So let me start off by saying I can not personally speak for any other campuses, but I can speak about the Redlands Salon Success campus. I have waited until I was completely done with my course & got my license to ensure nothing hindered my state board date, or exam results. I would NOT personally recommend this school to anyone, this school is raking in THOUSANDS of dollars from students & yet the students are not provided with the proper space, nor proper equipment/tools needed to adequately learn. At 1 point we had over 30 girls Tues-Fri & another at least 15 girls added on Saturdays (because the night students come on Saturdays) in 1 classroom that only had 4! YES 4!! Teaching beds & 4 beds in the back that were supposed to be meant for clients or walk-in customers. The 4 beds we did have were half broken 2 of the 4 beds we had to put chairs under the foot rest of the bed because it wouldn't stay up, another bed where the armrest inserts into the side of the chair was pulled out & the "white" plastic was ripping away from the hole & chunks of the foam insert was missing. These beds were VERY well used! So not only were there not enough broken beds, there wasn't enough broken (wheel-less, ripped up) stools for us all there was also not enough broken steamers or magnifying lamps (if we used 1 of these we risked them falling over on our faces, i never once got to use 1 of these at school because they were not functional) nor were there enough tables for us to set up on we would have to go find a nail tables to set up our products to execute our services. Now as if that wasn't enough let's talk about the "drapings" we had to use on ourselves & clients!! OMG TALK ABOUT DISGUSTING!!! These towels, sheets, body wraps & headbands were repulsing to say the least! Their once white color somehow turned to a dingy grayish no longer white AT ALL color. Pleasant right? Not at all!! I actually had a walk-in client that I had to service & she REFUSED to wear the drapings because she said "I'm sorry but they're disgusting!" She instead pulled her straps down to the sides of her arms. Talk about EMBARRASSING!! Sad thing is the "nicer" ones are used for the clients so imagine what the students' ones look like! The body wraps & headbands hardly stayed on because the velcro was so worn & full of others hair the velcro wouldn't stick, imagine laying there getting a service & you expose yourself (not on purpose) because the wrap pops open! This has happened to me personally while someone giving me a facial & a girl accidentally exposed herself to me as I was giving her a facial because the velcro that doesn't stick. With all that being said imagine a room full of 30+ women with only 4 beds, 4 extremely close & in a VERY cramped space for 8 people (the person getting the service & the person giving the service) out of the 30+ women, what are the other girls doing during this time?! They're left to read or whatever. I feel that time was used VERY improperly! We could have been taught other things during this time or other techniques, because each service at minimum takes 1hr (usually more because of set up time & face it we're learning) then the 2 switch places to make it another over an hour wait. Then on Saturdays with MORE of us they got folding massage table beds (after complaints) to put in another classroom where there were no towel warmers, steamers or equiptment the girls doing services in there would have to get up & leave that room to go to the towel warmer in the Esti room to get a towel & during a standard facial we use a steamed towel 3x. Aside from the fact that a lot of times the towel steamer also DID NOT work, go figure! At 1 point during my time at school our teacher randomly was not there, I figured ok she is sick but it turned into another day & another which then turned into weeks. During the majority of the time she was gone we just had either another teacher or the staff pop their head in the class to check on us & during this time we were not being taught. I find this VERY irritating because again we we're paying to learn! Then we kept being told "oh she is fine she will be back tomorrow" (which never happened). After about a month of this they ended up using 1 of the Cosmo teachers to teach our class & gave her class a different teacher. Although I loved her (Mrs. Kat), thought she was hilarious & added things that we hadn't learned to the mix. It's the point of having no teacher all that time or being taught anything prior to Mrs. Kat being moved to our class. Then when 1 of the students asked the campus director (Ms. Judy) where is Mrs.J? Is she coming back? The campus director flat out laughed & said "for lack of a better word, it's none of your business." AFTER she just tried having a class discussion about bringing one another up & empowering each other as women (because there was a lot of drama happening in the class). POSTED REST OF REVIEW IN SCREENSHOTS & OTHER ACCT, CLDNT FIT ALL read more

