Look for a beauty school that offers not just classes on specific subjects, but also a good mix of practical experience. This means more than just styling a wig or doing each others' nails; you and your fellow students should have the opportunity to work on living clients, too.

You don't necessarily have to go to beauty school to open a salon -- that is, if you just want to be an owner -- but you do if you want to cut hair, do nails or makeup, or any of the other services salons provide. Most states require that the stylists have licenses from a reputable school.

When you go to beauty school, expect to get a license not as a hairstylist or as a manicurist, but as a cosmetologist. If you shampoo, cut, dye and style hair, do manicures or pedicures, or provide cosmetic skin care service, you're by definition a cosmetologist.