In my years around hair salons (I worked in my parents from 14 years old) I have learned one important thing. There are rarely bad haircuts, just bad consultations. The problem is that most stylists spend time learning new cutting techniques, but little time focusing on the most important thing…how to talk to clients. Learning new techniques is VERY important, yet still second on the list.
First on the list, Consultations!!! Let’s face it, I don’t care what great new short style you learned at the weekend class and I know how excited you are to show all of your clients how great you are. So what’s going to happen when your new client comes in with hair down to her shoulders and tells you she wants a big change but she doesn’t want to go too short? You, in your infinite wisdom think “BINGO, the perfect time to show off my new technique.” So off you go, cutting her hair into the greatest short style you’ve ever done. Man is she going to love this! WRONG, she said she didn’t want to go short. You thought that in comparison to a lot of your haircuts this is long, but she didn’t. She thinks “short” means above her shoulders. So who’s at fault? Yours! If you had asked the correct questions you would have known what she considered to be short and none of this would have happened. So what are the correct questions? Well there are different questions for everyone, but here are some that I ask every client and I have found to be a great foundation.
1. How did you hear about me, or the salon? You always need to know who to thank for this new client. You also might be able to use this client as a reference for this haircut.
2. How do you style your hair (step by step)? Many times I have had clients that say “I don’t want to spend a lot of time on my hair”, and then tell me how they go through 35 steps to get it styled! In my opinion that’s a lot of work. Either way you need to know what they do to their hair so you can figure out a style that makes sense for them as well as looks great!
3. How do you like the length of your hair right now? Do you think it is good, too long, not long enough? You never know, sometimes people want a “big change” but they don’t want to lose any length. If the answer is “it’s too long”, then you need to find out how short they are thinking. And what is “too short”.
4. What is the shortest that you would be comfortable with? You might not be thinking about cutting their hair as short as they say they would be comfortable with but you need to find out your boundaries.
5. Is there anything you have had in the past that you either hated? Or loved? This can also help you narrow down your options.
Finally, the last thing you need to do is to explain, in plain English, what you are going to do. Now, do what you said, not what you want. It is fine to recommend to a client what you think would work best based on their answers to your questions, but sometimes we have to compromise. Clients have to wear their hair every day, we only have to deal with it for 30-45 minutes. That means that they need to love it first, we need to love it second. Let’s assume that some of you reading this are not stylists, but clients. You can use those same questions with your stylist. Answering those questions for the stylist means that if they aren’t doing their job, at least you’re not going to have to suffer in the end.
My final note is this: The most important part of getting a great haircut is the consultation. As a stylist you need to ask questions, as a client you need to make sure that your stylist is asking them.
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