Marinello Schools of Beauty Salon

If I could give this place zero stars… I would. If Marinello ever comes back to fruition, spare yourself your money and your dignity and go somewhere else, whether you are a client or a student.

The department of education investigated Marinello schools for misconduct and all it takes is spending 1 day at the San Diego campus to see everything that’s wrong about this place. I attended from 2014 – 2015. There is a never ending rotation of instructors. They either get fed up and quit after a month, or they get fired. How are you supposed to learn anything when there is no consistency or no instructor? That is definitely not a matter of just «paying attention»
Where does your 22k tuition go? Definitely not towards your education or supplies. Why did we hardly ever have color, developer, shampoo, conditioner? The basic things you think at least our tuition would pay for, not to mention all the money the school makes off the paying clients.
It is truly sad that so many people were misled by the admissions staff, only to not have an instructor present half of the time, and spend your own money on color and developer for rude clients. It’s sad that people were given fake high school diplomas so that the school could collect more student loans and get rich. Why is there no class action lawsuit against Marinello yet???

If you are disabled do not expect a disabled parking place! The students here park in them. Rude to reminded us they are also disabled. When does a student take precedence over a payroll who is 96 years old and using a walker to assist in walking? Never again
Most recently they are closed and out of businesses, entire chain have been found to have defrauded both students, loan sources for students $. Not really a loss as their students were rude, crude and very into just sitting around and chatting!

This is not a review for service, but rather as a school.
I can tell you, as a graduate with honors from Marinello that if you are serious about learning Cosmetology, Marinello is an excellent school. IF YOU PAY ATTENTION!!!
I can’t tell you how many straight-​outta-​high-​school students we got. And how many of them thought Cosmo school would be a breeze and were more involved with forming cliques and treating eachother like crap. That is not the school’s fault.
This is a school meant for people to learn a difficult and highly underestimated trade, that involves a lot more than just «making people look pretty.»
Geometry, Chemistry, Anatomy, Dermatology, Health and Safety, these are the things you learn. And if you treat it like it’s still high school you will not get anything out of it, and you will most likely drop out, end up paying against your attendance, or fail your state boards.
I paid attention from day one. I took it seriously. I watched people come and go. I was teased for being the teachers pet. I was called upon by the Director for special projects because I delivered. I was the leader of the Retail Team because I actually cared and I was criticized for following the rules and trying to improve production for the whole school. They would snicker at me behind my back, yet for every pop quiz, every test, every team Cosmo Jeopardy game we played they all asked, «Hey, Amy! What’s the answer to question _​_​_​_​_​?» Because I paid attention.
Again.. . Not Marinello’s fault.
People are people. Most of them suck, but there are a beautiful precious few who are great human beings and I have stayed in touch with. And surprise, surprise, they are the ones that paid attention to varying degrees, passed their state boards and made something of themselves.
So what am I reeeeeeally trying to say? Well!
If you are looking for a school to teach you the necessary skills to become a Cosmetologist, and you are SERIOUS about it.. . Marinello is the place to go.
Ignore the immaturity, you will get that anywhere you go. Focus on what they teach you and you will learn well here.
Marinello has the highest percentage of first time passers on state boards. Not Bellus, certainly not Paul Mitchell where they overcharge you for a brand name and don’t properly prepare you for state board. From Day One at Marinello they gear you up for state boards. You practice, verbatim, state board procedure weekly, and run a full state board run through once a month. And they are serious about it. They keep track of all your applied efforts, they run the full gambit from hair, facials, mani/​pedi, basic massage, makeup etc.
You take clients, you are entrusted with the sanctity of somebody else’s hair.. .. Why wouldn’t you pay attention?
Marinello, as a school, is over 100 years old. That should speak for itself. Despite the bad apple students, I still absolutely LOVED this school. I got so much out of it. I would not trade it for anything.
If you are serious.. .. . Give Marinello a try.

