Douglas J Aveda Institute Reviews

"Aveda institute Tallahassee has some serious problems in many aspects. I graduated from the dual spa program in may of this year and I am STILL not licensed in September. They made me pay out of pocket for electronic fingerprints two days before my graduation and now they are telling me they are not valid for the state of Florida. I went to the first place on their list they gave me. I am losing my job because of their negligence and they are making me pay a second time for my fingerprints. They need to be held accountable for this and I hope no other student has to deal with this."

"The girls I met in my class were outstanding. However, we had no instruction. I like that there is 600 hours, easy to transfer states. I took the most expensive program. And had teachers instructing me who didn’t have their educators license. Don’t recommend."

"Long story short, you are basically on your own after you get through your intro weeks. I’ve learned more on social media and online than I have within this school. They don’t care about your mental health nor how many clients you have in a day. The only thing they care about is the money that is rolling in not that you haven’t had a sip of water or a bathroom break all day because you’d have 6-7 clients back to back. They expect more out of you than themselves. They always are so demanding of respect when they can’t give any to us. God bless some of the teachers here they are so kind and nice but others not so much. The attendance policy, just like every other comment, is outrageous."

"They are honestly so unorganized. They only care about the check you write them. They don’t try to work with you or help you in anyway. I’ve learned absolutely nothing. Way too many students and no instructors. When we were practicing on each other for the student spa, not ONE instructor came around to see if we were performing the facial correctly. So who knows if we were doing it right or wrong. Then they test you on it, and of course fail since they gave you ZERO feedback. I would never recommend Aveda. They’ll just keep passing me along until graduation, so I’ll finish knowing absolutely nothing. Love that."

"Attending Douglas J Aveda Institute in East Lansing was the best choice for me. I had excellent training and was busy with back to back appointments as soon as I was on the floor. The education staff was amazing. My favorite was Jackie! I have a child with a disability. There were days I couldn't be at school due to the demands I had at home. I was blown away by the support I was given. I felt so loved! They helped me and encouraged me to stick with it! I have been behind the chair for 10 years this year! I am now sponsored by a major product line. My successes behind the chair have been many. I cannot express enough how proud I am to have attended this program."

"A COMPLETE SCAM do not waste your time or money. I go to Douglas j Aveda in East Lansing and it so terrible there. I’m not even finished with the program yet and it’s been terrible from day one. Absolutely all they care about is money. They are very rude to me and my classmates and literally refuse to answer questions if they don’t feel like it. They do not follow CDC guidelines and we don’t feel safe going to school because we know they aren’t making any efforts to keep us safe from the pandemic. Multiple classmates have been exposed and when we asked the teachers why they were gone they ignored us. I only found out why they were gone after they came back. One student was told if she got covid a second time she would not be allowed to go on leave she would either have to continue going to school or drop out. We haven’t learned anything except the “Aveda way” of doing things. Anything we “learned” we taught ourselves from the internet. The educators don’t do anything but criticize us and be rude and actively ignore us when we need help. I have overheard teachers talking badly about students just because they didn’t like them. It is literally a pyramid scheme and a scam to get peoples money. You do not receive any real education and they try to expel you if you complain. We spend more time talking about how good Aveda products are (in their opinion not ours) than we do talking about what we’re supposed to be learning. It’s a terrible environment and a terrible school I can’t believe even half of these things are allowed to occur. What I said is just the tip of the iceberg there’s even more going on but I can’t stress enough please don’t go to this school you will regret it instantly. They expect us to provide them free labor and if we aren’t doing that we literally stand around for hours because they won’t teach us anything. Most of my days at school are spent just sitting there doing nothing a lot of the time educators are no where to be found and we’re left to our own devices. They expect us to do laundry or clean when we aren’t seeing clients which means I’m expected to clean or do laundry for 80-100% of my day because barely anyone comes in due to the pandemic. They are greedy and selfish and have no remorse for all the hardships they’ve put us through"

"They dont care about students at all. If you have a doctors note without the date on it they take your hours that youre allowed to miss. This school genuinely sucks. If youre going through something, dont go here. They play favorites and blame people for things based off word of mouth. I dropped out the first time and went back hoping to finish and was reminded exactly why I dropped out the first time. Dont waste your money go to a different school. Its way too expensive & you dont even get a real education that you deserve for 30k."

"I’m currently enrolled at the Aveda Institute in Knoxville, Tennessee. Please, please, please do not go here. Do your research. They make it seem like you learn a lot when you go for your tour. The first ten weeks you only go over each technique once. The class is rushed and some of the practicals are left out and not taught. I’ve talked to students from each new class and there’s always several things we didn’t learn and the items not learned vary from class to class because the educators are very inconsistent. Once you get out of intro you’re basically worked to death. There’s been times where I’ve had two clients still in the salon I’m responsible for because the front desk booked my first client “cheryl” for highlights when really she wants highlights and a balayage which will take three more hours than what I have. Then my second client “tina” will come in and I’ll have to try and multitask both clients AND not have a lunch for that whole 8 hour day. They’ll tell you to try and take a “processing break” so you’ll have to do your best and eat something in like the 15 mins you have. This type of thing happens all the time to everyone and none of the teachers or front desk care. They will book you back to back to back and expect you to learn on your own. When you do have your one class day a week it’s a complete joke. Nothing is taught. There’s been classes who are supposed to have the full ten weeks of the unit to complete all of their projects and work but they’ll only get 7 because of the institutes awful scheduling. That’s 3 weeks of missed classes that you’re supposed to pull out your ipad and teach yourself. I would recommend going to TSB if you’re from Knoxville. They have eyelash extension classes and hair extension classes that you can be certified in before even graduating! A group of us tried to tell the director of our school in Knoxville to look into this (Kaitlin Desselle) but she does not care and has no experience in hair/skin/makeup industry so why is she running the school???? We only run through state board like 5 times during the whole 11 months. If they tell you they go in depth about what state board requires don’t listen. They don’t. And also each teacher has different rules each time you run through the test because this whole school is so INCONSISTENT! I have a friend who goes to TSB and they go over state board so much and focus on leading so much more. They don’t get worked to death either. Please don’t go to Aveda if you don’t want to have varicose veins and back problems by the age of 20. That’s all I can do to help you. I’d feel bad if I didn’t warn people."

