How to Get Free and Low Cost Beauty Treatments

Frugal does not mean frumpy.  One way to get free or discounted hair, spa and beauty treatments is at a local beauty school. In the south San Francisco Bay area we have a few beauty schools. The one I like to go to the most is a high-end school that opened February, 2008 in Santa Clara called the Academy for Salon Professionals. The salon facility is beautiful including 50 stations with state of the art equipment. The instructors are excellent and you can get spa services (nails, hair, and skin) at a discount. For example, a haircut for $10.00, if you are willing to allow a student in training work on you. The Guest Services price list and more info is on the web site.  Sign up for their mailing list to get special offers.

The first time I went, last summer, I was able to get my hair cut and colored for FREE by a supervised student in training. My student, Louise, who was fabulous, needed to complete an assignment with an actual live client (i.e., me). The school uses Redken products and she did a great job. Because Louise has only been in the program 8 weeks, her instructors worked with her every step of the way. After we agreed on a color, Louise consulted with two of her instructors. Because it was a low peroxide, no ammonia color product, there was no damage to my hair, it looked and felt great.

It had been about 2 1/2 months since my last haircut which had been a good cut. As Louise said, one of her favorite instructors, Lonny, tells the students, “the difference between a good cut and a bad cut, is 4 weeks.” In other words, if you get a hair cut, and it doesn’t look good as it’s growing out after 4 weeks, it probably wasn’t a very good cut to begin with. Nor was it a good value for the money you spent on that haircut if you have to go back and get it cut again so soon.  So Supercuts may not always be your best bet though that will always depend on the skill of the hair stylist.

I looked through the hairstyle books Louise gave me. During my consultation for the cut, we talked about my hair type (thick head of naturally wavy but fine hair) and what I was looking for – relatively low maintenance, to have it look good wash and wear or styled smooth with some volume via a round brush and a blow dryer or hot rollers. I also wanted to be able to keep the layers long enough to be able to wear it up. So ultimately, I chose not to do anything drastically different, just a health trim with rounded long layers. After she cut it, which she said she loves to do and it shows, Louise styled my hair with a blow dryer.  Louise did a very nice job, and I was quite happy. The color and products she used made my hair super shiny and the good cut brought the bounce back. We went outside and she took a photo with her iPhone, for her portfolio and for my blog.

I have a flexible schedule at the moment, and the whole process for the free color and cut took longer (like 10:30 am – 2:30 pm including a lunch break). As I knew this upfront when I scheduled my appointment with Louise, I was fine with that.

If you don’t have the extra time or very flexible schedule, try the discounted services.  Next time I want to try getting one of their pumpkin peel facials.

I have not tried the services here yet, but a friend of mine said she had a great facial that was very inexpensive at San Jose City College School of Cosmetology

If you’re looking for the schools with programs near you, try a google search on keywords like: cosmetology school, beauty school, esthetics, skin sciences, certification