You’re great at fixing hair. You find everything about
styling hair endlessly interesting. Not everyone’s like that. Some people
who sit in your chair want to look good but have neither a knack nor the patience for numerous, complicated finishing steps. You can load up these clients with products and tools all you want; they’ll never believe that learning a long procedure is worth the time and effort. They may not tell you that, but they probably won’t be back, either.
Recently my friend Linda, who normally wears only lipstick, agreed to a personal consultation and lesson from a department store make-up technician. She intended to purchase the products afterward; her only caveat, Linda informed the technician, was that her daily make-up routine require no more than five minutes. Foundation, blush, a little eye shadow, mascara and lip color—couldn’t that work into her time constraints? After doing a color analysis, the technician selected a complex set of products and began showing Linda how to apply them. “She had me mixing colors!” Linda told me in disbelief. “Well, I’m
never going to do that. So I’m still not wearing make-up.”
Before you
design the hair cut, ask your client how long she likes to spend at the morning mirror and how comfortable she is with a brush and blow-dryer or curling iron. You’ll gain her trust if you respect her decision about how she allots her 24 hours and create a look that is as high- or low-maintenance as she is.