I’ve came here several times since 2013 before I gave up. Sometimes I’d get a student who actually knew how to do African american hair, other times I’d get someone who was completely clueless. I understand it’s a school and they’re all learning but please don’t give a student a hair type they know nothing off and leave them alone. At least guide them through the process. My last visit I walked out of there with my hair heavily oiled, looking greasy and smelling fried. During the process I asked the girl not to apply too much oil because I knew it would weigh my hair down once she started flat ironing. She replied that’s how she did her hair and continued on assuring me it would be fine.

So I was blessed with a spectacular head of hair-it’s so thick it takes 12 hours to air dry. It’s naturally wavy, and a deep brown color. And guess what? I was sick of it. I woke up one morning in September 2015, looked in the bathroom mirror and decided either I was cutting it all off or going platinum blonde-​I mean full Gwen Stefani baby. Sadly, although I might be witty, I am not wealthy. I knew this would involve multiple appointments. Hmmm… Where could I go? And then I remembered Marinello School of Beauty-​close to where I live-​prices you can’t beat. Now full disclosure-​you are being worked on by students-​but they are supervised and these students are amazing. So, after 4 appointments, totaling 18 HOURS I got my wish-​a head full of platinum blonde tresses. I’ve gone back multiple times for a root touch up-​and I now only go to LeSean. Not only does she have an eye for color– she’s fast, funny as hell to talk to, and when she passes her boards she’s going to have one hell of a career. The prices are so cheap it almost makes me weep for joy. I mean I’ve never paid more than $ 36 for a service-that’s without tip-​and please, don’t be cheap-​tip 20%!!! IN CASH!!! The scheduling is done by the remarkable Candace. So if you want your hair to look fantastic, but have «champagne taste on a beer budget» like me, then I’d advise booking an appointment at Marinello-​and request LeSean. Ok, Gwen Stefani is on the phone-​she loves my hair and wants to hang out. Bye!

I got a basic mani and pedi done here and I think my pedi looks fine. However, I’m not really ecstatic about my fingernails because I probably could havr done a much better done. I had one girl do my nails at the same as the girl doing my feet. They had me soak my hands and feet in warm water (they asked me what temperature I prefer) mixed with cuticle remover. What I don’t like about my fingernails is that the girl didn’t completely cover the nail with polish and I just want to go out and buy matching nail polish and redo it myself. But I won’t because I paid money for this. The girls were really nice though and I know that they tried their best. I probably won’t come here again because I just think I can find a place that may charge me a couple dollars more but for quality service. I understand that this is a school but honestly I have friends who have made my nails look perfect and they don’t attend a beauty school. I may reconsider but we’ll see!

OK, so I decided to give them another chance and I came back for a service. This time I was ready to cry. I had told the student how I wanted my flat iron to be done and she did not listen. She curled my ends in a way I did not asked, and I told her that’s not what I asked. She end up burning my ends really bad and a teacher never show up to see how students are doing.
Not to mentioned they were trying to charge me for a service I did not asked for, they wanted to charge me $ 18 dlls for thermal press when I said flat iron!!! The girl at the front said well the person who put the amount is always right! Again I never asked or got a thermal press.
I told the student she was burning my ends and she didn’t even finished my hair, took my hair cap and told me to go home and apply coconut oil. I’m attaching pictures so you can see the unfinished work. I even told the teacher that her student had burned my ends and they didn’t apologize all they wanted for me is to leave and not deal with my comments.
I understand they are students, but I just paid for someone to treat me like crap, burned my hair and leave it worst than when I got here and almost got over charge. I tell you, save yourself the trouble and don’t come here. I like to go to beauty school cause it’s nice to help students and some times you save few $. But you are better off going to a salon and they charge the same and you will not get your hair ruined, or go to Bellus Academy, they treat me nicely and I get excellent results. This is what I get for giving people chances. Once a miss stays the same!

I came here for an inexpensive hairstyling for a special event. Although the student basically did a good job, her tools were dirty. I would suggest bringing your own brush, comb and hair barrettes and bobby pins… unless you don’t mind stuff with other people’s hair all over them, as well as dried hair dye, etc. Another thing, the student who did my hair, was a heavy smoker-​and that smell was all over her hands and then transferred to my hair. I would recommend asking the receptionist for a non-​smoking student… tell them you have allergies or whatever. I realize this is a school and you pay less… and some of that is compromised in the service quality.

