You hold a
cosmetology license, you go for
continuing hair education and, unlike your clients, you’re in the business of beauty. So what
happens when clients dictate to you, the salon professional, which style they want, and their choice doesn’t match the look that you believe will flatter them most? A good example is the client who continues to ask for an outdated hair style. It may have looked good on her when it was all the rage and, in some cases, when she was much younger. But today it looks like yesterday’s cold coffee. What do you do?
This age-old dilemma divides stylists into two camps. Just the other day a hairstylist told me that the secret to her bulging book is that she “really listens” to what the client wants and doesn’t force her own taste on the client. On the opposite side of the argument are hairstylists who plow ahead in their aim to make their clients look good, even against clients’ wishes. This strategy aims to garner the client a ton of compliments among family and friends, which in turn develops their trust in the stylist’s subsequent suggestions.
Some hairstylists specifically choose to work in a trendy salon that attracts a fashion-forward clientele so that, more often than not, client and stylist agree on how to
cut and style the client’s hair. But if that doesn’t describe your situation, how do you handle clients who want something that you think is, for whatever reason, wrong for them?