A lot of people have general knowledge of the world of cosmetology, but that’s not enough to make it in the cosmetology field. You need an actual education, and that’s what Will Mullenix realized throughout his life. While he’s had a passion and love for cutting hair for years, it wasn’t until he started learning at Ogle School that he was able to turn it into a career. Read on to learn more about Will’s overall experience.

Will Mullenix’s Support

What made you pursue a career in cosmetology?

I’ve been cutting hair since I was younger. I used to cut my friends’ hair in high school, and my family’s hair. I started by cutting my hair. I had a lot of bad haircuts going to school, but I eventually got better at it. I used to do my little sister’s hair, and my big sister’s hair when my mom was not around.

I just kind of dabbled in hair, but it wasn’t a consistent thing as far as women’s hair. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I just used to kind of freestyle and act like I knew what I was doing. That’s the reason why I came to school and learned the technicalities of everything, the basics of cutting women’s hair, using chemical products on women’s hair, and learning different products that I could use on women’s hair.

What was your experience at Ogle School like?

It’s great. I mean, it’s only 11 months. It’s 11 months of your time you put in. I would just say, join, be as active as you can, enter every competition you can or go as if you feel confident in yourself because you’re going to have support from the school. And you never know what may happen. I mean, the sky is the limit in this industry because like they, say it’s a billion-dollar industry, and I want some of that!

How did Ogle School help you prepare for a career?

Ogle has helped me in every way possible as far as exams go, getting me ready for exams, getting me ready for the salon, and just the salon atmosphere. And even like retail or working at the front desk, or just greeting people. Just normal simple stuff. Just in the simple stuff alone, Ogle taught me everything, as far as being professional and being a stylist, graduating as a salon-ready stylist.

What was your Face Off experience like?

My first thought was, “Oh, man, I’m on stage.” It was super cool. It was exciting. I was kind of nervous but I was excited at the same time because I’ve never been on stage at an event. It was live and stuff like that and I was actually a part of the show. And being on stage, and then throwing T-shirts, having everybody looking at you, screaming, and wanting the T-shirt, it was pretty fun. I got to throw the T-shirts and just got to be on the big screen. It was amazing, man. I feel it was cool. It made me hyped about everything, so I really love being on stage.

What about your experience with What’s Next?

I was selected as a finalist in a regional competition. They had two regionals, one in LA and one in Orlando. I was selected for the one in LA, at the LA Stock Exchange. And when I saw that, that’s when I had to make the choice of, “Okay, am I going to go to LA or am I going to stay here?” Because you can pass up the chance to go to LA and decide not to compete, or you can actually go and have a potential win. And that’s what really made me want to go because I said, “Well, what if I win?” And we got out there.

I was the first one there to set up at the LA Exchange. There was nobody else there. The competitors weren’t even there. I showed up at like 9:45. We were supposed to be there at 10:00. I was the first one in the building. I got to set my stuff up like that. And one of the co-hosts, he was saying, like, “Man, you’re the first one here. I know you’re going to do something, even though I haven’t seen any of your work, or stuff like that, but you made a big statement by showing up, being the first one here, and setting up before everybody.”

From the professionalism to people who work for Sebastian, people who work for Wella, all the big names, everybody who was out there, it was a great environment. I mean, they made it so classy. I got to enjoy myself more than just feeling like I was in a competition. I really just had to do something, it was really hard. I mean, my model, she gave me a little resistance while we were there, but we came around and we happened to win.

Talk about your awards experience.

I happened to win two awards. I won the Student Category. Out of five students, I beat out the other four students and won the Student Category. And I also won the People’s Choice Award. That’s where Sebastian posted our style on their page on Instagram. You promote it. You go have everybody on your social media vote for you, and I won. I beat out the affiliated artists, five of those. I beat out the rest of the students, and I beat out professionals for that award. They said a student had never won that award. I was like, “What? No student ever has?” Oh, yeah, I was stoked about it.

And I won with 481 comments or votes, or whatever it is. That was shocking right there. We were on stage, and they called out their first award, and I was standing right there. And then the next award she was going to announce was the Student Category. She says, “Okay, for the Student Category…” And then she was like, “Well, this is kind of funny. When she said that, I was like, “Oh, my gosh, she’s going to say my name again.” And she’s like, “And the student winner is Will Mullenix.” I didn’t know how to take that in. It didn’t hit me until maybe three days out there that I had actually won. I came back to school, everybody was so stoked that I won and represented Ogle 53, Ogle Forth Worth.

Once you get in here, you can’t beat that. You can’t beat that sense of family. Not to mention the education and how much time they put into making it easier, making you more comfortable to learn and eventually create a career. I just love Ogle. Ogle 53, Ogle Fort Worth, that’s me.

Discover Your Own Beautiful Story

Maybe you’re also in this position, where you have some experience with cosmetology, but you’ve never actually learned how to do it. If that’s the case, you can discover your Beautiful Story with Ogle School. The cosmetology program and esthetics program are great places to learn what you need to succeed in this field. Request more information and start on your journey toward a cosmetology career with Ogle School.