The things I see...

I was just on Facebook, reading "memes", and one of them said something about remembering the last haircut you did on the person in your chair.  Which, unless they come to you REGULARLY, it's difficult to remember what you did.  My memory is pretty good---I can pull up all kinds of weird stuff from my memory banks.  Except people's names when they're new and particularly when I don't see them very often.  If something memorable happens during the appointment (say, a hilarious or serious conversation, head lice, a bump on their head, unusual hair line) I don't always remember people.  It gets me into trouble sometimes because I'm honest enough to say that I don't remember and it hurts people's feelings.  I see probably 200 people a month, between clients sitting in my chair, customers purchasing product or asking questions, not to mention when I spend time with my friends!  So, it's hard to remember people, but I try.

Something that happened the other day also popped into my head.  Pauline & Warren are a cute little retired couple.  (Pauline actually trained me for my very first job, a million years ago, when I was in high school)  To save money, Pauline & Warren cut each other's hair.  Which makes it hard to cut Warren's hair, because he's used to how Pauline does it, and expects the trained professional to cut like the untrained housewife.

Pauline was in the other day to get a perm.  On the surface, her hair looked fine.  I could see where there was some "creativity" on the top, near her bangs, but otherwise looked okay.  Until I washed her hair and started sectioning it for her perm.  Which required me to do some seriously creative wrapping of her hair to get all the hair in the rods.  While it's tempting to make a note to cut her hair first next time, I don't believe I will....I'll wind up cutting too much hair off and won't be able to give her the soft perm she's looking for.  Pauline's comment to me regarding cutting her hair : "I almost don't want you to cut my hair...It's just starting to turn under nicely" (this was before I started wrapping her hair).  "Well, I'll take a look at it as I'm wrapping and see what needs to be done"  OH BOY.

So, when I got done with the perm part, I started sectioning her hair.  Once the hair was curled, you could definitely see where the bulk was in the hair cut.  YIKES.  She commented again about not losing any length, and my reply was "Well, I see a lot of uneven sections in your hair, so I'm just going to even everything up".  Thankfully, I haven't run into a home haircut yet that I can't fix, but, DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN!  STOP CUTTING EACH OTHER'S HAIR!

She did comment on the fact that her arthritis has gotten bad enough that she can't hang onto the hair any longer and would be coming in to see me more regularly for her hair cuts, Warren, too.  We'll see if she shows up in 6 weeks to get it trimmed.  Stay tuned!

What my days are like...

I was just on a professional site on Facebook, where they asked the stylist if they were to write a letter to their client, what would it say.  All were quite funny, yet sadly true at the same time.  And it got me to thinking:  What would I say to my clients??  Not so much my regular clients, who are fabulous people, but to the ones that hop from salon to salon, for what ever reason.  So, here we go:

Dear client:

1)  When I ask you to hold/manipulate your child's head, please do exactly that.  Hold their head FIRMLY and move it/hold it where I need it to be so I can cut their hair quickly & efficiently.

2) If your child is crying and pitching a fit, this is NOT a good time to cut their hair.

3) When you tell me you're not fussy about your haircut, don't be.

4) Please don't ask me to recommend shampoo, conditioner, styling products or hair color from the drugstore or department store.  I do not use those products myself and have no idea what any of them are.

5) Whether you book an appointment or sign up when you walk in the door:  when we give you a time, please be on time.  If you walk away after we tell you "5-10 minutes" it's going to suck to be you if you don't come right back.

6)  When you ask how much for a corrective color, don't be all shocked when we tell you the price.  it's a CORRECTIVE COLOR.  These things take time and patience.

7) When we quote you a price, that's the price.  It's not negotiable.  Do you haggle with your dentist, doctor, mechanic??  Didn't think so.  Keep haggling and the price goes UP.

8) Please don't ask me what a good tip is or if you tipped enough.  If you ask me these questions, I will tell you a good tip is $50, and, no, you didn't tip enough.  Google it if you want to know what a good tip is.

9)  When you color your hair at home, and have severly damaged hair because you followed the directions on the box, please don't expect miracles when you sit in my chair.  The easiet, least expensive way to fix all that damage is to CUT IT OFF.  If you would just sit in my chair for your haircolor in the first place, we wouldn't have this problem.

I know this sounds like I'm an ungrateful twit.  I'm really not.  I enjoy each and every one of my clients.  Without them, I wouldn't have a paycheck!  These are just the things I (and other hair care professionals) hear ALL THE TIME.  I hope you see the humor as well as the lesson in these.

The things I see...

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.

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!!

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.

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...

Crazy busy and other stuff...

We've been absolutely crazy busy lately!  And, what's funny, is that home office doesn't necessarily want that...let me explain:

Home office likes the numbers we're pulling.  What they don't like (much like other large employers) is to have to pay a few people large paychecks.  What they want to do is pay many people small paychecks.  I get where they're going:  They don't have to pay benefits because they're paying someone for so few hours.  And with those few hours, as long as it's busy, you, the hairdresser in question, are guaranteed to make commission.  But, they don't want anybody other than the salon managers working full time.  And I've got problems with that.

