Very Cool Long Hair News

Hi all,

I was interviewed this past week by one of the largest beauty industry publications that is read mostly by hair and spa professionals. The article w/ my interview is scheduled to appear in the next two-three months. The cool thing about the article is that it is written to help stylists learn to better meet the needs of their clients.

The writer asked me (as a consumer hair care advocate) to list the top hair concerns that consumers have when going to the salon based on HairBoutique.com feedback. I told the writer that one of the top concerns that I hear constantly from all types of clients is that the stylist will cut too much hair or not listen closely to what the client wants. The writer captured my information about how stylists need to be respectful especially to never cut more hair than the client wants cut.

I received a copy of the final article that will appear in the magazine by the fact checker and I was thrilled to see that the writer pointed out that it is a bad business practice to ever cut too much hair.

The writer recommends, in the article, that salons also start catering to long hair clients as well as short hair clients. She recommends that stylists start making published public pledges that they will not ever cut more hair than the client wants. The writer also recommends that the stylists follow this pledge very strictly when working on long haired clients to gain their trust and respect.

Of course I am not sure how many stylists will take this article to heart and become more respectful of long haired clients, but I think that if even a few stylists stop and become more thoughtful of long haired clients we are all on the right track.

I am very excited because this magazine is truly written for stylist and spa professionals. If this article says one long haired person from losing unnecessary hair I will feel like I helped in some small way. :-)

Best wishes,
Karen

Awesome, Karen! Well done.....

Chris

Good to see you here too, Karen.... :o)
And I`m sure we all do our bit to promote the long hair cause day in day out, just being being our hairy selves...and sometimes we manage a little more than that, like you just did. Really very cool!

Doing great here, thanks (and my hair isn`t doing so bad either); hope you (and yours) can say the same!

Take care,
Chris

Thank you Karen! I`ve had too many of those traumatic beauty shop visits... my hair would probably be about ten inches longer if it weren`t for scissors-happy stylists. The only one I ever trusted was a lady who worked at a discount hair-cutting place in the mall. Her hair was even longer than mine! But we moved and I`ve been cutting my own hair since then.

guywithbraids wrote: Hi Karen, I totally agre with you. I just hope that the article is READ by stylists and acted upon. I finally found a stylist who just trims my hair (and styles it occasionally). I would do anything for her. She is great. The best thing about her is that she LISTENS and does what I would like, NOT what she wants to do. She does give advice, and sometimes I take it, sometimes not, but she knows it is MY hair, not hers. Nice to hear from you again Karen. Dana

Hi Dana,

I didn`t know that was you. So good to see you here. :-) What have you been up to? How is your hair doing? Sounds like you are taking great care of it, as always.

I really think that the article will make a difference. Stylists are becoming very aware that consumers are becoming empowered about their hair wants and needs. I hear that all the time from the stylists I interview for HairBoutique.com. The smart ones want to cater more to the consumers but in some cases they don`t know what to do. So when the writer from the salon magazine called me she said that the top question from stylists was "what do consumers really want". Well luckily they asked me to share.

I actually sent them copies of the top emails I received last year (with names & all identification removed of course). Last year I received over 90,000 emails (I still have them all) with hair questions/problems. So the salon mag editors figured I must have some idea of what consumers wanted from stylists. :-)

The article is actually a two parter and the second part will be the stylists sending in letters to me that may be published in the magazine as well as on HairBoutique.com. It should be very educational for everyone.

I think most stylists do want to do the right thing. We just need to teach them. And yes...there are some maniac scissor happy control stylists but I think like everything in life, they are the minority. The key is finding the stylist that honors your wishes for your hair. :-)

Best wishes,
Karen