While social media has its place as a great source of tips, tricks, and inspo, it can never replace hands-on learning, says seasoned salon trainer and mentor Mandy McCullough.
“If you’re about to go in for a surgery and ask your doctor how many times they’ve performed the procedure — and their response is, Don’t worry, I watched a video on TikTok — how confident would you be?” asks McCullough, a Sam Villa ambassador, Redken Artist, and owner of Fix Salon Seattle.
Experiential education is scientifically proven to not just teach new skills, but to anchor the lesson through real-life trial and error — something social media just can't do. It accelerates learning at a pace unmatched by watching videos.
A major benefit to live classes is working hands-on with tools of the trade, McCullough says — especially in learning new techniques with familiar tools, or being introduced to unfamiliar tools.
"Many young stylists use the same shears they received in cosmetology school," she says. "It’s not until they hold and use a different type that they understand how impactful and career-changing the right tool choice can be."
McCullough loves her mentor Sam Villa's approach to supplementing hands-on education with video tutorials and live online learning.
"He creates video education to get a viewer to lean in," she says, "and then encourages experiential experiences to ensure that a stylist has the fundamentals, and also has the confidence to personalize the technique and outcome."
Unlike social media, experiential education has a cost — usually money, and always time. With that in mind, here are McCullough's top five tips on how to get the most out of valuable in-person classes.
How to Maximize Hands-On Salon Education
- Identify What You Need To Learn. Target the topic and be specific when communicating your needs to the educator(s). Hold yourself accountable for engaging in 100 percent of the experience.
- Be Open to New Ideas. Don’t let old habits, stubbornness, or fear hold you back from a new experience. Taking a different approach is often scary, but you can only grow if you leave your comfort zone. What's super unfamiliar today might be your new comfort zone if you give it enough time.
- Make Mistakes. It's not enough to predict you might mess something up during a class — set yourself up for knowing you probably will, and that this is all part of experiential learning. Often, more is learned from what didn't go as expected versus what did. Again, push yourself out of your comfort zone to create an unexpected outcome that will elevate your skills.
- Keep Energy High. It's proven that you're more likely to remember and retain information if you go into a learning session with your physical and mental energy flowing. Be as well rested and fueled as possible when going into a class, and take some time beforehand to get in a positive state of mind.
- Celebrate the Wins. Whether large or small, anything that moves the needle is a win! Triumphs are not always what is expected, and anytime a student gets out of their comfort zone and learns something new is a cause for celebration.
Tune in weekly here for video tutorials from the Sam Villa team — and look around for hands-on classes that will get your juices flowing!