Exposing The TRUTH About Becoming A Pravana Brand Educator

In this blog post I’m going to share my experience in the process of becoming a Brand Educator with the hair color company Pravana, as well as why I ultimately decided not to continue on working with the brand. This article is not meant to bash Pravana in any way, but to share my personal experience to help others in the decision making process of whether or not to work with them.

I myself had searched for reviews on working with the brand as I was going through the process, but I couldn’t find anything. So I’m hoping this article will be helpful for others that are in the same boat that I was!

What being a Brand Educator entails

As a brand educator in the salon industry, you will be teaching professional hairstylists and hair salons about the brand you’re working with.

You are a representation of the brand, but you’re usually an independent contractor. This is pretty typical across the board, though some brands will hire on employee educators for various education roles throughout the company.

You’ll then teach these classes in various locations. Most of the time you’re traveling to stylists in either their own hair salons or to beauty supply stores, but you may also host online classes as well.

Because most of these classes are in-person, brands have a need for many local educators to avoid having to pay for extensive travel of a smaller number of educators.

My experience of becoming a Pravana Brand Educator

I have used Pravana for the majority of my career as a stylist and studio owner. It was one of the very first color lines I’d worked with, and I always had great success with them. They’re also one of the less expensive professional color lines, which is better for your bottom dollar as a business owner.

So when I stepped away from doing hair last year to pursue my blog and Youtube channel, I thought it would be a perfect fit to begin educating with Pravana on the side. It would help me in my new role of educating instead of servicing clients behind the chair.

Applying to Pravana

The application process was pretty straight forward. First, I filled out a form on Pravana’s website sharing my basic information, cosmetology license number, as well as my resume. On that same page, there is a video that actually seemed like an advertisement to me.

I’m not going to lie, I felt a little skeptical after watching this video. It didn’t explain what the role entailed, and was more-so trying to convince you on why you should become an educator. Why would anyone need convincing, and why didn’t they share more of what to expect?

Anyways, after several months I received an email from Pravana stating that they were ready to bring on new educators and that I was invited to participate in the first step.

I was to record a video demonstrating my skills as a hair artist. The video had to entail:

1. Why I wanted to become a Pravana educator
2. Demonstrate a blonding technique
3. Demonstrate how I formulate and apply my root smudge and toner
4. Demonstrate how I formulate and apply a vivid color over the pre-toned canvas
5. The finished result

Since I’m a Youtuber and color specialist, this was my area of expertise. I uploaded my video to Youtube and shortly afterwards I landed an interview. You can watch my video submission below.

The training process

After the zoom call interview, I was formally invited to start Phase 1 of the training process. This is where I learned how extensive the training was. And I should also preface that since you’re an independent contractor, the training is completely unpaid.

There are numerous phases of training. Phase 1 consists of 3 modules, with each module taking 5-6 weeks to complete. That’s over 4 months of unpaid training just to get through phase 1.

After completing phase 1, you’ll then “be invited” to participate in phase 2. I wasn’t informed at how long phase 2 was. Upon passing phase 2, you’ll then be an official level 1 educator and ready to start teaching.

I only completed the first module in phase 1, and I’ll later explain why I stopped at that point.

Module 1 consisted of a PDF training of the Pravana color line. It was pretty self explanatory considering I already knew their color well. But essentially, you have to teach yourself the information as you go along based on the PDF that they send you for the “module”.

Personally, I was expecting a much better education process for the educators. Maybe video content or an actual class from one of the current educators. I’ve taken much better online courses from random people on the internet.

The pay details

So as I mentioned earlier, the extensive training process is completely unpaid. After completing the training, you’re then paid per class you teach.

I was informed that in 2025 they are restructuring how the payment works. But they didn’t tell me what the new structure was going to entail. For how it was prior, as a level 1 educator you’d be paid $150 for a half day class, or $300 for a full day. You’re also paid for gas and any traveling expenses.

There was no guarantee as to how many classes you would be teaching or how often. I was told that classes are usually on Sundays and sometimes on Mondays, as this is typically when salons are closed.

After 6 months, you’ll be evaluated to potentially move up through levels as an educator. The higher your level, the more classes you’ll get and the more you’ll be paid for each class.

The highest level educators are the ones on stage at hair shows, film Pravana video content, as well as color the models for brand photo shoots and demos.

So if you can persist through the extensive unpaid training as well as potentially sporadic scheduling of classes to move up through the educator levels, then it can actually be worth it. Especially if your goal is to become a platform artist and high level educator.

