This very nice lady came in yesterday to purchase some product. When I looked at her from a distance and from behind, her hair looked pink. I was soon to find out this was not intentional.
The scenario: Older woman, late 40's to mid 50's. Darker complexion (sort of olive-y), brown eyes, hair is on the coarse side of things, maybe to the tops of her shoulders. MAX. Recently divorced, had been looking for a less expensive hairdresser to take care of her hair. Thought she'd found what she was looking for.
What she wanted (and what had been previously discussed with her hairdresser): Coppery brown with some highlights. Put in a bit more highlights than what she'd been doing over the winter to brighten things up.
What she got: Heavily highlighted hair that was breaking off every time you touched it. And a seriously pink hue from lifting the brown copper out. She also had amazingly blonde color at the root area.
Product she was looking for: Something to put moisture back int her hair because it's so dry now.
Holy Mother of God....her hair was more than "Dry"...it was FRIED!! Her stylist was sooo freaking aggressive with her hair!! I felt so bad for this lady! I actually told her "If it were me, and I got this done to my hair, I would go back and explain to her that this isn't what was discussed previously, this isn't what I expected nor wanted, my hair is breaking off and I need you to do something about it, at no cost to me, since this isn't what I asked for in the first place."
The thing with being a hairdresser is that people TRUST us. They trust that we'll be professional and do what's right for our hair. They trust that we'll actually KNOW what we're doing and why we need to do it. NO ONE, EVER needs to destroy some one's hair!!
From the sounds of things, a consultation wasn't done. Why?? Who knows. Maybe the stylist thought about things, came up with a plan, and decided to go for it, thinking that the client wouldn't let her do what she wanted. Of course, what may very well happen is this client may never go back to this stylist ever again. Maybe she was feeling rushed?? Tough to say, really. Unfortunately, the end result isn't a great one.
I also suggested to the client that if the stylist started to approach her with hair color to fix it, to step away. Her hair is so compromised right now that coloring it will only make it worse, not better. The best thing she can do right now is lots of conditioning treatments, and let it grow. Cut, grow, cut, grow. And don't go back to that stylist again.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Corrective color that worked!
So, way back when, this client came in to get her regrowth to match her ends. She'd been coloring it at home with some sort of blonde hair color. Consequently, her ends were practically white, her older regrowth was orangey, and her natural color is about a level 6, although it was incorrectly guessed to be a 7. (more on this in a bit).
When she came in on Sunday afternoon, her ends were GREY, her roots were ORANGE, and neither was the color she requested, which was a beige blonde. And she was sold blue shampoo to combat the mistake that the stylist made.
I attempted, TWICE, to get her to at least an even color. Wasn't a very pretty color, but an even color, ashy in appearance, but warm tones, too, which she didn't like. However, this is what needs to be put up with in order to get where she wanted to go.
This color faded over time (as it will do and she was warned it would do). Her hair is long (to her shoulder blades) and fine in texture. When she was ready to come in for her next appointment (which we'd scheduled in advance) she had called & talked to Rita about getting a perm instead. Which, since Rita didn't ask questions or check on her color card to see what was going on, or left me a note regarding the conversation, or called me at home to find out whether or not she could do this, she told the client "Sure, she can do that". When I came in Sunday and Rita relayed this message, I almost wrapped my hands around her throat. Instead, I did inform her that the next time someone calls like that, to NOT promise them anything other than leaving the stylist in question a note, letting them know the client wants to talk perm. I explained her hair is FRIED and cannot be permed. EVER. (at least until that length is all cut off) And now, I get to explain to the lady that she can't have curly hair and why, breaking her heart in the process, because her heart is now set on getting a perm.
At any rate, I wound up coloring her hair again, still not getting where she wanted to go, because she just can't be as blonde as she wants right now. Even with the regrowth showing, I cannot do a thing with the ends other than darken them.
So, jump ahead 3 months later. She comes in and asks me if I can just darken her hair to the same color. Now that she's got a good 3 inches of regrowth, yes, I can! I was lucky enough to be able to use a brown/copper mixed with a neutral to match her ends to her regrowth. Seamless color! Happens once in every thousand....thank God it was my day to have one!!
