How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in Quebec
Become a hairstylist apprentice in Quebec: a DEP in hairdressing, a workplace apprenticeship with a companion, and the Red Seal exam.
How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in Nova Scotia
Become a hairstylist apprentice in Nova Scotia: the 3,600-hour trade term, the trade qualifier route, and the Cosmetology Association licence.
Applies in: Nova Scotia
The short answer
Read this before you look for a salon sponsor: Nova Scotia's hairstylist apprenticeship pilot is closed. The Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia page for the Hairstylist Apprenticeship Program states, in bold, that apprenticeship is now closed. The Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency still lists Hairstylist as a designated trade, and its trade page now lists only the trade-experience pathway to certification — challenging the trade qualifier exam on the strength of work experience. The working route today is to build hours in the trade, qualify to challenge the certification exam, pass it, and then get licensed with the Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia.
The trade, in the regulations
Hairstylist is a designated Red Seal trade in Nova Scotia. The Hairstylist Trade Regulations under the Apprenticeship and Trades Qualifications Act define the trade as cutting, colouring, lightening, tinting, straightening, curling, drying, or shaving hair using mechanical, chemical, or other means. The regulations set the term of apprenticeship at 3,600 documented hours of practical experience and technical training, plus related technical training and a certification examination. Any probationary period in the term must be no longer than three months.
Note the limit on those regulations: they apply to apprenticeship agreements where a party applied to the Director to have the agreement registered during the period from January 4, 2021, to April 2, 2021. That window was the apprenticeship pilot. The regulations still define the trade's hours and the trade qualifier route, but they do not open a new apprenticeship intake.
The regulations also set a wage schedule for apprentices: a minimum of 50 percent of the journeyperson's wage in the same workplace during Level 1, covering 0 to 1,800 hours, and 75 percent during Level 2, covering 1,801 to 3,600 hours. An employer must not pay an apprentice less than the minimum wage set out in the Minimum Wage Order (General).
The route that is open now: trade qualifier
The Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency's Trade Qualification Program is for people with extensive hands-on experience in a trade who can show their skills and work experience meet the standard for a certified tradesperson. To qualify to write the certification exam you schedule an interview with a Training Officer at the Agency. In most trades the certification examination is the Interprovincial Standard Red Seal Exam.
For hairstylist, the regulations set the employment period for a trade qualifier at 5,400 hours. That is the time in the trade you need before you can apply for a certificate of qualification without holding a certificate of apprenticeship. The Agency's trade page for hairstylist lists this trade-experience pathway as the way to certification.
The licence you need to practise
Certification alone is not the last step. Once you complete the apprenticeship requirements and pass the Red Seal exam, you become a Red Seal Certified Hairstylist and are eligible for a Cosmetology (Hairdressing) licence to practise in Nova Scotia. The trade regulations recognize a Master Cosmetologist (Hairdressing) licence, and a Master Cosmetologist Instructor (Hairdressing) licence, issued under the Cosmetology Act, as the equivalent of a hairstylist trade certificate of qualification.
What the pilot looked like when it ran
The pilot was formalized in the trade regulations in January 2021. Salons interviewed and hired apprentices who trained over a two-year period, registered with the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency, and were mentored by a Master Hairstylist. A Cosmetology Association Master Instructor guided apprentices through 360 hours of self-paced online theory training and four weeks, or 240 hours, of in-class practical and theory review. Apprentices needed a salon willing to hire them for at least 32 hours a week, and received an hourly wage of no less than minimum wage. On completing all requirements and passing the Red Seal exam, apprentices became Red Seal Certified Hairstylists and eligible for the Cosmetology (Hairdressing) licence. The pilot page now says apprenticeship is closed, with the last update dated November 18, 2021.
What the opened pages do not state
The Nova Scotia pages opened for this guide do not say whether or when a new hairstylist apprenticeship intake will open, so this guide states no date. They do not publish the dollar amount of any exam fee or Cosmetology Association licence fee, so this guide states no fee. They do not state a pass mark for the certification exam, so this guide gives none. They also do not describe a current school-to-apprenticeship route for someone with no experience, so this guide does not invent one: contact the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency or the Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia to ask what is open now.
Related guides:
- How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in Alberta — Alberta's open sponsor-first route: two periods of 1,450 hours on the job plus 10 weeks of classroom instruction each.
- How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in Manitoba — Manitoba's two levels of 1,800 hours each, plus a written Red Seal exam and a practical exam.
- How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in Ontario — Ontario's compulsory trade at 3,500 hours, with a salon sponsor and two school levels.
- How to Become a Hairstylist Apprentice in British Columbia — British Columbia's route for the same trade.
