How do you measure success? The scores earned while studying in beauty school, or taking your licensing exam? The number of hours you work, or clients and followers you have? The prices you charge, or your net income? The sense of accomplishment when you’ve satisfied a client, or mastered a technique?
Whether measured quantitatively or qualitatively, most of your professional success will happen in the isolation of your salon environment. Once licensed, you’ll have limited opportunities to compare and evaluate the quality of your work, especially if working alone. Posting photos to social media and asking for only positive feedback in the comments does not count. No doubt, your clients think you’re the best, but why not prove it? Why not put your creativity and technical skills to a more rigorous test?
Participating in competitions remains the most objective, tangible and significant way to distinguish yourself in our industry.
The value of competing goes beyond the recognition, cash prizes and trophies. Your work will improve greatly as you explore your creativity and become more critical and demanding of yourself. The competition experience not only develops your skills, but provides incredible opportunities to network and market yourself to potential clients, employers and business partners. Win or lose, competitors can have tremendous influence as educators, mentors, consultants and manufacturers.
Competitors strive to achieve the highest standards for workmanship while pushing artistic boundaries.
Thousands of professionals work in salons, but very few challenge themselves to compete. It takes courage to submit yourself to comparison and judgment. Competing challenges students and beauty pros to perform their best work under less than ideal conditions, often beyond the familiar comforts of the salon.
Competitors represent the entire beauty industry as they elevate our status and change our perceptions of beauty.
Generally speaking, competitions fall into two categories: photo/video or live/in-person. For example, the long-running and prestigious North American Hairstyling Awards (NAHA) produced by the Professional Beauty Association (PBA) requires photo entries, whereas most competitions at beauty shows feature live models.
Interested in competing? Review the competition rules to determine your eligibility and manage all the logistics. If you have questions, get them answered in advance by contacting the competition director. Ultimately, your performance will reflect your understanding of the demands of the competition and the time invested in perfecting your technique. Do what you do best, and don’t attempt something new unless it can be executed well for the competition.
“The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give.” – Howard Cosell
Seasoned competitors know what needs to be improved without input from the judges. However, whenever possible, it’s useful to ask for critiques from other competitors and the judges following a competition. Any competitor should be prepared to listen and accept constructive criticism with a goal to improve their work for the next competition, not to question the judges’ decision.
An earlier version was published by Beauty Cast Network.