I am reviewing this business as a client/customer (not a student): I was skeptical about trying out this school based on the reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had a wonderful experience and I was satisfied with my hair cut. I called and scheduled an adult haircut and style for a weekday evening. I was told the students arrive at 5:45p, so my appointment was scheduled for 6pm. I wasn't sure how the appointments worked, thinking maybe they were first come first serve, with all clients arriving at 6p, so I showed up at 5:45p to be the first arrival (which I was). Upon checking in and filling out a form, I sat and waited for my student to come out and get me, which was about 6:10pm. I was told that the student they had originally scheduled me with didn't show up, so they had to re-assign me. She showed me over to the chair, asked me a few basic hair questions and then took me to the wash station. My hair was shampooed twice and conditioned once. I was at the wash station for probably 15min getting a thorough wash. I learned from my student (Liza) that she is half way through the program with over 700hrs completed. This being my first time, I assumed I would be getting a student near graduation. Therefore, Liza was still taking a lot of instruction from Miss Penny, her instructor. The overall time I was there was 1.5hrs. This was for a wash, 2 inch hair cut with layers, and a style. I believe there were 4 children and 4 adult clients while I was there. There were two instructors helping those 8 students. Miss Penny did a great job instructing Liza on my hair. Correcting her when needed and praising her when she did well. Miss Penny would usually make one or two cuts to instruct Liza, watch as she did a few cuts herself, then Miss Penny would go on to help another student and return to check progress and answer questions Liza may have. Once Liza started styling my hair, I was able to get more information about how the school is run. She informed me that there are daytime students and evening students. Daytime students work 8hrs shifts M-F and these students are mostly straight out of high school (younger). The evening students work 4hr shifts M-Th evenings and Sat mornings. They are usually more mature age and work FT jobs elsewhere during the day. If they are not assigned a client during their shift, then they receive their hours by working on mannequin heads. I was very nervous about going into a beauty school and having a student work on my hair, but the overall experience turned out just fine and I am satisfied with my hair cut. I will be returning. Their pricing on services and products are well below anywhere else. A bottle of Matrix shampoo was $12, and my wash, cut and style was $12. Tipping the students is not mandatory, but if done, it must be in cash. Saturdays are walk-ins only, but once each student has a client, walk ins are cut off, so get there when they open at 9am! Most students only get one client for the day. I would recommend going in the evening hours, as it is less busy, less chaotic, and has more mature students. read more

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Being my first time seeing and meeting Tanya Sargent, detail her explanations of how she uses the techniques, the great products she uses to my face and my back is just amazing, her ability to create such stunning results. I can't wait until my next appointment with you Tanya! Keep up the great work! I really appreciate you as my esthetician God Bless read more

Empire Beauty School - Facial Spa Facial - Cosmetology Schools Near Me - Indianapolis, Indiana

Hunter and Sasha were amazing. I got my legs waxed and they did an awesome job!!!! Thanks girls

No photos because my son didn't want his pic blasted on Yelp. My middle-schooler son has been sporting the hairstyle that is all the rage with tween and teen boys right now of having a messy head of curls on top. He needed a perm refresh and we made an appointment for Empire. His stylist was Maddie/Mattie(sp?), who did an amazing job. Her instructor (whose name I did not get) was right there coaching her periodically, as needed. My son and I are both so happy with the final result. Even better was the fact that it only cost $33. Only $33 for a great perm!?! It's almost beyond comprehension with the way salon services have skyrocketed in recent years. read more

I drove 35 minutes on my coworkers referral. Got here early and the front desk was pleasant but for 10min I could hear a supervisor Whitney ranting and raving about her life and she went back to college and made honor roll deans list she hasn't called off in 7 months and she attends her sons soccer games and works here 50 hours a week only uses her vacation time and how great and fabulous she is and that basically not tolerating any excuses of employees being absent due to her life being so perfect and she don't call off so any one calling off is unacceptable . This conversation definitely wasn't for the public and no where near encouragement for the staff members. I was there for 2 hours and never did I see her visit the floor. She ATTEMPTED to place herself above the students and she basically made a fool of herself. This was my first visit and was a referral and I was very upset about this behavior. Thank goodness Ashley did a great job with my hair because you would have gotten 1 star. So these stars are for your business being full of young people pursuing their careers.. and they were team players .... Never seen her assist none of the employees... did I mention she did a fire drill after the meeting which made everything late... one employee stated she had 2 deaths and her mom wouldn't like her statement and she said that's fine YOUR MOTHER is not a student here. They don't get paid for school and I am quite sure they work so Whitney needs to be more accommodating to people lifestyle so this place can stay open in the future.. She left at 754pm never engaging with no one but her cell phone. Whitney is unprofessionally and very tacky. She does not promote harmony nor is she a team player. She is publicly promoting an hostile environment in a public place of business. Products for African American is below minimal, they need to reevaluate what is needed for our hair and purchase. Due to Whitney being inappropriate and I complained I received a slight discount and an apology. Much appreciate by Ms Penny. read more

