Fades, beards and straight-razor shaves. Licensed under the hairstylist trade in some provinces, then it is all about your chair and your regulars.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 3,020 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $54,209 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $41,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $31,000 at the lower end to about $62,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 3 years after high school, on the usual route.
$2,000 to $17,500 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$41,000
Lower end
$31,000
Upper end
$62,000
Job Bank's national median is $19.88 an hour, about $41,000 a year full time, before tips. The low is $15 and the high is $30 an hour. A barber with a full book who rents a chair in a busy city shop can pass the top of this range; the first year or two is usually near the bottom.
$23.00 an hour
The median in British Columbia, the highest in Canada, before tips
Quebec ($21.63) is next. Ontario's median is $18.00 and Manitoba's the lowest, at $16.40. Many shops pay juniors a percentage of what they cut, so with few regulars the paycheques are small.
Keep everything you bill
After renting a chair for a weekly fee
Established barbers often pay a flat weekly rent to the shop and keep the rest. A full day of clients adds up, but you buy your own product, book your own clients and pay your own taxes.
Roughly, all in
$2,000 to $17,500
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The two routes cost very different amounts. The low end is registering as an apprentice in a province where barbering sits inside the hairstylist trade: a few hundred dollars a school block, your own kit and the provincial exam. The high end is a private barber academy, where a few months can cost more than a full college year and prices vary widely between schools. Clippers, shears and razors are yours to buy either way. On the apprentice route you may qualify for the Canada Apprentice Loan and EI (Employment Insurance) during school blocks.
If you register as a hairstylist apprentice in a province where that trade covers barbering, you may qualify for the Canada Apprentice Loan (no interest, up to $4,000 per school period) and EI (Employment Insurance) during school blocks.
Tips
Most clients tip.
Your own hours
Once you have regulars you set your book.
Low start-up cost
A chair and a kit is a business.
Health and dental
Rare. Most barbers buy their own or go without.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Job Bank says a 7-month to 1-year apprenticeship or barber program is the usual route. The rules depend on your province.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12. Some high schools have cosmetology classes with a real salon floor.
Check your province
Before you enrol
In Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, barbering falls under the compulsory hairstylist trade. Alberta has a compulsory barber trade. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick license barbers through barbers' associations, and Prince Edward Island through its hairdresser licence. Elsewhere it is voluntary.
Barber school or apprenticeship
7 months to 2 years
A private academy takes a few months full time. An apprenticeship means working under a licensed barber or stylist while doing school blocks.
Exam, where required
After your hours
Ontario's hairstylist Certificate of Qualification. Hairstylist is a Red Seal trade in 12 provinces and territories, and its scope includes barbering techniques.
Build a book
1 to 3 years
Regulars are everything. Instagram, word of mouth and consistent fades. Expect 1 to 3 years to fill your chair.
Cosmetology or hairstyling
Where your school has it.
Art
Shape, symmetry, line work.
Business or math
A chair is a small business.
English
You talk to people all day.
Alberta has a compulsory barber trade. In Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, cutting hair for pay falls under the compulsory hairstylist trade, so you must be a registered apprentice or certified. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick require registration with a barbers' association, and Prince Edward Island a hairdresser licence. Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories have no requirement.
Quebec has a short public program just for barbering, and certification is voluntary rather than required to cut hair.
Secondary III courses
From age 16
The AEP (Attestation of Vocational Studies) needs Secondary III language, second language and math. You must also be 18, out of full-time school for 12 months, or hold a high school diploma.
AEP in Beard Care and Cutting Techniques (4258, or Barbering 4758)
About 5 months
510 hours of men's cuts, styling and beard care at public vocational centres. In English at Laurier Macdonald and Gordon Robertson in Montreal.
Or the full hairdressing DEP
14 to 16 months
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Hairdressing (5245, or 5745 in English) is 1,455 hours and adds colour, perms and women's cuts. Offered in all 17 regions.
Work in a shop
After school
Build a client list in a barbershop or salon. The average listed wage for hairdressers in Quebec is $21.98 an hour, before tips.
Workplace apprenticeship
Up to 36 months
Hairdresser is a PAMT (workplace apprenticeship program) trade. A journeyperson trains you at work at least 21 hours a week, leading to a Quebec certificate of qualification.
Red Seal, if you want it
Optional
Hairstylist is a Red Seal trade in Quebec. With your Quebec certificate you can sit the exam, which may include a practical part.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Straight-razor shaves and beard sculpting
Premium services with a higher ticket.
Colour and grey blending
Borrowed from hairstyling, growing in barbershops.
Hair systems and scalp treatments
Niche, high-margin work.
Education and brand work
Teaching classes or working for a clipper or product brand.
A social media portfolio
Clients pick barbers from photos of fades.
Friends who let you practise
You need heads to cut.
Retail or service job experience
Conversation is the job.
Many barbers open a shop after 5 to 10 years. A small shop with a few chairs costs tens of thousands to set up. Owners can rent chairs to other barbers, and take on rent, staff and slow months.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Shop opens around 9 or 10am. Cuts every 30 to 45 minutes, back to back if your book is full. Fades, line-ups, beard trims, the odd shave. Sweep, sanitize clippers, rebook. Saturdays and late afternoons are the busiest. Standing all day with your arms raised. A slow Tuesday on commission can mean a very small day.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Ontario's hairstylist apprenticeship, which covers barbering, is about 3,500 hours: 3,020 on the job and 480 in school, roughly 2 years.
Hairstylist, the trade that includes barbering techniques, became a Red Seal trade in 1986. Twelve provinces and territories offer the endorsement today, but not Ontario.
Barbers in medieval Europe also pulled teeth and did bloodletting. The red and white pole is said to stand for blood and bandages.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Personal, food and outdoor trades first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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