We truly do need another hairdresser.  This person needs to be part time and FLEXIBLE.  What does this "flexible" mean??  It means you go where I'm told to put you and you work the hours I'm given to give you to work.  It does NOT mean I'm going to bend & flex for you.

So, that's part of what's on my plate, for now.  Some other fun things:  Tina has been misinformed as to how to prepare hair for perms.  I've only just caught onto this.  When you are preparing someone's hair for a perm, it is important that the hair be clean and conditioner free.  Why??  So the chemical can get into the hair shaft (this is highly over simplified) to do it's job.  Conditioner's job is to coat the hair shaft to make it smoother and more manageable.  Period.  This magical coating impedes the success of a perm.  Tina did not know this.  When I stopped her from applying the conditioner her response was "I always do it this way"  and it was really hard not to say "and that's why your perms come back to get fixed."  Instead, I replied "Use this product instead."  (a spray in reconstructor meant to even out the porosity of the hair to ensure the chemical can do it's job)  To which she started to apply this (by spraying) while the client's head was in the sink.  "uh, Tina, you'll have an easier time using that when she's sitting up"  REALLY!?!?

Tiffany is still under the impression that appointments come first.  This causes major problems.  She's also under the impression that if someone signs up for a haircut that you have to wait forever for them to come back.  Both of these are not true in our world.  In hair world in general, yes.  In a walk-in based salon, not so much.  And it's why she struggles with commission.  "Oh, I'm sorry.  I can't take you.  So & so is coming back".  And that person walks away, unhappy that they couldn't get in.  I catch her, all the time, telling people this.  And I'm quick to step in and correct the situation.  If the person who signs up gets told what time to come back, and they aren't back, TAKE THE DAMN HAIRCUT THAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.  Why is this so stinking difficult to understand??

Joan does the same thing.  Which is something I need to talk to them about, AGAIN.  We are a walk-in salon.  PERIOD.  We take appointments as a courtesy.  All the appointment guarantees is that you get the person you're requesting, if you're requesting a certain stylist.  Otherwise, first come, first serve.  If someone signs up and walks away after given a time they can be taken, AND they don't come back at the appointed time, it's onto the next person.  Do we piss people off with this??  Sure we do.  However, it's the business model we have to work by.   If you don't want to miss your time with the person you want, show up EARLY for you allotted time, or, better yet, if you're a walk-in, don't walk away. 

We also have an appointment book on site.  Do we book appointments??  You betcha.  It also serves as a great tool to see when and where we can fit people into, as long as everyone keeps both the sign in sheet and the book up to date.  It makes everything flow much more smoothly, for everyone.

What I'm currently not agreeing with:  We have these sheets of critiquing that I'm supposed to fill out.  I don't happen to agree with them.  At all.  They have to do with the customer experience, but I don't feel they focus on what's important.  I could be wrong.  It could be just me and the way I'm looking at it.  I feel it doesn't cover enough.  It asks for you to call the customer by name, repeatedly (which I'm fine with), to recommend products for the guest (again, okay with), goes through the entire "thing" you're supposed to be doing with your guest.  What I don't like about this whole thing is it's a "score card".  When I'm watching you doing these things, I get to grade you.  (as if I have time to do these stupid things in the first place, company program or not)  Oh, and they want what we say to people to be ridiculously scripted.  Which doesn't sound genuine to me.  It sounds fake, phony, whatever adjective you want to put on it.  And I hate that.

We've also got an ongoing contest.  Stylist of the Month.  The criteria is "simple" :  Highest service dollars per hour for the month, Highest combo tickets per month, most requested clients per month.  The requested clients per month I added in at the beginning of the year.  Otherwise, Tina would win it every month.  What's the prize??  Your portion of my bonus check.  Which can get up to $100 extra in your hot little hand.  I'm not supposed to do this.  I'm doing it anyway.  The two "youngest" stylists, Tiffany & Joan, don't like the "most requested clients" part.  And the reason why is ME.  I have the most consistent client base of anyone in the salon.  And that makes it hard for them to beat me.  Tiffany whines about it in general, but in a different way than Joan does.  Joan feels it will take her YEARS to catch up to me (I have about 85 regular clients a month), which it will not, unless you always have that negative Nelly attitude.   Tiffany (and Joan, to a lesser degree) wants everything handed to her on a silver platter.  The clients I have are because I work HARD to get them and HARD to keep them.  I work to be consistent, to listen to what they want and figure out what they can have within the limits of what their hair will do.

Something else Tiffany complains about (and thinks I don't know what she's doing) is that I'm "stealing" her clients.  I'm not.  A lot of them came to me before she started working there.  They've gone to her, and they've come back to me.  One of them was in yesterday.  Jeramie has been my client for almost 2 years now.  He will see any of the girls in the salon to get his "high & tight", but he prefers me to cut his hair, when I'm available.  Tiffany was under the impression that he was "her" client, and she gets "snippy" about him sitting in my chair.  Again, let's examine why:  I'm consistent.  Do I goof up??  Sure.  I'm not perfect.  But I try hard to remember people and what they're asking for.  Especially if I see them on a fairly regular basis.  Pretty simple.

HAPPY SPRING!!