Distraught hairdressers are meeting in Chicago tonight.

[laurend]

I have a friend who is going natural and she told me about the meeting among hairdressers somewhere in Chicago tonight to discuss the loss of clients to the natural hair revolution and the economy. She said last week when she went to get her hair roller set her beautician went off. She told her she won't color her hair unless she gets a relaxer, her hair was going to break off and her hair won't look right because her hair will be nappy. My friend told her, she didn't care if it looked nappy because she wanted to wear a fro. I gave her a number to someone who would roller set her NAPPY hair. I would love to be a fly on the wall at that meeting. I shouldn't laugh, people need jobs and this natural hair thingy is messing up some people's livelihoods.

 

[AryaStarr258]

That just means the hairstylists need to learn how to deal with natural hair. Seems like an easy fix to me.

 

[Your Cheeziness]

Woooow. I kind of giggled a little bit.

I'd like to know if they have a panel of clients who can speak freely about their grievances with stylists. People can still go natural with stylists assistance. I think there are other reasons people left their stylists that need to be addressed. Then maybe some of the stylists will understand what it's like to be the one sitting in the chair sometimes.

 

[lovegymnasts]

Someone needs to stand up at that meeting and give them a wake up call.
Learn how to do natural hair
Learn how to make hair healthy
Learn how to teach your clients how to have healthy long hair

If they got themselves a reputation for helping black women grow long hair, they would not have enough time in the day and would have to turn away clients.

 

[faithVA]

Stylists messed up their own livelihood by not being willing to change and take care of their customers. I know there are good stylists out there but you have to search and dig for a good one. A person should have the feeling that when they go to a stylists they put their hair and risk.

I hope they catch on. I would love to go back to the salon to have my hair done sometimes.

 

[Raspberry]

That just means the hairstylists need to learn how to deal with natural hair. Seems like an easy fix to me.

Stylists messed up their own livelihood by not being willing to change and take care of their customers. I know there are good stylists out there but you have to search and dig for a good one. A person should have the feeling that when they go to a stylists they put their hair and risk.

I hope they catch on. I would love to go back to the salon to have my hair done sometimes.

I mean really, is it that mind blowing to do some research and change your styling methods to keep up with trends and new styles? I've had one or two good stylists in my life but the majority were stuck in the old-fashioned black hair mindset of style >>>> health and seemed to think the customer is always wrong, not to mention vast majority had jacked hair of their own.

I'm fortunate to have a great stylist but if she's not around at some point I surely will be a DIY'er, I can't mess with setbacks I could have avoided .

If these stylists have never watched any of these hair YouTube vids or peeped a hair blog they're hustlin backwards.. the game done changed. It's obvious what needs to be done to revitalize their salons if they would just open their minds and pay attention.

 

[laurend]

Woooow. I kind of giggled a little bit.

I'd like to know if they have a panel of clients who can speak freely about their grievances with stylists. People can still go natural with stylists assistance. I think there are other reasons people left their stylists that need to be addressed. Then maybe some of the stylists will understand what it's like to be the one sitting in the chair sometimes.

You are so right. They need to know why clients are going natural and what they can do to assist that client with her transition.

 

[faithVA]

I mean really, is it that mind blowing to do some research and change your styling methods to keep up with trends and new styles? I've had one or two good stylists in my life but the majority were stuck in the old-fashioned black hair mindset of style >>>> health and seemed to think the customer is always wrong, not to mention vast majority had jacked hair of their own.

I'm fortunate to have a great stylist but if she's not around at some point I surely will be a DIY'er, I can't mess with setbacks I could have avoided .

If these stylists have never watched any of these hair YouTube vids or peeped a hair blog they're hustlin backwards.. the game done changed. It's obvious what needs to be done to revitalize their salons if they would just open their minds and pay attention.

I think you were reading my mind. I was sitting here thinking about stylists and getting mad. In 30 years I've had two good stylists. I consider a stylists good when they both treat me like a person and do hair well. All the rest of them they either didn't not do hair well or if they did hair well they treated me like they were doing me a favor. I hate that.

There's a lot wrong with that whole industry but I am going to cut this rant short.

 

[Ronnieaj]

Not to get off-topic , but I'm a lawyer in a field where a lot of people represent themselves (divorce), and it's the same struggle. People can find everything online, so why pay someone? It's SO HARD to get people to realize that we have to actually offer VALUE to potential clients, who could easily be DIYers.

