Committed to a Leadership Role in Beauty Education
Over the past 18 years, the Salon Success Academy has been a leading member of the beauty school industry in southern California. Not content to sit back and enjoy their success, President and Owner, Robert Gross and Education Director, Susan Turner, started testing an enterprising program in October 2008 to improve the Salon Success Academy (SSA) brand name and image by adding value to the school's already superlative beauty education.
Bob and Susan also have a commitment to achieving a longer term goal for the school: offering Advanced Education classes to a number of different audiences, including Salon Success graduates, those who've graduated from other beauty schools, and salon professionals who want to sharpen their skills, and stay up-to-date with the latest techniques.
To help get their program underway, they recruited Jerry Tyler who has been a beautician, a beauty salon proprietor, a teacher, and an industry spokesman for the past 35 years. Jerry has been giving demonstrations at Salon Success’ five campuses since October 2008. Jerry coined his demonstration series "Advanced Classics".
Jerry's expert training demonstration is presented to Salon Success students as well as the instructors. Both groups receive the same training, according to Jerry, so that everybody is "on the same page", but because instructors must have the ability to teach the material in-depth, their training goes a step further; instructors have to know the reasons behind what they teach students. Due to their hands-on experience in the industry, instructors exercise their skills with very little apparent effort. Jerry teaches the instructors to be ready to respond to the Why from their students: why do we teach this technique, why are we concerned with this, why is it important, and so on.
Jerry continues extensive two-hour demonstrations that cover theory, product comprehension, cutting, finishing and coloring techniques. Primarily, Jerry stresses the school's (along with his own) belief that alongside technical abilities, having personal and professional capabilities is essential to realizing a high level of accomplishment in the beauty business. Susan says , "Jerry's background in the beauty industry, along with his own success story and his passion for the industry inspires the students, especially when he is dealing with freshmen."
Jerry continues, "When we started doing the demonstration series, I was working with upperclassmen. Now, Bob, Susan and I agree that working with students in their freshmen year is considerably more effective." And Jerry goes on to say, “Beginning students are like an empty glass or a blank canvas; it's much easier to teach them correctly when they've had only 200 to 300 hours of training."
Bob and Susan have no doubt that their determination to raise SSA to an even higher level of excellence, along with Jerry's in-depth knowledge of the industry, motivational talent and presentation skills, will put Salon Success in an ideal position to become the foremost beauty school in the industry.
Demonstrating The Method
The basic foundation of cutting hair is shown by Jerry as he demonstrates The Method. He teaches his class the ways in which to break down any haircut. According to Jerry, students will have to know what they are doing and when, since the haircut IS now the basis of any hairstyle. This wasn't always the case. Prior to the mid-60s, styling hair was the foundation and cutting was secondary.
A radical shift started to occur in U.S. culture in the latter part of the 1960s,because of the women's movement and the large number of so-called "baby boomers" who were just beginning their professional careers. Women no longer wanted to go to a salon on a weekly basis and spend an hour under a dryer. Their requirements were fashionable styles that required a minimum of maintenance. In the 1970s, famous stylist Vidal Sassoon changed the European beauty scene. Sassoon started the trend of modern hairdressing by coming up with the notion that the foundation of every hairstyle is the haircut. The Method was introduced by Sassoon to train beauty students in the how-to of breaking a haircut down. Jerry says, "If you look at the foundation of all excellent cutters, they apply The Method in one version or another, even if they are not aware that they do this."
Sassoon relocated to America in the early 80s and brought along his industry-famous techniques of cutting hair. The challenge facing Sassoon was finding a way to instruct Americans lacking formal experience in hair-cutting in these methods. Sassoon's history exemplifies meeting and exceeding the challenge. Sassoon is widely thought by the beauty trade to be the inventor of contemporary hair styling.
Instructor Training
Jerry expects a lot from instructors. "Instructors' attitudes in the past have been that they were the reason students attend class. I stress that the instructor has to understand that they must answer to their students, who also happen to be their customers," Jerry states.
Jerry's training gets adapted on the basis of the professor's past experiences. Jerry says, "Part-time instructors are trade specialists with salon know-how; I have to train them on the way to clarify and provide details about their job, since frequently they are performing it basically from memory and their own past experience. By contrast, the full-time instructor has lacked 'behind the chair' experience and been deeply involved in an educational climate." Jerry stated that these trainers need to be brought up to date on the advances in the business.
As competency is very important in hairdressing, particularly in the area of haircutting, Jerry is convinced that instructors need to be aware of imparting more than solely knowledge. Twenty percent content and 80% competency make up hairdressing. According to Jerry, "Cutting hair should be looked at as a craft, not as an art. Art comes in the design, the application; doing it is a craft that requires discipline, attention and focus."
Training the Student
Mastery of the technical skills of cutting, finishing and coloring must be attained and perfected by the student in order to meet graduation requirements, as well as for passing the State Boards. The technical skills are needed to attain the position of a licensed beauty specialist. Just as important, students of the Salon Success program must learn and master the "nuts and bolts" of the trade, which are professional and personal skills like consultations, making first impressions, up-servicing, pre-booking, and of course, customer service. These skills are the foundation to creating and keeping a loyal clientele.
While "Advanced Classics" remains a success with students and instructors alike, Bob, Susan and Jerry are now working on the logistics of integrating the material into the regular 1600-hour Cosmetology course.
Advanced Education
Along with his continuing series of "Advanced Classics" demonstrations, Jerry is also collaborating with Bob and Susan to develop a business plan for offering advanced training classes to students at Salon Success Academies. Jerry asserted that there will be authentic post-graduate courses, such as advanced esthetics and advanced haircutting.
Bob and Susan have shown their commitment to lifelong learning by offering Advanced Classes with their beauty program courses. Bob, Susan and Jerry all feel that passing the State Boards gives SSA students "the license and opportunity to learn for their entire lives." Jerry goes on to say that, "To grow and move forward in the beauty industry, you must continually educate yourself; if you stop, you die."
About Jerry Tyler
Jerry Tyler is the current President of the California State Board of Cosmetology. He owns the 35-unit Carlton Hair and holds a position there as Director of Education and Industry Relations. Carlton was founded in South Africa four decades ago, and they've been doing business in the United States now, for over 30 years. Started in 1982, Jerry has been an Educator for the chain since the beginning.
During his long and successful career, Jerry has never been away from "behind the chair" for any extensive period. "In the final analysis, my success depends on my customers. I have evolved and changed, right along with the industry, over time, and I am able to offer this history to my students."