I have been going to Marinello for a few years for my haircuts. I always walk out pleased.
Yesterday I called for an appointment for today at 10 am and I arrived 5 minutes early. Only to be told by the front desk that they don’t start until 10:30. I asked why did the girl on the phone schedule me for 10:00. She, of course, had no idea but told me I could wait. At10:30 a girl approached me and asked very meekly «do you want a haircut?» I said yes and followed her back. She asked me how I wanted it and I said 2″ off and layers. I noticed when I sat down her mirror was aimed upward so I was unable to see anything she was doing. When she finished I barely had 2″ off and no layers. She parted my hair down the middle (didn’t ask me how I wear my hair or what I wanted). And I had to remind her I had bangs which ended up parted in the middle. I never saw an instructor and she never went to get one to check her work. The scary thing is she graduates next month. I went home and looked in the mirror and saw a chunk on the left side longer than the rest. Then I pulled the sides out to see if they matched and the left was two inches longer than the right.
Returning? Questionable!
Mary D.

I had a student named Julio do my balayage color, and just wanted to say he was a great student. The color came out fabulous and I’m confident he will go on to become a great professional in the industry. He needed very little instruction from the teacher, and the color came out amazing. It took about 3 – 4 hours for the whole process, but worth it for the color I received. He even worked until closing time to make sure that I, as the client was happy, that’s dedication. Instructor, Diana was pretty knowledgable as well.
My concern for this school was how unprofessional students acted when clients were present. There were a few girls cursing and talking about drama and texting and in general not acting professional and keeping your private life alway from your profession. One girl made me feel like I should get up and leave because she kept rolling her eyes and texting and just not acting like a serious student. In the professional world I certainly don’t want someone who acts trashy touching my hair, and I’m sure that goes for lots of clients. In general, and when I get my hair done outside of beauty schools, I love walking into a classy, sleek salon with high class people… There’s nothing that screams professional more than how the people employed behave and act. Classless is just not the way to go.
All in all, I would recommend the services and certain students. Julio did a fabulous job!

Kristin Napalan is who you see to get colored right! One of the best in achieving the prefect hue.
My wash and cut a few weeks prior was delightful as well. Very light handed and one could possibly fall asleep in her chair. I have unruly curly hair and not tender headed so thought I’ll maybe experience some tugging here n there but honestly couldn’t feel a thing. (glanced in the mirror on occasion to see if she’s even working on me) My girls (who I care for and wouldn’t mind if they were mine) have curly hair as well, one wavy curly and the other corse with a mix of tight and loose curls both had a wash and cut/​style and they were very pleased on outcome.
A pleasure reconnecting with an old friend and now my go to when hair is in need of some TLC.
Please do yourself a favor and swing by the school and ask for the best. Kristin Napalan. The other students and instructors have as well been very kind and welcoming. Good luck to those finishing up to pursue what they love to do!

(From a customer/client’s standpoint)
I had my hair ombred by Tuma about three weeks ago, and she was fantastic! I’ve never colored my hair before, and I was very nervous, but she spent a good 20 minutes with me planning and checking with her teacher to make sure I’d get exactly what I wanted. It did take about three hours, but you must keep in mind that these are students and they’re making sure to be extra careful. You really can’t beat the price either! Tuma made sure to take care of my hair, kept it conditioned, and recommended some products I could use to maintain the health of my hair. I still want to go a little lighter, but she recommended letting my hair rest a few weeks before bleaching it further. Good to know she’s taking care of me! I will definitely be returning :)

I’ve been coming to the Miramar Marinello school for many years now, and keep coming back… You can’t beat the prices. And, yes, it does take longer to have your hair cut and colored. But that’s because their students are taking more time to learn to do it the right way.
The teachers are very knowledgable and are there to teach and make sure the students are doing everything correctly.
I’ve always been happy with my experiences at Marinello, and enjoy the atmosphere. But today, I just had to Unilocal about «Cassandra Smith», one of the day students. She NAILED it with my hair color and cut. I wanted something different… and she made it happen! I walked out feeling so pretty… :):):)
The only issue with working with students is that they graduate and move on to bigger and better things. lol
Tammy (no relation) Smith

This place has some really talented young individuals. Every time I come to get my hair colored or cut I always make sure To ask for Kristen. She has done such an amazing job with my hair that not even the salons could achieve. She has amazing hair herself. If you ever need makeup done for a special event or hair colored or cut. I highly suggest and recommend Kristen Napalan. You will always get the best out of her!

