Questions people actually ask us

No. The Celegant Foundations In-Person Braiding Intensive has no entry requirement. It is built for a complete beginner: we start with safety, sanitation, hair and scalp science, tools and preparation, then hand skills, then sectioning and parting, before you attempt a single style.

If you have never braided anyone’s hair in your life, you are exactly who this program was designed for. And if you have braided for years, none of the six specialty certifications has an entry requirement either, so you can apply straight to one.

Seven kinds of people, in our experience:

• Complete beginners who want a career in braiding.
• Self-taught braiders who want speed, structure and a certificate.
• Licensed stylists who were never taught Afro-textured hair in their diploma.
• Salon owners training staff to add braiding to the service menu.
• Newcomers to Canada who already braid and want to turn it into Canadian income.
• Parents and caregivers of children with textured hair.
• People changing careers who want a skill they can charge for in under a year.

It depends on how good your habits are, and we will tell you honestly rather than sell you the longer program.

Foundations is not required. The six specialty certifications have no entry requirement, so if you already braid to a professional standard you can apply directly to the one that matches the work you want to be known for.

That said, self-taught braiders usually carry three or four habits that are costing them time, tension control or client comfort, and those are exactly what 60 supervised hours fix. Foundations also covers all six directions, so you choose a specialty on evidence. Call or text 368-299-4358 and describe what you can already do, and we will point you at the right one.

Many hairstyling diplomas in Alberta contain little or no Afro-textured hair training. If that describes yours, Foundations fills the gap systematically rather than piecemeal, and the six specialty certifications let you add services you can charge for.

You are not obliged to start at Foundations. None of the six certifications has an entry requirement, so if you are confident in your hand skills you can go straight to a specialty. We do not currently offer credit or exemptions for prior learning; what we offer instead is an honest conversation about which program fits. Call or text 368-299-4358.

No. Braiding is a hand skill built through repetition, not a young person’s sport. Our programs are adult programs, taught at an adult pace, in the afternoon and early evening so people with shift work, studies and children can attend.

No. Anyone with enough experience can apply directly to any of the six specialty certifications. There is no entry requirement on any of them, and no test to sit.

Foundations is our recommended starting point for beginners, not a gate. It is the only program that assumes you have never braided, and it takes you through all six directions at a beginner level so you can choose a specialty on evidence rather than on a guess.

What every specialty certification does assume is that you can already part cleanly, hold even tension and braid a full head of straight-back cornrows. If that is you, go straight in. If it is not, start at Foundations. Not sure? Call or text 368-299-4358 and describe your work.

No. You work on mannequin heads throughout the program. We do not use live models, so you never have to find one.

Ten weeks. 17 modules, 76 lessons, 60 contact hours. Classes run Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 3:30pm to 6:30pm, in person at Unit 316, 8925 51 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 5J3, with Maximum 8 students, 2 instructors. All times are Mountain Time.

Next intake: 1 March 2027

The seven in-person programs are exactly that: in the room, at Unit 316, with an instructor beside you. There is no online version of them, deliberately, because you cannot learn tension from a video.

The single exception is Certified Salon Business Professional: The Empire Blueprint, which is a recorded video course, 100% online, self-paced, with lifetime access. It is not an in-person program and we never describe it as one.

You will be beginner-complete across six style families: cornrows, single braids (knotless and regular), twists, wigs and weaves, crochet, and locs, with the safety, sanitation, consultation and finishing skills to take a paying client.

Beginner-complete means you can execute the style safely and to standard. Speed comes with repetition after the program.

Safety and sanitation, hair and scalp science, client consultation, tools, preparation, hand skills, sectioning and parting. Then beginner-complete modules in cornrows, single braids (knotless and regular), twists, wigs and weaves, crochet and locs, followed by finishing, aftercare and an assessed capstone.

The full ten-week breakdown is in the curriculum PDF. Download the Curriculum.

Your kit is included in the tuition, at no extra cost. It contains a mannequin head with human hair, a tripod stand, hair clips, a rat tail comb and braiding hair, and it is yours to keep.

If you already own some of it, bring what you have and we will supply the rest. Otherwise, bring yourself, something comfortable to sit in for three hours, your hair tied back if it is long, and a notebook.

Maximum 8 students, 2 instructors. That is the cap on every in-person program, Foundations and all six specialty certifications.

There is always a co-instructor alongside Dr. Tina, so at worst you are one of four people a pair of hands is watching. That is the whole reason the training is worth what it costs: braiding is a hand skill, and hand skills need someone standing next to you.

You need at least 80% attendance and at least 70% on your assessments, which are assignment based to complete the program, so the odd missed session is survivable and a pattern of them is not. Attendance is counted in hours, not sessions, so arriving 90 minutes late costs you half a session.

