Are you tired of your hairdressing job and want a fresh challenge with good pay? If YES, here are 50 high paying career change ideas for hairdressers.
Hairdressing is a career that is part of the beauty industry. It deals mainly with making people attractive by giving them beautifully coiffed hairdos. Hairstyling is an art that allows the stylist to be creative on a daily basis while carrying out his or her duties.
It is also a very profitable business as many ladies visit the salon on a weekly or biweekly basis, and some even do so more frequently than that. In fact hairdressing is a billion dollar industry.
Why Change your Career as a Hairdresser?
But despite all the perks of being a hair stylist, a lot of people are opting out of the career. Many of such people experience what is known as a career burnout because they may have gotten fed up with hairdressing or that the career no longer holds the excitement it did for them when they first started out.
But despite your reasons, you are not alone in this experience as a lot of people have gone through this route. So if by some reasons you want to dump your hairdressing career, there are other careers you can still switch over to and become a success.
It should be noted that most hairdressers have gotten so fed up with hair dressing that they would not touch any career relating to it with a mile long pole. For this reason, we have provided both careers relating to hairdressing and those that don’t, but can be easily transitioned into from hairdressing. Here are 50 of them for you to choose from.
Best Job Change ideas for Hairdressers
1. Sales
You can transit seamlessly from hairdressing to sales because sales require little or no extra training. You can approach a company you love its products and offer to become one of their sales representatives. You could even start with selling hair products since you are very familiar with it.
2. Hair Instructor
Being a hair stylist instructor is a good career to change to if you have gotten tired of standing behind the chair and receiving instructions from clients. You could actually be the one giving the instructions this time around. Instructing will provide a different outlet, one that will enable you to feel part of igniting another person’s passion for the craft.
3. Customer care representative
Because you have been around people for a long time, the people skills you acquire as a hairdresser would help you know how to handle customers perfectly, so this job would be a good fit for you.
4. Wig maker
If you are bored with the hairdressing scene, you can become a wig maker. Wig making is currently a major growth area for the hairdressing sector. Wig makers typically work in either the theatrical, or cosmetic field. You would be required to make wigs for actors and actresses performing in plays, films or television. Cosmetic wig making can involve making hairpieces for private individuals, hair salons, hair loss treatment centers or other distributors.
5. Hair extension maker
Similar to wig making, but a bit different, you can start making hair extensions. Black women are known to use hair extensions extensively, so you can target this market.
6. Market hair equipment
A lot of equipment are used in the hair and beauty industry, and you can make a career change by marketing the latest equipment. You can have in your range, hair dryers (both hand-held and standing), straighteners, tonging machines, rollers etc.
7. Creative assistant
The job of a hairdresser entails a lot of creativity, so if you are already creative, but you may not know where and how to apply it. You can choose to be a creative assistant for the television, radio etc so as to check out other sectors.
8. Develop hair apps
Coming from the industry, you would know what applications would be useful for hair care. Such apps are still lacking in the industry. You can make one that tracks hair damage, regrowth, hair loss etc. If you are not proficient at this, you can contract someone to help you out, while you market the app.
9. Brow artist
You can shift from hair styling to brow artistry. This is basically an art of eyebrow crafting and shaping. You need to learn the tricks of the trade so that you can carve a niche for yourself.
10. Product Reviewer
Since you are coming from a hairdressing career, and want a change, you could offer to review hair products on your website while attaching your link so people can follow the link and buy the products. Some brands and companies pay you while others offer free and discounted products in exchange for you sharing information about their product on your social media page.
Writing a review of hair products you have used can be a great way to share useful information with other shoppers or promote products you love.
11. Affiliate Marketer
Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or company’s) products. You find a product you like, promote it to others and earn a piece of the profit for each sale that you make. You can use your social media account to share affiliate links to specific products or services and then earn a commission on each sale.
12. Become a makeup artist
Hairdressing and beauty are almost sister industries, so a former hairdresser can easily transition into makeup. You can start with your former clients in hairdressing, and your work with them would get you the desired publicity.
13. Start a blog on hair care
Being seasoned in hair care, you could put your former skills to work and educate people on the best hair care practices, new trends in the industry as well as best products to use for every situation.
14. Start a cleaning service
If you are quite comfortable with the mop and rag, then you could start a cleaning service. Why this job is ideal for a former hairdresser is because it requires little or no training to start. You could work for a cleaning service, start your own, or if you have saved up enough money, you could buy a cleaning franchise.
You can focus on retail businesses and keep your customers clumped into one or two blocks. If you provide great services, it would serve as a mode of advertising for you because your customers will come by word of mouth.
15. Become a hair consultant
Because you have a lot of experience in hairdressing, you can become a hair consultant. You can use this experience to help others with their hair problems to enable them not to make the same mistakes that you made along the way.
16. Open a hair training center
With your experience in the industry, you could open a center that trains future hair stylists. A lot of budding stylists are looking for opportunities such as this.
