This post brought back to center how personal hair care has become and how important the conversation is about the experience and the lessons learned. The fact is, women are getting educated and many feel obliged to share what they have learned based on their own success or failure. There is just as much pride in home hair care as there was when you used to walk out of a salon feeling like a million bucks and spending just as much.
The real issue might be that salons are faced with the challenge of fewer clients with the same or higher bills. If we are calling a spade a spade, attracting business is not as easy as it used to be because of information sharing, education and the popularity of DIY. Local movie and music stores are closing down because many more of us prefer to download our entertainment these days, so the problem of attracting customers is felt across the retail industry.
All is not lost however, now is the time for innovation in the salon industry and a great place to start is to work with the shifts in hair care rather than against it. Most women have made the decision to save that money and do everything themselves which has left some salons with nothing but a funky bottom line and a misdirected twitter tantrum.
For example if women like mixing yogurt and honey* at home for their hair, it couldn’t hurt to have a tub of Chobani on chill at the salon, and don’t forget to call the treatment something fancy, we like fancy!
Another example would be product manufactures embracing the value of the ‘cowash*’ and creating cleansing conditioners to tap into that market, again recognizing the shifts and trying to compensate where they can. Better education for stylists about taking care of natural hair would be even better, we don’t ever want to suffer the injustice of a small tooth comb* on our curls again!
Additionally this suggestion might be a stickler, but invite bloggers or vloggers to your salon and tell them to bring their supporters if they like what they see. There is no better way to advance your own professionalism than through constructive teaching of what you have learned ensuring that the conversation remains consistent.
To answer Bella’s question, can a regimen be deemed sensible if it is not rooted in science and education, the answer is no, education is a valuable part of any regimen and even more so now than ever. The only difference is that now we are not holding every stylist on a pedestal as someone who will help us grow our hair long, lest we forget that it is because of some stylists that a lot of us started our healthy hair journeys with short damaged hair.
Women know that now and seek knowledge in any way they can and from all available sources, so blogs are every bit as relevant in our modern world as professional stylists are. The truth of the matter is that until majority of stylists reach a level where we as consumers feel that they are helping rather than hindering our healthy hair journey’s, even those of us with disposable income will choose the DIY route to healthier longer hair.
I would love nothing better than an experienced pair of hands in a quality salon handling my wash day every other week but can I trust the head stylist of my local Curl Up & N’ Dye salon? I’m not so sure.
What are your thoughts on Camille Reeds comments and do you think great regimens can be built without knowledge of hair science and education?
I’m sick of hair bloggers they make ‘tickling’ claims I’d much rather the professionals than the bloggers. Bloggers in my eyes are only good for styling. Not much else. They became experts in their hair not hair in general. If they aren’t pro I don’t wanna know
people confuse professional with educated, there are so many “professional” hair stylists out there who weren’t educated on the science of Black hair, this is why many don’t like to handle kinky hair. And this is why most can’t event properly take care of relaxed hair. I feel the educated ones should be more vocal online. But regardless, word of mouth trumps any form of advertisement. I am grateful to the vloggers who have helped me with my hair journey.
I was angry when a so called professional natural hairstylist adviced women at a hair show to use listerine to wash their hair when it starts to smell. Has she ever heard of a shampoo?
http://themanecaptain.blogspot.ca/2013/08/reasons-why-i-cant-afford-to-go-to.html