Effective, straightforward communication will be critical when difficult clients challenge you.

Before we continue, I want to clarify the difference between a client’s valid complaint and their effort to escape consequences for policy violations. Valid complaints made by unhappy clients should be taken into consideration and acted upon if necessary. However, clients who attempt to subvert your policies are solely motivated by self-interest. In their efforts to escape consequences for their actions, they’ll do whatever they deem necessary to diminish your authority. The following tips will teach you how to confidently assert yourself when confronted by a client who falls into that latter category without compromising courtesy or diminishing your professionalism.

The Ground Rules

• Don’t get emotional. Stay level and neutral. When you get emotional, you give clients the opportunity to get emotional also, causing the situation to escalate out of your control.
• Keep your tone level. Most of our communication is non-verbal. Be very conscientious about the volume you’re speaking at and the tone you’re using. You want to be authoritative—not apologetic or rude.
• Maintain eye contact. Just as eye contact communicates to a person that you’re listening, it can also be used to command their attention and respect. Failing to maintain eye contact will diminish the power of your message.
• Stick to the facts. Many interpersonal communication experts recommend using “I-statements” instead of more accusatory sounding “you-statements.” I-statements communicate your thoughts, feelings, and values. (For example, “I feel disrespected when clients don’t arrive on time.”) You-statements tend to make the listener defensive. (For example, “You are disrespecting me when you don’t arrive on time.”)

Never assume clients care about how you feel.

Those “I statement” approaches may work with your significant other, but they’re not effective or appropriate in a professional setting. Point out your policy and stick to the facts.

• Assume the client doesn’t know better. It can be hard not to get exasperated when you’re trying to explain to an adult why their bad behaviors aren’t acceptable when your reasoning feels so obvious, but give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s your job to communicate your boundaries to them; not to compensate for their poor upbringing.
• Enforce your policies without exception or apology. Policies serve no purpose if you don’t enforce them, or if you enforce them sporadically. Inconsistency confuses and frustrates clients. Once you define your expectations, don’t deviate from them.

Apologizing for enforcing a policy is disingenuous and sends mixed messages. You aren’t sorry, so don’t express remorse.

• Use the formula: Direction, Facts, Consequence, Solution. Tell the client what you expect them to do, explain the reason your policy exists, state the consequences for violating the policy, and present the client with a possible solution. In these scenarios, you’ll learn how the formula works and how to apply it

Scenario 1: The No-Show

“Last week, my client blew off our appointment. She called me five minutes after her appointment time and said she decided to meet friends for brunch instead. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I’m angry and hurt. How do I tell her that this isn’t acceptable?”

Direction: Provide adequate notice of cancellation in the future.
Fact: Late-cancellations leave gaps in your schedule that are often impossible to fill, causing lost revenue.
Consequence: Clients who cancel with short-notice will be charged a fee and will have to reserve future appointments with deposits at the time of booking.
Solution: If she prefers not to commit to appointments, she may call ahead, place herself on your daily waitlist, or walk in and hope for availability.

“In the future, please provide advance notice of cancellation. Late-cancellations leave gaps in my schedule that are impossible to fill, which causes lost revenue. Clients who cancel without notice are charged a fee and will be required to secure future appointments with deposits. If you prefer not to commit to appointments, you’re welcome to call ahead, walk in, or join our daily waitlist.”

Scenario 2: The Late-Arrival

“My chronically late client became upset when I told her I would have to abbreviate her service to stay on schedule. She insisted I either do the full service or discount her bill because I didn’t have time to perform the entire pedicure. What should I do?”

Direction: Arrive promptly.
Facts: As an appointment-based professional, you must remain on schedule. Clients who book appointments reserve billable time, during which, operational expenses are being incurred. Their tardiness negatively affects salon productivity and profitability.
Consequence:Salon policy doesn’t award refunds of any kind to guests who arrive late.
Solution: Like the late-canceller, this client may find it more suitable to call ahead, join the waitlist, or walk in.

“To keep from having an abbreviated service, please arrive promptly for your appointment. Client tardiness affects our ability to remain on schedule, causing delays other customers rightfully consider unacceptable, so delivering the full service isn’t an option. We cannot discount abbreviated services because the time a client books is reserved exclusively for them. During this time, operational and labor expenses are being incurred. If you’d prefer, you’re welcome to call ahead, walk in, or join our waitlist instead of committing to an appointment.”

Scenario 3: The Pushy Ineligible Client

“How do I explain to pushy clients that I can’t serve them if they are ineligible for services? I don’t want to be rude, but I’m uncomfortable being pressured into working outside my scope of practice.”

Facts: You are not qualified to diagnose or treat medical disorders. You are not willing to risk the client’s safety or your professional license by working outside of your scope of practice.
Consequence: Clients who challenge your refusal will be dismissed.
Solution: Should a client wish to be served even after being told they’re ineligible for salon services, they can take their business to someone less ethical, at their own risk.

“I’d love to serve you, but state regulations prohibit nail technicians from treating clients with skin or nail abnormalities of any kind. Doing so would jeopardize my professional license, and I’m not willing to risk my livelihood or your health. You may find a salon willing to perform the service despite the risk it presents, but we care about your wellness more than we care about your money. I’m happy to provide you with a physician reference. When they have determined you’re eligible for salon services, we would love to have you back.”

Scenario 4: The Midnight Caller

“Some clients call and text whenever they please—even on weekends and in the middle of the night. How do I put a stop to it without being rude?”

This situation requires no explanation, just some time spent configuring your phone’s settings and organizing your contacts. Most smartphones come with a “do not disturb” option. (If yours doesn’t, there are dozens of applications you can download that have those features. I personally use Calls Blacklist Pro.) Configure your settings by specifying the hours you’d like to disable calls and text messages. Then, customize your white list by selecting contacts who can bypass the block.

Should a client complain about your lack of communication during off hours, stick to the formula:

Fact: When the salon closes, business ends.
Solution: Clients can expect a response by the next business day.

“We no longer accept business communications after hours. You’re welcome to leave voicemails and send texts. You’ll receive a prompt response when business hours resume.”

When it comes down to it, you don’t owe anyone an explanation for your policies. However, when challenged by a curious or defiant client, you should be able to validate your reasoning in a rational manner, leaving no room for debate.

None of the policies we implement at our salons are arbitrary. Each have logical foundations, intended to protect our salons, professionals, and customers.

We can’t expect clients to do better until they know better, but those discussions don’t have to be confrontational or defensive. Stick to the formula, enforce your boundaries consistently, and you’ll never feel used, abused, or taken for granted by your clients again.

The Policy Creation and Enforcement Pack

This pack includes a 55-page PDF with everything you need to understand why certain policies may be required, who should and shouldn’t implement them, and when and how to introduce them in your salon. The kit includes:

• templates for every salon policy imaginable
• placement and wording recommendations
• scripts for communicating policies
• enforcement tips, and
• enforcement correspondence.

