Tuesday is foils night and there are no models
Your apprentices have colour training on Tuesday evenings with your educator. This week is full head foils, next week is root tints on grey coverage. Each trainee needs a model with suitable hair. The educator posts in the team chat, apprentices ask their friends and mums, someone puts a story on the salon's Instagram. By Monday, two trainees have models and one does not.
Then there is the patch test. Your policy applies to models too, and one model cannot come in beforehand. Another turns out to have box dye on her ends, which makes her unsuitable for this week's technique. The session goes ahead with three trainees sharing one model.
Why models are hard to organise
Finding models is left to trainees and word of mouth, so the salon never builds up a list. The same scramble happens every week.
Each technique needs a particular kind of hair: length, current colour, grey coverage, no previous lightener. Matching that by chat message is slow and often wrong.
And the admin that applies to paying clients, such as patch tests, consultation notes and formulas, is easy to skip for models, even though your policy may require it.
What that costs your training
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Models found by word of mouth | Last-minute scramble every week |
| Hair not suited to the technique | Training time wasted |
| Patch tests missed | Models turned away on the night |
| No record of what trainees practised | Hard to track progress |
| Models not invited back | The list never grows |
What trainees learn and when they are signed off is your educator's call. We make sure they have the right models in the chair.
How we organise training models
- A model sign-up page, linked from your website and social media, collects contact details, hair length and type, current colour, colour history and availability, with photos if the model is happy to share them.
- Each training session is set up with its technique and the hair it needs, and the system suggests suitable models from the list.
- Models are invited by text with a link to accept. Your patch test policy is applied, and models who need a test are booked in for one first.
- Confirmed models are booked into the training column in your booking software, so the desk knows who is coming.
- After the session, the trainee records the formula, technique and result, and the educator adds feedback. The model's record is updated for future sessions.
- Models who were happy are invited to future sessions that suit their hair, so the list grows over time.
If your salon software can hold models as a client type, we build on that rather than keeping a separate list.
The next training night
On Monday last week, the educator set up next Tuesday's session: full head foils, medium to long hair, no lightener in the last six months. The system suggested eight models; five accepted, two needed patch tests and came in on Thursday. On Tuesday, every trainee had a suitable model, and afterwards each recorded what they did.
- A growing list of willing models
- Models matched to each technique
- Patch tests handled in advance
- A record of each trainee's practice
When it is time to sign off a trainee on a technique, the educator has a record of every model they have practised on, not just a memory.
Is this how training nights work now?
- Models are found through friends and group chats each week.
- Some trainees end up without a model.
- Models turn up with hair unsuited to the technique.
- Patch tests for models are handled at the last minute.
- Nobody records which techniques each trainee has practised.