Hairstylist Career Information
Cosmetology Career Paths > Hairstylist Career Information
As a Hairstylist, you will be working with Guests to beautify their look. You are working with a large variety of services to offer your Guests. You are a well-rounded stylist that chooses to work with Guests from all ethnicities that want a range of services for their hair. Many Hairstylists choose this career path when they don’t want to limit themselves to a specialty. Many other Hairstylists start with this career choice out of school and choose a specialty down the line when they have gained more experience in the industry.
Duties & Responsibilities
- Haircutting
- Haircoloring
- Chemical Texture services
- Hairstyling
- Waxing
- Basic Facials
- Manicures and Pedicures
*Salary & Pay scale information
As a Hairstylist, you will have flexibility for your schedule. This career choice allows for FT, PT, Days, Evenings and weekends. Due to that, a Hairstylist’s pay scale ranges greatly. Hairstylists are paid in one of 3 ways: Commission, Booth/Suite rental or Hourly.
Glassdoor.com reports a very wide possible range of incomes for hairstylists, with an estimated total pay (including tips) at $82,316 as of 2022.
bls.gov also reports on employment and wages for hairstylists with their 2021 numbers for ‘Hairdressers, Hairstylist, and Cosmetologists’. The mean annual wage from BLS.gov’s 2021 report was $35,990.
Indeed.com reports on hourly earnings citing an average base pay of just over $20/ hour (with data from Pennsylvania, USA). Base pay typically does not include tips.
*We aggregated information from several reputable salary and pay scale reporting websites (click the links above to see details on their numbers), salaries vary depending on where you live, and demand in the area.
Education Requirements:
All states require a minimum amount of hours in school to gain license for that state. See our post on ‘how to become a cosmetologist‘ which includes the required licensing hours for each state we have a school in.
Key skills:
- Multi-Tasking
- Personable
- Great Guest Service
- Outgoing
- Great Listener
- Excitement for the Industry
Job Outlook
bls.gov reports that the overall employment of barbers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists is projected to grow by 19% between 2020 and 2030. This is a much faster rate of growth than many other professions.
Work Environment:
The Hairstylist could work in a number of environments. This very well rounded career path is also well rounded in where you work.
- Salon
- Spa
- Nail Salon
- Private suite
- Per state guidelines, you could have a mobile business
- Hotels/resort/cruises
Schedule:
- This is completely flexible depending on what you are looking for
- Many Hairstylists start out with working Evenings and Weekends to build their client base.
How To Get Started as a Hair Stylist
Most hair stylists start by attending and graduating from cosmetology school. Empire Beauty School offers cosmetology education to 21 states in the USA. Get started by requesting information on our application page.
Also be sure to check out our guide to getting started in cosmetology, which covers everything you need to know to start on a new career path in the cosmetology industry.