The Refresher/
Confidence Builder
A 5 Day Hairdressing Refresher Course for Qualified Stylists
This is our signature course. Five days of practical training for qualified hairdressers who want to sharpen their skills, catch up on current techniques and get their confidence back on the salon floor. You choose where to focus: cutting, styling, colouring, or a combination of the three.
We’ve been training hairdressers and barbers for over 60 years. We’re located centrally in the City of London, in a training environment that mirrors a real working salon. Depending on your chosen focus, you’ll start on mannequins or with colour theory, then progress to live models, which is where the confidence comes back.
Most students on this course fall into one of three camps: hairdressers returning to the industry after time away, newly qualified stylists who hold the qualification but don’t yet feel at home on the salon floor, and experienced stylists who feel bogged down by their everyday routine and want some fresh inspiration.
If your skills are solid but your confidence has slipped, this is the course that rebuilds it.
The Refresher/Confidence Builder – Key Course Details
Duration
5 days
Location
London (1 Hayne Street, EC1A 9HG)
Next Start Dates
Weekly on request – courses begin weekly throughout the year
Schedule
Monday–Friday, 10am–3:30pm (part-time available – minimum 3 consecutive days per week)
Entry Requirements
You must be a qualified hairdresser
Qualification
Alan d Hairdressing Education certificate
Full Price
£990 inc. VAT
Additional Costs
Equipment (your own kit is welcome if in good condition; kits available to purchase)
Class Size
Maximum 10 new learners per month
What You’ll Learn
Teaching Approach
You’re already a qualified hairdresser, so nobody is going to teach you from scratch. The course is mostly practical, with just enough theory to underpin what you’re doing. Your first day doubles as a skills check: working through foundation techniques shows your trainer exactly where you are, and the rest of your time is built from there rather than from a fixed syllabus.
Choose Your Focus: Cutting, Styling or Colouring
Training covers cutting, styling and colouring, and you’ll have to decide what the right balance is for you. Some students spend all five days on a single discipline. Others split their time, brushing up on cutting for a few days and using the rest to refresh their colour work.
Cutting & Styling
You’ll start on a mannequin, working through our foundation cuts so your trainer can see your existing knowledge and skills before you move onto live models. These cover the core techniques every stylist relies on, from one-length and layered work through to bobs and shorter shapes, and working back through them surfaces any habits that have crept in over the years.
Colouring
For colouring, we recommend starting with our monthly colour seminar to reinforce your colour theory before working on live models. Getting the theory back under you makes the practical days far more productive. If colour is the main reason you’re here, you can weight the whole course towards it.
Course Structure
The course is set to run over five days, Monday to Friday from 10 am to 3:30 pm however if a full week doesn’t fit around your job or family, you can take it part-time across a minimum of three consecutive days per week. Courses begin weekly throughout the year, so you can book a start date that suits you.
Hands-On Experience
Cutting students build their technique back up on mannequin heads first, without the pressure of a client in the chair, then move onto live models from our model bank. Colouring students move onto live models once their theory is refreshed. In both cases you’ll be working on real clients, with different hair types, textures, conditions and requirements, and that’s where the confidence building actually happens. A trainer is beside you throughout, stepping in when you need it and stepping back when you don’t.
Assessment
There’s no exam at the end. Your trainer assesses your work on live models as you go, and feedback is continuous rather than saved up for a final judgement. On completion you’ll receive the Alan d Hairdressing Education certificate.
Is This Course Right for You?
Entry Requirements
You must be a qualified hairdresser. This is an intermediate course, so we assume you can already cut, colour and style. What we rebuild is fluency and confidence, not the basics. Spoken English is essential.
This Course is Ideal For
- Hairdressers returning to the industry
- Newly qualified stylists who hold the qualification but don’t yet feel confident on the salon floor
- Experienced stylists who want fresh inspiration
- Stylists with a gap in one discipline, particularly colour, who want to close it before it limits their work
- Anyone considering the Level 3 NVQ Diploma who wants to rebuild their practical confidence first
What You’ll Achieve
Your Qualification
You’ll receive the Alan d Hairdressing Education certificate on completion. To be straightforward about what that is: it’s our own institutional certificate, not a regulated qualification like an NVQ. As a qualified hairdresser you already hold your regulated qualification. This one documents your refreshed training, and after time out of the industry it’s a useful addition to your CV.