Limitations

For me as a blogger and Youtuber, there were several limitations that I was made aware of. To start, I was not to use any other color lines on my blog or Youtube channel. They didn’t care if I used other lines on clients or myself, I just couldn’t share about it.

This is understandable as this isn’t a great look for them, but it was pretty limiting for me.

Brand exclusivity is something I can charge a pretty penny for. I would have to turn down other brand deals, not be able to compare different color lines for my subscribers, as well as not get paid for this loyalty to Pravana.

All while undergoing an extremely extensive, long, and unpaid training process. The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I was getting the short end of the stick.

Disorganization in the company

While undergoing the first stage of training, I quickly became aware of disorganization throughout the company.

I was told to complete Module 1 on my own, and afterwards they were holding a live virtual training session where we would review what we’d learned and prepare for evaluation.

In this virtual session I met with other applicants. Half of these applicants hadn’t even received the PDF of module 1. And many of them had never even used Pravana color before.

We were then surprised with the fact that we were being evaluated, that day. Apparently, we were supposed to have a flip chart made, be dressed in all black, and have our hair and makeup done–presentation ready. No one told us this prior.

Everyone was rather frantic, understandably so. So they instead did a review session (as they initially stated) since there was clearly miscommunication between the person that emailed us and the person holding the virtual session.

I became concerned that the disorganization would only get worse the more involved I became with the company.

Pravana’s expectations

After the virtual training session, I received a presentation guide PDF that I assume should have been sent out prior. This explains the expectations of presenting. And these expectations were pretty high.

Everything had to be done and said in a certain way, and if we said something wrong we would not pass our evaluation.

I was also to create a massive flip chart to present, with extensive details that had to be very specific. This really rubbed me the wrong way. Couldn’t they at least provide us with a flip chart? Especially for how specific it needs to be with borders, pictures, and colors.

Having us buy all sorts of supplies to make a flip chart seemed like a lot to ask when we aren’t being paid anything for months, and that is if we are even “invited” to continue after phase 1.

And maybe I was being unrealistic thinking they should send us one instead. But none of this was sitting right with me.

How I was treated by Pravana

So aside from how much they were asking of me up to this point, there was one final straw that pushed me over the edge. This is ultimately why I decided to not continue on with the training process, although each piece to the puzzle adds up.

When I was contacted to schedule my module 1 evaluation, I was told to choose 2 days that worked for my schedule. And after giving the dates that worked for me (Tuesday and Friday), I didn’t hear from anyone for over a week.

Now to be fair, this was around Thanksgiving. But more than enough time had passed where I should have received a response.

And when I did receive a response, it just was a zoom notification that I was scheduled for Monday for my evaluation.

There was no message saying that Tuesday and Friday were full and asking if Monday would work for me. They apparently didn’t care about my schedule and wanted me to work on their time. They scheduled me for what worked for them. And I was supposed to move my schedule around to accommodate.

This gave me an idea as to how things would be if I would have continued with the company. I could see them scheduling me for classes on dates that I had requested off, or other similar situations.

I became concerned that I would go through months and months of extensive and unpaid training to then be treated poorly as a contractor.

Final thoughts with Pravana

From the unpaid extensive training, the limitations on my blog and Youtube channel, to the disorganization and inconsideration amongst the Pravana company as a whole, I made the decision to walk away.

And from the lack of Pravana experience amongst some of the other applicants, my guess is that they will take anyone that will allow the brand to walk all over them.

Now if I was a new hairstylist, I may have made a different decision. If you are just starting out in this industry, this could be a good gig for you in the long term.

When starting out, you oftentimes have to take a little crap to work your way up the totem pole.

But for me and my situation, it was just not worth it.

Conclusion

As a brand educator in the salon industry, you’ll teach professional hairstylists about the brand, usually as an independent contractor.

To become an educator with Pravana, you’ll create a submission video demonstrating your skills as an artist and with Pravana hair color.

The training process is extensive and unpaid. It takes over 4 months just to complete the first phase. You won’t be an official team member until completing phase 2.

You’ll then be paid by the class that you teach. As you prove your worth, you’ll move up the scale. Each level comes with higher pay, as well as the opportunity for more classes.

As a brand educator, you cannot share about using other color lines publicly. This can be limiting for content creators.

My experience in the training process showed me that the company is disorganized and inconsiderate to their contractors. They have high expectations and don’t consider your needs.

This role could be good for someone just starting out in the industry looking for a long term opportunity, but not for a seasoned stylist or content creator.

I hope this was helpful for anyone looking to join Pravana’s team. Leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts! And make sure to subscribe to make everyday a good hair day.