Let's talk about the staff, now Mrs. Linda is WONDERFUL!! She's a gem & sweet (a person like her is who should be a leader & campus director). Ms. Judy & Ms. Helena on the other hand are very impersonal & I'm sorry but just flat out rude. All us girls were being told different things by different people, as far as rules or how stuff worked; they need to do a better job in communicating within themselves to be on the same page about the inner workings of the campus. For some reason (I never had an issue with the dress code other than the fact we wore the school shirts 5x a wk & were only given 4 shirts when we sign up & then they wanted to charge over $30 for a T-SHIRT!!) Ms. Helena had to come in & go over the dress code & what we could wear or could not wear. Many students asked questions & I asked can we purchase a plain black t-shirt or plain black scrub top & purchase the school patch to put on the top she said yes! Well i went out & bought 2 scrub tops to return to school & buy patches from Ms. Judy who then says we're NOT allowed to do that, I said but Ms. Helena said we could. Ms. Judy just flat out said no you can't so I went to Mrs. Helena inquiring as to why was she saying we could but Ms. Judy said we can't. Let me tell you I saw a different Ms. Helena! She basically called me a liar & I told her multiple girls heard her say we were able to do that & that I was upset because I went & bought them, took the tags off thinking I was able to use them & now I can't (I'm a single mom in school full time on a fixed income so you see my frustration on money spent that didn't need to be spent & now I can not return the tops, I most DEFINITELY wouldn't have purchased something without being told it was doable) Ms. Helena flat out threatened my enrollment into the school over this & went into the class to "restate" what she had said about dress code & how her words were twisted. Many girls wrote emails in to complain about the school campus, the equipment we were being provided & Ms. Judy, but she always acted a different way when others were around. Seeing how Ms. Judy acted towards other classmates' graduations made me not want to have a graduation, it's really sad that it is made that way & if you or your Esti friends don't do something for you on your graduation day nothing happens at all! She also registered my entire class I started with late for state board & some other girls as well. Let's just say if you get on her bad side she will show it! She has made girls in our class cry because of her brass-ness & does it infront of others. I've walked into her office on more than 1 occasion & she's on her personal phone or calls & tells us to come back she's busy & did it to other girls as well. These campus staff members get mad when you confront them about something they said or something they get caught up in to not be true or anything that is written in the school handbook that they're not following (which is many things & things in the syllabus that we don't actually get taught). The night teacher who was brought in after multiple complaints of not having enough teaching to student ratio was also at times rude & of course always took the side of her night students when any issues arose, she would come in after 1:30pm to help out. So by now we have had ¾ different teachers depending on the subs we had on Saturday class with different rules, expectations, state board teachings, testing/studying structure & cleanliness which can cause a lot of confusion & tensions among a large group of women. Now let's talk about the whole "Client Rotation" they enforced this with who they wanted to enforce this with. We had girls disappear or go in their cars & got skipped off rotation, or another student would decide to re-write the list & even if you just took a client you were forced again. We are also forced to take the MUD makeup 80 hour course, which at the time I didn't know was NOT a requirement of the state as a part of the 600 hour Esthetician training requirement. I feel students should have the option to add it or not (for it is an extra cost & time onto the program & the makeup we get is terrible & I had a reaction to the product so I can't even use it & so did other classmates. Aside from that I can't say I learned anything from MUD we wasted 1 whole day (8 hours) on lip liner, like seriously? We could have learned WAY more in the time we had to actually learn makeup) Also EVERYONE passed MUD although there were some who most obviously DID NOT apply the makeup properly AT ALL, I'm talking like a clown/Marionette Puppet & blew in the girl's face; which we were told was considered an automatic fail. I say this because it makes our certification feel like nothing, they just passed everyone (I heard other girls saying this as well). So a client walks into the salon wanting her makeup done for a quinceanera PT.2 OF REVIEW SEE ABOVE & BELOW FOR PT. 3 read more

