Concerns over high university tuition fees mean that vocational qualifications are becoming an attractive alternative. Last week we looked at the world of beauty therapy. Now Hilarie Stelfox examines the training and job opportunities in hairdressing.

ANYONE searching for a career with almost guaranteed employment and the chance to become a high earner need look no further than hairdressing.

Modern hairdressers have career opportunities that just weren’t there 50 or 60 years ago when most stylists spent their days perming and setting or working in traditional barber’s shops.

Today’s youngsters can continue to train and specialise long after gaining their basic qualifications and may even find themselves travelling abroad to learn new techniques.

In the 21st century the business has become highly fashionable and celebrity-led.

“It’s a career that also offers the opportunity to have your own business at an early age,” says Jane Prentice, who is a partner in the Vanilla salon at Aspley.

Jane’s CV shows quite clearly how hairdressing qualifications can open doors to many different careers.

She qualified back in 1980 and opened her own salon, Jane Hair in Huddersfield, at the age of 20. By 1989 she had decided to broaden her horizons and went to America.

Jane worked in both Los Angeles and Indianapolis as a technical director for a hair care company and enjoyed her time travelling around North America.

When she returned to Yorkshire she changed direction again and studied for a teaching certificate in further education and became a lecturer in hairdressing at Huddersfield Technical College.

With a young daughter to care for she found the hours as a teacher more manageable than running her own salon.

She said: “Teaching was great because it fitted in with family life. I had all the school holidays off and the hours were good.”

Jane also worked part-time at Westgate salon Rubens because she believed it was important to keep up with the trends if she was to be an effective teacher.

Now that her daughter is grown-up, Jane is once more able to focus on running her own business and training the next generation of hairdressers.

“To be a hairdresser you need to be a good listener and very discrete,” she says. “You also need a genuine love of fashion.”

Tracy Morley, curriculum team leader for hairdressing at Kirklees College, says there will always be a need for hairdressers.