Learning to cut hair is an art, and there are two ways to learn this art. You either opt for self-learning or a barber school. But we recommend the self-teaching option, and this article will list down all the reasons you should opt for self-teaching rather than attending barber school.
Key factors that impact your choice to become a barber
The decision to either go for barber school or self-teaching option depends on various factors, including the following
Money
One of the most significant factors that influence our decisions is money. While deciding your learning method, keep your finance in mind.
An average barber school costs between $10000 to $20000, and the price depends on various factors like the duration; of course, programs included your state's location and requirements.
Someone would like to choose self-teaching because it is free, and they do not require any initial capital.
Time management
On average, a barber school requires you to attend the course for 1500 hours, i-e ten months. However, it is a long commitment, and some of us do not have that much spare time.
Hobby
If you want to learn cutting hair just as a hobby, it is best to learn by yourself rather than attending a barber school.
Flexibility
Flexibility is the crucial factor while deciding whether to opt for a barber school or self-teaching. The significant benefit of self-learning is you can learn how to cut hair at your own pace. While at the barber school you have to learn according to the course requirements.
Choosing whether you want to learn hair cutting technique at home or attending a barber school entirely depends on you.
Can I earn money as a self-taught barber?
Absolutely, yes, you can make decent money as an amateur barber. However, to earn money by learning to cut hairs by yourself, you have to masters a few things. We have enlisted a few essential requirements that are needed to be good at your skill.
Become a good barber!
The first and foremost rule of making money from any skill is that you have to be good at it. Similarly, when it comes to making money as a self-taught barber, you must be excellent at your job. As you learn to be a barber for free, you must keep looking for free options to enhance and polish your skill.
Consistently practice and learn
Consistency is the most significant feature of any business. Customers measure your performance by your character to deliver excellent service every time. Moreover, you have to be the man of your word. Your reputation as a good barber depends on you being where you promise to be. Being consistent in your job is the ultimate key to success.
Learn how to market yourself
In this age of technology and social media, marketing is the most sought after trait of any business. It is highly imperative to market yourself and your work to get fame and clients. Upload pictures of haircuts you have provided to your customers and let the world know your talent.
Always make your customer your foremost priority; your services should be customer-oriented. If you follow all the tips mentioned above, you will indeed earn fame as a talented barber.
Benefits of teaching yourself barbering
Learning any skill will benefit you in the future if you learn it with utter dedication, and you believe the particular gift is for you.
How much money can you earn (income)
Income is the most crucial deciding factor when it comes to learning any skill for free. If you are in college, you want to manage your expenses, learning a free skill is the best possible option. When you learn a skill like, in this case, cutting hairs, you have the option apart from your studies.
You can turn the particular skill into your full-time income source and keep on polishing it with time. You can choose to earn side money by learning hair cutting skills. Learning a skill for free gives you a source to lower your financial burdens to some extent, without investing anything.
Furthermore, you get to have all the income earn from the skill, and you do not have to split it or share it with anyone else.
The freedom to work where and how you want
When you learn a skill by yourself, you get to be the boss of your own. You don't have to answer anyone, and you will be the deciding factor as to how to run your barber business.
Learning to cut hair for free also gives you the freedom to choose. You can cut your hair at home and don't have to pay at the barbershop. In pandemics like Covid 19, the ability to cut your hair is like a blessing when all the barbershops are closed to practice social distancing.
If you want to enjoy the flexibility, opt to learn hair cutting skills yourself for free. There are the following flexibility options available to you if you choose to be a self-taught barber.
You get the freedom to choose which customer base you want to serve and what kind of customers you want.
Scheduling client appointments
While working as a self-taught barber, you get to schedule the customers' appointments by yourself. You can schedule all the appointments according to your ease and convenience.
When you transition over to working at a barbershop, there will be an expectation to work a set number of hours, but like any business, you have good ones and bad ones. The best barbershops give you flexible hours, and the worst ones keep you late on Friday nights, weekends and public holidays.
Learn how to be a barber at your own pace:
When you choose to learn to be a barber all by yourself, you can select the learning pace. You get to decide how much time you take to learn and how much knowledge you require.
It is always prudent to first search within you as to whether you want this or not. If you choose to learn cutting hairs without any interest, you most likely end up frustrated.
Things You Need To Be A Self-Taught Barber
When you choose to learn hair cutting for free, here are a few things that will help you keep learning. All the things mentioned below are essential for your journey towards self-learning to cut hair.
You will need self-confidence
No matter what you do, always do it with confidence. Along with learning the technique, keep on practising so enhance your confidence.
When you have a chance to cut someone's hair in a style they requested it, should should have practised this many times before. Having confidence comes from self-learning and also real-world experience, so don't expect to be perfect, but be prepared.
You will need volunteers for practice
To practice your learning, you need hairs to practice and have to look for the volunteers. To volunteers, you can announce free haircuts to senior homes and your colleagues.
We have mentioned a few key ingredients that are essential to make you the best barber. All you need is to take one step and keep on moving forward with motivation and will.
