Cosmetology & Spa Academy — Local services in Crystal Lake

RUN! Don't go here if you want an actual education. I dropped by day 8. Barber teacher Oscar verbally abuses students, vapes in class, and tells students its not his job to teach, only help pass the state board. He's allowed to act unprofessionally and belittle students. Just waisted 8 days here before dropping to be told I needed to drop by day 5 to get a refund on registration fee. (Most schools give 2 weeks - 1 month to drop) Now I'm expected to pay the school $1,500 for a kit I haven't used because they make you open it and give you a checklist to double check that all or the right supplies were even given. I was given the lowest grade tools that don't even add up to $1,500 and refuse to pay them since I was signed up through Fasfa and never even received any of my loan information prior to starting like your supposed to. Typically you don't have a student start until their loans and tuition is figured out. Ms. Jo and Ms. Melissa helped me sign up but somehow I never received any emails from Fasfa themselves, or even the schools Financial Aid Advisor.

I went to Tricoci for esthetics last year and they had all my loan info sent to me and figured out PRIOR to starting school so I knew my final tuition costs. I actually had a fasfa agent call me once the school sent my enrollment application and was figured out right away. For some reason Ms. Jo was the one to help me sign up back in the beginning on September. It's now December 1st and I STILL have not gotten even an email from any fasfa agent regarding signing up for their barber program that I started on 11/14. I had to email Veronica Segovia the Financial Aid Advisor today on December 1st (again, who never contacted me after signing up) to get my loan information to be told it'll take 30 days for them to audit my situation and how much I will owe them. Their program is $12,325 after Ms. Jo decides on the pell grant and loans you're allowed (even though the state is supposed to decide how much to can/can't afford). Recommend Tricoci or Pivot Point. Might be a little farther but WAY...

I went in for a simple service, just one money piece in the front of my hair to be lightened and toned to a Halloween orange shade. I arrived 30 minutes early for my appointment, only to find out that my stylist never actually booked me. When I asked why, she said she “didn’t need the coloring portion” of her education anymore, which was unprofessional and dismissive.

From there, they proceeded to see who could take me, since my original stylist had another client whom she DID remember to book, which made me feel like an inconvenience rather than a client. After finally explaining my request again, a test strand was done, and I was told they couldn’t perform the service because I had previously box dyed my hair black months ago. While I understand the limitations of box dye, the way this was handled was disappointing.

The instructor repeatedly said that if their professional-grade products couldn’t lift my hair, then nothing could, which simply isn’t true, and it came across as dismissive rather than educational. When I asked for advice on possible options to achieve my goal safely elsewhere, she wasn’t willing to offer any guidance at all.

I understand that it’s a student salon, but I expected a basic level of professionalism, communication, and courtesy, especially after taking time out of my day for this appointment. Overall, this experience felt disorganized and unprofessional from start to finish.

By the way, the hair color WAS achievable and I was able to do it at home with $35 worth of stuff from Sally’s, so I’m unsure of what the “teacher”, if you could call her that, was talking about when she stated that if her “professional” salon level products weren’t able to do the job, I was just going to be stuck with black hair. She was so dismissive, the whole experience was embarrassing and I was determined to prove her wrong. With $35 and 3 hours of patience, my hair color was achieved at home without “salon...

I was a student here several years ago. I toured the school with my uncle (whose also a licensed cosmetologist) and everything seemed wonderful. I signed up and started and liked my teachers, but within the first few months of being there the lady I enrolled with was fired. When I enrolled I received a pell grant and throughout the time I was there I had to keep fighting with Ned’s wife (whose the financial lady) that, that money goes to me. Not them. She kept on trying to tell me that the money I was granted was strictly towards my student loans. I had to argue with her that I knew about the loan before I enrolled and I signed it stating I wanted it for personal use since I was a single mom and had a 1 year old who had to be put in the kinder care across the street while I was in class. The entire time I was there other students were having problems with them about money as well. I was presueaded by a teacher to go for the student ambassador program within the first few months of being there. I used my “free service” perks to help an esthetician with their sign offs because they were older and weren’t comfortable to ask to wax someone so I volunteered and was complained about by another student who was a grown adult woman because she felt she should’ve been an ambassador. I’ve grown up with an aunt and uncle who are cosmetologist and have loved doing hair since for ever. I was able to get my sign off sheets done and completed all my work ahead of scheduled yet got demoted because this woman’s feelings were hurt that I would get free facials and waxes and she didn’t think that was fair. There’s just a lot of drama between other students and the annoyance of being hassled...