Online Hair School

The world's first online hair school has been set up by Irish hairdresser Fran Smith. Fran, who is originally from Dublin and has over 25 years of experience in hairdressing, coloring, and barbering.

Fran spoke about what inspired him to set up the on-line hair school Fran spoke about what inspired him to set up the online hair school. He found it very difficult to find adequate educational hair classes for his staff, and sometimes when they returned from training, they were still feeling insecure with their new skills. He thought, "What if hairdressers had an online site where they could watch tutorials from qualified hair trainers on a regular basis until they were satisfied with the level they had learned?"

The successful online hair school grew from Fran's idea, and after nearly a year and a half of filming and preparation, the site was born. They have sold their online tutorials and DVDs to destinations all over the world. The online tutorials were filmed in Trevor Francis in Longford as well as salons and studios in Dublin and Limerick.

They work in a similar fashion as watching a video clip on YouTube. Basically, you log onto the site, which is onlinehairschool.com, then you pay a fee for your chosen tutorial with a credit card and within minutes you can watch the class as many times as you'd like.

The only requirement is that you must have a high-speed internet connection on your computer to watch the live feeds. The site caters for those without high-speed internet with DVDs which are mailed out to their customers within ten days.

Fran himself hosts a lot of the site’s online tutorials. The tutorials show hair stylists talking you through everything from how to cut a woman's mid-length layered style, a long layered cut, a short bob, a graduated bob, a disconnected bob, the perfect highlighting technique using foils and meche application. But also upstyles for weddings and special occasions, basic men's cuts, men's razor/clipper cuts, and a men's barber cut.

The style of the tutorials is very intimate, with the camera zoomed in closely to the model and stylist, so that it feels like a one-on-one class, rather than a crowded room like in most hairdressing schools. Some of Fran's staff also got to appear before the camera as hair models. The site is being updated all the time, so hairdressers or those with an ambition to be a hair stylist will always have a variety of new tutorials to view.

Fran commented that all the feedback has been positive so far and that "some hairdressers with learning difficulties have contacted me saying they were delighted with the tutorials as they could watch, listen, and learn, without the stress of using books," he remarked. He also mentioned that anyone who purchased a hair tutorial has continued to purchase up to five more. For further information on the Online Hair School log onto onlinehairschool.com.