When she came in on Sunday afternoon, her ends were GREY, her roots were ORANGE, and neither was the color she requested, which was a beige blonde. And she was sold blue shampoo to combat the mistake that the stylist made.
I attempted, TWICE, to get her to at least an even color. Wasn't a very pretty color, but an even color, ashy in appearance, but warm tones, too, which she didn't like. However, this is what needs to be put up with in order to get where she wanted to go.
This color faded over time (as it will do and she was warned it would do). Her hair is long (to her shoulder blades) and fine in texture. When she was ready to come in for her next appointment (which we'd scheduled in advance) she had called & talked to Rita about getting a perm instead. Which, since Rita didn't ask questions or check on her color card to see what was going on, or left me a note regarding the conversation, or called me at home to find out whether or not she could do this, she told the client "Sure, she can do that". When I came in Sunday and Rita relayed this message, I almost wrapped my hands around her throat. Instead, I did inform her that the next time someone calls like that, to NOT promise them anything other than leaving the stylist in question a note, letting them know the client wants to talk perm. I explained her hair is FRIED and cannot be permed. EVER. (at least until that length is all cut off) And now, I get to explain to the lady that she can't have curly hair and why, breaking her heart in the process, because her heart is now set on getting a perm.
At any rate, I wound up coloring her hair again, still not getting where she wanted to go, because she just can't be as blonde as she wants right now. Even with the regrowth showing, I cannot do a thing with the ends other than darken them.
So, jump ahead 3 months later. She comes in and asks me if I can just darken her hair to the same color. Now that she's got a good 3 inches of regrowth, yes, I can! I was lucky enough to be able to use a brown/copper mixed with a neutral to match her ends to her regrowth. Seamless color! Happens once in every thousand....thank God it was my day to have one!!
Corrective Color gone horribly awry...
So, this client came in a while back...maybe 3-4 months ago, and was with Tina. Back then, they had decided to take her to blonde. Now, this nice lady is a level 6. I'm sure she was doing her hair at home (although I'm not 100% positive, this is usually how it goes). Consequently, she's not quite as blonde as she wants to be. So, Tina attempts to take her to blonde. And gets her to chicken yellow (commonly referred to as level 9). And then puts a toner over it, to make it all better. Which it does not.
Here's the thing about lifting & toning that I don't seem to be able to get through Tina's head. In order for the toner to do the job you're asking it to do, the hair MUST be lifted to PALE BLONDE. Like the color of the INSIDE of the banana. Almost white. If there is any brighter yellow in the hair than that, the toner will NOT "take". If it does take, it doesn't last for very long. She also subscribes to the issue that if you wash your hair enough times with blue shampoo, that will fix everything. Not so much.
So, here we are, 3-4 months later, and we want something different. We settle on a chestnut brown color that was picked out of one of the haircut books. Should be a reasonably simple request?? Not really.
Ideally, what needs to be done is to fill the hair. Which is how Tina started out. She turned the previously blonde hair orange, which is step one. The next step, she used a brown/copper, which kept her hair red, but not a bad color. HOWEVER, once the hair was dry, you could see large areas where the color didn't "take" very well. And, just for "fun", Tina did apply the demi permanent color, each time, all over the client's head. Which made the regrowth (about 3 inches) darker, and a pretty color, but not the same color as the rest of the head.
Which is why the client came back yesterday to schedule an appointment with Tina to fix this nifty fact. Sigh. And, when I let Tina know the client would be coming back in, her reply was "I asked her if she was okay with it like that and she said she'd live with it a few days".
#1: I never heard this conversation occur. I had my bat hearing turned on throughout this procedure. Not a word about this. And I checked in with Tina during the process, to see if she needed anything....wouldn't ask for help. Now, I should have stuck my beak in this a bit further, and did not. Which was a mistake. She was on the right path, just decided to skip a step.
#2: When doing a corrective color, A) you can't promise exactly what they're asking for, as you don't know what the hair will do. B) Corrective color does not take an hour or two. It can take ALL DAY LONG.
