DAY ONE POSTPONED

This week in Queensland, we have had some pretty extreme and exciting wet weather, which has unfortunately left people devastated by floods for the second time in the past half a decade. Well golly Mother Nature, tell us how you really feel!

This has forced the closure of lots of roads and businesses in flood areas and surrounding areas. I was all set to begin college tomorrow but due to the floods and for the safety of staff and students travelling to the college, CNB have decided to close the college to students tomorrow - that's both of their campuses; Fortitude Valley and Gold Coast.

It's sort of good in a way because it gives me a few more days to mentally prepare myself and get my sleeping pattern back to that of a normal person. It also gives me a few more days to wear nail polish :D

This is the message published by the college this afternoon:

"Brisbane and Gold Coast Campuses Closed to Students 

After looking at all factors including current weather patterns, unknown flood water peaks, functioning of public transport and persistent power outages the decision has been made to close the Brisbane and Gold Coast campuses tomorrow, Tuesday 29 January 2013. 

Both campuses are currently fully operational and undamaged. However the issue of travelling to and from these campuses in areas that are flood affected or damaged may present safety issues. Given the situation is still unfolding it is also unknown what the full impact will be on public transport, particularly rail - no doubt they will be trying their best in a difficult situation. The safety of students and staff is our highest priority 

From tomorrow both the Endeavour College of Natural Health and the College of Natural Beauty were expecting new VET student cohorts on campus for the beginning of Trimester 1.

The Director of Aesthetics Education for the College of Natural Beauty has determined that classes will not proceed tomorrow due to the risks associated with a large student cohort travelling to campus. Similarly the Executive Team of Endeavour College has confirmed classes will not proceed. 

A decision regarding classes scheduled for the remainder of this week will be announced at 2.00pm tomorrow. 

Executive staff will return to the Brisbane campus tomorrow along with other staff members not in danger of travelling through flood waters. The Gold Coast Campus is closed to all staff and students. 

Students can email info@cnb.edu.au for non urgent queries. 

Carolyn Barker AM
Chief Executive Officer"

CNB ORIENTATION DAY 2013

Today I pulled my hair back into a painfully tight ponytail and caked some make up onto my sleepy face, and headed into Fortitude Valley for the College of Natural Beauty's orientation day.

I would say there was around 50 or more girls attending, all quite young, a few that seemed to be under 18. We were given name tags and divided into two large groups and put in separate rooms where we were shown a PowerPoint presentation (URRRRRGH I KNOW - DBPP) and given more information about the college and about the course we are about to embark on.

There was a couple of group activities which I suspect was to get us mingling. The first was called "people bingo" where we were all given a sheet with square on it and in t walk around the room and ask as many people as you could within eight minutes which activities they had done and list their names in in the box, and the person with the most filled in at the end won a prize (which wasn't me - I've never won a prize so I didn't even bother to see what it was - I just resigned myself from the very beginning). For the second activity, small groups of five or so were given some butchers paper (I was the scribe) and asked to all come up with some key words about what we thought were important in the beauty industry; like professionalism, personal hygiene, discreetness etc.

The presenters spoke in depth about the dress code which was quite strict. Only stud earrings, no facial piercings, visible tattoos or jewellery, day makeup is to be applied every day (even if you're just going to have to remove it as soon as you get to facials class) and a recommendation that you don't wear waterproof mascara, black leather or vinyl shoes with black socks, no cleavage  no hair hanging in the face, and as soon as your hair is long enough it's to be put into a bun or braided bun. We didn't receive or get fitted for uniforms today and unfortunately we won't be getting our uniforms for another 5-6 weeks (and I was so dying to share with you now!) But we did get to see the uniform and it's a conservative, longish black tunic with the popped collar and buttons down the side - a regular therapist uniform really, embroidered with the college's logo.

