This post may shock some of you. It may throw you into an irate, foaming mouth rampage like never before, but I encourage you to just hear me out before you launch into a firey attack. I have a theory about all these people on social media who have unrealistic expectations surrounding pricing in our industry and it starts with us (hairdressers) about 10 - 15 years ago. It was around this time that people started setting up home salons. Before that, some hairdressers would cut family and friends hair in the kitchen. It was a social, family affair and your brother was probably out the front giving your car an oil change as payment. It wasn't a "business", it was just what you did. (Not me though. I've NEVER done hair at home. It gets everywhere.) Suddenly, hairdressers decided to set up a little salon at home. With 1 chair, a portable basin, in a garage, spare room or even a laundry. Things have changed now and there are loads of these set ups. There's generally 2 types of home salons and they are made up from the 4 assumptions below. Some are fancy and some are not. Some are legit and some are not. Let me ask you this; Would you respect and maybe even have something done by a plastic surgeon who conducted surgery from his home, even though he had a fairly swish set up? No? What about having your car spray painted by someone who did all of his work in his shed out the back of his house? No? What about a sandwich shop, restaurant or a cafe that operated from their own home? Hhmmmm.... No again huh? If you are COMPLETELY honest (even if it's hurting you to do so) you would not expect great, professional service from any of the businesses I've mentioned above. And even if you did take your business there, you'd be expecting a bargain basement price. I'm not saying that they wouldn't offer a brilliant service or that home salons are dodgy hairdressers because, that is simply not true. Some are AMAZING hairdressers and so professional. But once the salons went home, it changed societies opinion of our industry. All I'm saying is that, it has lowered people's perception of our value as professionals. I own a salon in a suburban part of Sydney with around 12,000 residents, 4 salons, 1 barber shop, 1 bank and a little supermarket. In my small town there are over 10, (TEN!) of these "home hairdressers." They don't affect my business as we are a professional shop front, have had between 20 and 30% growth in turnover year on year for the past 5 years. In fact they give us a few clients, when the outcome isn't what was expected and we fix it. But where they do hurt us is that they are dropping the professionalism of the industry. When people can get haircuts for $10 or $15 or a "full head" of foils for $50, it confuses clients by not creating "worth" in our industry. It's allowed 1st, 2nd and 3rd year apprentices to do hair from home and it's socially acceptable. Well, it's not! You then have the other home salons that have set up at home because of having kids or shit bosses or want to be their own boss but can't open a proper shop front due to lack of money, time or know how. These guys are lowering the standards by simply having a home salon. No matter how fancy it is, or how amazing or how many chairs, you are still conducting a paid "professional" service at home. As stated above with other professions, whether you wish to admit it or not, it's hard to respect a "profession" that is done in a spare room at home. Or worse. Your shed. Somewhere, the line between hobby and professional salon have been blurred and what is suffering is the respect in our industry. So when you have someone on social media asking for bridal hair for $30 or a haircut for $10 or a colour correction for "cheap, less than $80".... All that started when hairdressing went home. Comments are closed.
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