Beauty Industry Workforce Development
Cosmetology Apprenticeships
Salon Culture
Barber Apprenticeships
Esthetics Apprenticeships
Beyond the Chair
Nail Tech Apprenticeships
Hair Design Apprenticeships
Beauty Training Pathways
Salon Business Models
Beauty Industry Unions
Cosmetology Unions
Barber Unions
Beauty Regulation and Licensing
Nail Tech Union
Cosmetology and Barbering Careers
Esthetics and Skincare Careers
Nail Technician Careers
Beauty Industry Infrastructure
Beauty Industry Organizations
Beyond the Chair
Beauty Industry Organizations
Cosmetology Apprenticeships and Training Pathways
Apprenticeships vs Beauty School: What’s the Difference?
Resources for Cosmetologists, Barbers, Estheticians, and Nail Technicians
H2: Who Shapes the Beauty Industry
H2: Who Shapes the Beauty Industry
Research and Insights on the Beauty Workforce
career careers related to cosmetology
free continuing education for cosmetologist
Beauty Industry Organizations
Beauty Industry Organizations
hair industry
Beauty Industry Organizations
Apprenticeships vs Beauty School: What’s the Difference?
How the Beauty Industry Works
Learn About Salon Models and Business Structures
salon apprentice
Frequently Asked Questions About Beauty Careers
Beauty Industry Organizations
cosmetologist salary
Types of Salon Jobs and Work Structures
Explore Training Pathways and Opportunities
Imagining a Better Beauty Industry
Beyond the Chair, strengthening the structural foundations of beauty industry workforce development through education research, and workforce development.
Challenges in the Beauty Industry
Our Mission
Beyond the Chair Co. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on the structural challenges facing beauty and grooming professionals, including inadequate education pathways and limited labor protections. Our mission is to advance beauty education reform and facilitate informed conversations about unionizing beauty workers—including cosmetologists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians, and makeup artists—while conducting research on the beauty labor sector.
Workforce solutions in beauty
The Problem
Income Instability
Limited Education Mobility
Fragmented
Infrastructure
No Portable Benefits
Underprotected
Workforce
Infrastructure Support
Strengthen coordination, industry literacy, and institutional capacity across the industry.Build shared systems for data, oversight, and policy implementation.
Establish enforceable standards and democratic workplace governance across beauty workplaces. Turn individual concerns into collective negotiations and binding agreements.
Infrastructure Support
Our Solutions
Apprenticeships in Beauty
Cosmetology, barbering, hair design, esthetics, and manicurist apprenticeships enhance economic outcomes by reducing debt.
Apprentice-to-degree pathways
Build portable credentials that connect real work to long-term mobility. Link on-the-job learning to accredited programs that recognize actual skills.
Beauty &
Grooming Unions
Establish enforceable standards and democratic workplace governance across beauty workplaces. Turn individual concerns into collective negotiations and binding agreements.
Infrastructure Support
Strengthen coordination, industry literacy, and institutional capacity across the industry.Build shared systems for data, oversight, and policy implementation.
Strengthen coordination, industry literacy, and institutional capacity across the industry.Build shared systems for data, oversight, and policy implementation.
Structure creates sustainability.
Understanding industry structure changes how professionals navigate opportunity, risk, and representation.
Salon Models
Explore how different organizations shape the beauty industry’s infrastructure.
Discover if beauty school or apprenticeships align with your goals.
Learn how policy and governance shape the profession.
Training Pathways
Choose education and workforce models aligned with your goals.
From Training to Collective Power
Apprenticeship Foundations
Cosmetology, barbering, hair design, esthetics, and manicurist apprenticeships build technical skill, workplace literacy, and exposure to labor standards within regulated employment environments. We help participants understand why these structures matter and connect them with relevant resources.
Leadership & Organizing Skills
Beyond the Chair develops organizing skills, leadership capacity, and community-building knowledge across the industry. This work supports informed coordination among workers, owners, and institutions to build a more sustainable beauty commuinities.
Community Support for Unions
Sustainable workforce systems depend on aligned institutions and coordinated approaches to training, credentialing, and career pathways. We help build the conditions that allow union-supported apprenticeships and apprenticeship-to-degree pathways to emerge and scale.
Skill development strengthens collective capacity.