About John Amico School
A beauty school built around craft, confidence, and salon readiness.
John Amico School of Hair Design combines the school's Oak Forest training environment with the beauty-business experience behind the John Amico name.
Mission Statement
Preparing quality cosmetologists for the present and future demands of beauty.
The John Amico School of Hair Design has endeavored to produce quality cosmetologists who can meet the present and future demands of the beauty industry.
The school is student-focused and committed to providing each student the knowledge, training, and confidence needed to succeed in the cosmetology profession.
Throughout the training programs, emphasis is placed upon essential salon services and techniques, business strategies such as customer service, client retention, salon retailing, target marketing, and people skills.
John Amico School of Hair Design prepares students for the state licensure exam and focuses on transforming lives through quality education, equipping future salon professionals with tools they can use in their communities.
What Shapes the School
Education with technical skill, business habits, and student confidence.
Salon service technique
Hair, skin, nails, consultation, and professional presentation are taught as part of a supervised student journey.
Business awareness
The school story emphasizes customer service, client retention, salon retailing, target marketing, and people skills.
Creative practice
Students are encouraged to connect fashion, line, design, and practical technique with the client experience.
Community success
The school frames education as a way to help future salon professionals build success in their communities.
Founder
John Amico Sr.
With a mother who was an artist and a father who was an architect, John Amico Sr. was drawn to creative work early. After attending Notre Dame to pursue architecture, he switched to beauty school and began building his career from the ground up.
His determination came after early setbacks. After being let go from his first two salon positions, he started over as a shampoo assistant and quickly developed as a hairstylist. Within a year, a client offered him the chance to lease an empty barbershop next to his business, and John opened his first salon.
He spent years training, traveling, and competing as a platform hair artist. His specialties included competitive hair design and creative hair color with European influences after studying in London, Brighton, Paris, and Amsterdam with world champion hairstylists.
When asked what led to his initial success, he has pointed to vision and persistence. He has described entrepreneurship as the ability to see what others cannot see and to keep moving even when people around you doubt the dream.
A founder’s honor
The Enduring Legacy Award
John Amico received the Enduring Legacy Award from The Cosmetology Career Building Experts for a lifelong commitment to the cosmetology industry.
John Amico, Enduring Legacy Award from The Cosmetology Career Building Experts, September 13, 2026
President
John Amico Jr.
If you were a roommate of John Amico Jr. during his college days, you could get a beer and a haircut for $5 on Friday afternoons in his dormitory. He had already decided to make a career in the hair industry at an early age after growing up in the business with his father, John Amico Sr.
As a child, John Jr. worked in his father's salons selling Christmas ornaments, sweeping hair, stocking retail shelves, and helping with a variety of odd jobs. While in high school, he attended cosmetology school.
He later studied Marketing at Bradley College in Peoria, Illinois. Being active in the family business early gave him a head start: by college, he understood how business knowledge would apply to the industry he intended to join.
At Bradley, he received the Marketing Student of the Year Award, which came with a scholarship from Procter & Gamble. He later earned an MBA in Finance from DePaul University.
Awards & recognition
Recognized across Chicago’s Southland.
Voted Best of Chicago’s Southland by Daily Southtown readers, 13 years in a row (2014 to 2026).
Explore More
Meet the school, team, and history behind the JA experience.
Meet JA
Read about the school experience, salon-style learning, programs, competitions, and beauty-business exposure.
JA Team
Meet the educators, advisors, salon professionals, and industry contributors connected to the school story.
Awards
View recognition and historical award materials connected to the John Amico School and brand history.
Admissions
Ready to see the Oak Forest campus?
Talk with admissions about current programs, schedules, financial-aid steps, and what the student experience looks like at John Amico School.