I’ve also provided guidelines for creating and effectively communicating any additional polices your salon may require in the future and a suggested appointment reminder schedule with reminder templates.

“Clients have asked when I’m going to open my own salon. They’re always surprised and disappointed when I tell them it will never happen. I’m ambitious, but those ambitions don’t include stepping out from behind my chair.”

Most people in our industry chose beauty professions–not business professions. Passion for the art of beauty and the nature of the job itself doesn’t often translate to passion for salon management, which requires an entirely different set of skills. Failure to understand that love of the job isn’t the same as love for the business itself is what causes so many enthusiastic salon professionals to become miserable salon owners.

Unless they hire a manager to run their operations, the workday of a salon owner looks nothing like that of a salon professional–a fact too many owners learn after they’ve committed to a venture.

“Business ownership is a big responsibility that most of my previous employers definitely weren’t prepared for.”

A lack of business acumen and managerial skill leads to highly oversaturated markets, “race to the bottom” price wars, and general instability that contributes to the industry’s abysmal attrition and salon failure rates. Very few professionals-turned-owners have any idea how to run a business. This wouldn’t be a problem if these same professionals-turned-owners curbed their impulses for a few years while they obtained the skills and education required, but very few do.

“The trial and error culture that surrounds salon ownership now is making it the unprofessional mess it is in many instances.”
-Ashley Gregory, The Nailscape

Glorifying salon ownership as an ideal career all should aspire to is as ridiculous as promoting the lie that every professional would make a successful salon owner. Only ten percent of people possess the talent to manage. That means for every ten professionals we push this damaging narrative on, only one of them naturally possesses the discipline, motivation, assertiveness, accountability, and decision-making skills required to do the job well. Individuals who lack those talents are far less likely to be successful managers, regardless of the support they receive.

Salon ownership isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay.

A person’s lack of managerial skill has no bearing on their overall success in the beauty industry because our assessments of success are measured objectively. Simply put: success means different things to different people. I don’t know when so many people (both professionals and clients alike) adapted this arbitrary milestone as the primary indicator of career mastery, but it’s absurd, meaningless, and frankly, unrealistic and illogical as anything I’ve ever heard.

The purpose of this article isn’t to discourage all professionals from aspiring to salon ownership in the future–just those who don’t understand what they’re getting into or why they’re pursuing it. If you aren’t willing to do the work and make the sacrifices necessary to run a legal and ethical workplace, don’t. If you can’t be bothered to acquire the necessary education, spend time building a solid plan, or spend money to ensure legal compliance, do yourself a favor find a less stressful, more satisfying way to bankrupt yourself. (Max out some credit cards or something–at least then you’ll end up with a lot of cool stuff when you hit bottom.)

If we’re making salon ownership synonymous with career success, what does that make the estimated 90% of salon and microsalon owners whose businesses fail within the first two years? Failures? How about the professionals who ascend to notorious positions in the industry as platform artists or educators? Are they failures too? I disagree with that. By no means are those non-salon owner professionals “failures,” and while many salons do fail due to the owner’s lack of preparedness or inability to manage, but sometimes it’s nobody’s fault. (The best laid plans of mice and men, right?)

If you dream of becoming a salon owner one day and are committed to doing it well, then work towards it. Do your research, take classes, and gain managerial experience.

If you don’t dream of salon ownership, don’t feel pressured to become something you don’t want to be. Keep doing what you love–and don’t let others define success for you.

Can the client sue you? Sure. Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Welcome to America: the land of the free and the home of the frivolous lawsuit.

Was it legal for the salon owner to disclose your address and contact information without your consent? I’m unaware of any specific law prohibiting it aside from California Civ. Code §1798.81.5, but it certainly wasn’t a smart move, especially when the reason your employer disclosed the information is considered. However, I’m not sure whether or not that information would be considered “private,” since home addresses can often be found through public methods (YellowPages, for example). If your contact information could be obtained by anyone capable of searching a directory, it’s likely not protected by any privacy laws.

Can an employer refuse to take responsibility for the actions of their employee? Typically, no.

Generally, employers are legally responsible for the actions of the employees if the employee is acting within “the course and scope of employment,” which you were, since you were doing your job when the injury occurred. This is called “vicarious liability” or “respondeat superior;” the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate.

In this case, the injury you caused was a known risk of doing business–one the employer was certainly aware of, and should be insured for. Allergic reactions to products are not a new phenomenon in our industry. We’re explicitly warned about them in beauty school repeatedly and all major brands direct professionals to perform patch/predisposition tests on clients in their instructions. At the very least, the employer should have required patch tests prior to any chemical applications.

Both of you knew better, but I ultimately hold you responsible for failing to safeguard this client by not performing your due diligence here. Why do I consider you to be responsible and not your boss?

Without a doubt, a patch test should have been performed, whether or not the employer’s protocols required it.

You consulted with her. As an educated, licensed professional, when the client informed you that it would be her very first color application, you should have performed the patch test and planned to meet twenty-four to forty-eight hours later to evaluate her results. With as fast as she began showing symptoms of an allergic reaction, I’m positive you both would have determined not to proceed with the service, since her skin would have reacted almost immediately.

If you prioritized your income before your client’s welfare, you deserve to suffer the consequences of that decision just as much as your employer.

Luckily for you, a judge probably won’t see it this way and the employer will be held accountable for what I consider to be your professional negligence. For now, all you can do is wait to be served. Let a qualified attorney direct you from there.

Salon owners, if you don’t already have a patch test protocol at your salon, implement one immediately. If you don’t have professional liability insurance, get a policy. (Employees and renters, that goes for you too. Policies are dirt cheap. You can get them from from pretty much ANY professional association at a discount with a membership: The Professional Beauty Association, Associated Hair Professionals, Associated Nail Professionals, Associated Skin Care Professionals–take your pick.) Just keep in mind that a PLI policy might not cover you if you disregard the usage instructions of a chemical product. I’ve run through several major brands (Paul Mitchell, Redken, L’Oreal, Schwarzkopf, Pravana). All specifically dictate that professionals perform proper patch tests.

Don’t let the infrequency of these reactions deter you from making patch testing a priority. Many color allergies are caused by the PPD in the dye. According to this DailyMail article, Julia McCabe slipped into a coma and died after a severe allergic reaction to the PPD in the L’Oreal hair color she used frequently. The coroner in that case said there is a massive gap between beauty industry figures, which suggest four customers in a million suffered such a reaction, and academic research which suggests it was as many as 14%. Here’s another case where another woman, Aurora Figueroa Lumen, died after suffering from an allergy to the ammonia in the dye.

You have no excuse to keep from taking appropriate measures to protect your clients.

I side with the clients on this issue. We’re professionals. We can do better than this, and they deserve better from us.

The cause of the artery dissection? The shampoo treatment.

This absolutely horrified me. Initially assuming it was a frivolous lawsuit based on a loose association of symptoms to a salon experience (bolstered by bogus science and sensationalized media), I did some research.