Tell us in advance if you can. We will tell you what you missed and what to practise, and where a session can reasonably be repeated with a later cohort we will try to arrange it. One-to-one catch-up teaching is $99 for a three-hour session, which is below our normal hourly rate because it is meant as goodwill rather than a revenue line.

If you finish below the attendance standard you receive a letter of attendance rather than a certificate. That is convertible: complete the missing hours with a later cohort within 12 months and the certificate is issued. Missing a session does not entitle you to a refund for it. See Attendance and code of conduct.

No. Sessions are not recorded, and you may not record them yourself. That covers video, audio and photographs of other people in the room. Everyone in that room is learning in front of others, often badly at first, and they are entitled to do that without it ending up on a phone.

There is one exception. If a disability makes note-taking impractical, you can ask to record a demonstration for your own personal use. Ask us and we will arrange it. See Accessibility.

You will not be left without a reference: your curriculum handbook covers every technique in writing, and you keep it.

In person, two days a week. Each certification has its own days and times, and lengths vary by program. Cornrows and Feed-Ins, Single Braids, and Wigs and Weave Installation take their next intake on 1 March 2027. Crochet, Twists and Locs follow on 1 June 2027.

Foundations: $1,997 CAD. Early bird $1,497 for the first 5 registrations, code FOUNDATIONS at checkout.

Each of the six specialty certifications is priced the same as Foundations. Certified Salon Business Professional: The Empire Blueprint is $2,997, early bird $2,497.

All prices include GST. There is no deposit, and any of them can be split into 4 interest-free instalments with Afterpay at the Square checkout, at no extra cost to you. We publish our prices on every program page. We do not hide them behind a form.

Here is the arithmetic, and you can apply it to anyone else you are considering. $1,997 divided by 60 supervised contact hours is about $33 per hour of in-person, supervised instruction.

Compare that with a two-day workshop, a one-day intensive, or a $59 online video where nobody watches your hands. As far as we can establish, Celegant is the only in-person option in Alberta that accepts a complete beginner, gives 60 supervised hours, and costs under $2,000.

Yes, and you can check it. The early-bird price is limited to the first 5 registrations on each program. It is a seat limit, not a countdown, and it does not reset quietly at midnight.

The limit is enforced by the discount code itself at the Square checkout. Each program has its own code, capped at five uses. When the fifth person has enrolled, the code stops working. Nobody at our end has to remember to switch it off, and we cannot quietly extend it for one more person.

When the early-bird has gone on a program, we take it off that page. We would rather show you one honest price than an offer you cannot actually claim.

We run other offers from time to time, and when we do they are announced with the same terms in plain sight.

Yes, and it is a standing offer rather than a launch promotion. 20% off your next specialty certification when you enrol within 90 days of completing one.

It applies to any of the six specialty certifications, and you do not have to decide which one on the day you finish. All prices include GST. There is no deposit, and the discounted tuition can still be split into 4 interest-free instalments with Afterpay at the Square checkout, at no extra cost to you.

Yes, and there is no deposit. You can pay the tuition in full, or split it into 4 interest-free instalments with Afterpay at the Square checkout, at no extra cost to you.

The instalment option is Afterpay, offered through our payment processor, Square. It costs you nothing extra. You choose it at the payment step inside the secure Square checkout, not on a separate page. Afterpay is an agreement between you and Afterpay rather than with Celegant Braiding Academy, so read their terms.

Some employers will, out of their own training budget. If you work in a salon it is worth asking, and we will give your owner a written program outline with the contact hours, schedule, curriculum and tuition set out properly.

We are not going to tell you a grant is waiting for you. The Alberta employer training grant that used to fit this has been retired, and the program that replaced it has different criteria and conditions on training providers that we have not yet established we meet. Until we have, we will not imply that Celegant programs qualify. See where things stand on funding.

There are several routes worth investigating, including Alberta Student Aid, ALIS Fund Your Training, Training for Work, and newcomer-focused micro-lending. We list them, with links, on Tuition and funding.

We have not been told by any of those funders that our programs are eligible, and we will not imply it. Check with the funder directly before you plan around it. If you get a confirmed answer either way, tell us and we will publish it.

Everything you need to complete the program. Tuition covers all supervised contact hours in the room, every module and lesson, your kit, and your certificate on passing.

Your kit is a mannequin head with human hair, a tripod stand, hair clips, a rat tail comb and braiding hair. It is included at no extra cost and it is yours to keep. If you already own some of it, bring what you have and we will supply the rest.

All prices include GST. There is no deposit and no separate examination fee.

Yes. All prices include GST. The advertised figure is the amount you pay. There is no tax added at checkout and no deposit.