PT. 3 FOLLOWING MY OTHER REVIEWS, IT ALL DIDN'T FIT ON 1 REVIEW... Also EVERYONE passed MUD although there were some who most obviously DID NOT apply the makeup properly AT ALL, I'm talking like a clown/Marionette Puppet & blew in the girl's face; which we were told was considered an automatic fail. I say this because it makes our certification feel like nothing, they just passed everyone (I heard other girls saying this as well). So a client walks into the salon wanting her makeup done for a quinceanera & a few classmates didn't want to take it being scared (which I totally understand) but they singled out a specific classmate because she said she didn't feel comfortable doing makeup & that's not what she came to Esthetician School for & she doesn't do good makeup. Needless to say she was just flat out sent home & it was her Birthday...why weren't the other girls who didn't feel comfortable doing it sent home? Because my friend stood up for herself & said she was told in her tour we didn't have to take clients if we weren't comfortable (many girls were told this by Ms. Helena as well). At 1 point I was also not allowed to use the school gloves to take out the trash (because it was my chore that day) I was told NO & I had to use my own gloves!! Then their "break room" is a joke! It's a 6ft table with 6 chairs inside the locker room for the ENTIRE campus! Also we were forced to share lockers with strangers because they don't have enough for the amount of students they keep taking in. FYI this school has also made 2 girls that I am aware of take male clients with terrible stories! 1 student was forced to take a male client who I was told was already acting strange in the lobby, once he was in the back with the female student she said he was staring at her the ENTIRE facial (can we say AWKWARD!) He proceeded to get a hard on during the facial & after a few minutes he made a noise & jerked his arm, hitting her in her boob! Then another student was forced to wax a male's "bikini" area! She was in tears & said if she didn't do it she would be sent home! He came to this "waxing" with no underwear at all so they had to give him a wrap & as a result his genitalia was in turn exposed to her (can't remember for certain at this point if he also was erect as well or not). Let's get to the completion of the program as if the other stuff isn't enough...when I tell you the "Certificate" you get after all this is a JOKE!! UGH! I was SO irritated to have done all those months & drove almost an hour from my city to their main campus in Upland to get a piece of cardstock that looks like my 12 yr old could have made (she probably would have done better!). Not only is it off centered & crooked the spacings are off & the best part? The "seal" is an OBVIOUSLY hand cut sticker that's cut rather imperfectly!!! The signatures are also just printed, not a stamp or anything of substance. Then as you're holding it up & looking at it you're like what's that on the back? Turns over the cardstock to see in large printing a list of all the campuses & their addresses, like WHY!?! Why do I need this on my diploma? I'm in complete embarrassment to hang or display this anywhere!!!! All those months & sacrifice for THIS!??! I'd rather make my own or have my own made at this point! This school is all about MONEY!!!!! My class had 8 students at 13k per student, add that! That's over 100k for 1 class of students (they get new starts EVERY MONTH), imagine the cosmo students added into that who pay more! Then the entire campus! Then add all the other campuses & the other programs they offer, my point? We should have proper working & adequate equipment & supplies! We also DESERVE a proper graduation certificate! They have 1 guy driving around fixing equipment that just flat out needs to be replaced! All I can say is I'm beyond glad that I am away from that place! I never missed 1 day of school (graduated at a 118% attendance rate), I picked up a Monday school & stayed late into the night class for almost 2 weeks just to finish early & get out of there!!! Got nothing but A's on all my tests & was always willing to help out & help other students as well as new students. I'm embarrassed to say I even attended this school! PLEASE SEE ALL 1-3 POSTS TO COMPLETE REVIEW!! read more

