Hairdressing - level 2 apprenticeship framework

About the framework

This framework specifies the standards and the criteria for the delivery of Level 2 apprenticeship training to achieve qualified status within the hair and beauty sector.

Successful completion of the apprenticeship will lead to the award of a Level 2 qualification and recognition as a qualified junior stylist within the sector.

Mandatory outcomes

Achievement of a level 2 apprenticeship in hairdressing will be assessed by verification through the appropriate awarding body.

You must complete a combined competence and knowledge-based qualification, along with the mandatory essential skills qualifications.

Mandatory essential skills

To successfully complete the apprenticeship, you must achieve the following essential skills qualifications as part of the apprenticeship or already hold a recognised equivalent:

• application of number – level 1
• communication – level 1
• information and communication technology – level 1

However, any qualifications you already have are assessed against the framework requirements and may result in an exemption from the above.

Competence and knowledge qualifications

Apprentices need to complete a combined competence and knowledge-based qualification from the list below.

Combined competence-based and knowledge-based qualification:

• OCN NI Level 2 Diploma in Hairdressing 610/2773/X
• City & Guilds Level 2 NVQ Diploma for Hair Professionals - Hairdressing 603/1379/1
• VTCT Level 2 Diploma in Hairdressing 610/4310/2

Eligibility and entry to the programme

You must be a new employee, or an existing employee taking on a new role to take part in the programme. There are no formal entry requirements for learners undertaking this apprenticeship, however employers may apply their own criteria at recruitment and as the hairdressing industry has high client expectations and relies on repeat business, importance is given to:

• appropriate personal presentation, including attire, hairstyle, and personal hygiene
• possession of practical, organisational, and social skills
• attentiveness to detail and commitment to cleanliness
• possession of empathetic and friendly demeanour along with effective communication abilities
• availability to work flexible hours or days as outlined in the employment agreement
• demonstrated high level of dexterity and coordination.
• awareness of potential apprentices' predisposition to certain skin conditions or allergies such as occupational dermatitis, eczema, or asthma must be aware that certain chemicals, liquids, and aerosols used in hairdressing can have significant health effects

Additionally, colour blindness may limit opportunities in using artificial colouring products and services in the industry. Units related to hair colouring require the ability to discern subtle tones, shades, and colour changes to ensure safe and effective chemical use on hair.

It is recommended that apprentices should undergo interviews with potential employers and training providers.

Enthusiasm and passion for the subject may be prioritised over formal qualifications. Therefore, the Hair, Barbering and Beauty Industry have chosen to keep entry requirements flexible.

Training providers and employers should conduct initial assessments to identify any support needs for apprentices from the start of the apprenticeship. This ensures that those who start the program have the potential to complete it. Previous experience in the hairdressing or barbering industry is advantageous.

Entry to the Hairdressing Framework typically begins at Apprenticeship level 2, with progression to Apprenticeship level 3. However, individuals with previous qualifications or experience may enter at Apprenticeship level 3.

Beginning a Level 2 Apprenticeship in hairdressing is advantageous if the applicant has three GCSEs graded 3 (D-G) or above in English, Maths, Science, or Art, or if they possess an Entry 3/Level 1 qualification, although it is not mandatory.

Employers and training contractors must ensure that learners have the potential and opportunity to gain the apprenticeship successfully.

See also the DfE operational requirements.

Occupational profile

This occupation is typically found within the hair and beauty sector. Professionals in this role work in a customer-facing environment, which can vary in size, style, and ambiance. These environments range from small micro salons to large high street premises.

The main purpose of the occupation is to offer a variety of hairdressing services tailored to meet the needs of clients. This involves conducting thorough consultations, administering relevant industry tests, and ensuring exceptional customer care.

Hairdressing Professionals are self-motivated individuals who possess creativity and passion for their craft. They work independently, delivering high-quality services while adhering to safety standards, legal requirements, and industry regulations. These professionals continually enhance their skills and knowledge, striving for excellence in their work.

They take ownership of their tasks, demonstrate accountability, and exhibit proactive and adaptable traits. Working in a dynamic and innovative industry, Hairdressing Professionals pride themselves on their work ethic and commitment to client satisfaction.

