What Qualifications Do I Need To Become A Hairdresser?

Are you a creative soul with great listening skills who loves making people feel amazing?

Then, becoming a hairdresser might be a fantastic career choice for you!

A career as a hairdresser can be extremely fulfilling financially, emotionally, and socially. 

As a hairdresser, you’ll become the confidant of your loyal customers while helping them feel better about themselves. You’ll always be in demand, and best of all, as a qualified hairdresser, you’ll be able to command over $90,000 a year.

So, to help you in this exciting journey, we’ve highlighted below some of the main responsibilities you’ll have as a hairdresser before deep-diving into the qualifications you’ll need.

What Does A Hairdresser Do?

Hairdressers are hair experts skilled at making their clients feel good by enhancing their appearance through cutting, trimming, colouring, or styling their hair.

Some of their daily responsibilities include:

• Greeting and welcoming clients
• Maintaining a clean workstation
• Discussing clients’ needs and preferences
• Advising clients on suitable haircuts, hair colours, and hairstyles based on their features and lifestyle
• Cutting, trimming, dyeing, and shaping clients’ hair
• Shampooing, conditioning, and drying clients’ hair
• Cleaning and sterilising workstation and equipment after use
• Processing payments and booking appointments

What Qualifications Do I Need To Become A Hairdresser?

There are a few ways for you to become a hairdresser. You can start with an apprenticeship in a salon. This usually takes three to four years to complete, or you can enrol in a Certificate II in Salon Assistant or a Certificate III in Hairdressing at a Registered Training Organisation. 

Certificate II is a great stepping stone as you’ll learn the basics to becoming a qualified hairdresser later. 

Certificate III is a nationally-accredited certificate that will allow you to learn the latest cutting, styling, and colouring techniques along with communication and customer service skills to build a loyal clientele. 

And one of the perks of this certificate is that you’ll also be able to open your own salon if you want to! And, of course, if you want to further your business skills to help you run a successful operation, you can also enrol in a Diploma of Salon Management.

Want To Open Your Own Hairdressing Salon?

Once you’re a qualified hairdresser and have gained the expertise required to deliver outstanding services to your clients, why not open your own hairdressing salon?

If you choose to go down this path, here are a few steps to follow:

• Choose your business structure and apply for an ABN
• Register your business name
• Obtain a salon license
• Choose your location
• Invest in hairdressing equipment
• Identify your ideal customer and define your unique selling point
• Select the marketing channels you’ll use to promote your services

And after all that hard work, the last thing you want is to deal with expensive third-party claims and associated legal fees. That’s why you need to protect your business with business insurance.

Jump on our free instant quote generator, where you can get an estimate on market-leading insurance in seconds. 

Simply enter your occupation and expected revenue to get started.