Yes. You have 10 days from written confirmation of your place to cancel for a full refund, no fee and no reason needed. After that a fixed schedule applies: 100% at 30 or more days notice, 90% between 15 and 29 days, 75% inside 14 days.

Once teaching has begun, refunds are pro rata on the contact hours delivered. If we cancel a cohort, you get a full refund or the next cohort, your choice.

Everything is set out on Refunds, withdrawals and rescheduling.

This is the question we get asked most, and the one that is answered worst everywhere else. Here is what we can tell you, with sources, and here is exactly who to call for a decision about your own situation.

What Alberta law says

Hairstylist is a compulsory-certification designated trade in Alberta. Under the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act, you must hold a certificate recognised by Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or be a registered apprentice, to cut and style a paying customer’s hair in Alberta. The Hairstylist apprenticeship is two periods, each combining roughly 1,450 hours of on-the-job training with about ten weeks of classroom instruction.

What Alberta law does not clearly say

Braiding is not named on the general Government of Alberta hairstylist certification pages we reviewed. Whether a particular braiding service falls inside the trade depends on what activities are actually restricted, and the authoritative source for that is the Restricted Activities List for Hairstylist, published by Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training. That list, not a school website, is what governs your situation.

Where to get the authoritative answer

• Read the Restricted Activities List and the Hairstylist trade profile at Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training (tradesecrets.alberta.ca).
• Read Barber and Hairstylist certification in Alberta on ALIS.
• Speak to a human at an Apprenticeship and Industry Training Client Service Office and describe the exact services you intend to offer. This is the only way to get an answer that applies to you.
• You will also need a City of Edmonton business licence to operate a business, which is a separate matter from trade certification.

What Celegant Braiding Academy issues, stated plainly

Our programs award a professional skills certificate from Celegant Braiding Academy.

It is not:

• a provincial trade certificate;
• a hairstylist licence or occupational licence of any kind;
• a Red Seal endorsement;
• an apprenticeship credit or a pathway to journeyperson certification;
• a government-recognised or government-approved credential;
• an accreditation of any kind.

It is documented evidence that you completed a specified number of supervised contact hours of hands-on professional training to an assessed standard, issued by a working Edmonton braiding salon. That is what it says, and that is all it says.

Why we answer it this way

Some schools in this category imply a licensure pathway they cannot deliver. We would rather be the only site in Canada that tells you the truth, including the parts that are inconvenient for us. If your plan requires a provincial trade certificate, the honest advice is to go and talk to Apprenticeship and Industry Training about the hairstylist apprenticeship, and we will tell you that to your face.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and individual circumstances differ. Confirm your own position with Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training and, if the stakes warrant it, a lawyer.

Last reviewed 12 August 2026. We review this answer quarterly, because the underlying rules can change.

On completing Foundations you receive the Professional Certificate in Braiding Foundations.

Each specialty program awards a Professional Specialist Certificate in that specialty. For example, the single braids program awards the Professional Specialist Certificate in Single Braids (Knotless & Regular).

To be awarded one you need at least 80% attendance and at least 70% on your assessments, which are assignment based.

See Do you need a licence to braid hair in Alberta? for what the certificate does and does not entitle you to.

No. We are not an accredited institution and we are not government-approved or government-designated. We are a professional training program run by a working braiding salon.

We state this openly because the alternative, implying a status we do not hold, is both dishonest and, in this category, extremely common.

Many students intend to. Running a business in Edmonton involves a City of Edmonton business licence, GST registration once you pass the Canada Revenue Agency threshold, insurance, and confirming your position on trade certification (see above).

We cover the business side properly in Certified Salon Business Professional: The Empire Blueprint, our online business program.

Business, tax and legal content on this site is educational. It is not legal, tax, accounting or business advice. Speak to a qualified professional about your own situation.

We will not give you a number, because we do not have one we can stand behind: no cohort has graduated from these programs yet, so we have no graduate income data at all.

What we can do is show you the arithmetic of the trade: typical service prices in Edmonton, how long each style takes, and how many clients a week that implies, so you can do the maths yourself. That is on Braiding as a career in Edmonton: what you can charge and what you can earn, which is in preparation on our resources page.

No income or employment guarantee. Nothing on this site is a promise of earnings, clients or work.

We do not place graduates into jobs, and we do not claim to. Nobody here is going to promise you an employer, and we would be suspicious of a school that did.

What we do instead is aim the training at working for yourself, because that is what most braiders actually do. Our free resources cover what the work pays in Edmonton and how to think about pricing, and our salon business program goes further into running the business properly.

Not from this eight-program catalogue. The first Foundations cohort has not completed. We have previously run standalone hands-on braiding masterclasses at our Edmonton locations.

