“The customer is always right” is definitely not the case at all times. In contrast “These hairstylists are crazy “ is also not the case at all times either. We'll be addressing some common issues between clients and their stylists for this 3 part trilogy. You can also catch more visusl episodes on our playlist.
Unprofessionalism
First let's take a walk down memory lane. Before the “Salon suite” revolution, there was an abundance of 10-30 station salons. When I graduated from hair school over 20 years ago, YouTube did not exist. Google wasn't prevalent. We learned professionalism, styles, customer service and work ethic skills in the salons we chose. Hair magazines dominated style trends. So how we pay for ads on social media now, we in contrast paid to have our pictures featured in hair magazines.
Handling rude clients
If we were rude to a client, the owner or veteran stylists checked us. If the client was rude to us, the whole squad would have your back as well. If we were messing up a style, another stylist was there to help us and we had no issue asking for help. If we didn't have clients, we'd watch the OG stylists service their clients and it helped us get better.
Youtube stylists
Now, many new stylists step out of hair school straight into a salon suite. You can literally learn any style on YouTube or social media. So many cosmetologists of the later millenial and generation Z demographic already know how to fully style hair before entering the field.
So, “learning in the field “ has almost become obsolete.
Freedom of having a suite
The autonomy of having a suite is freeing yet it can be equally overwhelming. I've seen so many stylists have full time jobs pay the rent at these salon suites. There is a different hustle driving the ones whose income solely is dependent upon entrepreneurship.
You're more patient
You have more experience dealing with crazy clients
You know that bad reviews could ruin your business so you go the extra mile not to offend lunatics.
If you go straight into “I'm a boss” mode after hair school, you miss important steps. We didn't need mentors 20 years ago because we came to work daily with 10 of them in shared spaces.
If you're rent payment for a suite is solely dependent upon
●Your work ethics
●Your behavior
●Your lack drug or substance addictions
●Keeping a home balance while simultaneously running a business
●Your relationship with co-tenants
●Your ability to retain clients
●Your ability to understand how to set policies that won't scare clients off
●Your abilities to set boundaries
…as opposed to “My rent is gonna get paid through my full time w2 wage earning job”, you don't look at this hustle in the same way.
Not to say that there aren't people who do this full time and have trifling business ways. I'm saying that if you have these ways and no safety net, you will hustle quicker to fix your attitude. Why? Because it's either that or you get evicted and can't eat.
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Dawn Michelle Williams is a licensed cosmetologist for the state of Maryland since the year 2000. If you need a hairstylist as a consultant because you don't have a regular stylists you may want to try our "Virtual hairstylist " plan. Visit us online at
Notes from the author:
I have a "Tales from a hairdresser " YouTube exclusive podcast series https://tinyurl.com/TalesFromAhairdresser
These blog articles dedicated to this subject drop every Thursday at 9am EST.
During our "on" seasons for "Research Shows
….." podcast I have a segment dedicated to" Tales from a hairdresser ". Episodes air weekly Tuesdays at 3pm EST on most streaming platforms
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