If you desire a career in the beauty industry, you may have been asking yourself if you should go to cosmetology school or makeup school. There’s confusion around this because until somewhat recently, it was simply assumed that a diploma from a cosmetology school was the only path to success in the beauty industry. Turns out: not true! Let’s break down the facts and clarify.
One aspect of this is black and white:
- If you want to work in a salon cutting and coloring hair, or performing facials and skin treatments in a spa setting, you must attain a cosmetology license from the state in which you plan to work. This will require attending a cosmetology school and obtaining a license from the State’s Board of Cosmetology.
- If you envision yourself as a makeup artist who works in freelance bridal or film and TV, a makeup school might be the better choice. It’s a common misunderstanding that a cosmetology license is required in this area. In most states, it simply is not.
Another common misconception is that a cosmetology program will also include makeup instruction. This is true to an extent, but by far the focus of those programs is cutting and coloring hair (or skin care). Makeup is touched on very briefly, but not enough for most to feel confident that they were actually trained. Makeup is in itself its own very specific art form and takes many hundreds of hours of instruction and thousands of hours of hands-on practice to master.
Before you commit to a time consuming program, think about what your personal career goals are. Consider what you would really love to do and where you would love to work. How do you want to work with makeup? From there, do the research to discover if a particular school will meet your needs. We here at AMUA offer not only beauty and bridal makeup, but also special effects and wig design!
