How you deal with a bad salon experience can make all the difference in the outcome of your hair, and (of course) future relations with your stylist. Keep these points in mind before picking up the phone, or you could suffer a bad breakup with your hairdresser.
Professional Tips for Dealing with a Bad Salon Experience
Whether it’s the demeanor of your stylist, the length of your wait, or a less than desirable service result, most salons and stylists are more than willing to make things right once they learn of your dismay. These tips will help you speak your mind without having to spend another single dime making your “bad” salon experience, right. Don’t book with the shop around the corner just yet, your hairdresser deserves to know you’re unsatisfied.
1. Talk to Your Stylist- Unless you spoke up in the chair and voiced any concerns, you might have to call your stylist after you get home and see your cut and color in a different light. The first thing you should do is contact your hairdresser and explain what’s wrong. Maybe you both had a different idea for your cut, or the tone just didn’t have the desired outcome. Once he hears your concerns he can book a redo appointment and bring you back in for a color correction. It’s really just as simple as that. While this is a courtesy and a professional ethic most stylists practice, don’t take advantage of it. Calling your stylist two months “after” your highlights have grown out is really just asking for something for nothing. Respect your stylist, but always expect satisfaction for your visits.
2. Offer to Pay- If a bad experience is only partially your stylist’s fault, it helps to offer to compensate for her time at a lesser rate. Most stylists and salons will accept a discounted service fee if the stylist clearly did her job correctly, but you’re just not happy (and that might be your own change of plans)!
3. Understand the Challenge- Before you voice a compaint for a bad salon experience, you need to understand whether or not your stylist had any unexpected challenges to deal with. If you have damaged and over-processed hair that just can’t be styled to your liking, your stylist could only do so much. Are you being realistic with your hair goals? Your hairdresser is not a magician, but she sure can make you feel beautiful when she works with what she’s got. Perhaps going back to the salon (see #1) and looking over color charts and asking for her opinion will help you come to a mutual agreement on how to handle your bad salon experience. Trust their judgement and put your unique hair challenges into consideration.
4. Timing is Everything- There’s something to be said for timing. If your stylist was having a bad day, she could have easily taken it out on your hair. While this isn’t desirable and shouldn’t be expected, it can happen- especially if your stylist is dealing with the stress of multiple clients. All too often stylists and colorists can run behind on time with clients through no fault of their own. Scheduling conflicts, stubborn hair coloring challenges, and any other unforeseen circumstances can create a less than ideal timing situation. If you’ve experienced a bad haircut it might be due to stylist error, or lack of time. Or both! Call back and express your concerns and make a suggestion for a remedy if need be. Understanding your stylist is human and trying their best can help you negotiate while keeping your cool.
5. Bring Pictures- There’s no better argument than a picture. If you brought your stylist an image prior to your hair service and received an outcome nothing like you anticipated, that picture is priceless. Bring it back into the salon and speak with your stylist. Depending on the education of the stylist (all Juldan Salon stylist attend on-going education classes) they might not have had the skills to achieve your desired result. If that’s the case it’s ok to request the services of a different hair stylist to make a hair color or hair cut correction. In some cases you may be asked to pay the difference, if any, in the rate of their service fees. Pictures are an invaluable tool for communicating your desires with your hairdresser and your colorist.
When All Else Fails
In some cases you may find that no matter what your stylist did to try to remedy the situation, you still had to deal with a bad salon experience and you just can’t shake it. Maybe you just need to take a break from your stylist. Stylist and client relationships can often get “hairy”. There’s a genuine intimacy between both of you, and as he’s doing your hair and sharing his wisdom as necessary while you vent, there will likely come a time when you miss him. Breaking up with your hair dresser is something you should do when you’re certain the bad experience can’t be rectified. If you’ve trusted your hairdresser for any length of time, it only makes sense you trust him to make a bad situation right. By contacting your stylist first you provide him or him the opportunity to fix your hair, and keep you as a happy client. It’s always a win-win when a client reaches out and requests a correction, rather than walk away, chalking it up as a bad haircut.
Bad salon experiences can happen to anyone. So much more than a bad haircut, a bad salon visit can have you thinking the grass is greener. And who knows, maybe it is? We suggest all clients contact their hairdresser anytime there is an issue. Our greatest goal at Juldan Salon is to make our clients look and feel beautiful. If you’ve had a bad salon experience please contact our salon coordinator today to book a consultation with one of our stylists. Juldan Salon is voted as one of the best destinations for hair extensions in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
