What I Learned From Beauty School

Hi lovelies,

I've now been finished my nail course for a week and a half, and I thought I might put together a post about what I learned from my experiences.

I went to the WA Academy, which I would highly recommend for anyone in Perth looking to go down that route. I found my lecturers lovely and very knowledgeable and the whole academy was very professional looking but also very welcoming.

Those towels so did not look like that! I know because I had to fold a lot!

So, onto what I learnt. For this post, I'm going to keep it very general and more focused on my experience as a whole, rather than stuff that I learnt in regards to nails. I think I'll talk more on that later.



1. There is an incredible range of people that decide to become beauty therapists. Contrary to my father's belief, it's not all 'blonde bimbos' that go there (his words not mine and it makes me feel ashamed even typing those words - he couldn't be further from the truth). I met a girl that was only just starting year 11 this year and had always wanted to become a beauty therapist. Her mum and her had to drive over 2 hours every Monday morning in order to get her get here. I met a girl that had worked as a manager for a retail store for many years before deciding suddenly that she wanted to become a beauty therapist. I met mothers that were finally looking to restart their own careers after years of raising kids. I met a grandmother who wanted to do something again - she wasn't looking to retire now. I met women of all races and ages and I even met women that weren't blonde! (I haven't yet told my father this shocking bit of information - I thought it would be too much for him.

2. It's a lot harder than I expected. I'm not going to lie, I am smart. I went to a school for smart people and I did think my course was going to be a breeze. It was only 8 weeks of two days a week - how hard could it be? Well, it was a lot harder than I expected. It was different learning than I was used to. I had always done theoretical subjects (except for than one bad choice of doing music in year 11) and practical is a lot harder! You can't go back and change your answer in a test if you decide 5 minutes later that it's wrong. And I found that really challenging, especially as someone that has issues with control. However, I suppose other bits of the course  made up for that bit, which leads me to number 3...

Source here. This is what I got when I put detailed and in depth into google images. :)

3. It was a lot more detailed and in depth than I expected. To be honest, I din't really know what to expect, just not that we would need to know all the bones and muscles in the arms and the legs, as they would be in our final assessment. That's a lot of bones. But, I was okay with that bit because I understand biology, biology is familiar. It's just a lot of memorisation and that is something I can do. And also, I was glad they went into so much depth, it cemented for me my belief that this was just as valid as any other job.

4. Being around people all learning different things made me want to do everything! I literally have never had an interest in waxing (have never even been waxed myself), but after hearing some girls talk about the course, it sounded so interesting! I suddenly caught myself thinking 'That sounds interesting, I could do that'. The amount of courses they offer is amazing and I just wanted to try everything. However, I restrained myself, although I am seriously looking into doing their make-up course.

Source here

5. It quelled my worries that I had made a mistake in choosing to do physiotherapy. In the manicure and pedicure unit, we had to learn a bit about massage and why we do it, the benefits of doing it and how to give an arm and leg massage. I found this bit really interesting in terms manipulating the human body and learning how to best help it and it is still my favourite bit of doing manicures and pedicures. This made me a little more reassured that physiotherapy is the right choice for me.

6. As awful and terrible as it sounds, going to beauty school helped prove to me that the achievements I had achieved in school and in the way of university options was good enough. In the school I went to, getting a mark of 80% was a standard achievement. It was good, but there were always people that were just that bit better. There was always a higher bar to reach for. Even getting into physiotherapy, which is a fairly difficult course to get into, didn't warrant getting excited over because I knew people that had topped the state in one (or more) of their subjects. I knew people that talked about having 'a relaxed year' because they had an assured pathway of medicine. Medicine! That is not relaxing! (And I kid you not, one of my friends actually used the words 'a relaxed year' while talking about their medicine degree. At beauty school, I met people that hadn't finished high school but had left in year ten to do an apprenticeship or come here. They all seemed very impressed by me going to do physio next year. And isn't it awful to think that their reactions were the only thing that proved to me that what I had done was good enough?

7. People are more diverse than they are often given credit for. Again, I think this comes from my mother's and father's views on people that wear make-up. They seem to think that the more make-up you wear, the more superficial you are. And, while I know this in a theoretical sense, I think I still harboured a subconscious belief that this was true. Being around women that did wear a lot of make-up but also were funny, intellectual and interesting really helped dispel this belief for me once and for all.

All that is about all I can think of in general terms. I think I will be doing some posts of more specific nail things later because I learnt so much and want to share it all with you guys! :)

Until next time,