We publish nothing about graduate numbers or outcomes because there is nothing honest to publish yet. See Student work for what will appear, and when.

Unit 316, 8925 51 Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 5J3, in Edmonton, in the same unit as the Celegant Beauty store and the Celegant Hair Edmonton salon.

Directions, parking and transit are on Visit us.

Yes, and plenty of it. There is ample parking at the storefront, including two designated accessible spaces. You will not be circling the block before a class starts.

See Visit us for directions.

Yes. The nearest stop is on 89 Street and 51 Avenue, beside the complex and about a three minute walk from the door.

Most buses from there connect to Southgate Transit Centre, which sits on the Capital Line LRT, so downtown, the University of Alberta and the north of the city are one train and one bus away.

We do not print route numbers, because they change and a wrong number costs you an evening. Use the Edmonton Transit Service journey planner with our postcode, or phone (587) 873-9331 and we will help you plan it.

See Visit us.

Here is exactly what the space is like, without the reassuring gloss.

• Step-free entry. Unit 316 is in building 3, not on a third floor. The site is single storey, so there are no stairs and no lift.
• Parking is ample and includes two designated accessible spaces.
• The salon and store are wheelchair accessible.
• The washroom is not a wheelchair-accessible washroom. A wheelchair fits, but there is not enough clearance to turn around and there are no grab bars.

If you have an access requirement, call or text 368-299-4358 before you register and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it. More on Accessibility.

Safety and sanitation is the first module of Foundations, not an afterthought: tool hygiene, station discipline, and the scalp-safety standards that prevent tension damage.

We work to the Alberta Health Services standard for personal services, and we are inspected against it. The salon has been inspected twice in the past year, both routine. The training room runs to the same routine as the salon floor, because there is no reason for it to be looser.

In practice, between every client and every station:

• All surfaces wiped down with an approved disinfectant spray.
• Capes and towels are never reused. They go straight to the wash.
• Single-use items are discarded, not stretched to a second head.
• Reusable tools are washed and soaked in Barbicide.
• Floors swept several times a day and mopped daily.
• Staff wash their hands on leaving the salon and again on returning.

You are taught this routine as part of the program, not shown it once. Sanitation is the first technical module in Foundations, and your instructor checks that you can do it before you work on anything.

Scalp and hair health content on this site is educational and is not medical advice. If a client has a scalp condition, refer them to a physician.

No, children cannot be in the classroom during a session. It is a safety judgement rather than an unfriendly one: there are sharp tools, hot water and eight people concentrating in a room built for eight students and two instructors.

Adult visitors are welcome by prior arrangement, so tell us in advance rather than arriving with someone. If you need a support person because of a disability, they attend at no charge and you do not need to explain why.

Afternoon classes start at 3:30pm partly for this reason, so there is time to arrange childcare around a school day. The full rule is in Attendance and code of conduct.

You can move to a later cohort once. It is free if you tell us 14 days or more before the start date. Inside 14 days, or once the program has begun and no more than 30% of the hours have run, there is a $150 transfer fee.

After 30% of the contact hours we cannot defer you. Your deferred place is held for 12 months at the price you already paid, even if tuition has gone up.

You can also pass your place to somebody else, once and free, up to 7 days before the start. Full terms on Refunds, withdrawals and rescheduling.

What happens after you pay

• A confirmation email and a receipt, straight away, with the amount paid and your cohort start date.
• A welcome pack with your joining instructions, the address and parking, what a session looks like, and what to bring on day one.
• Two forms to sign: a health declaration, which includes any allergy or sensitivity you know of, and an enrolment waiver. Both come to you by email.
• Your kit, handed to you in the first session. Nothing to collect and nothing to buy beforehand.
• Joining instructions at least one week before the start, confirming the room, the time and anything that has changed.

If anything in that list has not reached you, phone (587) 873-9331. We would rather send it twice than have you turn up unsure.

Yes. A significant part of our audience already braids, often to a high standard, and is working out how to turn that into Canadian income. There is no immigration or residency requirement to take our programs, and the training is not a study-permit program.

Yes. Anyone legally permitted to be in Edmonton can enrol, including people here on a work permit. Our programs are part time, run in the evenings, and are not full-time study, so they do not require a study permit and they are not a route to one.

We are not a designated learning institution, and we will never present ourselves as one. If your immigration position depends on the kind of course you are taking, check with an immigration professional before you enrol rather than after.

Start by downloading the curriculum. It contains the full ten-week schedule, the tools list and the pricing. When you are ready to take a seat, go to Enrol or phone (587) 873-9331.

Explained in plain language in our Privacy Policy, including exactly what happens to the details you give us when you download the curriculum.