- How to Become a Carpenter Apprentice in Nova Scotia — a Nova Scotia trade with an open apprenticeship route through the same Agency.
- How to Become an Electrician Apprentice in Nova Scotia — another Nova Scotia trade run through the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency.
Carry your identity card while you work
The Hairstylist Trade Regulations also set an identity card rule. An apprentice or journeyperson has to keep their identity card in their possession when practising the trade and produce it on request. For an apprentice, practising includes acquiring practical experience in the trade and learning the skills of the trade during the technical training portion of apprenticeship training. For a journeyperson, it means performing the duties of the trade. Keep the card with you in the salon, not at home.
Becoming a hairstylist apprentice in Nova Scotia, in five steps
- Check whether an apprenticeship intake is openThe Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency and Cosmetology Association pilot is closed. The Agency's trade page now lists the trade-experience pathway.
- Build 5,400 hours of work in the tradeThat is the employment period the regulations require to challenge the certification exam as a trade qualifier.
- Apply to the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency as a trade qualifierThe Agency's Trade Qualification Program is for people with extensive hands-on experience whose skills meet the standard for a certified tradesperson.
- Write the certification examIn most trades the certification exam is the Interprovincial Standard Red Seal Exam.
- Get licensed with the Cosmetology Association of Nova ScotiaOnce certified, you are eligible for a Cosmetology (Hairdressing) licence to practise in Nova Scotia.
Questions people ask
Can I still become a hairstylist apprentice in Nova Scotia?
Not through the route most people expect. The Hairstylist Apprenticeship Program run by the Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency is now closed. The Agency's trade page for hairstylist now lists the trade-experience pathway to certification instead of an apprenticeship intake. Check with the Agency before you plan around a salon apprenticeship.
How many hours does the Nova Scotia hairstylist trade take?
The Hairstylist Trade Regulations set the term of apprenticeship at 3,600 documented hours of practical experience and technical training, plus related technical training and a certification examination. The same regulations set 5,400 hours of employment in the trade as the requirement to challenge the certification exam as a trade qualifier.
What is the trade qualifier route to becoming a hairstylist in Nova Scotia?
It is for people with extensive hands-on experience in the trade. You schedule an interview with a Training Officer at the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency, show that your skills and work experience meet the standard for a certified tradesperson, and then write the certification examination. In most trades that exam is the Interprovincial Standard Red Seal Exam.
What licence do I need to practise as a hairstylist in Nova Scotia?
A Cosmetology (Hairdressing) licence from the Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia. Once you complete the apprenticeship requirements and pass the Red Seal exam, you become a Red Seal Certified Hairstylist and are eligible for that licence. A Master Cosmetologist (Hairdressing) licence counts as the equivalent of a hairstylist certificate of qualification under the trade regulations.
What did hairstylist apprentices earn in Nova Scotia?
The Hairstylist Trade Regulations set a wage schedule as a percentage of the journeyperson's wage in the same workplace: 50 percent in Level 1, covering 0 to 1,800 hours, and 75 percent in Level 2, covering 1,801 to 3,600 hours. An employer must not pay an apprentice less than the minimum wage set out in the Minimum Wage Order (General).
How was the Nova Scotia hairstylist apprenticeship structured when it ran?
The pilot ran over two years in a salon, with the apprentice registered with the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency and mentored by a Master Hairstylist. Training was 360 hours of self-paced online theory plus four weeks, or 240 hours, of in-class practical and theory review. Apprentices needed a salon willing to hire them for at least 32 hours a week. The pilot is closed, so treat this as history, not a current intake.
Sources
- Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency, Hairstylist — hairstylist as a designated trade, with the trade-experience pathway to certification listed on the trade page.
- Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency, Trade Qualification Program (Guidelines and Process) — the trade qualifier route, the interview with a Training Officer, the Red Seal exam as the certification exam in most trades, and hairstylist listed as compulsory under another regulatory body.
- Hairstylist Trade Regulations, Apprenticeship and Trades Qualifications Act (Nova Scotia) — the 3,600-hour term of apprenticeship, the January to April 2021 registration window, the wage schedule of 50 percent and 75 percent of the journeyperson's wage, the 5,400-hour trade qualifier requirement, and the Master Cosmetologist licences recognized as equivalent to a certificate of qualification.
- Cosmetology Association of Nova Scotia, Apprenticeship 2021 — the apprenticeship pilot now closed, the two-year salon structure, the 360 hours of online theory and four weeks of in-class training, the 32-hour minimum week, and the Red Seal exam plus Cosmetology (Hairdressing) licence outcome.
- Job Bank, Hairdresser in Québec | Job requirements — trade certification for hairstylists compulsory in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.