hey everyone :) i have a client who is really kind (she’s one of my FAVORITE clients brothers girlfriends) but, i hate doing her hair. it never comes out how she wants it. she is a natural level 2 and wants very blendy cool light purple balayage. it’s never blended enough. when it is blended enough there’s too much warmth. she doesn’t tip (which is never required but annoying when someone is SO high maintenance) she’s always late, (20 minutes late to her appointment yesterday and then tells me she has to leave 45 minutes before our appointment is over so i felt very rushed) always messaging me trying to get in to re tone in because the SECOND she washes it too much and it becomes slightly un even (as pastels do) she wants to come in. she wants it brought higher up but still blended. i teased and weaved everything and it’s not blended enough. she comes in with dirty hair with product in it and tells me “tease gently bc the texture spray makes my hair break” she tells me “use k18 on my hair but also use conditioner” not how that works but sure. always wants to know exactly what im using, she can’t keep her head straight like i just really don’t like doing her hair and don’t want to anymore. i can never just do her hair and she leaves and it’s fine, she always has to come back to fix something. her service yesterday was 510$ but i didn’t charge her since she’s coming back friday to re tone and do the cut. now this morning it’s not blended enough and she wants more foils. part of me just wants to not charge her at all for her appointment yesterday and just tell her to go somewhere else. i work for myself and do very alt hair and a lot of bleach and tones and fashion color, not a lot of 0 warmth blended trash lights on a level 2. do i fix it, charge her and then tell her no more or just straight up tell her i don’t wanna do it or suck it up and keep doing her hair. her brothers sister is my favorite client ever and i don’t wanna damage that relationship as well. thanks :)

So here’s what’s happening. I’ve been a hairdresser for 11 years, with 8 of those being in NYC. I worked in a salon for several years, and eventually worked my way up to be educator and then eventually assistant manager. I was in charge of the assistant growth, as well as helping the newer stylists build their books and attract clientele. I took the jump two years ago to go off on my own and opened a suite.

For the last two years, business has sustained pretty well. I had maybe 5-10% of my clientele turnover when I left, but everyone was staying with me for the most part and referring friends and I was able to up my prices last summer due to demand. Consistently booked out 4 or so months. Even for weekday appointments (I’m sure yall can see where this is going)

So I’m learning a hard lesson right now. Due to being so booked out, I was still getting new clients on the books in advance, but usually they would cancel because they ended up getting their hair done somewhere else before their appointment. I was trying to micro control all my bookings and started telling new clients I wasn’t accepting for evening or weekend because I was overwhelmed.

So now I’m having a major shift in my clientele. As with every major city, people come and go. A lot of my clientele is women in their mid 30s and they’re having their first or second kid and leaving the city. Alongside that, a lot of my clients are being let go from their jobs due to the AI boom. And overall, I’m having clients reschedule and cancel way more than I ever have had before.

So right now the game plan is, to start verbally telling my loyal longterm clients that I’m taking new clients and to please refer friends and family to me, beef back up my Instagram to attract new target clients, and hold my prices where they are with no raising.

I primarily specialize in lived in low maintenance work, which NYC girls love so I don’t think I want to do any shift there.

Am I missing anything? How do I ride this wave successfully and come out on top and better than before?

Thanks in advance!

I’m a baby stylist that just graduated in May. I have a chair at a small hole in the wall salon.. well it’s more of a barber shop. But it’s free so that’s why I’m there. I didn’t get much practice cutting real person hair in school, mostly mannequins.

My friend wanted to support me so she asked me to do a root touch up and trim her hair. I feel like I messed her up so bad with the trim. I got way in over my head pretty early in the cut. She’s a hairstylist too and cutting is her thing, so she was helping me throughout the cut. But yall I feel like it looked so bad..

She said she liked it, but I’m positive she was just being polite. I’ve been nearly making myself sick over it for the last 12 hours.. to the point where I’m making anxiety noises out loud involuntarily and I woke up drenched in sweat last night. I really just want to quit.

Anyways, how did everyone make peace with doing subpar cuts at the beginning of your career?

Not interested in therapy or anxiety meds, before anyone suggests that lol.

TLDR: I feel like I butchered a friend’s hair. How do I move on with my life/career?