"Do not go to school here you will be very disappointed. They profit so much from students it’s terrible. Do your research check multiple places out to see what they offer. Honestly you pay 25k but also pay way more month to month school doesn’t provide anything. Nothing in there is sanitary. Educator pick and choose all the time treat ppl differently. They will book u back to back so much you will have carpal tunnel and back problems."

"Over all, Douglas J was highly disappointing. I had high hopes that this program would really help educate me and prepare me for my chosen career. First off, the tuition is ridiculous. I understand that I was partly paying for the name but there is absolutely no reason it should cost $23,000. The kit that you pay thousands for is made up of cheap tools that you will have to replace immediately after graduation. Years ago, they used to provide quality tools, but they have replaced all of them with their own "douglas j tools" brand. For as much as I am investing, I would hope that they would also invest in their students they claim to care about by giving us quality tools. My first ten weeks spent in "intro" was wonderful. My educator truly went out of his way to make sure I grasped everything. But after that, you are thrown onto the floor. And at that point, you are surrounded by "educators", many in which have NO salon experience. What?! And you're teaching me how to work in a salon? Majority of the educators act like it's high school and pick favorites, who they let do anything. On top of this, they do not care for students well being. Many times I went without lunch breaks because they had to book my day with clients so they could then make more money off of me. I am highly anemic, so often times I would feel faint and light headed. But at least they were making money, right? There was not a lot of organization. I paid fees monthly to be there (over $1,000) and they would claim I was behind on payment when in fact I wasn't. It did not make me feel very secure knowing they were not keeping track of my payments, especially since they were large payments. I could go on and on, but like I said, I was very disappointed in the education I paid for."

"Extremely disappointed with my experience here..i wish i had done my homework..maybe i can save you the trouble First of all the attendance policy is unfair. If you are 1 minutes late you are actually 15 min later(they round up) Second of all there are ZERO excused absences. Doctors notes. Nothing is excused. Its 1500 program & you have 95hrs you're allowed to miss) if you go over You are discharged from the program or must take a 10day medical leave and yes it HAS to be the full 10 days) There are muptupile class action lawsuits due to angry students who had to fold towels and re-stock products..do laudrey(not part of education at all) In addition they have large class' 10-18 students and they all have to compete for help..and favoritism is a. Extremly common thing During my tour i was told id be allowed to accept tips, and would have Job placement for live..alll job placement means is giving you the names of local aveda salons they are hiring Plus going to an Aveda school means you only work with Aveda products so if you want to go to a non aveda salon you are at a disadvantage because you are uneducated on the other products of the industry..so 9 out of 10 times you have to assist in a salon before you're allowed to take your own guests. I had difficulty passing my boards and i thinks its it's because in the final stage "salon life" you have no class room days..that's when they should really be focusing the time on preparing the state board."

"I went to the East Lansing location. For charging as much as they do, the quality of the education is very subpar, and it has nothing to do with the instructors. The problem is that as an Aveda school, everything is taught within the Aveda framework. Anything Aveda doesn't "believe in", you won't be taught. This includes some fundamentals. For example, I took the Esthiology course. Aveda doesn't believe in nearly anything mechanical, microdermabrasion, or chemical peels. You will taught their watered down, Aveda product-based "alternatives". You will spend one day in class learning and using things like microcurrent, etc. This is clearly done to essentially trap you within the Aveda network after graduating, as you will leave very poorly prepared for work in any other setting. You will, however, learn a whole lot of useless information about chakras, and if your location is like mine, start everyday in a dark classroom, inhaling essential oils and meditating to sitar music."

"Cheats you out of money, staff really doesn't try to help you learn. Very disorganized school. Staff are just kids, they don't know what they are doing, but they will make you feel like nothing and like you know nothing. Will try to put blame on you for their mistakes. ex: school lost my information on my financial aid, and they kicked me out for a month for it, they found it, made me write a letter and pay $100.00 to get enrolled back into the school."

"For profit institute. Tuition is way too high. New instructors know less about hair than the students. The school is really just out to make as much money off of students as possible. Students do not accept tips, but have to pay to attended and clients must pay for services. They also want students to pay money for fund raising. A huge waste of money and time. Also the director likes to kick people out for voicing frustrations. He also disapproves when you point out things that are wrong. All in all a huge waste of time and money"

"My school, Douglas J Aveda Institute was a excellent fit for me. I learn better from being taught hands on, and our class size was small. The instructors were very helpful and knowledgeable, and willing to work with me one on one, if I needed the help. I would highly recommend attending this institute. After I graduated, I no difficulty finding employment!"