Making the Cut shows the topsy-turvy lives of the students and instructors inside a Southern California Beauty School. They are ambitious, motivated, and most of them spend as much time trying to survive the cut-throat competition as they do cutting hair. Enrolled in this school are future makeup artists, salon owners, hair stylists, manicurists, and estheticians who have everything riding on getting that ever elusive piece of paper. The students come from all walks of life, but all have in common a passion for the beauty industry.