Stylist Darby with Charlotte
In Part 1 we laid out why we feel the consultation is an integral part of a hair service appointment. Then in Part 2 we offered some tips on how you, as the client, can maximize the success of your consultation.
Now in the third part of our article, we give you 3 more tips. These are basic, juicy ones, so read on!
Bring Images
We love when clients bring in images! A lot of you do this, so keep it up. A picture of what you want is a great place to start a consultation. Images are a common language, so even if you don’t yet share a common tongue, images will help you and your stylist learn to.
Hint!
Ask “How could we make this work for me?” It gives your stylist the opening they need to pipe in. As we mentioned in Part 2, stylists are accommodating people and they might give you exactly what they see in an image because they think that it’s what you want—even if it they can tell it won’t work for you.
Recently Emmanuel had a new client, a younger woman with beautiful black hair. She wanted to look just like the starlet in an image she brought in. The problem? The starlet had very blonde hair. For Emmanuel to get the client’s hair to go that blonde would have required hours in the chair and a ton of processing. The health of the hair would have been ruined in the process.
Fortunately they were both engaged in the consultation, and comfortable speaking frankly. She asked Emmanuel what he thought. He laid out what it would take for her to get that blonde hair. He also expressed his opinion that her black hair was quite nice as it was. The young client opted to skip the blonde, but get the style. Afterwards, she was very glad she did. The look fit her.
Want your stylist to succeed
This might sound funny, but some clients come in with a pessimistic outlook. They set their stylist up to fail in the hopes that he or she won't. Sounds paradoxical? Yes, it does. Maybes it's because many clients have been burned by past stylists? We're not sure. But some clients come in wanting the stylist to REALLY prove themselves.
And, hey, it's great if they do. They're golden from then on.
But, well, it's just not necessary. Work with your stylist. Want them to succeed, help them succeed. You're just that much more likely to come out with the hairstyle you wanted.
Trust your gut
This is probably the best piece of advice we can give you. if you don’t feel comfortable that your stylist has understood you, speak up. If you can’t, or you don’t feel like they are getting you, leave!
It can take weeks and weeks for hair to grow enough to recoup from an unsatisfactory hair style. Better to go another day with your current look, than to risk one you won’t like.
If you give the consultation the time it deserves, you really minimize your chances of this happening, though.
Actually, lets put this another way: if you make sure that you communicated during the consultation, you will get the haircut you want.
Remember that communication is a two way process. You and your stylist both participate in order for the stylist to properly conceptualize what you are looking for. This could take a minute, or ten. Just make sure that it has happened, before you let your stylist snip a strand of hair!
Hopefully this article has helped clarify some pitfalls to avoid and some tips to try out. We'll soon write an article about the consultation from the stylist end of things.
If you’ve had a haircut that was a success because of the consultation, or an example of how communication failed, let us know in the comments below. We'd really like to hear about your experiences!
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