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Find Accredited Beauty Schools in TEXAS listed by city, then in alphabetical order - FINALLY! Find the very BEST Beauty School in your area.

Accredited Cosmetology and
Beauty Schools in TEXAS (TX)

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TEXAS ADVISORY BOARD ON COSMETOLOGY

Texas Dept of Licensing and Regulation

P.O. Box 12088
Austin, TX 78711
(512) 463-6599

BARBERING HISTORY

The monuments of Ancient Egypt tell us that they shaved their heads as well as their beards. Razors have been found among relics of the Bronze Age (circa 3500 BC) in Egypt. The tools ancient Egyptian Barbers used to shave with were razor sharp, and looked like undersized hatchets. Men wore wigs over their shaved heads on a daily basis, as wigs were highly fashionable. Children�s heads were shaved off or cut short except for a long lock of hair left on the side of the head.

In traditional India, under the caste system, people were born into their occupations. People learned the family trade and worked those jobs throughout their lifetime. The customary Barbers in India were Nai caste. Nai men performed minor surgeries, groomed hair and beards. Nai women - barber's wives - were called Naun and they were the hairdressers, henna artists, and midwives. One Nai family would serve a whole town, or even a few little villages. The Nai barber had recurring clientele. He would go from one house to another to shave the men and groom their hair and beards. His wife would also go from house to house to dress women�s hair, and apply henna, lac, and kumkum.

Recordings from fifth century Greece tell us that barbering was practically an art form there. Statesmen of Athens competed with one another in achieving the most excellently trimmed beards. Barbers were highly respected citizens rubbing elbows with their clientele of politicians, philosophers and artists who frequented the barber shop. The news and hubbub of the day was discussed in detail from the chair of the barber in ancient Greece.

Between 1094-96, William, archbishop of Rouen, France, prohibited the wearing of a beard. That is when the earliest known organization of barbers was formed. Barbers cut hair and practiced their shaving skills daily, but they also performed surgeries. These barber-surgeons where known as chirurgeons. When barbers became organized, they also began to thrive all over Europe. Barbers also performed dentistry at the time. These doctor-dentist-barbers were in constant conflict with the physicians proper and the standard surgeon-dentists of the time, however, the barbers continued to practice surgery as well as dentistry for centuries, benefiting from the barbering organization and the mediation of councils and kings. As a matter of fact, until the year 1416 barbers continued in this vein without much interference. Some of the duties of the barber included neck manipulation, cleaning of ears and scalp, draining of boils, fistula and lancing of cysts with wicks, bloodletting, leeching, fire cupping, enemas, as well as the extraction of teeth.

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However, by 1416, too many barber-surgeons dabbled in quackery and the malpractices were brought to the attention of the mayor and council of London. An ordinance was passed at that time forbidding barbers from taking under their care any sick person in danger of death or maiming, unless within three days after being called in, they presented the patient to one of the masters of the Barber-Surgeon's Guild. Until 1461 only barbers practiced surgery, but new discoveries in surgery were being made in leaps and bounds (according to the times) and surgeons began to become jealous of the privileges given to barbers. In 1450, the Guild of Surgeons was incorporated with the Barbers Company by act of parliament. At that time, barbers were restricted to bloodletting, toothdrawing, cauterization and the tonsorial operations.

As the discipline of medicine, surgery and dentistry became more sophisticated; barbers became much less proficient at performing all the tasks that being a barber-surgeon-dentist demanded. Approximately June of 1745, the alliance between the barbers and surgeons was dissolved by an act of parliament, which received the sanction of the king. Barbers and surgeons became two separate companies. A comparable decision was made in France under the reign of Louis XIV. The only areas barbers dared practice the operations of surgery and dentistry were in small towns and hard-to-get-to places where doctors and dentists could not be obtained. After the barbers were prohibited from practicing medicine, surgery and dentistry, they became proficient in style and fashion.

In colonial America, many barbers performed minor surgeries, pulled teeth and made wigs. The wigs were made with horsehair, goat hair, the hair from cows or calves tails, or even silk. But most were fashioned with human hair. Wigs were the fashion of the time for many men. Louis XIII of France inspired the fad when he began to wear wigs regularly in 1624. Wig making was in high demand during colonial times. Besides making and cleaning the wigs, the barbers shaved the men's heads and fitted the men with perfumed and powdered wigs - sometimes with ribbons!