Came for a haircut that was absolutely terrible. Haircut was 2 hours and asked for a taper that became i dont know what. Horrible experience even though it’s a school.

I came in a week or so ago with my grandmother who was getting her hair colored on a budget. Her stylist was very polite and knowledgeable. My issue with Marinello is the fact that extremely loud and inappropriate hip hop music was blasting! In most cases, not a big deal. In this case with my grandmother there (as well as another customers or students child) the repeated hearing of songs containing the b**** word and the extremely loud volume of this «music» gave not only me, but my grandmother a not relaxing time at all. I realize this is a school, but teach these kids some professionalism!!!

TERRIBLE!!! TERRIBLE! TERRIBLE!
Terrible service! Terrible results! and Terrible attitude!!!
I am fully aware it’s a school and the hairdressers are students and I’m the guinea pig, so I don’t have high expectations from them and I don’t expect my hair come out to be anywhere close to perfect. But their service and results are WAY off the chart. NO ONE, literately, knows what they are doing, including their supervising «teacher». This is my tortured experience:
I went there once to get a hair cut. Almost 1 hour just to wait. 4 hours just to cut my hair. The student who cuts my hair didn’t know what she is doing AT ALL! she had to «consult» her teacher more than 10 times, and each time we had to wait for her teacher to come around. Even after the teacher came and told her what to do, she still couldn’t quite delivery the result. I ended up with a fluffy hair. I was not satisfied but at least she was apologetic and trying to learn.
I thought give them another chance so This time I went to get my hair colored (only one color, how bad can it be messed up? since it’s not rocket science, I said to myself.). It took them almost 5 hours!!! 5 hours!!! 1 hour to wait, another 3 – 4 hours to color.
The «colorist», named Miya has very dry green hair. She claim herself «the best colorist» here (She obviously does NOT know the word modest.). Judging by her own hair, I started to worry how my hair gonna be turned out.
My hair is black, I wanted to dye it to DARK brown color. I pointed at the color chart specifically to the dark brown I wanted. Then she took off for almost 30 minutes without knowing where she went and when is she coming back. I had to asked the front desk, they assured me she will come back. Finally she came back 15 minutes later with the «formula» which she said she «consulted» with her teacher and we are good to go. She started from the top of my head, 20 minutes later, she ran out of formula and she had to go and mix some more and then apply more to the rest. In between her 2^nd mix and till her finishing applying, more than 30 minutes elapsed again, which means, the top of my head had been colored for 50 minutes already when she finished applying formula to all of my hair. Then she said I had to wait for about another 30 minutes before washing it off. I asked her if that’s too long for the top of my hair, she said, «no, the color stopped working after 20 minutes regardless if you leave it on or not.» The end result: My hair turned out to be ORANGE!!! That’s too far off from the dark brown I wanted. Not only that, the top of my hair is WAY lighter orange than the bottom. So I got VERY uneven color! If that’s «the best colorist» as she claimed, the rest in her school must be color-​blind.
Realizing herself messed up my hair, instead of taking responsibilities, she had the gut to say, «well, if you dye your hair in any salon, it would be $ 200 at least, so I saved you lot of money.» OMG, woman, get a clue!!!
The worst is yet to come: she didn’t even know how to wash my hair! I had to watch her HAIRY ARMPIT while she was washing my hair because she just keep on flaunting it right above my face!!! To add insult to injury, She got the back of my shirt drench wet and didn’t even feel sorry or she should at least help me dry it up. She blamed on the water! She REFUSED to dry it for me. She even REFUSED my friend to borrow the blow dryer and dry it for me. She wanted me to walk out of the door with drench wet shirt!!! what kind of B***ch is that??? I am really wordless!
So there you have it, my traumatized experience with this rat hole! If you want get your hair COMPLETELY messed up, go there. If you want to be treated BEYOND TERRIBLY, go there. If you want to forced to look at someone’s HAIRY ARMPIT, go there!

