And now we are three...

So, Stephie gave her notice last week...Thursday, in fact.  This past Sunday was her last day.  I don't have a problem with her having left, except that she just should have told the truth.  She gave me some song and dance routine about how this job opportunity just "fell in her lap".  Of course it did.  In this economy, hairdressing jobs, especially for someone without a  genuine client base, do NOT just "fall into your lap".  Sigh.  Whatever.  I do wish her the best of luck.  She is a talented hairdresser.  And in the right environment, she can really shine.  Smartstyles just wasn't the place for her....it's not the place for anyone fresh out of school, really....

So, with that in mind, we had an emergency staff meeting on Monday, just to go over the basics, really.  Because we're down to three, there is no room for error.  No one can get sick, no one can be late.  There is no one to cover.  I outlined, yet again, the company policies that not everyone follows.  I also stated that the only way you get to leave early is if you're either scheduled that way (say only til 3:30 instead of 5pm) OR if it's Saturday, dead, and you're not the closing person.  And don't you know, Rita honed right in on that one.  She's been whining about how the hours got cut, she now has more hours, and wants to know when she can leave early.  Unreal.  Not unexpected, just unreal.

I've got another application in the drawer...one I'd actually hire.  Except right now, we don't have the payroll to hire someone else.  We need to focus on everyone getting on commission and staying on commission, for a month or more, to even entertain the idea of hiring another person.  Of course, if any of us get "letters" again, and any of them state that someone is all done, then I have to hire someone else.  Thank goodness I've got someone in the "hopper"!!

I had one of my newer clients the other day....she had been going to the chi-chi salon over in Keene, getting her hair done by the same guy for years.  She had gone to him about a month or so  ago, asking him to take her darker, as she couldn't afford to maintain the blonde any longer.  He had originally colored her regrowth her natural shade (just warmer, since she's ashy) and left it at that. ( My client thought maybe he was on something that day).  When he was done, she looked like she hadn't had her color done in MONTHS....very dark regrowth, very light ends.  She went back the next night and told him he was fixing it....she was ANGRY, as she had a right to be!!  What he wound up doing (because approximately 2 weeks later, it was obvious) was putting permanent color over the top of the old highlights, then re-highlighting a couple of spots to brighten it up.

You know what happened 2 weeks later when she started asking me questions about it??  The darker color faded away (as I knew it would), leaving some very ashy sections behind (as I also knew it would) which is what told me he'd put permanent color over the top of the highlights. 

When she was in the other day getting her hair trimmed up, she asked me what I would do to get her where she wanted to go.  I explained it this way "I'd use permanent color on your regrowth to match what was already done, then I'd go through your ends with a matching demi permanent color, leaving out select pieces of your lighter hair to use as highlights, giving those pieces a nice deep conditioning in foils to isolate the hair and keep it in the best condition possible.  You'd have the darker hair you're looking for, and natural looking highlights to break it up so it doesn't look so shockingly dark until you adjust to it.  We may have to do your color this way for a few visits until the darker color stays on your fragile ends, continuing to to trim up your hair every other visit to help your hair to better condition, because the only cure for these fragile ends is to cut them off...product to smooth them is only a band-aid, not a cure."

She LOVED what I had to say!!  She promised she'd be back (the hair cut was her third visit....first was wax, second was her son's hair cut, third, hers)..I can't wait to do her color!!