not a calendar.
If you want to see it before you commit to anything, shadow a day.