Turns out that it’s not a joke, or frivolous. This is a real thing that really happens–so often in fact that doctors actually have a name for it: Beauty Parlor Stroke.

Defined as “a cerebrovascular accident that occurs in a woman receiving a shampoo in a beauty salon, caused by bilateral compression of the vertebral arteries, which occurs when the head is tilted backwards over the shampoo sink,” Beauty Parlor Stroke isn’t a new problem. The term was coined by Dr. Michael Weintraub in 1993 when he met five women between the ages of 54 and 84 who developed serious neurological symptoms after shampoos at beauty parlors.

FOUR OF THE FIVE SUFFERED STROKES, LEADING TO PERMANENT NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE.

In June of 2002, The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) performed a study. Researchers found that more than 80% of the 25 subjects used in the study said they suffered neck pain after a simulated shampooing, and 40% experienced dizziness or felt light-headed after extending their necks into the shampoo sink.

THE STUDY SHOWED THAT TILTING THE HEAD INTO THE SALON SINK REDUCES BLOOD FLOW TO THE BRAIN.

In 2006, Marilyn Noonan spent eight days in the hospital on blood thinners after suffering a brain bleed caused by a salon shampoo sink.

A paper from the Department of Neurology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg warns that Beauty Parlor Stroke, “probably occurs more often than assumed.” Since some of these women can go weeks or months before a stroke is triggered (and many aren’t likely to remember their discomfort during the shampoo by then), that statement is a virtual certainty.

If any of your clients complain about the following symptoms, they may have suffered a vertebral artery injury:

• pain in the neck
• dizziness and imbalance
• nausea
• vomiting
• facial numbness
• tingling

These symptoms can be immediate or can be delayed for hours.

Clients age 50 and over are at greater risk, as are those with atherosclerosis, impaired collateral blood flow, and those with congenital vascular hypoplasia.

Dr. Weintraub suggests that elderly people and professionals who care for them avoid prolonged neck arching, hyperextension, or twisting. He recommends that the neck not be arched backward or twisted more than 15 degrees, and urges salon professionals to consider shampooing elderly clients leaning forward instead. Speed and applied force can also cause the problem, so revisit your shampoo practices to ensure you’re not being overly rough.

Use towels or bolsters as padding on your sinks and make sure your clients aren’t stretching their own necks while you work.

Dr. Thomas Hemmen, a neurologist with the UCSD Stroke Center stresses the importance of not staying in a hyperextended position for a long time (ten or more minutes), so don’t leave your client laying in the bowl to process. Bag their heads and have them sit up straight. (In addition to being risky, this practice is unprofessional as all hell. Stop it.)

Another option is to have your at-risk clients with short or fine hair shampoo themselves at home the morning of the appointment and mist them at your station. Personally, I’m not a fan of that method and only utilized it when clients insisted on it. Because I’ve worked for so long with seniors and clients with impaired/restricted mobility, I prefer to shampoo at-risk clients while they’re sitting up using a shampoo tray.

To be sure, shampoo trays come with a litany of issues. They leak and some can’t be secured to the sink. If you’re not very careful, you’ll end up soaking your client’s back. One of the most frustrating things for me (and my clients) was that shampoo sinks weren’t designed to be friendly for clients with neck problems–and a lot of clients have neck problems that rolled towels can’t alleviate. Why haven’t sink manufacturers addressed this? They hit one out of the park a few years ago by bringing us freestanding sinks, but certainly, more can be done.

Shampoo sink manufacturers: please design a functional sink that doesn’t require hyperextension.

Allow all of our clients to sit comfortably. A long, graduated sink bowl would also benefit long-haired clients, whose hair tends to get tangled in the sink and caught up in the drain.

As a fifteen-year industry veteran, I can say with complete certainty that I have never heard of Beauty Parlor Stroke. This is alarming, and something our cosmetology education companies should definitely be printing in our textbooks. (It’s been five years since I reviewed student training materials, so they may have done so by now.)

Have you come across this in your studies? Has anyone you know ever experienced this? What do you think we should do to protect our clients? Let me know in the comments!

In the article, Allure touts the benefits of the “Brazilian” manicure:

• impossibly glossy, impeccably polished nails
• a more intense manicure
• a longer-lasting manicure

Apparently, this fancy Brazilian manicure starts with paraffin and is followed by a scrub. Why would you moisturize before exfoliating? Yeah, I don’t know either and I’m willing to bet most other nail techs are equally clueless since this order of operations doesn’t make any sense.

But wait—it gets better.

The next step is to completely remove the cuticles to “make the surface of the nail completely flat.” How does cutting away all the live, protective tissue from your fingertips equate to “flatness?” Again, I don’t know either, and I’m an industry veteran.

After removing the “inner and exposed cuticles,” this manicurist doesn’t just paint the nail, she paints “the surrounding skin to ensure the polish coats the edge of the nail bed to make the manicure last longer.” (I’m hoping she’s confusing the nail “bed” with the nail “plate,” otherwise, she’s removing a lot more than the cuticles and should probably be arrested.)

The only thing “intense” about this manicure is the infection and ropy scar tissue you’ll develop as a result of aggressive “cuticle” cutting, but apparently, this procedure is a “regimen” that Brazilian girls enjoy weekly from the time they turn thirteen years old.

Does anyone have any data on the prevalence of bloodborne infections being spread via manicure in Brazil–oh wait, nevermind.

This tech and others like her would do well to read my good friend Katrina Lassey’s post, “Dear Clients, Please Stop Asking Me to Cut Your Cuticles.” She writes:

“Did you go to doctor school? Do you have like, a doctor award from being super-awesome at doctor stuff? If the answer is no, then YOU’RE NOT A DOCTOR and you don’t get to decide what’s best for that skin.”

Turns out that New York State feels the same way. Cutting the skin clients commonly refer to as “cuticles” is actually considered a surgical procedure there, and definitely not part of a nail technician’s scope of practice. Last I checked, NYC was very much a part of New York State, so this technician has admitted to performing a procedure that a.) she’s not qualified to do, and b.) is illegal in the state she’s performing it in.

Fantastic. Let’s not even get into the fact that it’s a terrible idea to expose any client’s skin to product, since you can cause contact allergies over time.

Take a lesson from this. Get online and review your state regulations today, and maybe stop reading Allure, since they’re making some questionable recommendations.

Who are these consumers to be so outraged?

The same clients who throw tantrums over $2 price increases.
The same clients who threaten to go to “the place down the street” when we refuse to match their unsustainable prices.
The same clients who expect us to replicate two hours of intricate Pinterest nail art for $5.
The same clients who complain about “rushed” services and “dirty” salons, but balk at the price of a quality service performed by licensed professionals.

We know who “they” are because we’re nail technicians–and you aren’t fooling us.

You have the audacity to preach about how consumers need to become more “socially conscious,” but how can you hope to accomplish social consciousness when for so long you have been so conveniently, selectively ignorant?