What happened: Areas within the hair shaft didn't "take" according to plan. This wasn't caught when she was drying the hair (or we chose not to acknowledge it needed more work). What should have happened: More of the red color needed to be reapplied to the "bare" spots, then brown needed to be added to the formula to help tone down the red AND the regrowth needed to have additional color applied to attempt to match the ends, in permanent color. OR, if the red was a pleasing color, the regrowth should have been colored red, using a permanent formula instead of a demi permanent formula.
Since these things weren't done, Tina now has to devote MORE time to correcting this color. Free of charge to the client, of course. Which costs the company money.
Corrective color isn't easy. And it doesn't take one or two or even three applications of color to get it right. But, it does take patience, and the ability to ask for help when you need it.
Here's the thing about lifting & toning that I don't seem to be able to get through Tina's head. In order for the toner to do the job you're asking it to do, the hair MUST be lifted to PALE BLONDE. Like the color of the INSIDE of the banana. Almost white. If there is any brighter yellow in the hair than that, the toner will NOT "take". If it does take, it doesn't last for very long. She also subscribes to the issue that if you wash your hair enough times with blue shampoo, that will fix everything. Not so much.
So, here we are, 3-4 months later, and we want something different. We settle on a chestnut brown color that was picked out of one of the haircut books. Should be a reasonably simple request?? Not really.
Ideally, what needs to be done is to fill the hair. Which is how Tina started out. She turned the previously blonde hair orange, which is step one. The next step, she used a brown/copper, which kept her hair red, but not a bad color. HOWEVER, once the hair was dry, you could see large areas where the color didn't "take" very well. And, just for "fun", Tina did apply the demi permanent color, each time, all over the client's head. Which made the regrowth (about 3 inches) darker, and a pretty color, but not the same color as the rest of the head.
Which is why the client came back yesterday to schedule an appointment with Tina to fix this nifty fact. Sigh. And, when I let Tina know the client would be coming back in, her reply was "I asked her if she was okay with it like that and she said she'd live with it a few days".
#1: I never heard this conversation occur. I had my bat hearing turned on throughout this procedure. Not a word about this. And I checked in with Tina during the process, to see if she needed anything....wouldn't ask for help. Now, I should have stuck my beak in this a bit further, and did not. Which was a mistake. She was on the right path, just decided to skip a step.
#2: When doing a corrective color, A) you can't promise exactly what they're asking for, as you don't know what the hair will do. B) Corrective color does not take an hour or two. It can take ALL DAY LONG.
What happened: Areas within the hair shaft didn't "take" according to plan. This wasn't caught when she was drying the hair (or we chose not to acknowledge it needed more work). What should have happened: More of the red color needed to be reapplied to the "bare" spots, then brown needed to be added to the formula to help tone down the red AND the regrowth needed to have additional color applied to attempt to match the ends, in permanent color. OR, if the red was a pleasing color, the regrowth should have been colored red, using a permanent formula instead of a demi permanent formula.
Since these things weren't done, Tina now has to devote MORE time to correcting this color. Free of charge to the client, of course. Which costs the company money.
Corrective color isn't easy. And it doesn't take one or two or even three applications of color to get it right. But, it does take patience, and the ability to ask for help when you need it.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Updates, bulletins, whatever...
So, "Big Brother" at home office is micromanaging our schedules. They send them to me, already done (kind of like graph charts), I just have to plug my people into the spots. Sound pretty simple?? Not so much.
What happens in the salon: You try to come in to get your hair done. If we have something/someone available, we let you know, immediately. If we don't, we also let you know, immediately. Now, when I was scheduling everyone with no thought to home office's wants & needs, I had the staff on hand to take care of everyone. Now that I'm following the "optimized" schedule, I have a bare bones staff on hand. Which means you probably won't get in. For days on end.
I will freely admit I was over scheduled in places and didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what was going on. I tend to be a fairly busy stylist, so I "come up for air" after the fact, a LOT. However, having home office SLASH the schedule the way they have is counterproductive to the idea of MAKING MONEY FOR THE COMPANY.
This week, alone, we've lost over $1300 in business. Enough to have everyone on board, every day they can be scheduled, for a full days' work (meaning an 8 hour day apiece). When I spoke to my boss about it on Thursday, she was SHOCKED at how much money we've turned away.
