My No nonsense Approach To Salon Appointments

It’s that time again to head to the salon! Personally, I don’t go to often because 1. I can do my own hair and 2. I don’t like being on other people’s time.

But hey! I wanted to do something different to my natural hair. I love rocking the Afro puffs, flat twists, and perm rod sets. However, I wanted to do something to get my hair flat ironed.

I mean, if I knew how to flat iron* my hair without wanting to stop half way through because I have too much hair or I fear I will burn my hair, I would…but I just can’t. So I’m heading the hairdresser (who I see ‘maybe’ twice a year) to get my flat iron* done.

Now, this is not an article on how to enjoy your time at the salon or different types of conversations to have with your hairdresser about the health of your hair. This article is specifically about things a hairdresser would do that tells you to “leave now!” I’m so serious right now when I say this: you should NEVER sacrifice the health of your hair for a style.

Never! It is totally not worth it. And just for the record: when you go to the salon, your hair dresser is YOUR employee. That’s right! You are paying her for her services. And if you are not comfortable with the service…let her know or get up and leave.

So here I am taking notes from the beginning of my hair appointment until I got home. Please take my experience as a warning and caution to all, not everyone knows how to do natural hair. And I got sucker punched because I did not even take my own advice. So here we go with things a hairdresser would do that says “leave now!”

Your appointment does not start on time

I can understand that life happens and you may start 5 or 10 minutes late. But having another person in the chair during my time is an absolute NO-NO and highly unprofessional.

I mean, if you had another person in the chair, just text me and tell me so. I’m on time, but I don’t get in the chair until 45 minutes after. Just tacky!

There is no communication about your hair

I don’t think my hairdresser asked me one question about my wants and needs for my hair, so I literally had to walk her through what I preferred for my hair.

However, it seemed like she was still taking everything as an open interpretation for being ‘creative.’ It is best to have a hair consultation before your appointment if you are unsure in the hairdresser’s abilities to do your hair.

Know what products she is planning on using from the shampoo to the leave-in conditioner*. You don’t want her to ‘miscommunicate’ that you wanted a deep conditioning* treatment and she puts relaxer in your hair.