APPROPRIATE AND INAPPROPRIATE HAIRDRESSER BEHAVIOUR

Whether you call it appropriate hairdresser behaviours, workplace etiquette, or salon ethics, there are certain codes of conduct that all hairdressers must follow, if they are to turn their first timers into repeat customers, and their repeat customers into their greatest fans.

On the flip side, there are certain behaviours a hairstylist must never engage in.

The purpose of this article is to highlight the appropriate and inappropriate hairdresser behaviours, so you know how to act in your salon/on your job.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Appropriate behaviours

Time consciousness: You have to ensure that you are always available to receive clients and not the other way around, especially if you have a policy for clients to be punctual for their appointments. This is if you have a brick-and-mortar salon. If you are mobile and travel to clients, you have to ensure that you allocate enough time to be there. Take traffic into account. It is always good to be respectful of your customers’ time.

Preparedness: It is important that you are prepared for the client before they arrive. This means having all the right equipment/products to do the job within reach.

No cell phones, please: It is blatantly unprofessional for you to keep checking your phone and answering private calls when you are performing a hairdressing service. The best thing to do is leave your phone on silent if you are expecting important calls, and to ask for your client’s permission to pick that call once it does come in. And you want to ensure that these kinds of phone calls are at a minimum. If you can help it, put off your phone or keep it out of sight while you work.

Be neatly and professionally dressed: If you have a brick-and-mortar salon, you probably have a dress code already. If you are mobile, you may not have such rules. Whatever the case, it is important to dress appropriately around clients. Be clean. Be neat. Be well manicured.

Understand what your client wants: You don’t want your client leaving disappointed or unsatisfied. This is why it is important that you understand the client’s vision before you begin. Reconfirm and then reconfirm again. Some hairstylists actually show clients examples of what they asked for, to ensure they are on the right track. This is a tactic you can emulate.

Be courteous and professional: Courtesy and professionalism never hurt anyone. This means that you do your best to avoid talking about volatile topics such as politics and religion. It is also important that you watch your language so that you don’t offend your client. I find it helpful to focus on the client’s hobbies and interests instead of yours.

Efficiency is key: Don’t waste time. Don’t spend five hours on a style that should have taken three. Be the absolute best at what you do, but be fast at it.

Good communication skills: This is perhaps one of the best qualities a hairdresser can have. As hairdressers, we tend to witness the most important milestones in our client’s lives; schools, relationships, children, pregnancies. Most hairdressers actually know more about their repeat customer’s lives than their family members do. This is why you must be a good communicator. While it is not always easy to know how to spark up a conversation or keep your client’s interest, there are several communication techniques that are fail proof. They are:

i. Be interested: Ask your clients about themselves if they are first timers. Ask about their day, their work, and their family. This is not the time to talk about yourself. However, feel free to answer if a client does ask you a personal question.

ii. Be positive: Always keep the conversation light and on the positive side, no matter the subject of conversation, and no matter the disposition of the client. Refuse to be dragged into a depressive conversation. You want to empathise with what your client is going through, but you also want to uplift their spirit and not make them more depressed.

iii. Let them take the lead: Pay careful attention to what your clients say, and their body language as they talk. Also, let your client take the lead in the conversation. Don’t push any personal agenda or topic.

iv. Give silence as required: Some clients don’t want to be chitty chatty and it is your job to respect this. For example, some clients will have a book in hand that they want to read, and some will give short answers to any questions you ask, preferring to scroll through their mobile phone instead. Learn to read these signals and then give such clients silence as is required.

Inappropriate behaviours

Not listening to the client: Your client should never ever say, “this is not what I wanted” at the end of a hairdressing session. Whether you are colouring or cutting or braiding, it is important that you listen to your client, even if you think their idea is not the best. You can gently convince them to change their initial vision if you think it is not the best for them, but you want to make sure they are on board before you go ahead to make that hairstyle.

Over cutting/trimming: A trim should never mean anything more than a trim. Don’t cut four inches more than the client wants. This means that you listen, listen, listen. If you are in doubt about how much hair the client wants trimmed, show them pictures beforehand, and be on the same page.

Over socialising instead of working: Socialising should not take precedence over work. We are not saying you should wait on your clients hand and foot, but you shouldn’t abandon them with hair colour still in their hair while you go talk to the other hairstylist.

Your phone is attached to your hand: No client wants your phone to be more important to you than them when they are in your chair. Pay attention to your client and ditch that phone. When they are in your chair, they are your priority.

Being overly political or religious: Don’t forget that we are all entitled to our religious and political opinions, and that your client has different opinions than yours doesn’t mean that you should try to force your opinion down their throats. Don’t begin political or religious conversations, and if conversations begin to sway this way, be diplomatic to steer it towards more stable ground.

Being unprofessional: Your client expects you to be professional in the way that you speak and dress. Make sure that you truly are professional. Don’t be roughly dressed and don’t use bad language. You want to pay special attention to personal hygiene since you will be in close proximity to your client.

In conclusion

The appropriate and inapposite behaviours examined in this article is by no means the exhaustive list. They are simply basic rules for you to get started on. As you gain more experience in the hairdressing world, you will discover more and more appropriate and inappropriate hairdressing etiquettes.

And if you don’t mind sharing, what appropriate and inappropriate behaviour would you add to our list?