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a wide and diverse range of clients, the salon team, other associated hair and beauty professionals. They should also be able to promote themselves, their organisation, products and services using a variety of channels.

In this occupation, employees are accountable for upholding industry standards of professionalism, values, and behaviours. They must possess excellent communication skills, collaborate effectively within a team, and demonstrate proficiency in retail and sales to serve clients optimally. Moreover, their responsibilities include executing a diverse range of hairdressing services to achieve various desired looks for clients.

Upon completing the Level 2 Apprenticeship, individuals may assume job roles such as:

• Junior Stylist: Responsible for assisting senior stylists, performing basic hairdressing tasks, and supporting salon operations. Junior stylists will also engage with clients and contribute to creating desired hairstyles under supervision.
• Junior Receptionist: Primarily tasked with administrative duties, including greeting clients, managing appointments, answering phone calls, and handling inquiries. Junior receptionists help maintain the smooth functioning of the salon by providing excellent customer service and supporting the overall organization of the establishment, they may also assist senior stylists.

As a junior stylist, typical activities would include:

• Client Consultation: Interacting with clients to comprehend their preferences, requirements, and envisioned hairstyle, while identifying the necessary products, tools, equipment, and procedures needed.
• Shampooing and Conditioning Hair: Performing hair cleansing and conditioning procedures to prepare clients for their styling or treatment services.
• Salon Reception Duties: Assisting with reception tasks such as greeting clients, managing appointments, and addressing enquiries.
• Basic Styling and Drying Hair: Using basic styling techniques to create desired looks and properly drying hair after shampooing and conditioning services.
• Basic Cutting of Ladies and Gents Hair: Performing basic hair cutting techniques for both men and women under supervision.
• Basic Colouring, Perming, and Relaxing: Assisting with basic hair colouring, perming, and relaxing procedures as directed by senior stylists.
• Supporting Salon Health & Safety: Adhering to health and safety protocols to ensure a safe environment for both clients and staff.
• Supporting Salon Promotion of Products and Services: Assisting in promoting salon products and services to clients and providing information about available treatments or promotion