The haircare industry is no different. Looking back, I've also had exactly TWO good stylists, one of whom ranted on me every time I came in for a relaxer. She was also like "girl, your hair is so thick and pretty, you should really go natural," and eventually I did. Sadly, she's moved away . But people have to learn to acclimate with the times, to be AWARE of the changes, not just in going natural, but in being more concerned with the health of the hair versus just the style, and adjust accordingly. Else they're only going to see more of the same .

 

[prettybyrd]

I have a friend who is going natural and she told me about the meeting among hairdressers somewhere in Chicago tonight to discuss the loss of clients to the natural hair revolution and the economy.

Hopefully at this meeting they will come to the realization that poor "stylists" are the cause of their own demise. I've dealt with too many lackluster stylists who butchered, burned, and otherwise helped to speed me towards a setback to muster up much sympathy.

Now, I will admit, I've had some great beauticians do my hair, and I've seen the hair that they've done for others, and those women (and men) are still thriving.

Blaming the "natural hair revolution" is not the answer, they need to check their practices, and learn to properly care for the hair of their clients.

Rant over... hehe!

 

[Embyra]

I cant help but laugh at the title

thing is majority of the same people going now or those that have been for some time had no idea how to care for relaxed hair and had to start from scratch

can you imagine how much MONEYthey could be cashing in if they actually learnt how to do natural hair

they already have a background in it and have skills that take most people years most of us still cant rollerset good

 

[LittleLuxe]

I can't imagine it's only the natural hair revolution.

Could be the excessive prices for care.

The hours wasted while stylists bs around the salon.

The lack of professionalism whether it's dude walking in trying to sell CD's or stylists complaining about their man/momma/sister/daughter.

It could be the ishty products being used or the lack of regard for a gentle touch.

Might be the fact true skill is lacking and even simple processed are flubbed up.

Ugh, it just sounds too stupid for words. Instead of meeting to btich and moan they should take business classes and realize their work, though appreciated, is hardly irreplaceable.

Time for a reality check.

 

[ClassicBeauty]

I've only had one good stylist in my life, but even she wasn't very professional. My hair was always healthy and beautiful, but she was always late, on the phone, took 6-8 hours to get your hair done, etc. She was very nice though. When I was preparing to go off to college, she taught me how to do my own relaxers and rollersets. When I go home and bump in to her, she always tells people that she taught me about healthy hair practices, and I admit that she did.

ETA: Since going natural I have tried a few stylists, but I've had only bad experiences. I'm a DIY girl.

 

[SkySurfer]

El Oh El

Sad times for hair stylists.
They need to adapt. Full stop.

 

[Tiye]

I've had one good "traditional" stylist in my life. When I moved away from her, I had to learn to do my own hair. I heard she ended up retiring early and went natural herself coz she developed breathing problems from exposure to chemicals. But as it is for any profession, stylists simply have to adapt to offer the types of services their clients want. It's not hard to learn to braid and twist, etc. I had to put my cosmetology school studies on hold for a bit but I thought that marketing and retaining clients was one of the first things discussed in lectures. And, like other professionals I suppose if things are really bad then it can be time to consider a move if you can. There may be enough natural heads in Chicago where stylists who don't specialize in natural hair styles are feeling the pinch but there are plenty of areas - where there's no growing natural hair trend.

 

[yardyspice]

They need to discuss raising the barrier for entry because it is way too low right now.

 

[sunnieb]

Instead of complaining about the "natural hair revolution", they need to learn how to deal with all hair types relaxed, texlaxed, and natural and aid black women in their HHJs. End of story.

It's funny now that I think of it, the women in my little circle of family/friends are natural or self-relaxed. I was the last one to embrace self-relaxing. We are ALL fed up with bad haircare practices and horrible service.

POWER TO THE DIY NATURALS AND SELF-RELAXED!!!

 

[danysedai]

Big LOL. I'm relaxed but this is so ridiculous to me. I understand that they will be losing the revenue from relaxers but they should take this as an opportunity to learn about styling natural hair and providing more options.
This is just like an article that I read on behindthechair.com (website and forum for hairdressers) about going gray, and this well known hairdresser said advised stylists to first convince the client that she will look old ugly and unattractive with gray hair so as not to lose the revenue from coloring hair every x weeks.Sigh.