Empire Beauty School - I love my hair - Cosmetology Schools Near Me - Indianapolis, Indiana

I went and got a facial. It was amazing. The estitician Kayla Clouse did an amazing job My skin was so refreshed. I purchased hair care products and the price was good for the value read more

I went to get a facial done and it was great! i had this girl her name was Ekisha and she was really friendly and professional.Me and her talked about many different things including me wanting to start school at Empire and she really inspired me. I hope whoever gets her gets the same experience :) read more

UPDATE: I DID receive a call from the Asst. Director of this school, who apologized for the service and haircut and made it very clear that this is not an experience they condone or consider "normal". I had a bad time, but he did make it VERY clear that he would be willing to not only fix my boyfriend's hair personally, but do mine as well. I declined as his hair was already buzzed by today (haha) but was relieved that he said he did speak with the students about appropriate behavior, as well as the student who cut his hair, which I appreciate. I can at least say with certainty, if you have a bad experience they are willing to fix it for you, and while I will leave my personal experience here, I definitely no longer think that this is necessarily "the norm" so I will say if you want to get a haircut here, and if it goes badly, know that they seem very eager to fix it for you. I am adding one star for the follow up, which was appreciated. read more

I was a student at empire. I was in the esthetics program and did complete my education and earn my license HOWEVER. If you are reading this and are considering going here I strongly urge you to reconsider. I truly felt like I wasted half a year of my life. You feel like your back In high school but worse. Everyone here was so cliché ish and if you didn't fit in your education will suffer due to it. I truly felt like I learned the absolute bare minimum here and most days I had to force myself to walk through the door each day. The teachers Pam Smock who is no longer an educator I will applaud them for forcing her into retirement was easily the most uncaring, mean and evil person I've ever met. Then there's Gina who I believe still is an educator she 100% played favorites. I attended empire in 2018 right when lash extensions were stating to become popular and she would teach her SOME of her students lashes, those who she believed had the best chance at success and who she judged to be worthy imo. I was not one of those however lol I ended up taking a lash course after graduation to learn lashing which cost a pretty 1,200 bucks. You'd think for paying nearly 14 g's in tuition they'd teach you everyone fairly. But no I cannot even attribute it to classism I paid my tuition there in full with no fasfa or any type of financial aid. In conclusion it was purely favoritism that led some of my classmates to revive a more comprehensive education than me, which in turn led them to saving a nice chunk of change. It's okay tho even though I was told to watch a YouTube vid and do my own research when I had a question they also told others to do the dame I would often cry when I would clock out of school on my car ride home because I felt so excluded and targeted. You may be reading this thinking I was the exception I just had a bad experience ( which I did ) or it's my fault I didn't make the most of it but I assure you I tried. I was a 20 year old girl at the time when the majority of my classmates were in their 30's and beyond. They saw me as a young naive girl and wanted to stick to their mom group. Now this may be different for the cosmetology side however my experience in the esthetician program was this. I cannot reiterate this enough, if you are a young girl and are trying to figure out your career path or what you want to do in life and decide esthetics seems like a good niche PLEASE don't go here. Try aveda or trichochi but not here. Thanks for thank the time to read this! read more

From the educators to the education quality this school has it all. I love coming back to empire to share my knowledge & career experiences with these girls. It will always be my home. Karmin, Whitney, David, Ceci, & dex are a great asset to this school! They know exactly what they are doing & care about the wellbeing of the students! read more

I visited Empire Beauty School on Saturday for a special occasion updo after accepting the fact that I have no hair styling abilities and realizing that it was way too late to book an appointment at a salon. I went in with an open mind and low expectations with the understanding that this is a school and that a student, who is still learning how to do hair, would be styling my hair. I was fortunate to be assigned to a student that was in her last few weeks of school so she seemed to have some experience under her belt. She was friendly and easy to work with and I could tell she truly cared about making sure I left feeling happy with my hair. She did need some assistance from the teacher, but that is to be expected and I was glad she allowed the educator to step in and help out when she was struggling. Shout out to Cecelia Snow for doing an awesome job on my hair! My rating of Empire is right down the middle, because while I did have an overall positive experience with the stylist/student, there were some pretty obvious issues with the establishment itself. Which I will explain below: The salon opens at 9 AM and they stopped taking walk-ins within 15 minutes of opening. I arrived at 9:05 and there were already 10 people in line ahead of me. They also allow the students to bring in their own clients with them, and they take those clients before everyone else. I was taken back around 10 AM and left around 11:30 AM. There were major organizational issues that were painfully obvious at check-in. They had no idea how many students would be there that day, and even commented that many may show up late or not at all. They were quoting clients a 2 hour wait time based on the lack of reliability of their students. This speak volumes about the admissions process of this school and tells me that they probably accept anyone into the program with an ability to pay and have no real consequences for being late or not showing up at all. Unsurprisingly based on the above issues, some of the students looked super unprofessional..like they had literally rolled out of bed after a night of partying. I totally don't blame anyone for dressing down for class, but when it's a Saturday and you're taking actual clients...treat it like you would a real job. Take the time to put yourself together like you would if you were going into work at a professional hair salon. Some of the student stylists looked professional and like someone I would feel confident allowing to do my hair. Others...not so much. The salon itself was clean enough but pretty dated and could use some remodeling and TLC. Overall, I was happy with my experience with Cecilia and her supervisor and was impressed with my hair when I walked out the door. The prices are also impossible to beat. I paid $20 for an updo that would've cost close to $100 anywhere else. Please Be aware that tips are cash only! I did not know this when I paid and I felt terrible that I wasn't able to leave a tip. read more

