How to Become An Editorial Stylist

Working behind the chair in a salon isn’t the right fit for every hair stylist. Styling hair and makeup for fashion shoots, television, and movies can be an exciting alternative! But because you can’t exactly walk into a photo shoot and apply for the job, becoming an editorial stylist is a bit more complicated. Here’s some advice on how to get started as an editorial stylist.

Before you even think about being an editorial stylist, you’ll need to go beauty school and obtain your cosmetology license, just like you would for any other job in the beauty industry.

The surest way to way to get work as an editorial stylist is to be represented by an agency. These agencies represent hair stylists much like a modeling agency does for models. But this isn’t as simple as it seems. In order to get represented by an agency, you first need to prove yourself to be a reputable editorial stylist.

The best way to do this is by building a portfolio of your best editorial work. To get these photos for your portfolio, offer to style the hair and makeup for any upcoming video or photo shoot that you hear about. A good way of doing that is by partnering up with a local photographer.  After you’ve worked on a few projects together, ask him or her to please refer your services to other photographers.

That’s exactly how students from Salon Success Academy got their start!  Edgar Medina, Breanna Ortiz, and BJ Fite, graduates of the Salon Success Academy Redlands campus, styled the hair and makeup for the music video shoot for “Black Light” by musical artist Kaden.

BJ was friends with the photographer who shot Kaden’s CD cover. He asked her to style the hair and makeup for the music video shoot and to bring two other stylists along to help out.

BJ, Breanna, and Edgar were on the set for over 12 hours the day of shooting! The inspiration for the music video was old Hollywood glam, so they styled the models’ hair using finger waves and set it with wax and hairspray.

“It was a great experience! We had to work at a really fast pace, but we worked together and pulled through. Overall, it was a fun, productive, and tiring day!” Edgar said.

Being an editorial stylist takes determination and discipline. If you’re serious about wanting to be an editorial stylist, Salon Success Academy can give you the  training you need to get there. Salon Success Academy has five campuses throughout the Inland Empire that each offer cosmetology, esthetics, and nail technology training, with both part time and full time programs.  Call 1-877-987-HAIR (4247) to find out more about training to be an editorial stylist.

Do you think you have what it takes to be an editorial stylist?

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