Hairdresser (Hair Stylist) CV Examples & Writing Guide

This sample is for a qualified hairdresser with eight years behind the chair: a salon assistant year, three years in a high-volume walk-in chain, and the rest as a colour specialist in a full-service salon on salary plus commission. The name, salons and college are made up. Swap in your own qualifications, services and numbers.

Salon hiring is done by the owner or manager, often the same week they lose a stylist. They read fast and they read for money: can this person fill a chair and keep it full? These are the four things they check, in order.

• Qualifications. NVQ or VRQ Level 2 or 3, or a completed apprenticeship, and the year. There is no licence to cut hair in the UK, so this is how owners judge your training. Put it in the header or the first line of the qualifications section.
• Services and speed. Cuts only, or cuts and colour? Balayage, extensions, smoothing, Afro and textured hair, men's clipper work? How many clients a day or a week? A walk-in salon wants speed; a full-service salon wants colour skill and consultations.
• Column and retention. Do you bring clients, and do they come back? Rebooking rate, retention, average bill, and your social media following. An owner will look you up on Instagram before they call.
• Retail and attitude. Retail percentage tells them you consult and recommend. The bullets about training juniors, covering reception and keeping a clean station tell them you are easy to have on the floor.

“Show me your qualifications, tell me how many clients you see a week and what your rebooking rate is, and give me your Instagram. That is my whole first read. Stylists who write "passionate about hair" and nothing else do not get a trial day.”

Write a personal statement if you have a year or more behind the chair; write a career objective if you have just finished college or an apprenticeship, or are moving into hair from another field. Three lines, at least one number, and your qualification level. Examples:

Write one bullet per service or duty you actually do, with a number in it. Below are bullets by area. Change the figures to yours; your salon software has them.

List 10 to 14 skills. Services first, then products and tools, then the business skills of a stylist (consultation, rebooking, retail, social media), then hygiene and safety. Match the words in the advert, because larger salon groups and chains use applicant tracking software.

Technical services:

• Cutting: precision and layered cuts, bobs, long layers, men's clipper and scissor-over-comb, fades, children's cuts, fringe trims
• Colour: full head tint, grey coverage, root retouch, foil highlights and lowlights, balayage, babylights, colour melting, toning and glossing, colour correction, fashion colours
• Texture and chemical services: keratin and smoothing treatments, relaxers, perms, and any texture specialisms (curly cutting methods, Afro and natural hair care) if you do them
• Extensions: hand-tied wefts, tape-in, keratin bond, micro-ring; name the methods you are trained in
• Styling: blow-dries, thermal styling, bridal and event hair-ups, braiding, silk press

Products, tools and software: the colour lines you formulate in (Wella, Redken, L'Oréal Professionnel, Schwarzkopf, Goldwell, Aveda, Paul Mitchell, Matrix, Pravana), your booking and till software (Phorest, Fresha, Shortcuts, Salon iQ, Timely, Square Appointments), and Instagram or TikTok for client content.

Business and floor skills: consultation, rebooking, retail recommendation and product knowledge, time management to a service schedule, handling walk-ins and double bookings, working on commission or self-employed chair rental, training assistants, allergy alert tests, COSHH and salon hygiene. Soft skills that owners actually value are punctuality, staying calm when the column runs late, and keeping a full chair without drama; show them in the bullets rather than listing them.

You do not need a licence to cut or colour hair in the UK. Salon owners look for an NVQ or VRQ in Hairdressing at Level 2 (the standard for working on clients) or Level 3 (advanced cutting and colour), or a hairdressing apprenticeship built on the national industry standards first set by HABIA. The Hair Council keeps a voluntary register of state registered hairdressers. Owners still check your training first, so make it easy to find.

• Do not attach your certificates to the CV; the owner will ask to see them at the interview. Title, level, awarding body and year are enough.
• Education: list your college or training provider, the qualification and level, and the year. GCSEs in one line if you have them. A foundation degree or HND in hair and beauty management is a plus for management tracks.
• Brand and advanced education: colour line courses (for example Wella, Redken, L'Oréal Professionnel or Goldwell education), extension method certificates, smoothing treatment certificates, cutting academies and advanced classes. Give the brand, the course level and the year. Owners like to see continuing education because it means fewer redo costs.
• Barbicide Certification (a free online sanitation course) and any first aid or COSHH training belong here too.
• Do not list individual NVQ units as separate qualifications and do not call a one-day brand course a "diploma"; owners know the difference.

Most new hairdressers start as a salon assistant, apprentice or junior stylist, or in a walk-in salon that trains on speed. Owners hiring for those roles know you have no column yet. They want to see that you are qualified (or close to it), that you did real salon-floor work at college, that you can be trusted with colour mixing and hygiene, and that you will show up on Saturdays.

1. 1Put "Hairdresser, Level 2 NVQ in Hairdressing" or "Hairdressing apprentice, end-point assessment due [month]" under your name.
2. 2Write a two-line career objective: training completed, salon-floor client count, services you are confident in, and the role you want (assistant, junior stylist, walk-in stylist).
3. 3Turn college into experience: list your training salon floor as a job entry with bullets. Number of clients, services performed, any retail sold, any competitions or student shows.
4. 4Add any hair work outside college: braiding for friends and family, Saturday junior or receptionist jobs, sweeping and shampooing in a barbershop, beauty retail, modelling for classes.
5. 5Pull customer-facing proof from other jobs (restaurant, shop, café): customers per shift, upsell numbers, customer ratings. Salon work is customer service with scissors.
6. 6Add your Instagram if it shows your hair work, even college work. Keep it clean and current. One page, PDF, no photo of yourself.

• One page. A salon owner reads it between clients.
• Order: name and title with your qualification level, contact with Instagram or portfolio link, personal statement or career objective, qualifications and training, skills, experience, education. Qualifications go high because they are the first screening question.
• Clean layout with one accent colour at most, like the cvplex beige-elegant template. No photo of yourself, no date of birth and no marital status on a UK CV; your work photos belong on Instagram or a portfolio link.
• Say whether each salon paid salary plus commission, an hourly wage or was self-employed chair rental, and the salon type (full-service, walk-in chain, men's grooming, blow-dry bar). Owners want to know the model you are used to.
• Add an availability line: "Available Tuesday to Saturday, late nights until 8 pm." Saturday availability is a real hiring factor.
• Gaps are common in this trade (maternity leave, moving cities, chair-rental stretches). Label self-employed periods as "Self-employed stylist, chair rental at [salon type]" so they read as work, not a gap.
• Save as a PDF, named Firstname-Lastname-Hairdresser.pdf. Bring two printed copies to the interview, along with your certificates and your scissors.

Words to mirror from the advert when they are true: qualified hairdresser, NVQ Level 2, NVQ Level 3, hair stylist, cutting, colour, balayage, highlights, foils, colour correction, blow-dries, extensions, keratin, consultation, rebooking, client retention, retail sales, product knowledge, client experience, allergy alert tests, hygiene, booking software (by name), social media, commission, chair rental, Saturdays.