One things that I thought was particularly cool is that as part of your enrolment at the college, you can have three free confidential counselling sessions with the 24/7 Student Assistance Program for pretty much any issues that could affect your studies like relationship issues, depression, stress and anxiety (yay for me), gambling, grief, drug addiction and all those sorts of things.

There's not much else particularly interesting to say, but I suppose if you're reading you're not looking for interesting, just informative so other activities included in orientation day was filling out forms; first a sort of quiz that asked questions like 'what are your strengths and weaknesses' and 'why did you choose beauty therapy' etc, the others were medical forms where you were obliged to disclose any illnesses you suffer from in case it could interfere with your classes (i.e my allergies are not looking forward to aromatherapy so much) and an agreement to say you would tell the college if you have hepatitis and then just a photo consent form for permission to use images of you on their Facebook and in publications etc.

And just a few more bullet points about things learned today:

• There is a big university style library on the third floor open until 7pm through the week with computers and quiet study areas and areas for laptop plugins and printing services (which cost)
• There is a freaking awesome hydrotherapy tub on the fifth floor which looks like a space ship
• There is very small lunch room but I don't remember what floor; the fridge space is first in best dressed
• Parking is $10 at McWhirters or $9 at Valley Metro (which fills up quick), and you need to validate it at the college reception on level two to redeem these rates
• No smoking in your CNB uniform - beauty therapists have to smell perfect!
• Further to that, there is no perfume allowed to be worn THANK GOD
• Assessment is by way of workbooks and online quizzes and some practical examinations that you get three attempts for
• Every student does 18 weeks of work in the student clinic/salon
• They recommend that you complete a first aid certificate
• Employers can come to the student clinic as 'secret shoppers' looking for the next star
• The clinic will be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the future and it's going to be hard to secure the Friday unless you have extenuating circumstances
• You will need to do lots of practice at home - especially massage which is a big component at CNB as opposed to most other colleges
• CNB are against animal tested products and ingredients! Yay!

Right, so I start this coming Tuesday, with lash and brow tinting class. Will report back with my findings!

WHAT'S IN STORE THIS TRIMESTER & THE FUTURE

I've received my timetable for the first trimester and I thought I would share it here as it's got some good information on it. As you can see from the image below, for the first three months of the year at the College of Natural Beauty (CNB), I'll be learning facial, nail, lash and eyebrow fundamentals as well as massage.

One very cool thing about the diploma is that at the end of the trimester after completing all these modules, you'll be qualified and ready to work in these particular areas if you can manage to find a salon to take you on. It will also be really beneficial to you in future to start working in the industry as fast as you can...and I shall tell you why!

The mentioned academic calendar can be found here.

I've been receiving beauty industry job notifications for a few weeks now to get a feel for what I'll be looking at once I'm qualified. I have to say it's a bit disheartening because about 99% of advertised positions I've come across ask that you have 2 years experience in the industry as a requirement of the job. It makes me worry that unless I graduate top of the school, it's going to be tough getting a start in the industry. So I think if you can manage to find a casual position, even just volunteering your services in a real salon it is going to count toward your overall years of experience when the time comes to look for a full time job.

As I said before, all the schools have student salons where you can use your skills on real paying clients, but I'm not sure how employers consider this experience. I guess you've just got to go out of your way to be the best at school and get some good references and commendations from your teachers.

On another subject, I'm not sure yet exactly what the uniform looks like. I'll be being fitted at orientation day this Friday and will probably receive it on my first day which is next Tuesday the 29th of January.

THE BEGINNING

Howdy folks and welcome!

My name is Bobbi, a gal residing in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

I'll get started by letting you know that writing is not my strong suit, but there's a subject I want to share with people in my city on the same journey as me (and potentially my country or the world), and that subject is beauty school in Brisbane, Australia.

For the past seven years, I've been an amateur professional and freelance graphic designer, and after two years of being unemployed on and off, then over time pretty much losing my employability completely due to being out of the game so long I decided it was surely time for a change. It had come to the point where I was even being turned down for positions at supermarkets.