17. Sell on eBay
Any business in sales does not require prior experience, and so if you have items lying around that you may not need anymore, you could pawn them off on eBay. In fact, this might be a great way to dispose of all the many items you used when you were a hairdresser.
You would need to establish a PayPal account to carry out your transactions. The eBay website provides all the information you need to get up and running with an eBay business.
18. Start Ghost Writing
If you are a proficient and creative writer, you can decide to start offering ghost writing services, especially in the hairdressing niche. As a ghost writer, you actually do the research and write the book and someone else’s name is attached as the author.
When you are done writing, you would get paid for your services and the contract closes. You can source for such contracts from busy executives, or established personalities who you know would need such services.
19. Magazine article writing
Magazines and newspapers are a great way to get your writing published before tackling the daunting task of writing a whole book. You can get a column in your local newspaper and be providing hair and beauty tips daily, twice a week, or weekly as the case may be. You would always get paid for your services.
20. Web page content provider
Providing content for a web site is another good way to make some money from writing. You can source for websites and blogs that need content and provide your services to them. But make sure you are writing on your interests so you don’t get to burn out quickly like it happened with the hairdressing business.
21. Travelling stylist
You can become a traveling hair stylist that moves around with music bands, cruise ships, celebrities, busy executives to provide hair styling on the go to make sure your clients are always on point. If you do not want to style yourself, you could employ very efficient stylists to join your team while you just coordinate their works.
22. Flea Market
A flea market would provide great possibilities for you if you don’t look down on it. You can stock hair dressing items that still work amongst other things. People love to spend weekends rummaging through tables full of other people’s unwanted items, looking for treasures.
If you want to keep attracting people to your stand, you need to change your layout quite often and put new stuff out for sale often. You don’t even have to have that much new stuff to make things look new. Just moving an item from a table to the top of a bookshelf might get it noticed, even though the item has been in your inventory since you first started having sales.
23. Home Organizer
If you are very creative and have organisational skills, you can opt to be a home organizer for people. You can choose either to do the organizing work or to teach people what to do in order to get their homes in better shapes.
Have a portfolio of different organizational scenarios in different rooms in the home and talk with the homeowner about the style he or she likes. Create checklists and questionnaires to understand how the family uses the home. All of these things will help you tailor an organizing plan for your clients.
24. Hire out hairdressers
You could decided to run a business where you you would have very creative hairdressers under you. Your job would be to source for good paying hair contracts for them, and then get your commission for each job they get through you.
25. Marketing copy writer
If you can write copy that gets people excited about purchasing what your client has to sell, you can make good money in this business. Since you are already familiar with what makes people buy hair products, you can focus in writing advert copy for hair products.
You may need to take a course to start this business or to become a copy writer. There are online courses or classes at community colleges and universities that can give you a leg up in getting savvy at writing copy for brochures, catalogs, advertising and of course, marketing copy for the web.
26. Indexing
Book indexers earn their living by providing a useful service to authors, publishers and readers. Indexes are considered to be so important that many university librarians will be less likely to purchase a book for their library if it does not contain an index.
Book indexers usually work from home on a freelance basis and they earn good income. There are indexing courses available and you can get indexing software to help you.
27. Author
You can write a book on your experiences in hair dressing. This is the opportunity you have to tell your story on your journey and what led you to opt out of the industry. If you cannot publish the book on hard copy, you can upload it as a soft copy and market it through your website, or sell it on sites like Amazon.
28. Personal Concierge/Assistant
A concierge provides assistant services to people. This business is for someone who is supremely efficient and has the ability to make things happen. People who hire you will expect things when they want them and you need to be able to come through with not only what they want, but with a personal touch and a smile on your face.
The most likely clients for a concierge service are top executives who find themselves at the office by 7 a.m. and are there most nights until 9 p.m., leaving them very little time to do all those things that often need to be done during those very hours.
29. Property manager
Property managers look after buildings, housing, industrial spaces to make sure everything is in good working condition.
In the case of rental units, they make sure the property is running smoothly, and for seasonal properties, you will most likely spend your time making sure the property is ready for seasonal visits and well-maintained when no one is around. You would need to take some course, or get license to be certified as a property manager.
30. Used book sales
Almost everyone has a few boxes of books stashed away in the house somewhere. Why not make a business out of them?
In order to gain customers, especially repeat customers, you will need to have some regular shop hours. You should make your shop known for a specific category of books or two. You can also include maps, illustrations, postcards, greeting cards and magazines in your shop.
31. Wedding planner
Are you versatile in the wedding scene and events management? Then you can become a wedding planner. You will need to be up-to-date on wedding trends and fads, dress styles, color trends, almost everything under the sun.
You can help help your clients to do random things like picking flowers, the wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses to picking the venue and hiring the caterer. Before you open your business, shop at all the wedding shops, and even pretend you are a bride-to-be to see what kinds of services the wedding gown shop provides and how they treat potential customers.