To learn by yourself online you will need a reliable internet connection
For your free barbering classes, you must have a reliable internet source and a compatible device. You need the internet to grasp the information out there through videos, podcasts, and articles. As far as the device is concerned, you can choose whatever device you find comfortable.do acquire a device that is capable of handling information stored in it.
You will need willpower to push through the good days and the bad
Nothing could be achieved in this world unless you got utter motivation, dedication, and will. Your will is going to push you through your hard times and keep you going.
Record your experience and thoughts in a journal
When it comes to learning some skill, it is prudent to go old school. So, for learning barbering for free, grab a pen and paper and note down what you learn to retain full information.
Be patient while you learn and have fun
Learning any new skill for free could be frustrating as you have to find answers to your questions. While learning to cut hair for free, you might meet frustration at various points as you also need to find the places to cut hair and even people for practice.
Remember that you are doing this for a reason, so you can have fun while you do it. Learning how to become a barber is all about 'the journey' and not the end result.
You will need to buy a pair of hair cutting tools
You can never master your skill unless you have the right tools with you. Before initiating a self-learning journey to learn the hair cutting technique, make sure you have straight razors, edge liners, trimmers, and shears.
Browse our collection of student and apprentice hair cutting scissors for barbers here!
The steps to becoming a self-taught barber
Looking for ways to learn to cut hairs for free? We got you covered as we have gathered all the possible ways to learn barbering for free. The best and the most authentic way to learn cutting hair for free is through the internet while sitting at home. Here are a few ways that offer free hair cutting lessons.
Free online barber training courses
There are plenty of resources that offer free training and educational courses on becoming a barber. We have listed a few of the best online barber courses here:
- Jatai: Barber Online Education (FREE)
- Study.com: Online Barber Courses, Classes and Training Programs
- HowToCutHair.tv: Free Online Barber Training
There are plenty more, and the best thing to do is to learn the fundamentals from these online courses, then create a plan on how to continue self teaching yourself. This may include:
- Create a list of hair cutting techniques to learn.
- Find videos and online articles on how to cut hair this way.
- Write out the cutting process on paper to better understand.
- Attempt this new hair cutting technique on a mannequin.
- Attempt this new hair cutting technique on a volunteer.
YouTube
YouTube offers you a vast space to find videos regarding hair cutting tutorials. You can learn the basic technique through these tutorials and then get into the real world for practice.
Some of the best places to get inspiration and education on how to teach yourself barbering is on YouTube. Some good barber channels include:
A lot of tutorials are available on YouTube, but it can be overwhelming for people teaching themselves how to become a barber. Learn the fundamentals through a structured course, then transition over to YouTube where you can educate yourself on specific styles.
Forums like Reddit
There are various barber forums available on the internet. These forums are a great source to find valuable tips, techniques, experiences, and ideas. You can learn the latest cutting techniques, trending hairstyles, latest tools, and equipment through the forums. You can learn a valuable amount of information by visiting these forums.
Barbering Articles
Articles offer a great source of information, just like writing down. Reading will help you to retain the information for a more extended period. Moreover, you can find information much faster through articles rather than watching videos. We suggest you include reading hair cutting-related articles while learning the skill for better understanding and learning.
Social following
Watching other barbers' work will give you some ideas about how the work needs to be done. Follow your favourite artist on social media and acquire valuable tips. If you opt for self-learning, you should opt for social media marketing to promote your skill.
Watch and ask professional barbers
When you choose to learn by visiting the barbershop, it will educate you quite enough about the skill. You can also ask the barber any query you want to ask.
Watching a professional barber at work would give you immense information regarding this business. You can learn how to communicate with the clients, which brand tools to use, cut hair, and many more valuable lessons just by noticing quietly. You must also pay close attention to what kind of hairstyles are in demand and practice those at home.
Keep practising
Practice will help you to learn and polish your skill. However, being a self-learned barber, it would be a bit of a problem to find someone who willing to let you cut their hair.
But there is always one volunteer available that is you. You can practice the cutting technique on your strands. Once you learn the method, then you can ask people to volunteer for your practice.
All the sources, as mentioned above, are a great way to learn hair cutting for free. You can use all or some of the sources mentioned above to learn to be a good barber and cut hair like a professional. The online training is a free source to learn the highly demanding skill and finance your expenses. So are you ready to be a self-taught barber?
How do you find this article? Do let us know by commenting in the comment section below.
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Comments
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I’ve asked my dad, my brother, my cousin, every male relative that lives close by along with some of my closest friends to be my guinea pigs. They went through some not very successful haircuts just so they could help me to up my game and in the end it finally paid off. You have to be patient and resourceful as things rarely come off perfect from your first try.
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I’ve started offering home haircutting services for toddlers that were uneasy to step in a barbershop and then expanded to having my own brick and mortar business. Guess what? Former clients still ask for a home cut to this day, despite it happening more than four years ago. Moral of the story: you always want to go back to a barber that over delivered.
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