Consultations and test pieces

[natsel]

hi all.


I had a customer come into the salon yesterday young girl long hair passed the shoulders natural base colour of 5 from checking regrowth, she wanted to know if I could colour her hair to a white blonde on top, and then through the front she wanted panels of dark added..

I sat her down and asked her several questions..

when she last coloured her hair - 4 weeks ago

what colour she used - she wasnt sure of the brand as it was out of the box and her words were which ever was cheap at the time.

how long had she been colouring her hair herself and did she just do her roots or the ends also - she said she had been colouring her hair for the last 2 years and did her whole head everytime

I also asked if she used the same shade of colour everytime because when I brushed her hair and held it to the light it she had a tiny bit of regrowth then about half an inch of a dark brown and then the rest of her hair was very very dark brown enough to notice the difference between the colours and she told me she used the same colour everytime...

Anyway checking her hair it wasnt in the best of condition as such it was dry on the ends and she also told me she straightens it everyday and doesnt use heat protection etc

I also noticed that although she told me that she coloured her hair with a dark brown, when I matched it up to the colour chart it was more a base of a 3

I explained to her before I attempted to colour her hair I would take several test pieces and colour them first to see if she was happy with the colour (I was going to use bleach 12% as it was so dark ) , I also told her that it may not come out the colour she requires as she has a lot of colour build up on the hair and it was quite dark, she was happy with this and I told her to come back tomorrow (which is now today) and I would show her the results of the tests.

Today is here lol I did the test pieces and they didnt come up to the blonde she wanted and certainly not white it didnt get much past the orangy stage , and to put the tin hat on it the ends of her hair went all stringy and broke off she returned today with her sister and I showed her the hair pieces out side of the salon as the light isnt the same inside and then explained why I though the colour hadnt come out etc , I asked her to take the hair home and to have a look through it herself, she seemed happy that I had done the test pieces and showed her the results and she said herself "I thought it would go ginger " her words again not mine,

Then later this morning her mother phoned up and complained that I should have tried more on the test pieces and I'm not doing my job right If I send people away not being happy and not colouring there hair, and that the girl was really upset ,so what Im asking you all kind people is

• do you think I could of done more
• what would you have done, if put in the same situation

I couldnt have re applied bleach to the test pieces has like I said her hair frazzled on the ends , and now I feel disheartened because I was only doing what I normally do when I have a customer whos hair I hadnt coloured before .

thanks guys:hug:

 

[nora525]

Hi, errrmmm.... I quite don't understand why her mum was upset, because there are plenty of salons there who woule have not done the strand test, just slap the color on.....

However, normally what I do I take some extra strands and I tell them that I will try to find the alternative if the color would not come up right.
Then I do the tests, and when I show them, they do have the alternative....
To be honest, I think you have done everything you could and if it would have been me, I would propably tell her to have a condition treatment prior to coloring and maybe semi or quasi to lat her hair rest a bit.
You have done well girl.... and you were professional. Let someone else ruin her hair, the they pay even more when you do the correction job....

 

[hartey]

Dont worry about it! You have acted professionaly in every way you could, I myself wouldn't have done the girls request, after doing the strand tests it wasn't the right colour and her hair was breaking, In my opinion she would be more upset if she had ginger hair that was breaking off!

Hats off to this lady for being professional! It is too easy nowadays to feel tempted to take the money!

 

[user 28883]

You did everything right, if she had had her hair done, her mother would still be on the phone saying the same things. It will teach her for using home colours. I bet if u had done an incompatibility test, the results for that wouldn't have been brilliant.

 

[natsel]

hiya nora, I quite agree with you I dont understand why she was upset one of my collegues said it was probably because the girl couldnt get what she wanted done and maybe had a tantrum lol , unfortuantly I wouldnt have been able to test the hair with any other colour as it was too dark to begin with and I dont think anything else would have made a difference on the hair ..:hug:

thanks hartey and delia
you have made me feel a bit better knowing that Im not being stupid in refusing to do it , I just felt there was no other alternative to offer her regarding the colour.:hug: I will think about doing incompatilbility test if need be in future I didnt think of that at the time thanks hun

 

[liana kay]

if theres nothing you can do ,theres nothing you can do! It always amazes me how some quite intelligent people cannot understand plain english when it comes to hair . we are not fairys we cant wave a magic wand and make everything alright ( only in the right circumstances !) i take it you did tell her it was the tint and if she grows it out she might have more luck?

 

[blutopaz]

I would have done exactly the same as you, nothing different, you took ur test pieces, u developed them up and they weren't up to what u wanted and lost all condition. you explained this to ur client with proof of the pieces in ur hands.

its baffling to think someone could even argue the point when its there in clear day light ?!?!?!?

it could be one of those all to common parents now adays who give their kids everything on a plate and you unfortunatly have got in the way and taken the flack.......just for doing ur job professionally.

no way would i even have contemplated doing this girls hair


Don't beat urself up with it, i think ur suffering more from the shock eliment then anything and once uv slept on it ur be thinking how absolutely absurd the whole confrontation was, keep ur head up high!

 

[natsel]

if theres nothing you can do ,theres nothing you can do! It always amazes me how some quite intelligent people cannot understand plain english when it comes to hair . we are not fairys we cant wave a magic wand and make everything alright ( only in the right circumstances !) i take it you did tell her it was the tint and if she grows it out she might have more luck?

hi, your right about the wand lol, I said to her to take away the test pieces and think about what I have said and if there was something else she wanted within reason and I could be of anymore help then I would, but also explained that the easiest way of getting the colour she wanted would be to litterally let the colour she has now to grow out and start afresh as it would be easier to achieve the colour she wanted on hair not previously coloured , :hug:

I think il put it down to experience and hopefully if it ever happens again Il be more prepared .

 

[Jeni Giles]

Under promise and over deliver-

EXACTLY what you did, test strands, results and no law suit, if you had colored her hair, it would have been a disaster and never quite gotten to what she wanted, not to mention how awful her hair would have felt (especially since she doesn't care for it at home) then when it broke off and her mother or friends started in on her about how it looked you would have ended up refunding, redoing and be out not only the time but the money for products and poor advertising.

You didn't promise anything you couldn't do, so you delivered more than was expected, even if she goes out and "talks smack" (poorly of her experience) people will listen and hear that you did test strands, but refused to ruin her hair. You'll end up with more corrective clients (that's where the big bucks are) than you know what to do with.

Truthfully you couldn't have handled it any better! Way to GO!

 

[minky]

Hi natsel, my reply is the same as all the others :hug:
and as jenny says you couldn't have handled it any better, I would have done exactly the same as you did ,
you are a good hairdresser who did all the proper test pieces first

:hug: x minky

 

[natsel]

thanks for all your replys guys youve been a great help to me :hug: much appreciated