Did you really think that anyone was making a liveable wage from your $25 mani/pedi combo? If you’re that deficient in common sense, nothing short of a miracle will bestow upon you the intellectual capacity required to achieve “social consciousness.”

Since, apparently, these recently enlightened clients aren’t capable of doing basic math, we’ll outline the CPS (cost per service) in two different NYC salon scenarios, because ignorant comments like THIS ONE (“A $25 manicure-pedicure is above minimum wage in America.”) need to be addressed by people who actually work in this industry.

First things first: The price you’re being charged is NOT what your manicurist is being paid. In the opinion article linked above, author Diana Furchtgott-Roth seems to believe that by simply moving to a salon that charges more for services, a manicurist is capable of earning substantially more money per service. Does she not recognize that business owners must cover operating expenses, product costs, tools and labor? Unless your nail technician is a self-employed booth renter, the money you pay them is not what they receive–even then, renters cover their own cost-of-doing-business expenses entirely.

In any case, these commentators should stop sharing their severely misinformed opinions.

Discount Salon Scenario
Before evaluating the finances, let’s assume this typical discount salon:
• reuses disposable items
• does not use gloves
• does not disinfect tools or pedicure equipment
• uses the cheapest products available
• only accepts cash payments
• intentionally mis-classifies employees as “independent contractors”

This discount salon charges $25 for a manicure and pedicure (a “generous” amount based on the availability of even cheaper services) and manicurists are expected to really hustle to complete both services within 60 minutes.

For the purpose of this discussion, let’s pretend that this salon violates all federal and state labor laws, as many do willfully, with the exception of paying minimum wage. That is, the salon owner pays the manicurist directly in cash, without accounting for overtime, reporting wages, deducting employment taxes or contributing to it–which is all illegal. In labor alone, the salon owner would be paying $8.75 (minimum wage for New York) for the hour worked.

TOTAL MANI/PEDI PRICE: $25.00
PAYROLL COST: $8.75 (35% of gross sale)
SALON CUT BEFORE OVERHEAD: $16.25

Located in Greenwich Village, this salon has 900 square feet, four pedicure chairs and four manicure stations and costs $5,560 per month (actual price for an actual salon, by the way). It’s open Monday-Saturday from 9am-7pm, making the operation cost $21.38 per hour. So let’s work some more math here.

SALON CUT BEFORE OVERHEAD: $16.25
OPERATION COST PER HOUR: $21.38
SALON CUT BEFORE PRODUCT EXPENSES: -$5.13

The salon operates at a substantial loss before we even account for product, but let’s explore these numbers a little. After all, we don’t expect this client is the only one being serviced during the hour, so we’ll just account for the cost of her individual real estate by dividing the hourly operation cost by the number of workstations.

SALON CUT BEFORE OVERHEAD: $16.25
OPERATION COST FOR ONE WORKSTATION PER HOUR: $5.35
SALON CUT BEFORE PRODUCT EXPENSES: $10.90

In a traditional discount salon mani/pedi service (where disposables are often reused and personal protective equipment like gloves aren’t used at all), the only product expenses are consumable products. After simplifying the product list (no pedicure soak or callus softener), we found the following to be the least expensive:

SpaRedi Scrub [5 gallons] $69.95 ($0.11 per ounce)
ProNail Manicure Lotions, Case [4 gallons]: $29.85 ($0.06 per ounce)

The frugal technician will use one ounce of scrub and a half ounce of lotion ($0.14 total) in a discount manicure service, and one ounce of scrub and 2 ounces of lotion ($0.23 total) in a discount pedicure service. Other consumables like cuticle remover, cuticle oil, acetone and polish are so cheap on a per-service basis that it would be far too tedious to calculate the exact amounts, so we’ll just say together it equates to $0.10. These are obscenely low CPS costs (intentionally unrealistic).

SALON CUT AFTER PRODUCT EXPENSES: $10.43

That looks reasonable and sustainable, right?
Wrong.

We did not account for the:
• time and product(s) needed to clean tools and equipment
• original investment in tools and equipment
• laundering or replacement of soiled towels (standard terry or paper)
• disposables that should be single-use (files, buffers, orangewood sticks, etc.)
• professional or general liability insurance
• worker’s compensation insurance
• business/professional licensing fees
• standard hourly employment tax ($1.02) or taxed overtime pay ($5.38)
• utilities (not included in the rent and likely substantial, particularly during winter).

By the time those expenses have been included, that $10.43 evaporates into a deficit.

Assuming this manicurist works every operating hour the salon is open (60 per week), is being compensated the minimum wage, is consistently booked 75% of the time doing $25 mani/pedi combos and receives a 15% tip from every single client (intentionally being generous here), her weekly gross pay comes to $693.75. (If overtime pay were included and all taxes deducted as required by law, her net pay would be $561.16 per week.) This also assumes that the salon owner is not charging any arbitrary fees or fines, or stealing any tips, both illegal, yet common practices.

Anyone in this industry will testify that there is absolutely no guarantee that you will have a client in your chair for every hour you’re at work. Even in the busiest salons, 75-90% productivity is about the best you can hope for, and maintaining that rate requires constant advertising and internal marketing, which none of these discount salons are doing. This booking rate and the service price that the tip amount is based on are inflated. Even with all the padding and generous overestimating, it doesn’t compute.

If we use these same numbers and evaluate the situation in an exploitative arrangement, whereby the employees are only paid a flat daily rate of $10 per day and the owner is stealing tips, the $25 mani/pedi makes more sense.

With four hyper-efficient manicurists booked at the same rate (75%) and working the same amount of hours (performing 720 mani/pedi packages each month at $25 each), that comes to $18,000 monthly in gross sales and $2,700 in tips–$20,700 total. Once their $10 per day is deducted ($960) and the rent ($5,560), that leaves the salon owner with $14,180 each month–$170,160 annually. As far as discount salons go, this would be considered a small scale operation with only four technicians. If this salon employed 8-12 technicians, owner income could double or triple.

Many discount salons do not carry the burden of a $5,000+ rent, so you can see how in areas that aren’t NYC, the income from these establishments under an exploitative arrangement could be substantial.

We should not be praising exploitative salon owners for providing work opportunities for immigrants any more than we would praise pimps for providing protection and work opportunities to women.

Legal Salon Scenario
We’ll consider the same salon space, but unlike the discount salon, it operates ethically and does not exploit its workers in any way. This salon:
• properly classifies employees for tax purposes and complies with tax and labor law
• distributes tips in full and reports tips as income
• does not reuse disposable items
• requires its employees wear gloves for every appointment
• disinfects tools and pedicure stations
• uses quality products
• accepts all methods of payment, even those with merchant fees

In this salon, manicurists are given 90 minutes to complete both services. For that amount of time, the salon owner would be required to pay at least $13.12 in payroll, plus the required portion of the technician’s employment tax (7.65%). This would come to $14.12 per manicure/pedicure combo service performed. Operating costs for 90 minutes would equal $7.88 (for the single workstation being occupied).

