A day in the life….of a stylist

For anybody wondering how the working life of a hairdresser might be, here is a snippet from a day in the life of one of our team.

The list of jobs that a stylist will carry out throughout the day are endless.

Hairdressing is not just cutting and styling hair!

How the day starts

To start the day, coffee is the drink of choice in our salon…much needed to give us a boost of energy.

Before any clients arrive, a list of services for each stylist will be printed out and a rough action plan prepared. Where colours can be pre-selected, they will be gathered and any foils that might be needed are cut and left ready to use.

When a client arrives at the salon, they are greeted by the receptionist or another team member.

They will be gowned up and then seated ready to have a consultation with their stylist.

They will then be taken to the basin for a hair wash or be covered up and prepared for colour.

Our team members will talk to their customers about many various subjects and often are told secrets or personal information – offering advice if need be.

Hairdressers have to know and understand chemical formulas and know how to dispose of excess or left over tint and lighteners safely and correctly.

They will make tea and coffee and sweep and tidy the salon whilst always remembering to look after the customers.

They will clean throughout the day and chat to each and every client with very different personalities and sometimes their problems!

Once the hair service is finished and hopefully they leave happy with a new and fresh look, the whole process will start again.

When someone is fully booked, this will happen about ten times per day, 4-5 days a week.

The skills you need

The list of skills needed are extensive and hairdressing as a career is not for the faint hearted.

However, if you think you’ve got what it takes, it is the most rewarding job and generally a happy environment to work in.

You just need to be able to provide great customer service and telephone skills.

Be able to work a salon computerised diary system, be knowledgeable about scientific colour formulas and understand the colour wheel and universal number system.

Hold a good conversation even though you may not have eaten all day and talk to every client like they are the only client you’ve seen all day!

Listen to problems, hold no judgement.

Be happy to hear good news and sometimes cry when there’s a sad story or bereavement.

Apart from have all the technical skills like cutting, colouring and styling, which is tough on the body and hard on your feet, standing all day.

Thankfully, each and every customer is usually really lovely which makes the job so pleasurable!

For those that aren’t (thankfully very few) another skill is needed – diplomacy!

At the end of the day we wouldn’t change a thing!