All take and no give - Hair Designer I Ulta Beauty Employee Review

1.0
Sep 12, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits for senior level stylists

Cons

Where do I begin... First of all they would not pay a full time receptionist, we had one guy who worked about 20 hrs a week- they are open 7 d/w. So try doing hair, helping people pick out products and stopping every 5 minutes to answer the phone. You and the other 3 people working that day could have little to no clients yet your still expected to come in because they want you "helping out on the floor" or answering the phone aka free labor since hair stylist work on commission. Starting commission is only 43%, Open til 9pm every night but Sundays, your schedule will be changed at will- don't make any plans Nov-Jan, they basically own you (they were open Easter this year too) If they think their going to be busy that week they will add extra hours to your days with out saying a word to you, all of a sudden your books just open up. As a licensed Cosmetologist I was cleaning toilets because they didn't want to pay a cleaning crew 1x a week. (I went to school so I didn't have to clean toilets) You practically give away services when they run specials- like $50 cut/color every Mon-Wed, but don't expect to make a professional judgement call on your own, like discounting a $20 toner service.

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5.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Ulta has an amazing team and has great management.

Cons

They are short with hours.

2.0
May 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

good benefits for full time employees from what I hear. hourly pay if commission goal isn't met which is nice for those building clientele

Cons

this could just be the case for my store, especially because it's a very high volume store, but as a stylist I don't feel valued at all. I expected this to some degree coming to a huge corporate salon, but the biggest issue is that they try to pretend they care about you. but at the end of the day, if you're not meeting the sales they want/growing quickly enough, they don't care about you as a stylist. if you don't already have an established clientele, business is highly unreliable as there is no late cancellation/no show policy. many services are underpriced in my opinion, making it hard to meet their sales goals as an entry level part-time stylist unless fully booked every day. all they care about is getting as many clients in and out and quickly and possible and they hire more stylists than there are chairs, making every day inconsistent and chaotic. the relative stability of hourly pay is commission threshold isn't met seems enticing for stylists still building a clientele, but the hourly pay is wildly inconsistent between stylists, even those of the same tier. as a stylist of over 3 years who moved and is starting over with no clientele, I make over $2 less per hour than a fellow stylist who just got her license a few months ago and started taking clients for the first time last week. you're better off working at a place like Great Clips or Hair Cuttery because at least they're honest about what they are.

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