Before product costs, the owner must collect at least $22. Let’s calculate those costs. This salon owner uses LaPalm products, a brand that performs well for the price:
LaPalm Pedicure Scrub [5 gallon]: $109.99 ($0.17 per ounce)
LaPalm Lotion [1 gallon]: $14.99 ($0.12 per ounce)
LaPalm Callus Remover [1 gallon]: $44.99 ($0.35 per ounce)

A technician would use ¾ ounce of scrub ($0.12) and ¾ ounce of lotion ($0.08) for the manicure and 1 ounce of scrub ($0.17), 2 ounces of lotion ($0.24), and ½ ounce of callus remover ($0.17) for the pedicure ($0.78 for both).

We’ll also calculate the costs of disposables because they are not being reused in this salon:
Mini Nail Files Bulk [1000 count]: $99.95 ($0.10 ea.)
Mini Buffers Bulk [1500 count]: $89.95 ($0.06 ea.)
Nitrile Gloves Bulk [1000 count]: $25.23 ($0.05 pr.)
Toe Separators Bulk [1440 count]: $99.95 ($0.14 pr.)

In these disposables alone (excluding disposable slippers), the cost for both services is $0.35 (if using only one file and buffer for both); when added to the LaPalm product cost and the previously estimated $0.10 for additional consumable products, the total is $1.13. (Salon owners, we can discuss how to lower your CPS to this level in another post.)

LABOR COSTS: $14.12
OPERATING COST: $7.88
MATERIAL COST: $1.13
TOTAL EXPENSE: $23.13

So, the ethical salon owner must charge at least $23.13 for a manicure/pedicure combo to break even. This is the bare minimum a budget-conscious salon owner operating properly in this location can charge. This excludes the cost of other expenses like utilities, merchant service fees, profit for the business or a salary for the salon owner. We’re not accounting for the cost of salon equipment, such as the pedicure chairs themselves, which range in price from $3,000-10,000 each and have an average lifespan of 4-7 years ($750-$1400+ per year of ownership). We’re also not counting the monetary and productivity cost of proper disinfection.

Are you starting to realize how ridiculous those $25 combos are, and how supremely stupid you sound when you act so surprised to learn the manicurists sitting across from you are being exploited?

Now that you’ve been confronted with the actual cost of nail services, perhaps now we should conduct an investigation into the apparent epidemic of mass delusion, where seemingly rational adult consumers are incapable of deductive reasoning when ignorance presents them with a financial benefit.

Many traditional (non-discount) salon owners compensate workers on a circumstantially legal “commission-only” basis, whereby the employee is paid a percentage of gross sales–or nothing at all. These percentages range from 30-50% in most salons. An overwhelming majority of salon owners utilizing this system do not comply with minimum wage or overtime laws. Additionally, workers in all beauty industry professions–including hair stylists, makeup artists and estheticians–are generally classified as “independent contractors,” while being treated as employees. Employers do this to avoid paying employment taxes and overtime. To attempt to protect themselves, they require misclassified employees to register as business entities. This also allows them to burden their “self-employed” employees with cost-of-doing-business expenses, such as product, and fine them for “re-dos,” arriving to work late, and other arbitrary infractions. Since most consumers don’t realize this, we evaluated each salon under the consumer’s assumption that the salon owners pay minimum wage.

About Tina

Licensed cosmetologist and beauty industry advocate, Tina Alberino is a trusted resource, providing a wealth of information and personalized advice. Tina’s extensive consulting experience informs her writing, available on her blog, This Ugly Beauty Business, and in a feature column in the Stylist newspapers. Her first book, The Beauty Industry Survival Guide, delivers relevant content in the bold and brazen style that has become Tina’s trademark. Areas of expertise include employment law, tax law, ethical salon management practices and professional development.

About Jaime

Celebrating more than 20 years in the nail industry, Jaime Schrabeck, Ph.D. works as a licensed manicurist and owner of Precision Nails, an exclusive nails-only salon in Carmel, California. Beyond the salon, she serves as Competition Director for Global Beauty Masters, collaborates with Tina Alberino on Nail Tech Reality Check, writes savvy articles, consults with leading manufacturers and other salon owners/manicurists and advises California’s Board of Barbering and Cosmetology.

Since NYT ran the piece and the second part of the investigation regarding the safety of the chemicals we use, Cuomo ordered emergency measures to protect manicurists. Unfortunately, the issues raised in the initial investigation are only a small subset of a much larger list of issues that plague the industry–and the problems are not exclusive to New York, nail salons, or even the beauty industry.

The issues, as I see them, are as follows:

Human trafficking. It’s unfortunate that these issues don’t garner more media attention, but as someone who is actively involved in this industry and has been for the past fifteen years, I do hear about these cases pretty often. Nail salons are used as cover businesses to hide and legitimize income from “massage parlor” prostitution businesses. An investigator with a state human trafficking department told me, “For every one parlor that goes up, six nail salons are required to filter the cash through.” Yes, this does happen. As far as I’m concerned, the scale of it is irrelevant, but up until Craigslist banned the advertising of sensual massage and other prostitution, the breadth of the problem was pretty evident.

If agencies are raiding salons under the guise of a prostitution sting and are finding that other laws are being broken, they’re tasked with enforcing those laws. I won’t make any statement about immigration reform or criticize those laws which I find to be ridiculous, inefficient, or unreasonable, but I will say that any complaints we have with existing legislation will need to be brought to the attention of our local lawmakers. Laws and regulations are birthed out of need. Should we find that those laws are no longer suitable, relevant, or beneficial, we need to demand that they be revised or eliminated. We shouldn’t condemn law enforcement agencies for doing their jobs. Which brings me to the next problem…

Lack of enforcement. In situations like these, the response is generally to “throw legislation at it until it’s fixed,” but if the existing laws and regulations were properly enforced, there would be little need for broader legislation. What is the point of writing and passing these laws if nobody is going to be held accountable for ensuring that they’re being enforced? (Spoiler alert: there isn’t one.) These issues shouldn’t require a national spotlight before they’re made a priority. The laws are written. Enforce them and negate the need for public outcry.

Cultural pride. Elizabeth Nolan Brown, staff editor at Reason.com made a good point. Can’t exploited workers decide for themselves what is and isn’t acceptable? I completely agree, and I can’t even attempt to untangle the psychology of a person who allows themselves to be victimized, but my experience has shown that the Korean and Vietnamese communities, in particular, consider their exceptional work ethic a source of great pride. To report, sue, or otherwise seek retribution against an employer would be considered disgraceful and disrespectful. It’s well known in the industry that Korean and Vietnamese immigrants place tremendous value on the virtues of loyalty and hard work. When combined with their illegal status, these traits make them very easy to victimize and manipulate. In more severe cases, they become easy targets for trafficking and modern slavery. Politics and cultural pride aside, I think we can all agree that basic human rights should prevail and that these people deserve an advocate and these crimes against them must be punished–even if they’re unwilling or unable to report them for whatever reason.

