First male client in home salon

SalonGeek

Help Support SalonGeek:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Misskimsi3bee

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2012
Messages
68
Reaction score
0
Location
England
Hello all,
I have just starting working self employed from home (my summerhouse in the back garden) and I offer massage and beauty treatments. I have massaged men before in spas but not from my own business at home.

Can I please ask what self employed therapists who work from home do if a male client would like to book in for a massage and you do not know them? I would normally say yes as my fiancé would be in the house but he's away with work for the next few months. I have thought about asking my neighbour if he wouldn't mind to be available at the time the client is booked in, so I can give him a message or knock afterwards for peace of mind.

Or does anyone ask for a reference? If so, how do you word it please?

Its a shame you have to think like this really, but any advice would be great.

Thank you, Kim
 
70% of my massage clients are male, I work from home alone. I always get as much detail over the phone from males, e.g what type of massage they have already had, which massage they want this time and why. I can literally screen 50% of callers out.

Ok this is going to sound terrible please don't shoot me down. Weekends, I will never ever book on the day appointments for young men (under 35s) before 3pm as my experience of these chaps were they had all been out the evening before and were still under the influence of something and all had the stupid train of thought that offering a genuine massage is a hidden meaning for massage HE or sex. I have only had to throw 1 person out. I work all week long Mon to Fri offering electrical facials, massages, other beauty treatments, but weekends are now restricted to beauty treatments only.

I do book some regular massage clients at weekends if I know them.
 
I use th Holly Guard lone worker safety app, my emergency contact is my daughter in the app. So I don't need someone in my house with m to feel safe. Have a Google.
 
I just take a few men for massage these days - I work from home. Usually they are husbands of my regular clients, bad backs, necks etc. I do aromatherapy massage and most of them opt for the hot lava shells which are great for hairy skin and being a bit more 'hands off'.

When my hubby worked 9 - 5 away from home, I'd nominate one evening a week for the men and I'd make sure hubby was at home with me.
Currently my hubby works from home too now so I just make sure he is around if a man is booked in.
In the past if I could not have anyone at home with me, I'd explain to the man that I could only offer an appointment if their wife / girlfriend came with them. Although that might seem strange I actually had no problem with the partner being there with their laptop / knitting / magazines / coffee and often I would teach them some basic massage moves so they could do a bit at home (sell the oil too obviously!!).

I think the comment above about screening well on the phone first is vital before taking the booking. For me, it's usually the wife booking them in (cos they are fed up of all the whingeing at home) which is fine but I have had dodgy phone calls with odd requests in the past! I also don't take anyone that sounds like they are in a pub. I just say I'm full for the next month. Sometimes I block their phone number too if I really didn't like them.

My suggestion to the OP is to have someone in the house with you (not next door out of earshot) when you have a booking. Sit the other person somewhere that the client will see on their way into the treatment room so they know you are not alone. Your safety is paramount. Perhaps stop taking male bookings until your fiance is back? Not worth the risk.
 
Hi, I work from home too and mainly do massage. On my brochure it says male clients are by referral only. I've had to turn down quite a few male clients and when I've explained why I've so far never had anyone complain or feel offended, people understand. My male clients are all partners/family/friends of my female clients. There have been a couple of occasions where someone has booked in for a Pregnancy Massage and asked to book in their partner, so I have only met them once. As a safety precaution I arranged to text my husband before and after their appointment. I've only had one person who I felt was a bit suspicious when they messaged me to book on Facebook, I referred them to a salon for massage. Your safety is more important and I think the previous poster has given you great advice with regards to waiting till your fiance is back before taking on male clients who have not been referred.
 
I'm afraid that when I worked home alone I didn't treat men. I did exactly like you're thinking - check in with a neighbour/ book him when someone's around etc but then decided I just wouldn't treat. Now I have a salon we only book male clients in when there are at least 2 therapists around.
Only you can decide what works best for you and your business but for me, once I made the decision that I wouldn't treat men it was a huge relief.

Vic x
 
Good advice from the above replies, gets a thumbs up from me.

I never treat men...no thanks it's just not worth the worry or agro. Really there's plenty of clients for us sole traders and let the fellas go to the salons with more than 2 staff at anytime. Much better option in my opinion.

Just a thought , I feel from the clients perpective that having men coming out of the salon as they arrive may make them feel uneasy. If you were a shop then that is different.

My husband and two strapping sons are very discrete, and try to be invisible even though they have a right to be around their home turf.

All the best x
 

Latest posts

Back
Top