THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 10, 1996 TAG: 9607090112
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 185 lines
WHEN PAM MILLS, 28, dropped out of college, friends and family worried she was making a mistake.
That was four years ago. When she left college, she enrolled in Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy. Now Mills owns her own salon - Hair Designs by Pam - and travels as a member of the Straight Request Styling Team, a company that recruits top stylists to advertise and market its products at hair shows across the country.
Working beside Mills in her salon at Aragona Shopping Center is Alberta Bradley, a 37-year-old mother of three whose husband recently retired from the military. Bradley met Mills while at the beauty academy and they've been fast friends ever since. Bradley is one of six women who have graduated from the cosmetology school and now rent space in Mills' salon.
``I'd been in retail for years,'' said Bradley. ``I knew this was a career that I could eventually have ownership with. It was training for a field that was recession-proof. People always need their hair done. What you can do in this business is limitless.''
Framed in a picture window of a brown brick building on the outskirts of the Chimney Hill Shopping Center, a woman in a white coat busily combed out the long brown hair of a customer seated in front of her.
It's a familiar scene - played out six days a week in the Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy where, since 1979, thousands of men and women have received training to become licensed cosmetologists - the people who cut your hair, give you facials, paint your nails, trim your beards, even cover your gray.
On any given day, the place bustles with students in white coats, white shirts and black pants. They're seated in chairs giving manicures, standing over customers clipping hair or leaning over deep basins giving shampoos.
The noise of dryers and chitchat between people is constant. The smell of nail polish fills the air and customers fill the small waiting room.
There's a reason the waiting room is busy. Mary Pyatt, director and owner of the academy, offers her students' services at a discount price.
``Everything's half-price because the students are doing the work,'' said Pyatt. That discount attracts about 50 customers most weekdays and up to 200 on Saturdays .
The low prices attract brothers Travis, 18, and Jason Beck, 22, who come on Mondays to take advantage of the half-price haircut deal. The men have been coming to the academy for haircuts for as long as ``it's been open,'' they said.
``They do a great job,'' said Jason Beck. ``We've never been disappointed in the service as long as we've been coming here.''
Jean Peterson, another Monday afternoon customer, likes the academy because ``the prices are very good and the work is very good.'' For $6.50 a shampoo and set, the 56-year-old divorcee can change hairstyles as often as she likes.
``I come once a week or every two weeks,'' said Peterson, a Piney Grove resident.
For the students, working in a real salon situation on real people helps smooth the way for future employment in the real business world.
Lori Lyle, 29, has always enjoyed cutting and styling hair.
She spent 10 years as a housewife before deciding to become a licensed cosmetologist.
``My kids were getting older and I decided I needed to do something for myself,'' said Lyle, a military wife and mom to a 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. ``I've always enjoyed cutting hair and make-up so it was a natural conclusion for me to end up here.''
Lyle has logged some 450 to 500 hours since beginning training. She admitted she's a little nervous when it comes to working hands-on with customers.
``People are so odd about their hair,'' said Lyle. ``If someone comes in and asks for something I haven't done a lot, I do get nervous. But, there's a lot of student support and instructors are always right here to help.''
Lyle and the other students have seen their share of hair nightmares walk in the door. Often, they're the ones hired to correct a dye job gone bad or a haircut out of whack.
``We see people with orange and pink hair a lot,'' chuckled Lyle. ``Having a customer leave happy from something you've created or fixed is very satisfying.''
For $3,695, students are nurtured through a full-time yearlong program or a part-time 14-month program. They must receive 1,500 hours of training in their chosen field.
At the academy, the students, most of whom have families, can choose the hours most convenient for them to learn and earn their hours. The doors are open at 9 a.m. and stay open until 9 p.m. except on Wednesdays when the doors close at 5 p.m. and Sunday when the school is closed.
There are two instructional classes a day, one in the morning and one at night. Students typically come in on average four to six hours a day and are required to work at least two Saturdays a month.