Failure to report. As I said in the discussion, even Americans get victimized. What’s stopping them from leaving and finding another job like any rational person would? After all, they are legal citizens and have nothing to fear, right? We even have systems in place for them to seek reimbursement and to have their employers held accountable for their actions!

I spend a good deal of time educating beauty professionals about their rights and helping them on an individual level, throughout the process of reporting their exploitative employers, but more often than not, after reading a ten page block of text sent by an exploited employee and taking the time to compose a response that includes links to statutes, links to their local authorities, and information on how to initiate the process, the response I receive is, “I don’t want to because…” or “I can’t because…”

Unfortunately, not many professionals are in a position to abandon or decline exploitative employment arrangements. Because these exploitative labor practices are still pretty universal, there aren’t many alternatives to choose from. For example, you would have a very hard time finding a salon that guarantees the prevailing minimum wage. Most operate on a “commission-only” basis that is circumstantially legal at best. Also, unpaid internships are not legal, and are frequently abused, but because students in beauty schools are not taught the intricacies of the FLSA and other legislation designed to protect workers, they don’t know any better. Because these practices are so common, they are often considered “customary,” and the overwhelming majority of beauty workers don’t even realize that they’re being exploited. Wages are stolen through arbitrary fees and tip theft, misclassification is the norm, and employees are expected to endure it on the basis of, “So has it been, so shall it continue to be.”

Let’s make this clear: exploitation, regardless of how rampant it is in our professional community, is a crime. It is illegal. It is punishable. “Well, my employees accept it,” and “Everyone else does it” are not valid defenses. Courts do not distinguish between criminals with good intentions, criminals with bad intentions, and people who become criminals due to their own ignorance of the law.

I have long said that if you continue to accept these practices you only have yourself to blame since, without dissent and refusal, nothing will change. I don’t know about other industries as I have made my career in this one exclusively, but from my perspective the conservative “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” theory fails beauty workers in a substantial way. Most employees in our industry do not have the bargaining power to command higher wages or fair labor practices. Many salon owners have no understanding of basic business economics, so they don’t know how to balance their finances in a way that enables them to properly compensate their workers. American employees, when subjected to typical industry employment abuses, are far more likely to quit and find another job. This cycle repeats until the employee gives up entirely.

While I cannot find the actual statistics on this right now, I’ve been told repeatedly by colleagues that an overwhelming majority of licensees leave the industry within the first five years of being licensed. I’m contacting the PBA to see if they have any real numbers on this, but I don’t need to see figures to know this is true. I am one of two people in my graduating class who still work in this industry. The other 28 are no longer employed in the beauty industry in any capacity (the other one works as an instructor at the school we graduated from–which his father owns).

In my ten years of experience as a salon manager and owner, it was not at all uncommon to see a long list of past positions on an applicant’s resume with durations of one month to two years. Veteran professionals understand that this type of turnover is typical in an industry where income isn’t guaranteed, salon owners typically aren’t business savvy, and wages are frequently stolen.

Is more legislation the answer when current legislation isn’t being enforced? I’ll never understand a world in which rational human beings require written legislation and threat of enforcement to act ethically, but that appears to be the state of things. The employers profiting at their employees’ expense are certainly not going to be making any changes on their own.

On charging fees for training: While charging employees an “entry fee” to gain employment is ridiculous, I do believe that it is perfectly acceptable for a salon owner to charge an employee to learn advanced, marketable technical skills, provided that the training is offered as an elective. The key words here are “advanced,” “elective,” and “marketable.” These skills are techniques that cosmetology schools do not teach, that can give a professional a competitive advantage in any salon they choose to work in. In our industry, these skills would include lash extensions, 3D nail art, hair extensions, and other techniques an average technician would normally have to learn from an independent educator for a fee. The employee should not be forced to participate in this training. If the owner wants to require the employee to be trained in advanced services, they need to bear the burden of that training expense and accept the risks associated with providing training without payment.

On the issue of deregulation: Outsiders often criticize the regulatory measures states impose on our profession, but it’s important for beauty professionals to realize that their opinions are often a direct result of their lack of education regarding the consequences of unlicensed activity. The burden falls to you to ensure that you’re communicating the importance of these standards and licensing requirements.

Without first-hand knowledge, the general public has no idea how much damage an unlicensed professional can do, but those of us who live and breathe this industry see it every single day. Salons and professionals who do not comply with sanitation and licensing requirements are significant public health menaces.

Outside commentators often claim that these regulations and our licenses are ridiculous barriers to entry, designed by a greedy government or a secret shadow agency of schools only interested in maintaining their market relevance, but remember that these outsiders often form their opinions under the false belief that all we do is “paint fingernails.” In reality, there is far more to the profession than that. Proper training is required to protect the public and the technicians who serve them. These standards and regulations were created for a reason, and those reasons are just as relevant now as they were when they were written. Anyone who argues otherwise is severely deficient in industry experience. Provide it.

On “tipping” as a solution: In a follow-up piece NYT published on the 8th, where reader comments were discussed, Sunzari of New York makes a fantastic point: “I’m a little perturbed by those suggesting the alleged abuses, particularly low wages, should be offset by customers tipping generously. How does shifting the burden to consumers help the problem?”

It doesn’t. Nor does tipping more, as there is absolutely no guarantee that the employee is receiving that tip.

Using higher prices as a gauge to determine whether or not a salon is operating legitimately is also invalid. What do you think the first thing salon owners hoping to net “socially-conscious” consumers are going to do to assure those consumers that they’re paying their staff in accordance with the law? Yeah. They’re going to raise their prices, continue violating, and pocket the difference.

I discourage accepting tips. Employees should not be financially dependent on the gratitude of others. Arguments have also been made about the custom being discriminatory. Instead, set your prices to appropriately cover your expenses, including payroll, and tell the clients to keep their change.

General idiocy. So, yeah, my mind went completely blank mid-statement during the panel discussion. The idea was there, fully-formed, and ready to go, but evaporated suddenly. I made it halfway through, at least. (Optimism! Hooray!)

What I meant to say before that anxiety-induced cognitive blackout was that the lawyers, investigators, and state/federal representatives I work with are often shocked when they discover how common these issues are within our profession. Because my area of expertise is exclusive to this industry, I have no idea how common these problems are in other industries, but if the headlines (and my email inbox) are to be believed, labor abuses are going on everywhere, from the smallest independent businesses to the largest corporations. Assigning a task force and making a move to curb criminal activity is a great start, but as long as criminals find it profitable to do so, they will find ways to circumvent it. No easy answer exists.

In a follow-up interview, Sarah Maslin Nir said, “There’s no such thing as a cheap luxury.” I preached the same exact thing at the High Road to Education Event in Las Vegas. Jaime and I have repeatedly made the same statement in our published work, in our professional networking groups, to our consulting clients, and at our public speaking events.

