Fifty-two students with a range of dreams file into Vici Beauty School’s Bayshore campus every day ready to take classes or provide salon services to clients.
Vici has two campuses and three salons which provide discounted services from students who are far along in their curriculum. Each campus uses a different color product line but follows the same curriculum.
The salons sometimes hire the students as they near graduation. Licensed instructors closely supervise all students. Prices are lower in comparison to professional salons because treatments can take longer due to students striving for perfection.
Services include manicures, pedicures, makeup applications and lessons, various facials, haircuts, hairstyling, color and perm treatments and more. Discounts are offered for college students and senior citizens.
Each student receives training in all these services. Logan Jones, a Vici student who will graduate in March, enjoys cutting hair but also works with color the most in order to meet requirements.
Jones said that cutting hair requires a lot of filling in the blanks. There are shapes and aspects of hairstyling that only someone who is trained would pick up on.
Indeed, an array of services at low prices has its appeals, but Eilleen Johannsen, a Vici client of over 20 years and Marquette alumna, said she enjoys going to Vici in order to build relationships with girls and help them through their training. She goes to the salon weekly, so students become accommodated to her hair quickly.
“I liked the idea that we could help the girls who are learning the trade,” Johannsen said. “I got to know the girls personally and was able to grow with them as they were finishing their training, and it just became a really good thing for me because I enjoyed that opportunity.”
Jennifer Volz, administrator at Vici’s Bayshore campus, said that potential clients should not be apprehensive. Both the school and salon stress the importance of sanitation and proper technique.
“You are working with a licensed instructor – nothing is going to go wrong,” Volz said. “We don’t ever want the integrity of a client’s hair to be compromised.”
Jones is constantly booked and often gets repeat customers. She enjoys having these customers since most stylists want their clients to return to them.
Vici student Hailey Eernisse has a mix of repeat and new clients and is excited when she gets new people.
“I don’t want to just work on the same people, doing the same things all of the time,” Eernisse said. “It’s fun to be somebody’s first impression.”
Eenisse also enjoys getting to improve someone’s day. Some of her clients may not talk to anyone but her for the entire day. Seeing their faces light up after she finishes their hair makes challenges of self doubt and learning new things worth it.
Many Vici students were interested in helping people and intertwining their creativity into their careers. Jones always knew she wanted to go into the industry. Her mother was involved in theater, so she was constantly surrounded by stylists. Julia Mauer, a new student at Vici, said she hopes to open her own full-service salon in the future.
Despite preparing students for a creative and hands-on industry, Vici’s environment is what draws students, instructors and cliental. The culture truly makes Vici unique. Volz describes Vici as a welcoming family. Multiple students agreed that this was a deciding factor when choosing the salon.
“We are a diverse culture in age and race,” Volz said. “We all really embrace that, and we embrace the fact that students get to learn all types of textures of hair, get to meet all types of people.”
