Walmart for hair??

Yesterday on top of a full book of back to back appointments I had one final appointment to do a consultation for a removal and re-installation of hair extensions. I had my reservations about taking this appointment as the person on the phone kept  talking over me and trying to get me to commit to a reduction in my pricing structure. However as usual I let my intuition be overruled and booked her.

Almost as soon as she walked in the door I knew I should have listened and told her to move on as my intuition had suggested. The salon I work in is very elegant, quiet and private as we service numerous clients who have a need for privacy because of hair loss issues.

This young woman walks in, helps herself to a stack of hair extension products located at another stylists station, and starts playing with them. I told her that the piece she was throwing on her head at the time was $1400.00 worth of hair hoping she would get the point that we are not Wal-mart, and we do have a protocol. Unfortunately she did not get that point and proceeded to try on wigs over her obviously dirty hair.

As soon as I finished my client I asked her to be seated and looked at her existing extensions, a feeling of horror over came me, and must have shown on my face. The extensions were dread locked 3-4 inches down the hair shaft with bundles of 3-5 extensions in each dread lock. Knowing what I do about hair extensions I knew this woman was in grave danger of losing her hair in the dread locked areas. I tried to explain this to her and tell her that hair extensions MUST be maintained properly, or severe damage can result. She continued to make excuses as to why she had not gone back to the person who installed the extensions, and I admit I lost my patience with her. I told her that I did not think we would be able to work together and get along, and with that she went off on me telling me I had poor customer relation skills. I quickly backed off and tried to recover the situation by telling her I was angry at the person who installed the extensions and that she should have been informed about taking better care of them...

She then proceeded to ask how much I would charge her just to take them out, but by this time nothing in the world would have made me take this job on. She also tried to tell me that this was not a big deal, the previous person only took a couple of hours to get the knots out. This of course told me she did know of the risks involved with extensions and she would not follow directions again...

And so we ended our consultation with her,( I am sure) feeling abused, my feeling uncertain of how I could have handled this case better.

After thinking this through, I do feel as though I was with in my rights to tell her the things I did, having hair additions is a commitment to taking good care of them and one's hair. Going to someone who works out of her home, as this woman did, can only result in a disaster. I did not tell this woman that it is unlikely she will find a professional who will take her on, as anyone with the skills and know how should be busy enough that they do not need to take on problems like this. And, the particular extension this woman had installed requires a specially made tool to remove them that is expensive and not all hairstylists will have.

My best word of warning? Don't go to Wal-Mart when you need a Nordstrom installation. If you really want hair extensions, save your money, find the best expert you can, then keep your mouth shut and listen. You will be happier in the long run.