I have came here on 4 occasions since I was in highschool. Strictly for their updos because it is much cheaper than going to a regular salon. It is $ 27. I came here when I was in highschool for a dance, 3 years later for prom, and then a MC ball a year after that. All times I came here I was lucky enough to get people who were actually good at doing updos. However my last experience, this year for the MC ball, I hated my hair, and I wasn’t even done on time.
The lady I got was very old and wasn’t the typical student in their 20’s. Her hair was red and had thick highlights, and horrible curls. I was scared for her to curl and do an up do on me because her presentation was not flattering. She talked way too much, she couldn’t handle silence and worst of all she could not multitask, and she would have to stop what she was doing to talk. I showed her pictures what I wanted and it was a curled updo. Although she did curl my hair, you couldn’t even see it bc, She made curls with her fingers. It was very sloppy.
I was on a strict time frame and I let her know that from the start. She said it would only take 30 mins. It took over an hour, and she wasn’t even done. I left incomplete bc I had another appointment for my makeup.
This is the last time I will be coming here, and I will not be referring any of my friends here for updos anymore.
My updo was basic but not like how I wanted. I can finally say with this place «you get what you pay for».

I came here wanted to learn about their eyelash extensions classes because the lady on the phone knew nothing about it. She helped booked me to see Maggie for admission.
The day I was suppose to see Maggie. I called her number about 4 times and none of those time she picked it up. I showed up and waited at the front desk. No one came and greeted me. There were a guy and a lady too busy gossiping and talking ill about others. He kept cussing and every other words that came out of his mouth was F this and F that. I was still standing there waiting for someone to come over and assist me. Finally, I made eye contact with the guy who was talking so much craps came up and asked me if I’ve been help.
My first impression of this place is extremely gross and disgusting. The students that were there did not stay professional. Finally, Maggie walked through the front door and she saw me sitting at the small leather chair and asked not friendly, «Who are you here to see?» I said «I’m here to see Maggie» and she said «I’m Maggie. Give me a second and I will be with you.» She doesn’t seem happy at all.
I don’t feel Maggie is very genuine and she is not professional. In fact, I’m not trying to be mean, but by judging at the way she looks. I would not want to enrolled into this school at all. She handed me a package full of information and told me the class is a 7 months long. It costs $ 11,000 and all the material is being covered. Explaining the program to me. She tried to sell me a program I have no interest nor was I here for that. Even after I mentioned to her that I was here to get information because the lady on the phone didn’t know much about the program the school has offered. She responded in a sarcastically, «right, right, you are here to get information.»
This place is extremely ghetto and has a very cheap feel to it. Not that I was thinking about enrolling into any program, but if I was. This will probably be the last place on earth where I want to learn about beauty school.

I went in marinello schools of beauty after work. They where quick about getting me in for the time that I had came. I wanted a fill in and just a basic color. Patrice did my fill in, she was spot on and very helpful with helping me decided on a color we also gave it a spice.
Kendra cut my hair, thank god for her because I really wanted someone who could relate to my hair. I have noticed being African American in San Diego it becomes hard to find someone to cater to you hair needs. I wanted a simple trim to help with my transition to natural hair… And she did just that. I will be going back :-)) very satisfied.
Also if you don’t have time to be patient enough to wait, then you may not be as satisfied. This is a school, so everyone is learning, be patient let them learn and relax.

Got my best haircut here. The place is a little shady (or ghetto), but my girlfriend dragged me here and I had a great haircut. I had the same reservations that you probably have: why pay $ 5 for a student haircut when you can just pay a professional $ 10 -$ 15 for one? Well, again, the $ 5 haircut was better than any I have had in the US.
The barber program doesn’t get a lot of customers, so the students try to put in the extra effort for each customer so they can get good feedback from them.
The ladies’ services are also great here, judging by girlfriend’s hair after she gets it done there.

Bleach streaks and bold colors w/​old school hip hop on the speakers. It brought me back to high school garage parties. I was happy of how my experimental bleached streaks turned out.