 

[Seamonster]

They acting like it is just naturals, the relaxed ladies have learned how to do their own relaxers, the straight haired girls are cutting their own hair. Everybody is sick of being scalped

Why I don't go to the salon
1. :axehunter: How come everybody walk out the hairstylist bald? White , African, Latin, and Asian, have to get weave after they stuff get messed up at the stylist. Might as well mess your own stuff up for free.

2. They burning everybodies hair, my white friends went to get a style and came out with splits on every hair. Nobodies hair can take those hot blow dryers and flat irons.

3. Your ends are damaged? :mob: most of us black folk don't have nothing but ends. We don't even have a years worth of hair. How is it going to be damaged, it just came out the scalp? erplexed

4. I am that :afro2: psycho hair you don't want to mess with, be done cut, colored, and permed their way into a :210:
Ride or die :gunner7:

 

[lboogie2679]

Black women are plain sick and tired of the terrible service at salons. I for one refuse to spend my whole day getting my hair burned to death, and overprocessed. Why in the world would I continue to spend my $$$$ on hair services only to continue to never reach my hair goals. This is the problem with black salons. They don't provide the haircare that we want so we should not spend our money there. It makes no sense at all. A salon should be a place that you pay to learn healthy hair practices and styles that you want. Not sit in the chair and hope for the best.

Honestly I wish that all women would abandon beauty salons until they are forced to re-evaluate their business practices and techniques.

 

[bajandoc86]

sunnieb I TOTALLY agree.

 

[mscocoface]

That just means the hairstylists need to learn how to deal with natural hair. Seems like an easy fix to me.

I can't thank you enough. Learn to do natural hair also as well as chemically treated hair. What is the problem?

laurend you and some of the Chicago LHCF members should find out where that meeting is and see if you can educate some folks. That would be a meeting I would love to sit and listen to.

 

[BlaqBella]

dp.........

 

[FeelinIt]

I have a friend who is going natural and she told me about the meeting among hairdressers somewhere in Chicago tonight to discuss the loss of clients to the natural hair revolution and the economy. She said last week when she went to get her hair roller set her beautician went off. She told her she won't color her hair unless she gets a relaxer, her hair was going to break off and her hair won't look right because her hair will be nappy. My friend told she didn't care if it looked nappy because she wanted to wear a fro. I gave her a number to someone who would roller set her NAPPY hair. I would love to be a fly on the wall at that meeting. I shouldn't laugh, people need jobs and this natural hair thingy is messing up some people's livelihoods.

If they were REAL hair stylist, this would not be messing up their paper. If they were SMART, they would learn how to style natural hair (which they should already know how to do anyway) and make a killing because of the lack of available stylists in certain areas. A meeting.....please!

 

[daydreem2876]

Times are hard and people are being more cautious where they spend their precious dollars. Why should I spend $75 for a stylist to burn up my head and whack it off while you use God knows what, whether I am natural or relaxed.

For that same $75 I can get enough supplies to last me a good 3-4 months and do my own hair weekly

 

[KEWLKAT103]

Someone needs to stand up at that meeting and give them a wake up call.
Learn how to do natural hair
Learn how to make hair healthy
Learn how to teach your clients how to have healthy long hair

If they got themselves a reputation for helping black women grow long hair, they would not have enough time in the day and would have to turn away clients.

So true! Salons should start training on keeping hair healthy and growing it. bad economy or not, they would be raking in the dough.

 

[Elnahna]

That just means the hairstylists need to learn how to deal with natural hair. Seems like an easy fix to me.

Exactly, stop complaining about what's not going to change. Their meeting should be about how they can get with the program, satisfy the demand and make their money.

 

[ms-gg]

A lot of them are not "customer based." Instead of meeting the needs and wants of their customers, they want to to do what is in their own best interest. You can't stop change within society. You either change with society or get left behind.

 

[DragonPearl]

90% of black hairdressers do not know how to take care of black hair. Most of what they learn at beauty school regarding African hair is fairly irrelevant.

We get better haircare information from online hairboards than we do from the real life salons. They need to update their practices or go the way of dinosaurs.

 

[laurend]

I can't thank you enough. Learn to do natural hair also as well as chemically treated hair. What is the problem?

laurend you and some of the Chicago LHCF members should find out where that meeting is and see if you can educate some folks. That would be a meeting I would love to sit and listen to.

You have to be invited and it's only for hairdressers. I really wanted to go and add some input but I don't know where they are meeting.