I enrolled in the skincare program at the Beauty School of Middletown in the summer of 2006 and paid them $6000 tuition. During the third week we had to practice doing facials on each other.
I described in detail to the instructor that I had undergone several facial reconstructive surgeries and had delicate sensitive skin that couldn't be rubbed roughly or stretched tightly. I guess the teacher thought I said "make this facial feel about as good as getting a root canal" because, after shouting "You are hurting me, " my face ended up red, bruised and swollen and I had to go to the dermatologist. Not only did no one apologize, the instructor actually reprimanded ME for making the other student feel bad about injuring me. This was just the first problem.
During enrollment the assistant director neglected to disclose one of the school's policies for sucking even more money out of you. (Wasn't the $500 beauty kit full of junk enough of a scam? I could have bought better makeup at Sephora and had money left over to pay my dermatology bill.) You have to punch in and out and if you are 3 minutes late 3x in a month, you can get suspended. Then you have to pay for make up classes costing $125 a day. So, if there's traffic or snow or you just slept 5 minutes too long, the bills start adding up pretty fast.
Another great scam at this school is the "clinic." This is where you practice what you've learned during the second half of your training on clients who pay the school. It sounds like a good idea, but I went to the school to learn skincare, facials, and body treatments, not to do bikini waxes all day long. The final problem for me concerned sanitation. We had a student with psoriasis whom I observed dipping her hands directly into the tub of paraffin wax I needed to use on clients. I complained and was told to shut up. This was the last straw and I went to the assistant director asking for a refund. I was entitled as per the enrollment agreement to a 50 percent refund but was refused.
Am I bitter about this experience? Hell, yeah. I lost $4000 and worked my butt off for several months for nothing, and I don't have the $ to go to another school so I never got my license. I can only hope that the old saying is true, "What goes around, comes around" and that the Board of Health shuts this biohazard down.
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