DISCLAIMER:
I am not speaking on behalf of any professional who unprofessionally and inconsiderably run their business. I am only speaking of quality professionals who have a true passion in this industry and takes pride in their work and ethics when providing beauty services.
It's literally all over social media where you see comments underneath posts related to how New Age Hairstylists construct and run their business. "We miss the Old Age Hairstylists! Back in the day I didn't have to come with my hair shampooed, conditioned, dried, and detangled. These New Age Hairstylists are lazy and don't want to do nothing! What are we paying them for?"
And this lists continues to drag the floor Hunny! I'm here to tell you I can relate to both sides of this scenario as a professional and consumer. So let's talk about it and weigh the pros and cons of both shall we.
When I was a kid, I absolutely loved and hated going to the hair salon to get my hair done. I mean who wasn't ready for a fresh cute do to flex and show off and receive ongoing compliments; but who wanted to spend all day at the hair salon playing musical chairs to do so? I had two pros in the situation because I actually enjoyed watching the art of it all trying to hopefully learn a trick or two as an aspiring Cosmetologist, but what about the ones who didn't? That's a tiring and overwhelming situation. What appointment time? Time didn't exist at the hair salon back then. I remember I opened and closed with a hairstylist, waited on her to go to lunch and leave me at the salon to come back and cleanse my hair with V05 Shampoo and Conditioner. LOL! My goodness!
One should ask themselves, how is this situation of quality? Does this hairstylist understand my specific goals when there are so many others here at the exact same appointment time; and is she able to focus on them? I can't recall a hairstylist asking me what are my specific goals for hair or bothering to educate me to help me reach those goals? Sure I have expressed concerns when needed, but the solutions were very basic and straightforward. A lot of consumers are just understanding what the cuticle of the hair strand is thanks to us New Age Hairstylists so I am asking y'all to give some of us a break Hunny. We are going beyond the surface of hair and teaching you science and anatomy. LOL!
However, back in the day, the convenience of walking in to get an appointment the same day without having to plan in advance is worth missing especially when last minute plans are made. The likelihood of a hairstylist canceling and not committing to your appointment back then was never. They had more patience and leniency when it came to booking and canceling your appointment by allowing you to schedule without a credit card or deposit on file and even cancel your appointment without a fee and allow you to do this over and over again without any repercussions. Who wouldn't miss that?
However, that doesn't work for a professional who is trying to effectively run their business and a consumer who needs to plan their personal schedule accordingly. In order for us to merge this huge gap of misunderstanding, we have to understand each other's perspective.
Hairstylists are choosing to run their business by appointments only in order to stay on task without compromising the client and their time. For the client, this method produces a more quality experience. You have an appointment time you will be seen that is reserved for you only. Your appointment is not shared so your professional can devote this specific time to you so your expectations are met and concerns are addressed. There's no long wait for you to be seen. And again, I'm not speaking for every Hairstylist, only myself and others like me. This will also allow the professional to be able to go home at a certain time of the day to enjoy family and leisure time and have a quality of life. We know you don't genuinely care, but we do. LOL! Since Hairstylists are running their business as such, a deposit or credit card has to be on file just incase for late cancelations and no shows. This specific time is reserved for you in the event you don't show and it's too late of notice to find someone to replace your slot at the last minute to cover your time and lost expenses. This also shows how serious and dedicated you are to your commitment. Unfortunately, clients have canceled late and no called, no showed in the past too often and this was a resort of that action. So when certain ones are asking, "Why I have to abide by all these rules to get my hair done?" All I can say is, "Us professionals didn't make them". Behavior such as this in the past did. We have to protect our business in order to financially run the business for the clients who respect us when we accept appointments only and no walk ins.
" These New Age Hairstylists don't even work weekends and evenings anymore." Old Age Hairstylists had an opportunity and the pleasure to ONLY be a Hairstylist. Today, New Age Hairstylists are social media content creators, web designers, videographers, photographers, video and photographer editors and directors, bloggers, we create directories for ourselves, etc. We are always workings. This is why our time is more limited behind the chair. Finding a healthy balance in our salon life and personal life is a must so we can show up for you and have a clear head and mindset to provide you the quality service you deserve. We can't do this being overworked and tired physically and mentally. You will see the consistency and quality of service go down at your salon visits.
Hairstyling is not the same anymore due to how we now wear our hair. We are proudly rocking our naturally organic curls which comes with a different approach to hairstyling. We are working with naturally wavy to extremely curly and coily hair. Those two different textures cannot be compared. Seeing as though we were all mostly chemically relaxed back then, it took no time and little effort IF you needed to detangle your hair. You could go straight to the shampoo bowl and receive your service. Wearing protective styles wasn't a real thing. We wore braids for fashion mostly. We have to understand, getting our hair done is a luxury, not a necessity. This is how Old Age Hairstylists set the wrong tone for future hairstylists making this profession a need when it is not. Your only need when it comes to your hair is when you have to be medically directed for an issue or concern you are having due to hair loss, scalp infection, inflammation, etc.
As far as "come shampooed, conditioned, blow dried". You have this as an option at my salon, but I recommend you allow me to cleanse your hair to ensure quality results. If your hair and scalp are not thoroughly cleansed to ensure quality results, you will have to receive a shampoo service at the salon. I don't agree or disagree with this statement depending on the circumstances of the stylist and consumer. This is more of "to each his own" in my world due to specific reasons addressing hair integrity approach and care concerns with certain professions in the industry.
I completely understand the frustrations with the unprofessionalism and professionals not upholding themselves to the same standard as they do the client. It's completely unfair and one sided. We as the professionals and the consumers have to understand each other's perspective in order to have a better relationship moving forward. This business does not work financially and effectively if only one person is considered in this equation. It's a cohesive situation. We can do better!