Knowledge

• Regulations: Knowledge of legal, organisational, and health and safety regulations applicable to hairdressing businesses.
• Safety Practices: Understanding and maintaining effective and safe working methods, including infection control during hairdressing services.
• Incident Handling: Awareness of workplace incidents, problems, accidents, and reporting procedures to responsible individuals.
• Risks: Identifying various risks, work-related injuries, and health issues associated with hairdressing, such as physical injuries, posture problems, and dermatitis.
• Risk Assessment: Ability to conduct and implement health and safety risk assessments for oneself and others in the workplace.
• Career Paths: Understanding hairdressing culture and potential career routes within the industry.
• Professionalism: Embracing hairdressing professionalism, values, industry codes of conduct, and ethics.
• Client Care: Practicing client care principles, including promoting and respecting equality, diversity, and inclusion through effective communication, confidentiality, discretion, comfort, privacy, and welfare considerations.
• Mental Health Support: Providing support for the mental health and wellbeing of both one self and clients.
• Service Guidance: Offering advice and guidance before, during, and after services, including maintenance tips, complementary services, and retail product recommendations available in the salon.
• Social Media Use: Evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of using various social media channels and leveraging social media effectively to promote the business.
• Front of House Functions: Understanding the role and function of the front of house or reception area in a hairdressing business, including managing services, bookings, payments, retail, and sales, as well as upselling techniques.
• Products and Equipment: Familiarity with the range and usage of products, tools, and equipment used in hairdressing services, along with legal and organisational requirements for their safe use and storage.
• Client Records: Knowing how to complete and maintain client records in compliance with legal and organisational standards.
• Teamwork: Understanding teamwork principles and knowing how, when, and to whom to report problems within the team.
• Environmental Practices: Implementing methods to promote environmental and sustainable working practices, such as recycling, reducing single-use plastics, conserving energy and water, and selecting environmentally friendly products.
• Hair and Skin Science: Understanding the scientific principles behind hair and skin in the context of hairdressing services.
• Hair Classification: Understanding the four hair classification types (straight, wavy, curly, very curly) and their implications for service, product, tool, and equipment selection.
• Industry Tests: Knowing the legal requirements and appropriate timing for completing hairdressing industry tests, including allergy alerts, hair characteristics assessments, test cutting/strand tests, incompatibility tests, and curl/relaxing development tests.
• Contraindications: Recognising contraindications that would prevent a service and limiting factors that would restrict a service and knowing when to refer clients to a general practitioner or trichologist.
• Shampooing, Treating, and Conditioning: Understanding the scientific principles behind shampooing, treating, and conditioning the hair and scalp, including the methods and techniques used.
• Drying and Finishing: Understanding the science behind drying and finishing hair, considering hair classification types, hair characteristics, alpha to beta keratin conversion, hair hygroscopicity, and humidity levels.
• Styling and Finishing Techniques: Learning safe techniques and methodologies for drying, styling, and finishing hair, ensuring client safety and satisfaction.
• Setting and Dressing Techniques: Understanding the techniques and methodologies for setting and dressing hair safely, including sectioning, winding, styling, hair-up styles, plaiting/braiding, knots, twists, curls, waves, and the use of additional hair and accessories.
• Cutting Methodology: Understanding the methodology, techniques, and tools required for various cutting effects, including distribution of weight, balance, and shape to achieve precision and personalised looks. This involves techniques such as graduating, layering, thinning, tapering, club cutting, freehand cutting, razoring, sectioning patterns, creating texture, scissor over comb, clipper over comb, removing bulk, and shaping round, square, or triangular forms.
• Storage and Disposal: Ensuring appropriate storage and disposal of products used in chemical services, along with maintaining adequate ventilation to ensure safety.
• Colour Selection: Understanding the principles of colour selection, including the use of the International Colour Chart (ICC), to achieve desired hair colour results.
• Changing Hair Depth and Tone: Understanding the scientific principles behind changing the depth and tone of hair, including factors such as pigmentation, underlying tones, and the interaction of hair dyes or colorants with hair fibres.
• Changing Hair Classification with Chemical Services: Understanding the scientific principles behind using chemical services to alter hair classification types by adding wave or curl.
• Semi-Permanent and Permanent Rearranging: Understanding the science behind using semi-permanent and permanent rearranging chemical services to either remove curl or wave from the hair.
• Chemical Services: Familiarity with the types, uses, precautions, benefits, and potential consequences of chemical services employed in hairdressing salons to modify the degree of curl or straightness of the hair, as well as to change the depth and tone of hair colour.
• Changing Hair Structure: Learning the techniques and methodology for changing the hair structure using chemical services to add wave or curl.
• Permanent Rearranging and Relaxing: Understanding the techniques and methodology behind permanent rearranging and relaxing of hair classified as type 3 and type 4.
• Altering Hair Colour: Understanding the techniques and methodology for changing the depth and tone of hair colour, including root regrowth, full head application, partial head application, woven highlights, and freehand techniques.
• Evaluation Techniques: Learning methods for evaluating the effectiveness and outcome of various hairdressing techniques and services.