Given that in the past I had worked professionally in government agencies (even the museum!) and was highly commended for much of my work, the constant rejection letters was a definite red flag; something had to change in my life...drastically! So, instead of sitting at home waiting for the next rejection letter, I set out seeking the perfect course of study to suit my attitude, creativity and any untapped potential I might have.

Limited to courses that are VET-FEE HELP approved (if you don't know what this is, it's a sort of  study now, pay later government loan which any eligible Australian citizen can apply for), I managed to narrow it down to two choices - psychology and beauty therapy. I honestly admitted to myself that I would not thrive at all in a largely theory based classroom environment...I needed practical and hands-on. Thus, a star was born! Bobbi Fox would study a Diploma of Beauty Therapy (course code SIB50110) in the year of 2013.

Next came the incredible dilemma of choosing a college at which to study. Given that it was already early December, I knew I may have already missed out on a place at the more prestigious colleges. There are many beauty colleges in Brisbane, but only four that offer VET-FEE HELP. I researched the colleges for a few weeks looking for blogs and reviews by students and tracking down alumni to ask them about their experience all to no avail. It ended up making my decision very difficult and so I decided to create this blog to share my experience with you as I study at my chosen college.

I did a drive by of each college and toured the facilities of two of the colleges to see which was most modern. I also researched the teaching staff at each college as best I could. The four options available (and information I gathered) are:

1. Australian Institute of Applied Sciences (AIAS) - Located in Stones Corner, course fees $14,865 (including uniform and tools). Plenty of places to eat and shop at lunchtime!
2. Endeavour College of Natural Beauty (CNB) - Located on 269 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, course fees $10,600 (including uniform and tools). Doesn't offer microdermabrasion as part of the diploma as others do. Full time = 3 days per week with the option of Saturday. Discounted $10 a day parking in McWhirters carpark.
3. THINK Australian National College of Beauty (ANCB) - Located on Costin Street, Fortitude Valley. There are two eligible areas of specialisation (Electrolysis or Spa Treatments), unsure of fees but includes uniform and tool kit. Seems to include more electives than CNB and AIAS. Full time = 3 days per week with the option of Saturday. This college fills up quickly and you may be wait listed. I found it to not be too conveniently located near places to get lunch or park.
4. Southbank Institute of Technology (SBIT) - Ideally located in South Bank, though full fee course cost with the VET-FEE HELP is unfortunately $19,500 (including uniform and tools).

All colleges have a student clinic where students are able to use their skills on real-life clients - clients pay a very discounted price for treatments. Still unsure of which college was going to be the most prestigious to graduate from, I've decided to go with the College of Natural Beauty because of my aversion to the use of chemically products as CNB use all natural and organic products through the course. I figured this would also cater much better also to my aversion to animal tested/containing products. Though I'm disappointed that it does not include the microdermabrasion - I intend on completing that separately someday as it's something I'd like to learn, along with spray tan and intimate waxing.

CNB seems to pride itself on presentation, and there IS a dress code. I have a lot of tattoos which worried me - the uniform doesn't cover my tattoos. When I went to the college to speak with someone she told me I would have to wear a 3/4 sleeve top under my uniform tunic to cover up my tattoos - I'll happily oblige as I don't like people asking about them anyway!
The rest is:

• Black pants (I bought some nice slim straight leg slacks from Target for $30)
• Closed in, rubber sole black OH&S acceptable shoes (I bought a pair of comfy Grosby flats from Target for $30)
• Knee high stockings to cover any bare foot flesh (I bought flesh coloured but may need to be black too)
• Clean manicured nails
• Hair tied back neatly
• Tasteful day makeup applied

I attend orientation day at the college on January 25th and start my first class on the 29th. I'm both nervous and excited! It's been a long time since I studied and I hope that I can pull some motivation out of these ashes caused by the long-term unemployment! I hope to have the time to still do my freelance retro inspired graphic design work during the course.

Till next post, I bid you adieu!

-Bobbi