Beauty College Chronicles: Week One

Surely, I won't ever lose this hot pink glitter pencil case?

Monday started with a frantic dash around the house trying to find something to wear. All my good intentions of getting my clothes and stationery ready on the Sunday night drowned when a friend came over with a bottle of wine, so not the perfect start to my first day at college.

Trying to find the perfect outfit took way longer than I imagined and I ended up having to run to the station. Only to see the train chugging away from the platform, while I was still gasping for breath on the bridge. Great start!

Home for next nine months

I was running about ten minutes late when I arrived at Oxford Circus so I didn't even get the chance to admire the view of Liberty's from Argyll Street. I had to rush past my favourite store without paying homage or lusting after products in the beauty hall window. Meh!

Lucky for me, the group was still in the waiting area when I arrived, so I just slotted myself in the back pretending I'd been there all the while and sized up the group. There's sixteen of us, all mixed aged groups and I'm glad to confirm I'm not the oldest in the class. It's a nice mix of students, everyone there seems to want to be there, which means there will be no slackers (hopefully). When I did Level 2, most of the girls had thought beauty was the easy option, until A & P slapped them about and they started dropping like flies!

The first day was all about paperwork and being spoken at, A LOT. My brain was frazzled with information overload and we did the usual lets get to know each other stuff: find three things out about your partner and a very funny balloon game. We had to make a chair out of balloons and someone has to sit on them without popping them. My team won, what did you expect? :-)

Team volunteer trying hard not to pop a balloon

We went through the syllabus and I'm happy to say that this year dermabrasion has been included in the course. I always wanted to learn that, so I am very pleased. (Volunteers, make an orderly queue please!) And if you finish the course, you get a diploma issued by City & Guilds, not just a certificate. The standards have been up'd so the prestige of the course has gone up. That's very good news as it increases one's employability at the end of the course. The main modules are:

Electrical face & body treatments
Electrical Epilation treatments
Body Massage
Stone Therapies
Events & Promotions

Just before lunch, the Head of Level 3 Beauty came and did a talk that was supposed to put the fear of God into us. Basically, don't be late or I'll have ya!, don't be absent (ever) or I'll skin ya!, don't breathe or I'll kill ya!  I'm sure you can see where this is going. She's going to be a pleasure to know but I think she's a softie, underneath the hard exterior.

At the end of the day, room was buzzing with the arrival of our kits and uniforms.  Not quite sure why we were so excited over white polyester tunics and grey trousers with black plimsolls that pinch. The kit was ginormous and heavy. All the creams, lotions and potions that will make me a fantastic therapist were in there, but before we get excited, its not high grade products by any means. There's just enough quality in them to give us an idea of what to expect when you get into the big and beautiful industry.

Can you spot the transparent bag, we're expected to carry all out stuff in?

So that's it, day one over and I was left carrying the ginormous kit home on the underground during rush hour, with a large order of head ache to boot!

Abbreviations:


LCBT : London College of Beauty Therapy
A & P : Anatomy and Physiology