Beauty services are non-essential. You can interpret that one of two ways: either they’re worthless and should be provided for free or they’re valuable luxuries and should be priced accordingly. As a beauty professional, I choose the latter of the two. We cannot run our businesses like charities or treat our careers like self-sustaining hobbies. Unfortunately, this is a fact that consumers and salon owners alike have trouble accepting.

I work with salon owners to balance their budgets and establish prices and compensation systems that make financial sense. The basic mathematics are the same that apply to every business–keep overhead as low as possible and keep the process as efficient as possible. Owners are often shocked when I tell them what their prices will need to be to ensure their staff are properly compensated and their overhead is met. It’s anywhere from double to triple what the discount salons charge.

The outrageously low prices you see in discount salons aren’t sustainable, even by cutting corners, so you can safely assume that not only are workers in these establishments being exploited, but the salon owner’s real money is likely being earned elsewhere and the salon itself is serving to facilitate that illegal activity. (Although I’m certain some people may interpret that as a blanket statement, I can assure you that I don’t mean to imply that every discount salon is a front business, just that mathematically, in high-cost metropolitan areas where retail space costs several thousands per month, the numbers rarely add up.)

Market economy defined. No salon owners like hearing this, but we live in a market economy (for the most part–but I refuse to talk about economic politics here, we’re just addressing the principle of market demand and consumer choice). The nature of business is that consumer demand ultimately determines whether or not your profession, service, or product is relevant to their needs. If salons raise prices to the level required to make them valid, law-abiding, profitable establishments, the market will either accept those prices or reject them. If they choose to reject them, our businesses will fail–as they should. The market will have spoken. Consumers vote with dollars. The key to survival is evolution. Find new ways to be relevant and profitable; don’t undercut your workforce and sacrifice quality.

In conclusion: I won’t pretend that I have a solution for the human trafficking or the use of nail salons as front businesses, but there are some very simple, state-level changes that can be made to virtually eliminate the more common forms of labor exploitation that wouldn’t require much on behalf of the states themselves.

• First, schools could be required to teach modules that warn of common illegal industry practices. Questions regarding these issues can be included on the state board examinations.
• The IRS guide to Barbering & Cosmetology should be included with every license renewal packet.
• Everyone who applies for a business license should be required to sign a document stating that they’re aware of their rights and obligations as employers–and that they’re aware of the consequences for failing to comply. You cannot point the finger at an employer for failing to follow your rules if your rules are difficult to access and challenging for an average person to comprehend. No employer deserves to be blindsided.
• When a complaint is made and an owner is found to have violated the laws they’ve acknowledged understanding of, the response should be immediate and severe.
• The channels for reporting offenses should be easier to access and navigate.
• The states should be maintaining their websites and updating them within 24 hours of a legislative change. (I don’t know about other states, but Florida sends me reminders to remit my sales and use tax. I can’t imagine that it would be much more difficult for them to send out email notifications when their expectations of me have changed.)

Will these changes eliminate these problems entirely? Hell no. Will it help? Definitely.

Jaime and I are discussing the possibility of conducting another discussion that will address all aspects of these industry issues, including chemical exposure. I’ll update you on that when we’ve set a date for it.

However, this practice of putting a focus on the products you offer instead of your professional ability and your brand’s value is a poor strategy, and here’s why:

•  The brand isn’t your brand. Our businesses are service businesses. Products are the tools and mediums we use to facilitate the execution of those services. Our advertising should revolve around our product, not the tools we purchase from brands that we have no stake in or control over.

• You are more than the product you apply. Marketing the product line instead of yourself misplaces the focus and undercuts your professional ability. Don’t undervalue your expertise and education by placing your value on a product line’s label. Generate loyalty through expert service execution, otherwise clients may falsely believe you can be easily replaced by anyone utilizing that product line.

The product doesn’t “make” you, you “make” the product.

• Brand recognition is a double-edged sword. Another reason putting the focus on the product is a bad strategy has to do with public perception of that brand. Sure, Dermalogica has earned a substantial following of loyal clients—but what about those clients who have had bad experiences with bad estheticians and wrongfully place the blame for that poor experience on Dermalogica?

The same concept applies to lines in all professional arenas. It doesn’t matter how much they love your portfolio, clients who falsely believe “Redken color melted my hair,” aren’t going to be patronizing a Redken-exclusive salon because they attached their negative experience with a piss-poor stylist to the product line that she used to jack their hair up instead of placing that blame where it rightfully belongs—square on the shoulders of the professional who made the mistake to begin with.

• You are the professional. This may sound harsh, but as a professional, I don’t believe it’s the client’s business (nor do they have a right) to dispute the quality of the professional products we use or demand that we accommodate their requests for a particular product unless they have an allergic reaction or other medical sensitivity to justify that demand. We’re the professionals. We invest a substantial amount of time and money into our education. We train with these products, we research them, and we keep ourselves informed about reformulations and other developments in product technology.Unless the client is an informed, licensed, currently-practicing professional themselves, they don’t have the right to pass judgment on a professional product’s capabilities.

Clients who question or debate your product decisions are clients who likely don’t trust your professional abilities.

For this, you can blame other professionals who attached their value to their chosen product lines instead of putting the client’s focus on their skills and knowledge.

“What products do you use?”

When new clients show more interest in your products than in your portfolio, have a response ready that places the focus back on your professional skills.

“I use a variety of high-quality professional lines, choosing which are best for you based on your lifestyle and individual needs.”

Explaining to your clients what you’re using and why as you’re performing their service so they are better educated on your methods is a fantastic practice, but those products are your selections to make as the professional, and they should be taking a major backseat to your capabilities.

Any explanations you provide should be delivered to enforce your value and expertise; not to distract from it.

“I want you to use my preferred product line. Nothing else works.”

It’s one thing for a client to request a cool new product or technique to try it out, but if theyre going to sit in my chair and try to tell me that the tools or products I use are “damaging” based on an experience they had with some license-carrying butcher who didn’t know her ass from her e-file, we’re going to have some words.

Do not invest in new products to satisfy demanding clients.

Instead, ask them why they feel they prefer that product line. What qualities did they like about it? Clients tend not to know about the wide variety of professional products available, nor do they keep informed about advancements in product technology or professional techniques. Use their request to aid in your consultation. Explain to them how you can give them exactly what they’re asking for–without catering to their hilariously unreasonable demand that you invest in a new range of products just for them.

Should they still insist you buy into a new line, be firm in your refusal. (Typically, this kind of stubborn behavior is indicative of a problematic client.) My recommendation is to tell the client that they are welcome to find another professional willing to cater to their demands. I won’t be told how to do my job and neither should you.

When Loyalty Isn’t a Virtue

In the past, professionals and brands alike tended to honor a mutual loyalty, with professionals only utilizing professional-only brands, and brands only providing their products to professional salons. However, that changed, and in my opinion, professional-exclusive lines are going to become a thing of the past.

