A question for MUAs who do hair, too...

Nov 20, 2012

Andrea S.

Hi guys,

I'm very happy with my make-up kit, and have everything I need. However I've been learning a lot of hairdressing at college and would like to offer hair styling services to my clients too; but I don't know where to start with buying my own equipment.

Besides brushes and combs, what equipment would be the most useful for me to start off with?

Thanks for reading, hope some of you more experienced artists can point me in the right direction.

Nov 20, 2012

Liz H.

i'm a fairly new hair stylist & just graduated cosmetology school 3 months ago, but i've been around a lot of hair stylists and have done a good amount of on-site hair and make-up jobs the past year and have learned a lot in terms of hair styling. definitely get a 1" marcel curling iron and a flat iron, or if you're on a strict budget you can just get a flat iron since you can curl with those as well, hot tools is a great brand because their styling tools are good quality and pretty affordable. make sure to have plenty of bobby pins and hair pins, rubber bands, etc. for updos. also i would recommend for products to get a good working spray, it really helps when curling hair that has a fine texture and doesn't hold a curl well (my favorite is Worked Up from Paul Mitchell) and a firm hold finishing spray (my favorites are Paul Mitchell Extra Body Firm Finishing Spray and Big Sexy Hair Spray & Stay) but it's all about trial & error and finding products that work best for you. also maybe carry around a lookbook of hair styles that you are comfortable with doing incase a client doesn't know what she wants, since you do make-up i'm sure you know communication is key to a happy client. i did a lot of updos during prom season and quite a few girls wanted hair accessories, so maybe having some cute bows, flowers, and stuff like that is a good idea as well. i hope this helps, good luck!!

Nov 20, 2012

Andrea S.

Oh wow thank you so much for all the info, you've really helped me out! I have this:http://www.ukhairdressers.com/store/details.asp?ID=CoriolissGlamourWandRedLeopard do you think that'll be OK for my curling iron? I do have a flat iron but they aren't GHDs and they don't get really hot so I'll have to invest in one of those. I am terrible with updos, I'm a huge fan of complicated-looking updos so I'll need to practice A LOT...

Nov 21, 2012

Liz H.

curling wands are awesome, i love using them for hair styling, so that would be perfect! updos definitely take a lot of practice, i would recommend investing in a mannequin head and just playing around with it whenever you have free time, you can find them pretty cheap on amazon. i'm glad i could help out :)

Nov 24, 2012

Ariel T.

ive been styling for about a year since i graduated school. when I started I just threw myself into it so it was trial and error to the extreme. but thankfully I had a lot of open minded friends and clients. so what I recommend would be tons of clips, hair gloss, at least two sized curling irons and know how to use them, two flat irons one small and one regular size, blow dryer round brush one for short one for long hair, a firm hold spray and a soft spray, rubberbands, confidence, and just have fun with your client. ive made a huge growth by just throwing myself through every open door and the more you do that the more doors will open. also YouTube has saved my life a few times too with clients who needed something that I was unsure of. but seriously be confident and happy to be where you are at all times even if its in someones kitchen curling their hair for grandmas 80th birthday party. hope this helps ♥