If you’ve tried multiple stylists to find the right fit for you, here’s how you’ll know it’s time to stop your search.
You can spend a great deal of time and income trying to find the person you trust implicitly with your hair. After all, your hair is something you wear every day, so cuts, colors, and styling are all an investment.
But before you settle down with another stylist that conjures up only lukewarm feelings, use this checklist to know if the person behind the chair is the person for you.
They listen to you.
Meeting with a new hair stylist is nerve-racking. You’re trusting a person—and possibly some online reviews—to cut, color, and style your hair, a person who’ve never met you until the very moment you sit in their chair. It’s an exercise in implicit trust, and a good stylist will earn that trust every step of the way. If your stylist takes the time to talk with you, look at your photos, ask you questions, and work their way through a series of scenarios to better understand your style and preferences, you’ve found the right stylist for you.
They explain every service.
Once you and your stylist establish a report, you may not need this from them, but until you reach that stage of your relationship, your stylist should explain everything they’re doing, from mixing the color and cutting in layers, to glossing your hair during a wash and evening out the frame around your face. This way, you know which services you’re getting, you’re at ease during the appointment, and you understand the amount of thought and effort they’re putting into your cut.
You’re excited for your next appointment.
A working relationship with a great stylist is a bit like a partnership: You feed off one another, enjoy spending time together, and get a lot out of talking, engaging, and creating. Sure, the creation is your hair, but your hair is their craft—sympatico results. If you find yourself looking forward to your next appointment, that means you’ve found a great stylist.
You always start where you left off.
Stylists do a great deal of work to make sure your visits are seamless. They help you find “that great hairspray” they used. They remember that you like a blanket over your legs on chilly days. A truly great stylist, however, will greet you like an old friend, instantly reconnect to where you left off, and head straight to the color bar so they can mix up your color and get right to work.
They don’t judge.
You are not the first person to sit in their chair in yoga pants sans makeup, and you certainly won’t be the last. A great stylist is there to offer no judgment. They also have no problem if you’re coming off a terrible day and just need to sit in silence and let the world pass by. They’ve been there too. Believe us.
They’re a friend.
You’ll know you’ve found a great stylist when you feel like they’re more than a stylist, that they’ve somehow become your friend. Stylists, as a rule, tend to be social people. They love engaging with others, creating, and helping people feel special. But when your stylist feels like a person you can trust with anything, you’ll know you’ve found the one for both your style and your soul.
