Make-Up and Hair Design

Make-up and hair design is a specialist craft discipline concerned with transforming appearance for the screen, stage and lens, using make-up, prosthetics, wigs, hair and special effects to create characters, periods and looks that serve the storytelling demands of film, television, photography and theatre. At its most straightforward it involves beauty and grooming; at its most complex it involves prosthetic ageing, creature design, period recreation and special effects work that is as much sculpture as cosmetics. The discipline sits within the broader ecology of screen and stage production, and practitioners who work in it need both technical skill and the ability to collaborate effectively with directors, designers and actors.

At Southampton Solent University, this three-year programme benefits from strong industry connections and excellent facilities, and from the opportunity to work alongside students of photography, television, film and special effects, as the university describes. This cross-disciplinary environment is an important feature: in professional productions, make-up and hair designers work closely with the crews of all those disciplines, and developing those collaborative relationships in an educational setting is directly relevant to how the industry works. A foundation year is available for those who need additional preparation before the main degree.

You will develop skills across make-up artistry, wig construction, prosthetics, special effects make-up, period and character design and the professional practice of working on set and in studio environments.

Professional make-up and hair design requires both technical mastery and artistic vision, an understanding of colour, skin tone, period and character, and the ability to work quickly and accurately under the pressure of production schedules.

Graduates go on to work in film, television, theatre, photography, fashion, music video and commercial production as make-up artists, hair designers, prosthetics artists and special effects make-up practitioners. Further specialist training or postgraduate study in prosthetics, effects or screen design is available for those seeking to deepen their expertise.