Hairdresser and Colourist (Cosmetologist) CV Examples & Writing Guide

A CV for a qualified stylist with a full column who wants a commission chair at a better salon. It leads with qualification and specialism, then the numbers an owner cares about. The person and salons are invented; the figures are the kind sitting in your booking software right now.

A chair costs the owner money whether or not it is busy. Everything on your CV is read against one question: can this person fill it and keep it full.

• Your qualification level. There is no licence to cut hair in the UK, so owners check for an NVQ or VRQ Level 2 or 3 or a completed apprenticeship. If you trained abroad, say what the course covered, as a foreign licence title may mean little to a UK owner.
• Which services you can do alone. Colour correction, balayage, curly cutting, extensions, keratin, men's clipper work and bridal all get priced differently. An owner is building a menu, not hiring a generalist.
• Clientele. How many regulars you have, whether they will follow you, and how many new clients you attract yourself. Say it plainly; owners assume nothing.
• Rebooking and retail. These two numbers separate a stylist who is busy from one who is profitable, and most applicants never mention either.

“Show me three numbers and you are ahead of nearly everyone: how many guests a week, what percentage rebook, and what your retail is. I can look at a portfolio and see if you can do hair. I cannot see from photos whether people come back.”

You do not need a licence to work as a hairdresser in the UK, so owners judge you on your training: an NVQ or VRQ Level 2 or 3 in Hairdressing from an awarding body such as VTCT or City & Guilds, or a hairdressing apprenticeship built on the national standards first set by HABIA. The Hair Council keeps a voluntary register of state registered hairdressers. Write yours precisely and never round up.

• Format it as qualification, level, awarding body and year: "Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Hairdressing, VTCT, 2022". Add Hair Council registration on the same line if you hold it, but do not publish your registration number on a CV you post online.
• If you are still at college or on an apprenticeship, write your expected completion date and your final assessment date. Salons hire ahead of completion, especially for assistant roles.
• If you have passed some units but not your final practical assessments, say where you are in the course rather than implying you are qualified.
• Trained abroad: give the qualification name, the country and what it covered (hours, colour, cutting, chemical services). Some salons and insurers ask what it compares to in UK levels, so be ready to explain.
• Separate qualifications matter. Barbering, beauty therapy and nail qualifications are separate from hairdressing in the UK, and your insurance covers the services your training covers. List each one you actually hold.
• Ongoing education: many salons expect regular colour and brand training. If you keep it current, note it.

Do not write "customer service, teamwork, attention to detail". Write what you can be booked for. Group it so an owner can match it to their menu in one pass.

Your booking software already has all of these. Pull a report before you apply.

• Clients per week and total clients in your column, plus how long it took to build it.
• Rebooking rate: the percentage who book their next appointment before leaving. Anything above about 70% is worth stating.
• Average bill, and how it compares to the salon average.
• Retail sales per month and retail-to-service ratio. Ten per cent is a common salon target.
• New client count per week and new client retention past the second visit.
• Review score and review count, especially reviews that name you.
• Redo rate, particularly for colour. A low redo rate is quiet proof of good consultation.
• How much of your clientele will move with you, stated honestly. Owners discount inflated claims immediately.

The usual mistake is describing what any stylist does. Replace duties with volume, specialism and result.

Three lines under your name. Qualification, specialism, numbers. Use a career objective instead if you have just finished college or an apprenticeship or are changing direction, because you have intent rather than history to describe.

This is the most searched version of this CV, and it is easier than it looks. Salons hire newly qualified stylists constantly, usually into assistant or graduate programmes. You are not competing on clientele, so compete on evidence of skill and reliability.

1. 1Count your college salon services. Your college or training provider tracks them. "Completed 340 supervised services including 90 colour applications and 55 chemical texture services" is real experience, and almost nobody writes it.
2. 2Put your qualification level or final assessment date at the top. Owners plan their floor around when you will be qualified and insured to take clients alone.
3. 3Build a portfolio of 20 to 40 photos before you apply. Model heads and training head work are acceptable, but say which is which. Good lighting matters more than the number of images.
4. 4List your product lines and any brand education you have done, even a single class. It signals you will keep learning.
5. 5Use any previous job for the parts that transfer: retail selling, cash handling, scheduling, working weekends, dealing with unhappy customers. Salon work is retail work with scissors.
6. 6Say what hours you can work. Late nights, Saturdays and the run-up to Christmas are when salons are busiest, and availability often decides between two similar new stylists.

One page. Salons rarely use applicant tracking software, so a little visual style is fine, but readability wins over decoration and many owners still print CVs.

• Link your portfolio in the contact line. For most stylists that is an Instagram handle, and owners will look at it before they read anything else.
• Show before-and-after pairs, not just finished shots. Colour correction and curly work are only impressive with the before.
• No photo of yourself and no date of birth on a UK CV, even in hair and beauty. The portfolio is where your visual work belongs.
• Keep the layout single column with clear headings, and use a font size you could read across a reception desk.
• If you are applying to a salon chain, a spa, a hotel or a department store salon, use plain formatting, since those employers do run applications through hiring software.
• Send a PDF and bring two printed copies to the interview, along with your certificates and your kit.