Skills

• Complying to Legal and Organizational Requirements: Ensuring compliance with legal and organisational standards for the safe use of products, tools, materials, and equipment in hairdressing services.
• Safe Working Practices: Applying safe, hygienic, and effective methods of working and infection control throughout the completion of hairdressing services.
• Communication Skills: Utilising communication and etiquette that aligns with industry requirements and is suitable and appropriate for the organisation.
• Client Confidentiality and Comfort: Maintaining client confidentiality and ensuring their comfort, including modesty and privacy, at the beginning and throughout the service.
• Client Advising: Providing advice to clients, both new and regular, before, during, and after the service on maintaining their look, complementary services, and retail products available in the salon.
• Social Media Promotion: Promoting oneself, the organisation, products, and services through various social media channels, requiring transversal digital skills (not specific to hairdressing qualifications).
• Salon Support: Undertaking wider salon duties to assist the salon business, including managing services, bookings, payments, retail, and sales, as well as upselling techniques.
• Product and Equipment Usage: Using a range of products, tools, and equipment in accordance with legal and organisational requirements for hairdressing services.
• Client Record Keeping: Completing and maintaining client records in line with legal and organisational standards.
• Teamwork: Collaborating effectively as part of a team to support the salon business and ensure smooth operations.
• Implement working methods that foster environmental and sustainable practices.
• Conduct consultations, assess hair, skin, and scalp conditions, and perform relevant industry tests such as hair classification type and characteristics tests.
• Recognise and address any contraindications or limiting factors that may impact the service through questioning or observation.
• Administer shampooing, conditioning, and treatment procedures for the hair and scalp.
• Employ various techniques to dry and style hair, achieving desired shapes, directions, balances, and volumes as agreed upon with the client.
• Utilise current setting and dressing techniques to achieve desired shapes, directions, balances, and volumes as agreed upon with the client.
• Perform hair cutting using a range of technical skills and cutting techniques, considering factors such as weight distribution, cutting angles, balance, degree of graduation, natural growth patterns, and hair length (including a range of basic cutting techniques).
• Perform a variety of hair colouring and lightening services to change depth and tone using current colouring techniques (such as freehand techniques, woven highlights or lowlights, root re-touch, half-head and full-head application, temporary, semi-permanent, quasi-permanent, permanent colour, and lighteners).
• Assess and evaluate the outcomes of the service.

Behaviours

• Promotes safe working practices, ensures personal and collective safety, and addresses safety concerns.
• Adaptable and responsive to evolving work environments and requirements, displaying forward-thinking in embracing new approaches.
• Communicates effectively and exhibits appropriate behaviour, consistently demonstrating helpfulness and courtesy while adjusting conduct to suit each client and situation.
• Exhibits professionalism and enthusiasm for the industry, maintaining a dedication to quality while efficiently completing services within commercially viable timeframes and under time constraints.
• Adheres to organisational and industry standards of appearance, fostering a positive attitude, adhering to professional ethics, and collaborating effectively within a team.
• Upholds professional ethics, demonstrating time management, self-management, integrity, respect, empathy, client confidentiality, and discretion.
• Displays a willingness and eagerness to learn and develop.

Transversal Skills Level

• Self-management - Basic 
• Working with others - Intermediate 
• Citizenship/participating in society - Intermediate 
• Work professionalism - Advanced
• Problem solving and decision making - Basic
• Numeracy - Basic
• Digital Literacy - Basic
• Communication & Literacy - Basic

Progression

Following completion of the Level 2 Apprenticeship learners can progress to the Level 3 Apprenticeship in Hairdressing or into employment as a junior stylist or other job role within hairdressing related industries.

Assessment

The Quality Assurance (QA) aspect of Assessment is the responsibility of the Awarding Organisation. For this Apprenticeship, the Awarding Organisations are: VTCT; City & Guilds; and OCN NI.

In general:

• Evidence of competence (skills) must come from the workplace or a realistic working environment (RWE) and may be gathered into a single portfolio in hard or soft copy. This portfolio will then be assessed by a qualified assessor and then subject to the QA systems of the Awarding Organisation.
• Evidence of knowledge may be identified during the skills component and/or through formal assessment via tests and exercises.

Enhancements

Whilst there is no formal requirement for enhancements to the framework, employers have the option to offer additional training related to the products and equipment used in the salon. This supplementary training can further develop employees' skills and knowledge, ensuring they are proficient in using the specific tools and products relevant to their workplace and/or specific industry brand.

Duration            

Apprenticeship duration can vary and will be agreed between the apprentice, training contractor and employer.

Related knowledge

For this framework, the participant is required to complete a suitable employee rights and responsibilities (ERR) workbook. Framework certification is issued on confirmation from the training contractor that the ERR has been completed.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the training contractor/college to ensure that all components of this framework are delivered in accordance with apprenticeshipsni operational requirements.

The apprentice must be employed from day one.

Further information

The content of this framework (Framework No 18 Issue 8: 11/24) has been agreed by the Department for the Economy.  For further information, contact:

• Department for the Economy - Apprenticeships Delivery and Performance Branch