Style students give salon quality haircuts for less

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    By MATT LEMMON

    A new alternative exists for poor students needing quality hair service.

    Local hair academies are opening new advanced training programs. These programs offer higher quality service than traditional training programs, but at lower prices than normal salons, said Kathy Hutchings, a manager at Von Curtis Hair Academy.

    Von Curtis has already opened the new Phase Two wing of its training program.

    The Bon Losee Academy of Hair Artistry has approval for its Advanced Senior Studio facility, with opening slated for Tuesday.

    These programs bring advanced students into a more salon-like environment, Hutchings said. In these programs the students make more of the important hair-cutting decisions on their own, she said.

    “It’s just one more step to prepare them for the real world,” Hutchings said.

    Julie Patterson, 20, a nursing major from Gilbert, Ariz., recently got her first Phase Two haircut. She said she was impressed.

    “It was just like a salon, except that a lady was checking before and after the haircut,” Patterson said.

    She also said she liked the price.

    “I got a good haircut for $9.50,” Patterson said.

    That is a few dollars more than she would pay in Von Curtis’ regular Phase One. Prices at several salons in Provo and Orem, on the other hand, run $15 to $30.

    Hair academies are economical, which works well for students, said Jill Fraughton, director of the Bon Losee Academy.

    She estimates 40 to 50 percent of Bon Losee patrons are college students. Similarly, more than half of Von Curtis’ clientele are college students, according to Hutchings.

    Melinda Jensen, a local stylist of five years, said making the switch from academy training to the salon atmosphere is difficult to some beauticians. She said the advanced training programs will help soften the transition.

    “I think it will help prepare them so that they’re more confident when they go in to the salon,” Jensen said.

    Von Curtis’ Phase Two is a separate wing of the academy, located adjacent to the original Phase One facilities. But it is smaller, with just 10 haircutting stations, compared to Phase One’s 54 stations.

    Before being accepted into the Phase Two program, aspiring beauticians undergo a two-part interview process, Hutchings said.

    Working in the Advanced Senior Studio is an elite earned position, said Fraughton. Students must submit an application and resume, then interview for acceptance.

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