Chapter 2: Styling Hair Pgs. 43-55 (Jaclyn Marks)

How does a stylist convert an image the client has in their mind into an actual plan of action and give the client exactly what they want? Mike Rose discovers that first they ask questions about the type of cut the client wants. The client shows pictures and the stylist picks at their hair to get a better sense of what they want. It is a very difficult skill, and a creative one at that, to know what your client wants just by using words. They play with the hair to show them exactly how it is going to be. The client might say they want an inch off but when the stylist shows them with their hands, it might be different than what they pictured (43).
One’s stylist can also be someone they can vent to, like an informal counselor. The client can talk to them about their problems going on in their life or just the latest gossip. Rose says “the ongoing conversation between client and stylist fosters an understanding of the client’s life which contributes to the stylist’s ability to interpret and enact the client’s request, to, as one stylist puts it, discern what the client is truly asking me to do’” (45). If the client feels comfortable about telling them about their life, it puts both client and stylist at ease and the stylist can get a feel of exactly what the client requests. As most clients say, “[my stylists] cuts it the way I like” (45). Mike Rose also points out that by asking questions, getting to know the client more, using gestures and even pictures, the stylist can understand the “literal and the symbolic content of a client’s request” (45).
Mike Rose interviewed a woman named Shandra who owns her own salon for the past eight years. Shandra reveals that stylists have to accept the fact that sometimes clients won’t like the cut you give them sometimes. “You have two human beings, one trying to render a service, the other trying to et you know what [they want]” (46). Another woman Mike interviewed was Nancy who has been styling hair for over 34 years. Nancy talks about how she has different views on styling hair and admits “there’s something very nurturing about it. It is one of the few places in our society where you have permission to touch people. It’s so intimate” (47). Rose concludes that all of the hair stylists he had talked to “raise the aesthetic dimension of the work” (48). He really praises them because it is a lot more work than just cutting someone’s hair. It is physically demanding because you need to spend many hours on your feet and use a repetitive motion when cutting hair which can, to some stylist, start to become a routine. One way to switch it up, stylists tell Mike, is to make different appointments. Have one appointment doing roots and then another one as just a simple cut. Stylists also need to build regulars. By doing this it gets your name out and makes more people want to come to you. You also receive better tips this way.
At the end of Mike’s hairstyling journey, he talks about Sharon who teaches at a beauty school. She talks about the science of doing hair, hair structure, chemistry of coloring hair and the color theory. Mike Rose asks one student what the biggest challenge is in training to become a stylist. She replies “actually doing it, knowing where to cut when hair changes from straight to wavy, seeing how it’ll fall, knowing what it’ll look like on different heads” (55)