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Marie9494

Active Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
Messages
35
Reaction score
15
Location
Suffolk
Am I being totally unreasonable to think that in a salon of self employed hairdressers you don't ask other stylists how to colour!

I consider myself a very experienced colour technician. I am the only one in my salon to do level 3 and have plenty of experience doing correctional colours.

My issue is... They book themselves in a colour correction, or a change.. e.g full head bleach the client then requested a warm brown. The stylist finished the consultation and came straight over to me asking how to do it, what colour to use. Didn't even realise she would need to pre pig. When my boss and all the other stylists are there watching I feel like I have to give advice so she doesn't mess it up, but I feel really that that sort of stuff should be booked in with myself. Not only does it look totally unprofessional to the client, I'm annoyed at telling everybody what and how to do it!!

Several times I've found myself running across the salon when a stylist had turned a hair green or I've seen someone trying to apply bleach and 12% to the scalp.

Do I let them mess up.although that gives the salon a bad reputation. Do I keep helping even though I feel they should be my clients or at least I hate being asked constantly. We get though a million tubes of double base in our salon because as soon as anyone sees 1 grey hair they slap dull double base on.

Another point is there is getting to be tension between me and the other stylists as I cover their clients when they are on holiday and choose a Much better colour. Or correct their mistakes and the client normally rebooks with myself. Thus, I'm now being accused of stealing clients! I'm at my wits end here.

Hope this doesn't sound horrible, sorry for the long post!!


And yes I've suggested colouring courses! They've been on a couple of one day ones, makes no difference lol x
 
That must be really frustrating for you. I think it's normal to always ask an opinion or check that you are on the right lines with something but when you are doing all the thinking for them then really those types of colour work should be passed to you as you are the specialist in the salon. Could you mention it to the owner and even suggest running some in salon training sessions for them as they are clearly not as competent as you and the salon could potentially lose clients if your not around to help them out.
 
Maybe have a word with your boss? You should defiantly consider having your own salon in time.Get your name out there. Really advertise about colour correction / colour specialist. In time. Something to work towards.
 
I definitely think a word with the salon owner should help.

And I think that you doing a training session with them would be good! I think you should be paid for your time though!!

Sometimes it is tricky though as often a client decides on something completely different while in the chair. X
 
Lol. I'd toss them a colour manual and tell them to read it.

Seriously, you're there to run your own successful business not solve their colouring dilemmas. All the time you are wasting on helping them out and correcting their mistakes, you are actually LOSING money.

It's time to take a firm stand and tell the salon owner, ' no more'. If they are incompetent, they should book the tricky colour clients in with you or be prepared to get themselves more training.

You haven't worked hard to become an expert colourist just to spend your valuable time assisting the lazy numpties that can't be bothered and want an easy ride. If you were employed, then I'd expect you to be on a much higher wage as a senior colourist and salon trainer/mentor.

As it is, you're doing it all FOR FREE!

From now on if they need help, explain that you will be charging a consultation fee of £xx for every correction you are asked to intervene in. (Don't make it less than £40)

That should help them mend their ways. :)
 
gurl you need your own place! They're self employed so they should know they're own stuff!! look at branching out for yourself! good luck xoxo
 
Lol. I love this thread. Reminds me of all the posts on this forum where newbies expex to be handed formulas and instruction.
 
Lol. I'd toss them a colour manual and tell them to read it.

Seriously, you're there to run your own successful business not solve their colouring dilemmas. All the time you are wasting on helping them out and correcting their mistakes, you are actually LOSING money.

It's time to take a firm stand and tell the salon owner, ' no more'. If they are incompetent, they should book the tricky colour clients in with you or be prepared to get themselves more training.

You haven't worked hard to become an expert colourist just to spend your valuable time assisting the lazy numpties that can't be bothered and want an easy ride. If you were employed, then I'd expect you to be on a much higher wage as a senior colourist and salon trainer/mentor.

As it is, you're doing it all FOR FREE!

From now on if they need help, explain that you will be charging a consultation fee of £xx for every correction you are asked to intervene in. (Don't make it less than £40)

That should help them mend their ways. :)
Exactly What I would want to say but would never be brave enough! Anything for a quiet life! Can you imagine the drama if she actually said that! (I hate confrontation, especially in the workplace)
 
Thanks everyone, I've spoken to my boss before but, she doesn't see the problem with me helping them. I thi k she thinks if I have a client in and tell them how to do it she thinks we have like an extra client in as opposed to the one if I were to do it. she doesn't undersyand my frustration just talks about team work and stuff!

I feel that if I teach everyone to my standard in house training or whatever that I'll lose my niche, colour is my thing, and if everyone does it as well as me, I'm not longer the colour tech.

So I feel in an arkward position! :/

Thanks for the replies.
 
I think a big part of the problem is that at 22, they are all older than me and expect to be better. I think they feel threatened that I've come in ( been there a year ) and am better at something
 
Lol. I'd toss them a colour manual and tell them to read it.

Seriously, you're there to run your own successful business not solve their colouring dilemmas. All the time you are wasting on helping them out and correcting their mistakes, you are actually LOSING money.