Empire Beauty School - It even held up in 90 degree weather, hours later! - Cosmetology Schools Near Me - Indianapolis, Indiana

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Wow...Laura did a super job shaping my eyebrows. If you are in the Southport Rd area in the next couple of weeks and need some brow work done book Laura who just LOVES to do brows and she will fix you up. Whoever offers her a job will be gaining the eyebrow queen and she no doubt has other formidable skills.. Wish the Speedway location offered spa services too but no such luck. Part two of my appointment started out to be a nightmare until Carey stepped in and gave me the most fantastic look ever. So glad my "student" kept up her negativity causing me to walk away from her station before my cut. Had she known as much as she thought she did she would have realized how to get me the look I wanted, ironic that she actually did me a huge favor. Keep that attitude and clients will walk away every time and go to stylists that know what questions to ask and deliver the results client's want.. And I apologize to Ms. CeCe for forgetting her name...love the color you suggested an epic improvement and much more natural looking than before. Moral of the story is that even though this is a school and things can go bad instructors and senior staff will and do step in to make the client experience a success. Promise to get in every 6-8 weeks for maintenance. Thanks to Carey's product recommendations I have the products I need to maintain my new 'do. Love Empire Beauty School. read more

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I have been trying to get an appointment, or find out when walk-in hours are several times. I have wasted gas at least three times! When I asked about available times, I was given some for walk-in times. I returned last week, and couldn't get services for a simple shampoo, blow dry and braiding of my own hair because they had a meeting. I expressed my frustration of trying to get services and was given a 30% off coupon for the inconveniences. I left, thinking I'd try one more time. I called and was given some "walk-in" times" only to arrive, and learn they weren't available! This happened yesterday, June 26 to get services, and again I was turned away. The front desk person was rude saying they had some planned educational service for their students, but if that's the case, why was I given certain times to walk in to get services? I will NOT return as they are a waste of my time!! They are unprofessional and don't care! Hopefully others will get services if they get lucky. I will look for another beauty school that's professional and gives out correct information and doesn't give conflicting ones. Don't waste your time. Find another professional beauty school or other professional business like I will do! read more

Sad when the students take up all the customer parking. There were only there customers and all the parking, even the handicap parking, was taken. I had to park by the road. Shameful that the students are too lazy to walk. I don't mind the walk if the spots were taken by actual customers, which they weren't. read more

Let me tell you; I HATED THIS SCHOOL! At first, yeah I liked it but until you get enrolled and actually start attending the school you won't get the true story. They promised "small class sizes" but nope. We had over 25 people in one class. I hated it. The educators wasn't always there to help, and I couldn't even see demos because the class size. Also, there was so much drama like seriously this isn't high school, we are adults. Plus, I was always talked down too like I was a child. I hated that! Yes I know I'm young but still treat me with some respect! I did however get along with some of my classmates. That was a plus, I did like the versatility. It was great. I also did get my hair colored and cut by an educator there and I hated it so much. One side was longer than the other! Plus it wasn't the color I wanted! I didn't even want to rate this school with 1 star, I would put 0 stars if there was an option. read more

The staff is amazing they are so nice and greet you with respect. it's a nice real life experience. Brittany cook is the nicest sweetest person. Jessie greeted Us with a smile and had an amazing conversation. read more

I got here promptly at 9 a.m. to get fingerwaves in my hair.The receptionist was friendly & informative.The class instructor, Penny, was very vibrant & full of personality.She treated me as if she'd known me for years, and also did an awesome job on my hair.Anyone who has patience with my being particular about my hair is a keeper.Ha!They even had the same hair products I use at home- yay to that!The students were willing to watch & learn, as fingerwaves are not easy to do.I was in & out.I will definitely come back soon! read more