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In the beginning of barbering schools in America, the practical work of shaving, haircutting, and facial treatments, was mainly taught. Not much effort was made to professionalize the work of barbers until around 1920 when the scientific treatments of hair, skin and scalp were incorporated in the education of barbers.

For decades in America, barber shops have been locations where people exchanged stories about the news in their community, just as in ancient Greece. A social institution - as well as a place to have hair and beards groomed.

In the second half of the 20th century, Beauty Salons became more and more popular with men as well as women. A decline in Barber shops and schools began in America at that point. However, barbers have managed to reserve the right to shave with a razor � which cosmetologists do not perform unless they also possess a barbering license. For those who enjoy the luxury of a straight-razor shave, the barber shop will always be a pleasure they have in common with ancient kings, statesmen and philosophers.

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SOME HISTORY ON HAIR EXTENSIONS

Hair extensions are nothing new. Many women from the 18th and 19th centuries in America would save the hair that fell from their own head every day in a little jar known as a hair tidy. Hairpieces could be made from the lost hair - which of course was a perfect match. They would form large balls of hair called rats from the fallen hair, which they could then place strategically within their hairstyle to create that big hair look you could see on Miss Kitty of Gun Smoke, or Miss Scarlet in Gone With The Wind. You probably never thought of those as hair extensions, but that is exactly what they were. Of course, modern day hair extensions are made of human and synthetic hair in a wide variety of colors and textures - but they can still provide that big hair look - just a bit sexier for the modern woman.

Early eighteenth-century hairstyles, were rooted in European royal trends, and were characteristic for their ornate use of wigs, hair extensions, crimping, ringlets, and powdering for both men and women. Decades prior to the American Revolution, United States women of the upper class echoed the high hairstyles of their European counterparts and used pads, wigs, cushions, and wires to make their hairstyles become towers of fashion status symbols.

In the nineteenth century, ornate hairstyles progressively returned for women. Chignons, curls, and braids were all styles of the day, and women used wigs or hair extensions frequently to achieve their fashionable hairstyles. Between 1859 and 1860, $1 million worth of hair was imported into the United States for wig making! By the end of the century, hair extensions were commonly used for a top-knotted style that became known as "the Gibson girl."

In the twentieth century, hairstyles were less ornate, for the most part, and easier to maintain than they had been in previous centuries. The 1950s' and 1960s' bouffant and beehive styles, which required ridiculous amounts of hair spray, hair extensions, and padding, were noteworthy exceptions to the rule and somewhat reflected the towering hairstyles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

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ADVICE FROM BEAUTY PROFESSIONALS

You can find out many things over the telephone about a college. But don't make up your mind until you have toured 2 or 3 colleges that you have narrowed your choices down to. A simple 10 to 20 minute visit will give you knowledge a telephone conversation could never offer. Such as: is the college in a good location (easy access, crime rate, etc). Do the students there look busy - content - professional - ethnically diverse? Is there a display of the books you'll be studying, and equipment you'll be using? How old or new is the facility and equipment? Is the clinic floor busy with customers? As you can see, this list could go on and on. The visual information you will acquire on a tour is incredibly valuable. A tour could change your mind.

But, what if you have taken a tour of 3 beauty schools and still can�t make up your mind? Perhaps one school is decorated beautifully, one is a closer drive, and one school�s recruiter was the most efficient and even entertaining in answering your probing questions. At this point, you need some outside recommendations. You need to call approximately 10 local salons and/or spas in the area and ask the manager there some of the following questions:

Which local cosmetology schools do they recommend attending?

Which local beauty schools do they prefer to hire from?

Where did the manager attend school? Do they feel they received sufficient training there?

If they recommend all three schools, be sure to ask all of the managers if they had to single one out as the best choice � which one would it be?

And, of course � ask �Why?� every time they give you a recommendation.

You liked all three. They all had something good to offer. Now, make your final choice by obtaining the advice from professionals who will be ready to HIRE you if you choose the best beauty school to attend.

Barbering History - Quiz

This quiz has 10 questions worth 100 total points. Once you have completed the quiz, you may review the answers and take it again. The information for this quiz was taken from www.finallywhatyouneed.com/TEXAS.html