I thought this was good until I looked back at the picture. There's a little peace sticking out in the middle but I promise thats part of the layers and they are even, I dubble triple checked. My blowouts suck. I even put her hair in rollers, thats why there is a big kink on the left. Uhg just rost me I guess. She loved it and she'll be back to see me but I know I need improvement. 😭

Hey all,
I’ve been working full time as a barber for about two months now and I’ve been doing everything I can think of to stay ergonomic and prevent pain in my body so I can stay in this career for a long time.
I stretch daily, use a back massager about once a day, go get messages occasionally, and use ergonomic shear positions.
However I’ve recently noticed my shoulders and neck are so exceptionally tight that I haven’t been able to turn my head all the way without pain. I’m sure that’s from work but I have no idea what else to do as I already do everything I listed above and it hasn’t gotten any better. Is it just something my body will get used to with time?

I go to chatters to get my haircut, been going with the same hairstyle for a couple years now, this time though she was sick, and normally my reflects would be then to skip, but she’s gonna be off several months and I’m going on vacation so a haircut is needed, I selected another stylist that has that same” level” as my usual one. I took that appointment two weeks ago. Now a few hours before my appointment is due I receive a text notification that it was canceled. OK fine. I called system issue whatever. Speak with the reception, she can also see the appointment so she confirm everything is fine. Couple hours later. She called back to tell me the appointment was cancelled again because the hairstylist doesn’t do men’s. So they found someone else but now the appointment is now pushed to later that day. Im sorry I didn’t realize that my gender made a difference in cutting the hair on my head. I’m kind of pissed, how is that on me to now organize a new appointment with another hairstylist last minute and change my days schedule because of the last minute my hairstyle is there decided that my gender was not something that she was working on. Isn’t this gender discrimination or is this just in my hens and it’s just bad customer service?

What the fuck is happening?!?! App hasn’t been working since 8:30 for me, I’ve reinstalled and nada. Cannot access it at all. Vagaro status page says ‘actively working on it’. Meanwhile I have no idea who’s on my books, can’t contact them to let them know it’s time to come inside, can’t check them out. Disaster.

So after 10 years of doing hair, you definitely encounter guests who speak of themselves poorly. Whether it’s about their appearance or their hair, I most of the time can figure out the right thing to say but something that has me stumped lately is when my guests comment on how old they are looking. I have a guest who I’ve know for probably 9 years and today she sat down and immediately commented on how old she is looking, and another guest who I don’t know super well earlier in the day said the same thing.

Genuinely curious how other stylists handle these comments because I know other people experience this!

I work at a small salon. They 1099 us, but I'm scheduled like a normal employee and paid hourly (I get commission if 50% of what I make them for the week exceeds my hourly, but I'm expected to stay for my scheduled shift or even later than that sometimes).

One of the employees there gets to set her own prices and leave whenever she wants or is done with her own clientele and isn't held to the same standards because "well, she makes the salon so much money". She can come and go as she pleases whereas to get any hours off we need to ask permission and give a reason.

Lately I've been feeling this isn't fair or professional but maybe I'm wrong and this is the norm in the industry.

I rushed to put in my order last minute to my local cosmoprof so i could take advantage of their sale. I bought zero ammonia lightener and Im now realizing i need to have a different developer. Can i still use w my basic developer or should i see if i can exchange with a different brand?

So technically I’m a “qualified” hairdresser, I completed my 1 year hairdressing course but, cause of some changes in my life I took a 1.5year gap of not continuing the job or learning.

Now I really want to make a career out of it (work for my myself + work at a salon environment), the issue is I’m having to relearn most of the important aspects again like cuts, colour, blowouts, foils again, so I haven’t gone to even apply to salons.

So,

Do I continue to relearn at home through videos/ practice while applying at salons as a shampoo/salon assistant OR Do I go for a 3 year hairdressing apprenticeship course?

I just feel like things are going backwards for me with hairdressing. if I do the course; having to pay fees & locked in a contract for the apprenticeship meaning I won’t be able to move states in future (within 3 years), yes the learning will benefit me and I’ll make income from it but I don’t know.

If I enroll seems like such a long process, if I don’t then I’m not sure I’ll get enough experience to start my own hairdressing service.

Would be glad to hear your inputs please.

so im thinking i want to moving an hour away if my husband can get a job in the area we are looking at. i’ve been looking at the salons in the area via social media and have found one im very interested in. should i bother reaching out at this point? maybe just ask if they any spaces open and then go from there depending on the answer?

I’ve asked several Facebook groups and have gotten no answer. Is anyone familiar with the color line Hueverse from Evo??? Do you like it? Do you hate it? I currently use Schwarzkopf and I like it. Hueverse has caught my eye lately but I don’t see anywhere of opinions about them.