Skills You’ll Develop
By the end of the course you’ll have your speed and fluency back on live clients, current cutting techniques worked through on the foundation cuts, and your colour theory refreshed and applied in practice. The bigger change is the one the course is named for. Most students arrive doubting themselves and leave feeling far more confident on the salon floor.
Where to Go Next
If the course surfaces one specific skill you want to focus on further, our #ONTHEFLOOR the course we recommend. It’s a bespoke bootcamp where you decide exactly what you learn. For experienced stylists ready to push on, the Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Hairdressing is the advanced, Ofqual-regulated route, ideal once your confidence is back and you want your skills formally recognised at a higher level.
Our Hairdressing Academy
Located in Hayne St, EC1, Barbican, adjacent to Farringdon Elizabeth Line, Barbican exit, our London Hairdressing School is in the heart of the City of London making it easily accessible by public transport. You will learn in a realistic working environment using salon-professional only products.
Course Investment
Tuition Fee
Full Price: £990 inc. VAT
That covers the full five days, whichever focus you choose. There’s no VTCT registration fee on this course because the certificate is our own.
What’s Included
Your course fee covers everything from tuition, ongoing support throughout your training, all the way to your Alan d certificate upon completion. You’ll work on mannequin heads and live models. We’ll provide salon-only professional products, giving you hands-on experience with the brands and tools you’ll work with in professional environments.
Additional Costs
Your own kit is welcome if it’s in good condition. Professional equipment kits are also available to purchase (you keep these permanently). Dress code is smart casual.
Learn from Industry Professionals
Academy Expertise
We have over 60 years of Industry experience in training hairdressers and barbers. The academy is a VTCT-approved centre, which means your training and assessment meet nationally recognised vocational standards. Class sizes are kept small intentionally, typically between 1 and 8 students per instructor, so you’ll get individual attention and personalised feedback throughout your course.
A maximum of 10 new learners start each month, and you’ll train alongside students on other programmes, from complete beginners through to Level 3 stylists. Training comes from some of the best hairdressing trainers in the industry.
FAQs
You need to be a qualified hairdresser, and that’s the only requirement. It doesn’t matter whether you qualified six months ago or twenty years ago, or how long you’ve been out of the salon. The course meets you at your current level. Spoken English is essential.
Mostly practical, with some relevant theory where it’s needed. Expect to cut, colour and style hair on both mannequin heads and live models, depending on the focus you choose.
Yes, our certificates are recognised across the industry and worth adding to your CV. Bear in mind it’s an institutional certificate rather than a regulated qualification like an NVQ. Since you’re already qualified, its job is to document your refreshed training, not to qualify you.
Yes. Cutting, styling, colouring, or any combination of the three. Tell us what you want to work on when you book and we’ll shape the five days around it.
Our #ONTHEFLOOR course is a bespoke bootcamp where you decide what you learn. It’s aimed at newly qualified or experienced hairdressers who want to brush up on specific skills rather than follow a set structure.
The Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Hairdressing is the natural next step for experienced stylists looking to expand their skill set. It’s an advanced, Ofqual-regulated qualification, so it carries formal weight as well as new techniques.
Your own kit is welcome if it’s in good condition. If it has seen better days, professional equipment kits are available to purchase, and they’re yours to keep.
Yes, as long as you attend a minimum of three consecutive days per week. Full-time students complete the course in a single week, Monday to Friday.
We have a minimum attendance requirement rate of 80% per week. If you know you’ll be late or absent, you need to notify the academy manager by email or phone no later than 9 am on that day. Repeated unexplained absences can affect your progress and, in serious cases, could result in dismissal from the course without a refund. So we can support you properly, if you have a health issue, ongoing medication, or any personal circumstances that might affect your attendance, please speak to the academy manager at the start of your course.
Alternatively email us on the form below:
More Beginners Hairdressing Courses
4-WEEK COMPREHENSIVE COLOURING COURSE
8-WEEK COMPREHENSIVE CUTTING & COLOURING
LEVEL 2 CERTIFICATE IN CUTTING HAIR
LEVEL 2 CERTIFICATE IN CUTTING HAIR & LEVEL 3 CERTIFICATE IN BARBERING
LEVEL 2 NVQ DIPLOMA IN HAIRDRESSING
THE MASTERCLASS LEVEL 2 NVQ DIPLOMA IN HAIRDRESSING & BARBERING
VIEW ALL BEGINNERS HAIRDRESSING COURSES