It’s never too early to bring up additional treatments and products that you or your salon can provide. But target your conversation to each individual client, recommends Dodge of Caruh Salon Spa. “At the consultation, take into account the whole person and her entire look,” she says. Don’t just phone in a lackluster sales pitch. Remember, it’s your professional duty to help everyone who sits in your chair look their best. “At our salon, we don’t consider our job complete until we offer all the services that would enhance a client’s look,” says Dodge. “It’s a habit for us.”
by Kelly Cison
Hesitant to broach sensitive subjects with your clients? Never feel tongue-tied again! Use expert tips from our comprehensive guide to talk to clients with professional confidence.
First, it’s crucial to always give a client the benefit of the doubt. When someone is unhappy with the work you’ve done—as will inevitably happen at some point during your career—avoid making split-second judgments or pointing fingers. Even if you’re sure the client is just impossible to please, attempting to understand how they’re feeling, and why, is the first step toward conflict resolution.
by Kelly Cison
It’s a problem that’s not unique to new stylists: “All salons lose guests to attrition,” declares John Benedetto, education director for Global Keratin Hair Taming System. “Without new guests, there can be a significant drop in revenue.” And, as any beauty professional knows, it’s much easier to continuously attract referral guests through satisfied customers than to scramble for a new brand-new clientele after your base has already dwindled. For that reason, innovative salon teams are working together to encourage a steady word-of-mouth buzz.
by Kelly Cison
Hesitant to broach sensitive subjects
with your clients? Never feel tongue-tied again!
Use expert tips from our comprehensive guide to talk
to clients with professional confidence. Most clients will tell you directly their hair concerns—whether she is bored with her cut, tired of fighting the frizz or facing thinning strands, says Joe Santy, a hair professional for 35 years and vice president of education for Dennis Bernard Inc. The best approach for all your clients is to jump-start the conversation during the consultation.
by Kelly Cison
Pivot Point International and its three Chicago-area academies are on the lookout for new, creative talent to begin cosmetology classes in February, March or April 2011.
by Staff
Growing up in Carmel, Indiana, Patrick Mathes was interested in Barbie dolls, playing “house” or “nail salon” with girls from class or the neighborhood, rather than playing with his two brothers.
“Up until sophomore year, I never really cared about school,” he says. “I threw away freshman year and just goofed off.” It wasn’t until Mathes’ mom insisted he get a job that his outlook on life changed. Mathes searched and searched for a good fit—trying desperately to find a job he actually enjoyed. Finally, when he got a job answering phones for his mother’s stylist at a little salon called Bekah’s, he knew he had found his passion.
The first salon Kimble worked in was as a shampoo girl, rinsing manes at her mother’s Trina’s Beauty Supply and Salon, in midtown Los Angeles. As she grew older, she started cutting and styling at Black Hair and More, and Radiantly Raw Barber and Hair Salon, both in Los Angeles.
It began in mountainous Bristol, Virginia, where Sherri Jessee grew up. “I was eleven years old when I started cutting my own hair—I really wanted to have Farrah Fawcett’s feathered hair and going to the salon was just something we didn’t do back then,” Jessee says. “So, I cut off an inch at a time, hoping my parents wouldn’t notice, and slowly began cutting in the layers.” Around the same time, after a “traumatizing” trip to the barbershop with her father, Jessee became the personal stylist for her younger sister, Karen (who now works with her as her salon manager).
As a renowned international platform artist, styling and cutting genius and Hollywood insider, Michael Shaun Corby raises the bar on innovation daily at Alterna Professional Haircare, where he is the Global Creative Director. Prior to joining Alterna, Corby has created fabulous hair that has graced TV, chart-topping music videos, and A-list films. Corby trained under top stylists José Eber and Umberto of Beverly Hills, learning the techniques he would later take to the next level and offer to Alterna salons around the world through his state-of-the-art educational programs.
Whether she’s behind the scenes at a runway show, in front of the camera on Shear Genius 3 or behind the chair doing freelance editorial hair, Faatemah Ampey has star power.
Although she was born in Greenville, Mississppi, Ampey calls Minnesota home. Her parents moved the family to Minnesota at the age of five where, growing up, she always imagined she’d become a doctor or writer. Yet, her mother saw something different in Ampey, even at an early age she expressed an interest in art, writing and self expression.
As a beginner in the industry, no doubt you’ve experienced a time where you felt unsure of yourself, uncertain of your talent and capabilities in the salon—what if I’m not good enough? What if I mess up? What if they leave unhappy?
The truth is, every successful stylist has experienced the fear, the uncertainty and the anxiety. Even the most successful stylists had challenges in cosmetology school, felt the anxiety of servicing their first client, and felt the fear when applying for their first salon job. But they persevered through the challenges. As we often hear, ‘Success is a journey, not a destination’—this expression holds true as we talk to some the industry’s finest about their challenges, their successes and their first salon jobs.
Across the globe beauty is defined differently by various cultures How beauty is taught in international cosmetology schools is very different as well! We talk to Sana Verho, business development manager for Pivot Point Pakistan, about what it’s like to be a beauty school student in a country bordered by China, India and Afghanistan.
The American Association of Cosmetology Schools (AACS) is a network of
more than 900 schools dedicated to providing excellence in beauty education,
and to champion a message of “Beauty Changes Lives.”
Discover how beauty changed the lives of Gill-Tech Academy of Hair Design owner
Sheryl Bruemmer, school director Sandra Wagner and a young woman from
Ukraine, and how their Dream Project is helping to change the lives of others.
Cosmetologists Chicago (CC) and its more than 8,000 salon professional members, enthusiastically invites all cosmetology students to participate in Rising Stars 2011 Hair, Make-up and Fashion Photo Competition JUST FOR STUDENTS!
Nick Arrojo began his career in beauty at Vidal Sassoon in his hometown of Manchester, England, and, after completing the company’s training program at 21, was appointed their youngest-ever assistant creative director.
No one likes to talk about it—but it happens! Whether it’s a cut gone awry, an all-wrong texture treatment or a minor spa snafu, our experts agree the best way to handle a mistake is to just own up to it.
by Kelly Cison
Hesitant to broach sensitive subjects with your clients? Never feel tongue-tied again! Use expert tips from our comprehensive guide to talk to clients with professional confidence.
by Kelly Cison