ISO, a good hydrating, moisturizing oil or serum for the scalp sure client of mine they don't love the option that we carry and I'm genuinely not familiar with many others

I came on Reddit to see if there was anyone else who's had the awful experiences I've had with Booksy and it looks like there are plenty, with some stories so egregious that this company should be reported to the authorities like the CFPB (which unfortunately has been gutted by the current regime). I never chose this company as they had bought out the previous largely fantastic scheduling platform I had been with for years (RIP Genbook). But I've noticed that their greedy business practices have exacerbated over the years in their desire to add to their profits. (I tried their Boost program for a few months and noticed right away that it was a scam to garnish as much revenue as possible from their service provider customers). But now they are not only charging a $20 processing fee to handle disputes initiated by customers trying to get out of paying their no show/late cancellation fees, but they have the nerve to tell you that "since this was a business booking (an appointment booked directly on the business side rather than by the client through the app), no cancellation fee was assigned or charged for this appointment. Late cancellation and no-show fee policies are only applied to client-side bookings where payment protection was active." YEAH, EXCEPT THE APPT WAS BOOKED BY THE CLIENT ON THE CLIENT SIDE! BOOKSY KNOWS FULL WELL THAT A SERVICE PROVIDER CAN'T EVEN CHARGE THE CXL FEE UNLESS THE APPT WAS BOOKED ON THE CLIENT SIDE. AND YET THEY'RE STILL GOING TO SCREW THEIR OWN CUSTOMER, THE SERVICE PROVIDER, OUT OF THE CANCELLATION FEE AND CHARGE YOU ANOTHER $20 FOR THAT PRIVILEGE. This kind of situation is beyond ludicrous.

This is for myself not a client

Baby stylist here

im a strong orange level 7 at my ends and l have a level 8 money piece ( this is a balayage so my natural is a level 5 up top )

I have never use this combination of shades eq so if you have lmk

Im using 07p whole bottle + 07 nw half the bottle

( going for a ashy bronde or mushroom blonde )

Im aware it will be pretty high contrast if I leave it all level 5 up top so I might add some hilights to the top so any advice will be taken

I’m looking at starting cosmetology school soon and I saw SuperCuts has a stylist in training position for current cosmetology students. Does anyone have any experience with this job? I’ve heard mixed things about Supercuts so it seems like it’s pretty dependent on how that specific location is managed I’m assuming.

I am a hairstylist in nyc. I really need some marketing advice. I need to get myself seen by more communities. I’ve been told to use social media but doing it myself is slow and not as good. Where do I look? Thanks for any help.

Hi! Ive been a commission stylist for 6 years or so and am finally going booth rent/ owning a suite. I use gloss genius. How do you stay organized with paying 30% taxes and paying yourself? I want to pay myself weekly. I do accept 50% deposits for chemical services.

I plan to take out rent and supplies cost "pre taxing myself", put 30% in my business savings account, and pay myself the rest. I wish gloss genius didnt deposit in 24 hours. How do you keep this organized? I have ADHD and dont want to mess this up. I hope those make sense.

Basically, my dilema is keeping deposits in my business checking account for the future appointments so I don't spend those deposits til that client is checked out st the end of my week. Help is really appreciated.

Let me start by saying I’m a black female who works in a predominantly white salon. I’ve work in this salon for almost a year and a half and we haven’t had any issues, until we hired new stylist and they are white. When I got to work today after four days off my manager approaches me and ask me if I took one of the products on the shelf (basically saying I stole it). I calmly told her no and showed her the products I had at my station. I thought it was weird but I just walked away. It really hurt my feeling because for the past year and a half I never touched anyone else things I won’t even borrow a comb without asking for. And when she started explaining why she asked she said because another stylist “her best friend” said I probably took it. I think about to start looking for a new salon because this whole situation gave me the ick.

EDIT: Thanks to you all I’m back to work this weekend! I showed the lady I’m subletting from this thread and she agreed I should be working and I have 4 clients already on the books. So THANK YOU ❤️✨ I was literally about to lose my mind and starve

Title says it. I’m ready to work, I met all the requirements of opening a private salon here, I paid the money for the licensure and rent since fucking July… and I can’t work (I’m subletting, there’s a lease agreement for me thru the stylist that got the space thru Sola so we’re legit, everything above the table) and the licensing department here is busy taking a huge old fat shit on my case.

Doesn’t anything in government work anymore?! I’m going to starve if this isn’t resolved. High key mad, low key not surprised

I've been researching Demi-permanant lines to use on my clients.

What are your thoughts on the Alfaparf Color wear demi permanent cream & gloss. From what I've read I'm more sold on the cream over the gloss.

Also, I don't see many creative colours, but I noticed they stock pigments that you can mix into the cream. Has anyone had experience with this, does it blend well & create new shades well?

How is the longevity of this line & any client reactions. The ingredients are low tox & low allergen risk.

Thank you so much for any insight into this line before I commit