32. Computer training
You may not need to be proficient in computer training and repairs to start this business. You could probably make a living helping seniors learn how to do basic things like using the internet and how to send emails to keep in touch with their loved ones.
This would work for you because people do not really want to know all the details about what makes a computer work, they can always get a technician for that.
33. Offer senior hair care services
A lot of hairdressers complain that they have gotten fed up with the vanity in the hair styling industry. If you are one of such people, you can choose to offer your services to seniors in retirement homes.
The appreciation on their faces for being made to be beautify once again would make your efforts worth it. So you can shift your services this way and give some seniors a reason to smile and preen once again.
34. Gift basket service
If you have an eye for catchy things, then you can put together such things to make a gift basket. You can focus on making gift baskets that targets a particular niche, even hair styling. You can distribute your gift baskets to shops, or make them on request, or you can target the seasons and make to suit them.
35. Herbal farm
Do you know your herbs, and do you live where you can farm them? Then you can start a herbal farm. You can focus on herbs that are good for the hair or can be used as hair treatments. You need to decide whether you will sell your herbs as live plants, picked or cut in bunches and packed, or dried.
If you want to sell to a wider market, then you may need to dry your herbs. You need to know what herbs are mostly used in your area so as not to cultivate herbs that have no market.
36. Photographer
You just require a little training to do this business, and if you are already familiar with it, then you are good to go. You can photograph unique hair styles and put them up in your blog for inspiration to your clients.
You can also offer to sell your photographs on the internet and earn some income. You can as well photograph hair products for eCommerce sites. The possibilities are endless.
37. Develop Herbal Hair Products
Another business idea to pursue is developing herbal hair products. You can come up with product ideas that can solve various hair challenges and develop the products for sell to companies who have enough money to produce and distribute the products.
38. Ecommerce
You can work from home selling products on E-commerce sites such as Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, and so on. You can sell hair-related products or non-hair related products if that is what you prefer.
39. Day care
If you love children, and if taking care of them appeals to you, then you can start a daycare service. With the prevalent situation in America where couples are known to hold full time jobs, daycare services are almost an essential service.
Many people prefer the option of their child being cared for in a home environment while they are at work, as opposed to a more institutional-like setting. This means that your little a home-based childcare business can get off and running immediately.
40. Pet sitting
A pet sitting service requires little or no startup costs. If you love pets, you can offer to take care of them while their owners are off on holidays or some other engagement. In some states, you may need some training to carry out this service.
41. Data entry service
Data entry is the act of entering information into electronic formats by using word processing or data processing software hosted on a computer. In truth, though “data entry” sounds technical, you can get many of these jobs with no previous experience. So, you can apply to become one, and also note that the job can be done remotely.
42. Hair loss treatment center
Women make up a significant percentage of hair loss sufferers all around the world. You can open a center where you treat hair loss in women, or even in men too. If you are not able to handle extensive damage, you can refer them to specialists.
43. Start a laundry service
The fact that starting a laundry service does not require experience makes it a good business to start when in confusion. You can start a coin laundry service also.
44. Virtual assistant
You can offer your service remotely to companies who need your services. You can answer mails, write mails, transcribe and provide other services that would be required of you, all for a fee.
45. Virtual call center
A virtual call center is a call center in which the organization’s representatives are geographically dispersed, rather than being situated at work stations in a building operated by the organization. You can offer your services to such organizations.
46. Pet Resort Manager
If you are a pet lover, then this is the ideal job for you. You are to work mostly with pets providing pet boarding, entertainment and grooming services. You may need to have few other people working with you to take care of the pets, but it would definitely be nothing overwhelming.
47. Greenhouse Caretaker
If you have a green thumb, then you would do great taking care of a greenhouse. There is nothing as quiet and peaceful as a room full of plants. If you have frayed nerves from your previous hairdressing career, then working as a green house caretaker would be good for you.
48. Start a green cleaning service
With many people currently aware of the toxic nature of the cleaning products available in the market, many households are switching to green cleaning products. Cleaning your house with green or environmentally friendly cleaning products is good for the earth and for keeping your family members and pets safe from chemicals.
Many people who want to use green cleaning products often hire green house cleaning professionals to clean their homes with the safest products.
49. Medical transcription
Medical transcription involves taking recorded reports from doctors and medical professionals and transferring them into written documents. You may not need much experience to do this business so you may find it easy to carry out this service. This business can be done from home too, so it would be ideal to fill in the transition period.
50. Bookkeeping
Many small business owners look to outsource managing their books, either because it’s not something they enjoy, or it’s something that have no desire to learn. This is why starting a business as a bookkeeper for other small business owners can be an excellent business idea.
If you have become proficient with bookkeeping during your salon management days, and if you are interested in this business, then you can offer bookkeeping services to people.