Amazing! (Don’t know if that’s a common time scale? Having a hard time posting in here for some reason but trying to get a general idea before meeting with a potential mentor in a couple of days because I think he might have a suuuper slow timeline and I can’t afford to wait forever hah) And no worries if you don’t have the time to respond/chat/tell me what your timeline of skin/free/half-pay/full pay was like! Your work is so great and I’m sure you’re already busy!!! Major congrats getting here!!

Oh wow!! Okay that is.. a lot to think about. How many months before you actually touched real skin (as in, in the shop/with real clients even if they were friends or coworkers trusting you at first!) and do you happen to know what the rough average is before an apprentice gets to work on skin at all? I was sort of guessing that it was between 3-6 months depending on how well or quickly you were progressing (according to your mentor) but I’m realizing I have NO CLUE and I actually have an appointment in just under three hours to speak to a shop owner and potential mentor about maybe getting started with him. If you happen to see this in the next couple of hours and have a suuuper rough ballpark guess at how soon it’s common to expect to be able to work on skin (for those first free ones) I would REALLY appreciate it- his answer to that question may make or break this deal; he mentioned that most of his apprentices quit around the 7-8 month mark because it’s too much work and also mentioned doing plenty of “bitch work” which is to be expected; I just want to ALSO be able to practice on skin as soon as possible and don’t want to lock in with someone (the literal very first person I contacted for an apprenticeship) if I won’t get to skin for an abnormally long period of time.
(And yes I may dm you later about other stuff if that’s truly okay!! You are amazing for being open to that, thank you so much!! This sub is the sole access I have to people in the industry:) )