What have I done to try to counteract this?? Well, I've asked the people I work with if they can come in, as an "on call" stylist if I need them (at the direction of my boss). And, what a surprise, no one bit at that. "I've got an appointment at 1:30, 2 hours away from here" was one answer. The other answer I got was "I'm sorry, but I've got tons of errands to run...but, you can try calling me". This answer was from the stylist who broke down into tears because her schedule for this week had been SLASHED to ribbons. When I asked the same stylist, last night, if she could come in early today (not scheduled until 1pm), her reply was "Sorry. We've got plan in the morning". SERIOUSLY?!?! You were whining & crying about the hours, now you don't want any??? WTF!?
So, we have a staff meeting tomorrow after work. I've got official stuff to go over, then we'll be talking about the schedules. I'm going to add hours to them without putting it on the schedule. My boss suggested the on call thing...I personally don't see the difference between having them "on call" and asking them to come in early on days they're scheduled 4 hours. None of this makes sense.
I'm presuming that home office is attempting to get things under control this year for when the health care bill that was passed a few years ago actually goes into effect next year. (you know, the one where employers HAVE to provide insurance to their workers??). I get what they're trying to do. I just don't like the way they're doing it. Had they said "Starting in 2013, all salon managers need to be between 36-40 hours a week. All other associates need to be at 30 hours or less" that would have been easier to swallow. For me, one would have lost 8 hours, one 5 hours, and one would have had no change to her schedule. This week, alone, I had 51 hours to split between 3 people. Guess what that meant?? 17 hour, MAXIMUM, between 3 people. Hence, the tears from one stylist, and another stylist giving her some of their hours to help her out.
I can feel a new grey hair popping through, as we speak....sigh...
What happens in the salon: You try to come in to get your hair done. If we have something/someone available, we let you know, immediately. If we don't, we also let you know, immediately. Now, when I was scheduling everyone with no thought to home office's wants & needs, I had the staff on hand to take care of everyone. Now that I'm following the "optimized" schedule, I have a bare bones staff on hand. Which means you probably won't get in. For days on end.
I will freely admit I was over scheduled in places and didn't pay a whole lot of attention to what was going on. I tend to be a fairly busy stylist, so I "come up for air" after the fact, a LOT. However, having home office SLASH the schedule the way they have is counterproductive to the idea of MAKING MONEY FOR THE COMPANY.
This week, alone, we've lost over $1300 in business. Enough to have everyone on board, every day they can be scheduled, for a full days' work (meaning an 8 hour day apiece). When I spoke to my boss about it on Thursday, she was SHOCKED at how much money we've turned away.
What have I done to try to counteract this?? Well, I've asked the people I work with if they can come in, as an "on call" stylist if I need them (at the direction of my boss). And, what a surprise, no one bit at that. "I've got an appointment at 1:30, 2 hours away from here" was one answer. The other answer I got was "I'm sorry, but I've got tons of errands to run...but, you can try calling me". This answer was from the stylist who broke down into tears because her schedule for this week had been SLASHED to ribbons. When I asked the same stylist, last night, if she could come in early today (not scheduled until 1pm), her reply was "Sorry. We've got plan in the morning". SERIOUSLY?!?! You were whining & crying about the hours, now you don't want any??? WTF!?
So, we have a staff meeting tomorrow after work. I've got official stuff to go over, then we'll be talking about the schedules. I'm going to add hours to them without putting it on the schedule. My boss suggested the on call thing...I personally don't see the difference between having them "on call" and asking them to come in early on days they're scheduled 4 hours. None of this makes sense.
I'm presuming that home office is attempting to get things under control this year for when the health care bill that was passed a few years ago actually goes into effect next year. (you know, the one where employers HAVE to provide insurance to their workers??). I get what they're trying to do. I just don't like the way they're doing it. Had they said "Starting in 2013, all salon managers need to be between 36-40 hours a week. All other associates need to be at 30 hours or less" that would have been easier to swallow. For me, one would have lost 8 hours, one 5 hours, and one would have had no change to her schedule. This week, alone, I had 51 hours to split between 3 people. Guess what that meant?? 17 hour, MAXIMUM, between 3 people. Hence, the tears from one stylist, and another stylist giving her some of their hours to help her out.
I can feel a new grey hair popping through, as we speak....sigh...
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