I want to remind those who decide to get their hair done at the school...it's a school. People attend to learn and along the way they might make a mistake. Be open to that and your experience will be much nicer. If you are stressed out, then the student will also be uneasy. I've gone to Empire for several haircuts. Has it always been perfect...no, but it wasn't ever horrific. You can always ask the instructors assist the student. It makes a difference for everyone involved. The staff at Empire are great people. Introduce yourself and get to know them. You will see they truly want everyone to do well. read more

Save yourself thousands of dollars and a lot of stress, do not go to school here. Incompetent, apathetic management, it's dirty, we're forced to take sick clients, we have poor ventilation, always out of supplies, lots of arbitrary rules that are never consistent. Go to Aveda! read more

On 4/23/16 Very bad experience. I realize Empire is a school so there is a chance for error. That being said I believe students should have someone present to monitor their work, at least until they show the capability to preform on their own. I went in for a cut and brow wax. The stylist was just leaving for lunch so I choose to wait the half hour for her to return. She said she would be ready in a minute, she didn't return to waiting area for me another girl finally escorted me back. She motioned me to sit. Her attitude was not welcoming (I should have left at this point). I ask her if this was a bad time and she had said no. (It was at least for me). I wanted longer layers and to my shoulders. I have no idea what she did but I came in with hair past my shoulders and left with it an inch below my ears. She called the instructor over who then had to spend over an hour trying to make something presentable out of what the student had done. This was a bad experience but made me feel as if it was my fault. The student repeatly used the phrase "her hair". She never apologized for her obvious mistake and her rude behavior. If you get a bad vibe here, heed it's warning don't make excuses for someones behavior. read more

Yes honey. Went and got my toes did by brittnay and they look good. Love this place. Have a great time.

So we called the day before my daughter's eighth grade dance and was told that we could walk into the salon after she got out of school which I stated her bus came about 3:15 and do I need to make an appointment I was told no. all we needed was her hair curled we walk in and they said they shut down the floor at 2:00 and too bad because she wasn't there when we made the appointment so that lady said it doesn't matter so they can't help us. read more

Great school, amazing career! I got my start at this Empire location for my 1st license in the industry, of MANY! I loved my educators, and my education and experiences. they will push you ONLY for you to succeed and exceed your own expectations! read more

This school is ridiculous I attend this school and a student had to drop because she has Tuberculosis and Mersa not only did we just find out today she has been around all of us and the school has known since Monday but yet the school only told that students class failed to tell the student in other classes and the floor students where we work with clients hands on... it is pathetic but when we ask about it the say they cant discuss it. If you or anyone is thinking about starting this school run. Run fast read more

I only give this place one star because it's required. This is the worst school. I feel like i have wasted a year of my life and only completed the program because of the money I already owed. The are always out of products and tools needed to learn. The classes are too big, because they care more about money and nothing about education. There is constantly drama and fighting not to mention people doing drugs in school and the parking lot. Which by the way the teachers and administration are well aware of and do nothing about. The teachers are clueless and pick favorites which they then put on a pedistal. They leave you high and dry when you have problems with something are hardly ever around to help and there "classes" don't get me started. I wish I had went to another school all together so save yourself time and money and go elsewhere. They send people out unprepared and misinformed. read more

I had the worst service ever. First they told me that I did not book an appointment for a spa facial, which I did. They could be so kind as to fit me in in an hour. So I opted for a regular facial instead so I would not have to wait, but I still waited 30 minutes. The facial was to last " 30-40 minutes" and lasted 20minutes. Then they had up wait another 10 minutes to pay. I was sure ready to get out of that place. And by the looks of the unpleasant students they wanted to as well. What a great Birthday present to myself. I will pay the extra money next time and go to a professional salon. read more

I went here for six weeks in the esthetician program. The class size was small, but I don't think the instructor could've handled a bigger class. She was constantly on her phone. She used the wrong tests. There were times when the test covered things we hadn't been taught yet. We were tested on treatments the first time we'd ever done them. The breaker to our room constantly tripped, so we'd lose power while trying to practice. It even did it during the exam to go to the floor and take clients. So, we couldn't properly use the machines needed to do a basic facial. Our requests for working on things we felt we needed more practice on were denied because the instructor didn't want to mess with it. There was a lot of drama between students. There are only two schools on the south side with an esthetics program -- Empire and PJ's. I went to PJ's for nail tech program. I will be going back there to finish my esthetics program. read more

For a school this is a great place. The students are nice. The teachers are quick to help. The products are amazing.

this place has a fabulous esthetics department. the right atmosphere and you feel like you're in a real spa. hair services area needs to get it across that they should train like professional hairstylists. cut down the noise and language. we the customers don't want to hear about you antics. read more