Now, brand loyalty tends to be one-sided, with professionals pledging devotion that isn’t returned.

This disloyalty on behalf of our product lines may not turn out to be a bad thing, mostly because professionals will have no choice but to return the client’s attention to their actual value, instead of standing on a pedestal slapped with brand names.

Why wait to separate? After all, hasn’t the day when it stopped making sense already arrived? Clients can now purchase virtually any professional product they like from their smartphones, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s completely fine. The square footage salon owners used to devote to failing retail sections can now be devoted to an additional station–after all, those services are the products of our brands. In the age of e-commerce, retail has become nothing more than window dressing and yet another chore. How many of you actually want to compete with Walmart, Target, or Amazon?

To expect a brand to be loyal to you is unreasonable and unrealistic, especially when you are not likely to be a faithful partner yourself.

What about you? Are you using your brands as a crutch? Do you think it’s beneficial to promote the products you use instead of placing a hard focus on your professional abilities? Tell us in the comments!

Before I go into the particulars on how to tactfully refuse a troublesome client service, I want to make it clear that those crazy people are the exception; not the norm.

It’s very rare that you’ll come across a client who will make you want to rip up your license and pursue another career.

For every one of those clients out there that make you wonder why you chose to work in this industry, a hundred others will make you remember, so don’t hang up your shears over that occasional nutcase. If this is an article you find yourself referencing more than two or three times in your career, you may want to reevaluate yourself and the way you do business. (Sometimes it’s not everyone else.)

Client Termination Protocol

1.) Speak to the client in person, if possible.

Do not send a letter or email. You can’t text message breakup either. This is something that needs to be discussed face-to-face if possible, or at least over the phone.

2.) Express your gratitude for their business, even if you don’t necessarily mean it.

This client has driven you mad. They’ve been responsible for more than one crying fit on your part.

The client has to go, but that doesn’t mean you have to lower yourself to their level.

The first thing out of your mouth after, “We need to speak privately,” needs to be, “First, I want to thank you so much for your business.” Soften the blow that follows.

3.) Drop the hammer.

Make it clear in that there is absolutely no chance of reconciliation. Sound like a breakup? It is. Try to make it seem like it’s their decision.

“I feel like I am not meeting your needs. I think another professional would be a better match for you and you deserve that. We’re having trouble communicating and while I do appreciate your business, I really want for you to be happy.”

4.) Suggest another salon.

Give the client somewhere to go. Have one of their business cards and brochures in hand.

This client may be your nightmare, but they might just not like you.

This client might be a complete pleasure to be with when they’re paired with the right professional. So, hand the client the card and say, “I suggest you try a this place. They’re a great establishment and I think you’ll prefer them.”

5.) Apologize.

“I am so sorry that this hasn’t worked out and that I couldn’t give you what you were looking for.”

Let the client know that you’re sorry things didn’t work out between you, even if you aren’t.

6.) Send them on their way.

Thank the client for their business again and tell them to have a great day. The end.

…but what if it’s not the end? What if the client gets confrontational or offended?

7.) Let them know that not all professionals and clients are compatible.

We don’t always love every client. We’re people and not all of us mesh. If you don’t feel compatible with the client, let them know.

8.) “But WHY?”

If the client doesn’t understand why, tell them. Don’t get nasty, just tell the client how they make you feel and what it is they do that makes you feel that way. There is always the slight possibility that they have no idea what they’re doing, or how it’s affecting you.

If they beg for a reason, give it to them.

How to Filter Out Problematic Clients

Wouldn’t it be awesome if there were a way to discourage crappy clients from ending up on your books in the first place? There is!

The Policy Creation and Enforcement Pack includes a 55-page PDF with everything you need to understand why certain policies may be required, who should and shouldn’t implement them, and when and how to introduce them in your salon. The kit includes:

• templates for every salon policy imaginable
• placement and wording recommendations
• scripts for communicating policies
• enforcement tips, and
• enforcement correspondence.

$19.99Add to cart

I’ve also provided guidelines for creating and effectively communicating any additional polices your salon may require in the future and a suggested appointment reminder schedule with reminder templates.

Have you ever fired a client? How did it go? Tell us in the comments!

Your goal should be to leave on good terms so that your prior boss will be willing to serve as an excellent reference. The better the conditions under which you leave, the more likely that owner is to refer your loyal clients to your new place of business. You also want to leave the door open in case you discover that your greener pastures aren’t as green as they seemed and you wish to return. (You never know, right?)

1.) Make sure you’re ready to walk.
You’re going to give 2 week’s notice in your resignation letter, but be prepared for your salon owner to decline it and send you packing as soon as she’s done reading it. If you haven’t yet found a place to go, make sure your resume and list of references are updated. (Walking into a business and asking for an application is tacky. You’re a grown up, not a high school student looking for a part-time job at the mall. Bring a damn resume.)

2.) Protect yourself and your clientele.
If you’re a booth renter, or if you didn’t sign a contract regarding how the clients are to be handled in the event of a termination or resignation, you need to follow this step. Do not breathe a word of your intention to quit in the salon before you’ve handed in that resignation letter. Read this post about whether or not it’s appropriate for you to take your client data before you do anything. If it is appropriate for your situation, the day before you give the resignation letter to your boss, bring your client book (if you have one) home with you and do not bring it back to the business. I’ve seen a lot of salon owners steal client books that they had no right to claim. (Salon owners, if you’re looking for information on how to ensure departing employees have no legal right to take client data with them, read this post.)

Protect your clientele.

3.) Do your research and have a plan.
The last thing you want to do is spend the next week researching salons and applying. Do the research first. Make a list of places you want to work, regardless of whether or not they’re hiring. Keep a list with the names of the businesses, their addresses, the names of the owners, and their contact information (phone/email). This shortens your “search” time and the time you have to wait for responses. Instead of spending several days looking, you can dress to impress and spend one day hitting the places on your list. Get copies made of your cover letter, resume, and reference lists so all you have to do is walk in, drop them off, and if the owner is available and willing to see you for an interview, you’re all set to go.

4.) Type a letter of resignation.
“[TODAY’S DATE]
[MANAGER’S NAME]
[SALON/SPA NAME]
[COMPANY ADDRESS]

Dear Mr./Ms. Manager or Owner,

Please accept this letter as my two-weeks notice of resignation. My last day of work will be [LAST DAY].

While I have been very satisfied at [SALON/SPA NAME], I have decided to make this move to advance my career. I have enjoyed working with you and appreciate the opportunities I have been given here.

Please let me know if you need my help in any other way.
Sincerely,
[SIGN HERE]
[YOUR NAME]

5.) Make an appointment with the owner or manager to discuss your resignation.
Don’t just drop the letter on their desk and walk out. Make an appointment to speak with the owner or manager and hand it to them during that meeting. They may want to know more about why you’re resigning.