How to become a Barber with no qualifications
Becoming a barber can often be a confusing or daunting prospect, but the first thing you must understand is that learning how to become a barber without qualifications is perfectly legal and absolutely possible.
In this guide, I’ll explain how I became a barber with no qualifications and opened a barbershop and a barber school.
My journey to becoming a barber
I watched a YouTube video of this guy who was a barber and he’s talking about his lifestyle and I liked the look of it.
So, I watched a few “how to become a barber” videos on YouTube and didn’t think it looked that hard to learn.
I knew I didn’t want to go to Barber school, and I wanted to be sure that not having any qualifications will not affect me getting hired.
Long story short, I bought a cheap pair of clippers and started fading some mates.
I figured that fading hair wasn’t that difficult so I started approaching Barbershops. I lied about how long I’d been cutting hair for and I managed to wriggle my way into a shop.
Here’s where it gets interesting.
I learned how to Barber on paying clients in someone's shop.
I would do the consultation with the client to find out what haircut they wanted, go in the back to “make a tea or coffee” I’d type in their haircut into Youtube, watch the video on 2x speed, memorise everything I just saw, then go out and do it.
That’s how I learned how to become a Barber with no qualifications.
Ballsy?
Maybe.
But it worked.
To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult to learn the basics.
If I could learn how to become a Barber from random YouTube videos, with the pressure of paying clients and no real instruction, imagine what you can do with proper guidance.
Anyway.
What about formal qualifications?
Another important factor about learning how to become a Barber with no qualifications is that, Barbering in the UK, there’s no legal requirement to hold a formal qualification.
I legally opened a shop and a Barber school without any Barbering qualifications.
None of the students we hire from our Barber school have any Barber qualifications and many of them have gone on to travel the world and open their own shops without Barbering qualifications.
Does that mean to say that the Barber courses that offer qualifications are all useless?
Yes and no.
Yes, because the time it takes for you to obtain a formal qualification to become a Barber is ridiculous.
You have to risk and quit your current job to learn full-time.
They expect you to plough hundreds of hours into learning about:
Nits
Dandruff
Ringworm
Shampooing
Conditioning
Putting a pattern in…
And a bunch of other tick box exercises that all take away time you could be spending on learning how to become a barber.
The question I would ask is:
If it’s not a legal requirement to have a formal Barbering qualification, what’s the point of them?
Money.
Barber colleges get paid a handsome figure of around £10,000 from the government to pass students.
So you can bet your behind they will get as many students in as possible and pass as many as possible.
They’re financially incentivized to “pass” as many students as possible with no real care whether you’re a good Barber or not.
Barbering qualifications mean nothing.
I even have a guy sending his daughter to learn Barbering with us after spending 2 years at Barber school because she doesn't know how to cut hair and can’t get a job.
2 years!
What a waste of time.
I’ve got students who did our Barber school and opened their own shop within 12 months.
Additionally.
I have never once asked anyone who's applied to work with us, or who we’ve hired: “Have you got a barbering qualification?”
In fact, if someone came to us for a job waving their barbering qualification around, they’d be the last Barber I’d hire.
I’ve seen too many people leave Barbering school, having paid thousands, having spent years, and having quit their job to learn and think they can walk into a shop because they have a barbering qualification, yet they’re so bad at cutting hair, they don’t understand a thing about Barbering in the real world, they would be the last person I’d hire because I know how much more I’m going to have to train them up.
So, when is a Barbering qualification not useless?
If your parents are paying for your course, and they want to see some kind of piece of paper at the end of it for some reason. Then fine, I guess you've got to go for what the person paying wants. But I’d try to fight your case as much as possible first. Show them this Email/article/video
2. You live in a country where you need to have your Barbering qualifications.
That’s all there is.
The biggest problem of them all though, is this:
The amount of time it takes.
For example, I have a student learning with me now called Marshelle.
Marshelle tried the Barber school route and found herself sitting in a classroom full of kids who weren’t sure if they wanted to be there.
The worst part?
Marshelle was there for 3 months and didn’t touch any clippers or scissors.
Marshelle almost gave up until she got on the phone with me.
Now, Marshelle is 4 weeks into her classes with me and she’s already done a number of haircuts and ready to start taking on clients.
Now it’s up to you to decide, do you want to sit in a class, talking about nits and dandruff for months, or do you just want to cut hair and crack on with your new Barbering career sooner rather than later?
Only you can make that choice.
Also.
If you’re gagging for a Barbering qualification, I have a solution for you.
Some of our students have learned how to become Barbers with us and then done these night Barber school-type things where they assess their haircuts. They don’t really teach you how to cut hair. They just assess how good you are at cutting hair, and they will sign you off with some basic qualifications.
They start at about £104 depending on the location. They will give you your Barbering level 2…
But it takes around 230 hours.
Here’s my recommendation
Learn how to become a barber with people who are at the peak of their careers. Who has done exactly what it is that you want to do, like open a shop or travel or something? At that point, you can decide if you want to get your qualification for Barbering or not.
99% of the time, you’ll realise that you’re already a Barber, and you won’t want to waste your time getting Barber qualifications when you could be spending that time in a shop doing the real thing.
So, here’s your plan to becoming a Barber with no qualifications
Download my Free “How to Skin Fade” video tutorial: here
Watch it. Try it on a friend. If you like it, you can apply to become a Barber through my personal Barbering mentorship program by applying here
Fair warning, though…
I do not just accept anyone into my course.
You have to apply.
Then, hop on a call to see if you qualify.
If you qualify, you’ll have the opportunity to join.
Nathshapes