Life After Lockdown - Inside the head of a Hairdresser

by Lyndsey - Salon Promotions Educator

As we start to think about life after lockdown, and with the possible date of 4th July finally getting closer (fingers crossed) I thought over the next few weeks I would write a little blog to cover some key points to consider when we are finally allowed back in salon, doing what we love most, and how to tackle them already 10+ weeks roots!

As with so many of the country, my life has changed so much over the past 10 weeks. In between renovating a house, watching my 8 year old do her 20th Tik Toc of the day and realising I can’t help my 10 year old as I have no idea how to subtract decimals with a different number of decimal places (God help me when she goes to high school next year and I truly believe teachers need a medal!) I managed to get 10 minutes to myself to drink a hot coffee ?

As I enjoy the silence, I got thinking…….

I ran my own amazing salon, and had a great team for over 8 years, and if I were still there now, how would we have dealt with the changes? So many questions ran through my head as I am sure it is the same for everybody. Questions like

• What is the new "normal" going to be like?
• How are we going to handle booking everyone back in?
• What is the fairest way to book appointments?
• Have my clients coloured their own hair?
• Have they attempted a root touch up but done a full head and now I have a denser colour on the ends?
• Have they picked the wrong shade and now have ‘glowing’ roots?
• Have my blonde clients tried to lighten their roots and are now canary yellow?
• How much banding am I going to have to deal with?
• Have they been well behaved and not been tempted, but now have twice the regrowth as usual? (remember, some clients will have already gone 6 weeks and would have been due in the salon as Lockdown began, so their regrowth will currently stand at 16 weeks ☹)

All these questions were running through my head, and I am certain I’m not the only one.

Miraculously, my daughters are getting along, practising their new online dance routine set by their amazing dance teacher, so I thought it would be a massive help to everyone to jot down some key points to consider over the next few weeks when tackling some issues we most certainly will come across are allowed back into salon.

CONSULTATION IS KEY

Consultations are one of the most vital parts of the hairdressing service (now more than ever). You need to know exactly what your client has used (if they have given in and ran straight to Boots filled with dread at the thought of walking around the house for the past 10 weeks looking like Worzel Gummidge). There are so many factors that we need to consider. Remember, the consultation is where the magic happens. Its' where we can set expectations. It’s where your clients tell you what they would like the end result to be (remember, they’ve had 10 weeks at home. They have had the time to scroll through Instagram and Facebook and may now want a change. They may have coloured their own hair and might actually like the change. The most important bit….. it is where we find out if anything is going to jump up and surprise us during the colouring service.

Whenever myself and the rest of the amazing Salon Promotions education team are in salons, consultations are one of the biggest things we focus on, and we use the following guidelines:

• ND – Deciding the hairs natural colour to access the natural undertone
• % White – Helps us decide which brand to use
• Texture – The diameter of a single strand of hair, generally referred to as thin, medium or coarse
• Porosity – The hairs ability to maintain moisture. In normal hair, the cuticle scales overlap, but allow some moisture to penetrate the hair. In resistant hair a compact cuticle layer has tightly overlapped scales and repels moisture. With porous hair, the cuticle scales are raised and moisture passes easily into and out of the hair shaft.
• Density – The density of hair is determined by the number of active hair follicles per square inch of the scalp, and determines how much colour we will need during the service.
• Previous Colour – Super important! Our clients may have been with us years, but if they have tried to do their own hair during Lockdown, we need to know about it
• Target Shade – What your clients want. Do they love what they’ve always had? Are they wanting a change?

I know when we return to work our new ‘normal’ is going to be different, but if we get this first part right, we’re on to a winner!