This school is so disgusting it's Ridiculous! I don't even know where to start ?? My teacher has an high school education and does not know how to properly run a class nor TEACH. There is no form of infection control everything is filthy as heck! (I wish I could say the F word ) and the teachers do nothing about it nor does the staff . When I brought up my concerns my teacher and she just said "how do you think I feel I have to work here" she also tells students that she's going to be quitting at the end of July and is actively job searching!?! This lady doesn't give a damn! It's so shameful. Students are spending hard earned money to go here and our teacher does the bare minimum! We learn no theory we only highlight the answers for the test in our notebook and that's our theory. This school is a JOKE!, I feel so ripped off and feel like I am not getting a proper education. I just want to die Students are not taught anything. Please save yourself do not come here you will be ripped off and not get your moneys worth. you do not get any information to prepare you for the state test everything is a bunch of BS nonessential information that will not be used in the testing field. Everything in here is so nasty I do not feel safe to touch anything I'm literally terrified! Someone please HELP !!! I've seen students and teachers come in with cold sores and other sicknesses and spread them to other students . This school always runs out of cleaning supplies; dish soap, laundry detergent and ect. Whenever we run out of laundry detergent students clean sheet,towels, robs, ect with HAIR SHAMPOO!!!! WHEN WE RUN OUT OF DISH SOAP STUDENTS ARE FORCED TO USE HAND SOAP TO CLEAN IMPLEMENTS(facial brushes,cups,bowls,extractors,tweezers, ect. Will be cleaned with restroom hand soap)students are forced to work with each other And use dirty towels and dirty products and dirty implements everything is so so nasty here . When working with our student towels the have a very foul odor they smell up the CLASS. please save yourself and your money and go to a decent school and do your research research !! The course im in cost me over 12,000$ For that amount of money this class should not be as dirty as it is! I have not learned anything! the conditions of these classes are so disgusting for this amount of money that I am paying is not right at all something needs to be done the school needs new management new teachers and new staff all around. the state has no idea what's going on here it's sickening. I literally feel sick every day I have to walk into this class I want to cry you have been warned don't come here . COMPLETE RIP OFFFFF!!!! I Could screaaaaam! read more

Recently finished the esthetician program last month. When they tell you they only teach you the basics, they really do. and it gets overwhelming because you feel like you're missing out on information.. however I was blessed to have such an amazing teacher. Mrs.anika did nothing but basic in her classroom!! she would always go in depth about what we were talking about, host little days we would get together and do activities like creating your own product! (which isn't even on the curriculum!! ) it was such a fun experience as well as little potluck at the end of each module for us to celebrate. She went out of her way to add in these "not so basic" things into our learning that really did help the information stick. she also is such a sweet woman. she made sure that it was such a welcoming environment for everyone, girls, gays, theys, literally everyone. it was awesome to have such a welcoming atmosphere. I had a hard time with some other girls in my class and was causing me a lot of emotional distress, but mrs anika's open door policy was really what helped. you can go to her about anything and she will always do her best to give you the advice you need. walking out of there i know how to handle catty girls like that and i am stronger than ever. Thank you Ms.Anika! read more

Don't not I REPEAT DOOOOO NOTTTTTT come to this joke of a school, unless you like favoritism, being treated like a maid. Literally they make so much money off the students and can't hire a cleaning company to come and have them clean, take out trash etc at the end of every day, this school is so disgustingly DIRTY they wash the esti towels with the cosmetology towels in the same washing machine and think it's okay, ms Judy is the most unprofessional director there could be, she favorites students by race so if you're white you're coming to the perfect school, she doesn't address issues with student so if you get bullied tough luck school with just be miserable for you . You learn absolutely NOTHING when you're out on the floor all you do is work on a doll head until they give you a client and if you're new to the floor be prepared for ink pedicures and manicures because the instructors think you're not capable of doing anything else. This school has cockroaches and a lot of immature " instructors " & " director" hope this helps further students from choosing schools wisely. Better off making the drive to Paul Mitchell. read more