After 30 days of classroom theory work with a textbook, they are ushered out to the ``clinic area,'' where they begin to perform some of the techniques they've learned, working under the watchful eyes of an instructor.
The ``clinic'' consists of 32 hairstyling and nail technician stations and 10 sink basins for washing and conditioning hair. It's in this area that students actually get on-the-job training by cutting real hair or giving a manicure to a real person.
The academy is accredited by The National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences, an Arlington group recognized by the Department of Education.
Having this accreditation makes the school eligible to receive grants and funding on behalf of students who meet the criteria.
The overall goal for students is to pass a four-hour licensing test given by the state, which includes a hands-on haircut or facial.
Mary W. Pyatt loves to teach. As a cosmetologist she spent many years behind a chair, styling hair and giving facials. It was in 1979 and 15 years after she first began a career in the field that she decided to begin to teach other women and men the trade.
When she opened her business on Virginia Beach Boulevard, she did so with the understanding that she would still be home in time to cook dinner for her husband, Charles.
She kept good on that promise until he died in 1982. Two years later, she lost the lease on two of her academy locations - the one on Virginia Beach Boulevard near Haynes and another she had opened in the Chimney Hill Shopping Center.
After sitting down with her son, she figured over the years she'd spent nearly $350,000 in rent and set-up fees for buildings to house her schools.
With the help of her son, Robert Pyatt, Mary Pyatt bought the land for the current school. Her son designed the building and one other building that is rented out to other businesses.
In 1984, the school opened in a building that sits on the verge of the shopping center facing Holland Road.
Mary Pyatt's daughter, Julianna Pyatt, 36, is the company's financial aid officer and vice president. Daughter-in-law Nancy Pyatt, a full-time school teacher, also serves as a financial aid officer and helps design the curriculum. Between 60 and 65 percent of the students receive financial aid, said Julianna Pyatt.
At 65, Mary Pyatt says she's now ``semi-retired'' and is spending the majority of her time at church, gardening and playing with her grandchildren.
She happily fills in when one of her nine employees is out or if the place is swamped with customers.
Pam Mills remembered her training with Pyatt. ``The school got me on my feet as far as my clientele goes and without them you can't make it,'' she said. ``I make more money working for myself and if I hadn't done this, I'd probably still be in college.'' MEMO: The Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy, 977 Chimney Hill
Shopping Center, can be reached at 463-4730.
Only one other beauty academy has such longevity in Virginia Beach
and that is the Indian River Beauty Academy at 6528 Indian River Road.
The phone number is 420-1645. ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
BEAUTY SECRETS
Mary Pyatt
Before any human hair is touched, students spend time in classroom
theory and in working with manikins.
Among the services offered - at half of market prices - are plain
manicures, hot oil manicures and pedicures.
Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
Joan Brown supervises a haircut by Lori Lyle for Irene Garcia at the
Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy. ``My kids were getting
older and I decided I needed to do something for myself,'' said
Lyle, 29, who has logged about 500 hours of training.
Pam Mills enrolled at the Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy
and now owns her own business, Hair Designs by Pam, at Aragona
Shopping Center.
Lurlene Trett, a retired Virginia Beach schoolteacher, pampers
herself by getting her nails done by manicurist-in-training Kathy
Lyons.
Mary Pyatt, director and owner of the academy, is ``semi-retired''
now, but the business continues with the help of her son, Robert,
daughter, Julianna and daughter-in-law, Nancy.
SERVICES
Cosmetology schools generally offer services at lower prices
because students are doing the work. Some of the services offered to
the public by the Virginia Beach Beauty and Barber Academy are:
Haircut, $5, and half-priced on Mondays.
Beard trim, $2.
Crown perm, $12.50; other perms, $17.50 to $45
Plain manicure, $5; hot oil manicure, $7.50; pedicure, $10.
Virgin color tint with set, $25; tint retouch, $20; frosting, $20
and up.
Shampoo and set, $7 and up; set on perm rods, $18.
Facial, $10; eyebrow arch, $1.50
Senior citizens receive a 50-cent discount on any service
performed. Personal checks are not accepted. by CNB