It's time to take a firm stand and tell the salon owner, ' no more'. If they are incompetent, they should book the tricky colour clients in with you or be prepared to get themselves more training.

You haven't worked hard to become an expert colourist just to spend your valuable time assisting the lazy numpties that can't be bothered and want an easy ride. If you were employed, then I'd expect you to be on a much higher wage as a senior colourist and salon trainer/mentor.

As it is, you're doing it all FOR FREE!

From now on if they need help, explain that you will be charging a consultation fee of £xx for every correction you are asked to intervene in. (Don't make it less than £40)

That should help them mend their ways. :)


I would be super worried about making a bad atmosphere or upsetting my boss! It's arkward, I need a way to phrase it I guess :/ x
 
Just say to them, that by assisting them all the time, your focus isn't wholly on your client which it should be.

If they are not confident in the service they have booked in with themselves, to do courses. Or think twice about booking services like that in.

From today, you won't be helping them with colour formulas, you'll give opinions. Eg, I don't like that colour it throws out too much gold for why you want. But not formulas.
 
Just say to them, that by assisting them all the time, your focus isn't wholly on your client which it should be.

If they are not confident in the service they have booked in with themselves, to do courses. Or think twice about booking services like that in.

From today, you won't be helping them with colour formulas, you'll give opinions. Eg, I don't like that colour it throws out too much gold for why you want. But not formulas.
That makes sense! So like not tell them, but they will still feel like I am helping kind of x
 
But s/he's not your boss, you are the boss. They're just your landlord. That is all.

You've been very patient so far but their lack of education or ability is really NOT YOUR PROBLEM.

I hope your colour correction rates are higher than the other stylists? You can charge more because you're worth it.

As your client I would be really annoyed if you kept leaving me to solve other people's problems. Your loyalty is to your own clients, not theirs.
 
Thanks everyone for the help. I took the main offender to one side and said that I've had a couple of complaints from clients that I leave them to help you with colours and so if you ask for my advice could you please make sure it is not in front of my clients ( I normally always have a client of some sort in )
And from now on I'm just not gonna give them colours as such just say roughly like...
You need to pre pig before target shade. Or make sure to neutralize any warmth when lifting etc. From now on if they mess up, I'm just going to grin and bear it lol! :/ x
 
I'm not sure how much each individual charges. But I'm not worried about how much I charge, I charge according to how much work and my experience, I definitely don't undercut myself :)
 
I think maybe you should try presenting this problem differently to your boss. Are you really 'helping' them by doing the work for them? Try approaching this situation by explaining to your boss that want to be a team player, emphasize that, from what you have said this seems important to her. Doing the work for them and giving them specific answers is not at all helping them in the long run.
 
I think maybe you should try presenting this problem differently to your boss. Are you really 'helping' them by doing the work for them? Try approaching this situation by explaining to your boss that want to be a team player, emphasize that, from what you have said this seems important to her. Doing the work for them and giving them specific answers is not at all helping them in the long run.

That's totally reasonable when you're employed and the Salon owner is your boss but in this instance, each stylist is running their own business and the owner is simply their landlord collecting either rent for the chair or a split profit share.

The OP is the only competent colourist in the Salon and could be making money from doing all the complex colour corrections. If she's spending her time advising the less able stylists how to do the work, she's effectively working as consultant for nothing and depriving herself of potential income.
 
Am I being totally unreasonable to think that in a salon of self employed hairdressers you don't ask other stylists how to colour!

I consider myself a very experienced colour technician. I am the only one in my salon to do level 3 and have plenty of experience doing correctional colours.

My issue is... They book themselves in a colour correction, or a change.. e.g full head bleach the client then requested a warm brown. The stylist finished the consultation and came straight over to me asking how to do it, what colour to use. Didn't even realise she would need to pre pig. When my boss and all the other stylists are there watching I feel like I have to give advice so she doesn't mess it up, but I feel really that that sort of stuff should be booked in with myself. Not only does it look totally unprofessional to the client, I'm annoyed at telling everybody what and how to do it!!

Several times I've found myself running across the salon when a stylist had turned a hair green or I've seen someone trying to apply bleach and 12% to the scalp.

Do I let them mess up.although that gives the salon a bad reputation. Do I keep helping even though I feel they should be my clients or at least I hate being asked constantly. We get though a million tubes of double base in our salon because as soon as anyone sees 1 grey hair they slap dull double base on.

Another point is there is getting to be tension between me and the other stylists as I cover their clients when they are on holiday and choose a Much better colour. Or correct their mistakes and the client normally rebooks with myself. Thus, I'm now being accused of stealing clients! I'm at my wits end here.

Hope this doesn't sound horrible, sorry for the long post!!


And yes I've suggested colouring courses! They've been on a couple of one day ones, makes no difference lol x
It does get very frustrating! I believe that whoever books the appointments should get a clear understanding of what the client wants and book them with the person that will be the best to achieve that color in that case you! If the stylist doesn't personally know how to do it than they should of switched clients. As a hairdresser it's okay to ask little questions but not how to do the whole thing!
 
I've been giving rather rubbish vague answers since last week and so far, only one minor disaster lol! So hopefully people will get bored of asking me now I'm not giving specific answers and will go and learn how to colour lol :)
 

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