Inspirational Hair Consultant By Trade, LLC.

The process begins with scheduling a service consultation in order to assess beauty service needs. I like to meet with my guests in order to get familiarized with who they are, where we are starting from, where we are headed, what they wanting out of me. Consultations are complimentary with every guest and can last between fifteen to forty-five minutes depending on guests’ needs. During the consultation, I strive to collect and analyze any type of information that is given by the customers in order to provide as much feedback as possible regarding any concerns and problem with their beauty service. I also explain what they can expect during and after the service is completed.

I have 21 years of education and training as a cosmetologist and barber that relate to the line of work in the beauty world. I have years of experience, and I keep up with my CEU credits as a cosmetologist to stay current with advancement in my industry. I learned the fundamentals of the cosmetology world while attending high school and never looked back. I pride myself on adapting to changes in the cosmetology field and offering the best products and services to my customers.

I realize that typically no two jobs are the same, so I strive to get as much detail as possible from every potential job. I prefer to look at the service to ascertain what exactly is entailed to achieve the best end results for my customers. This allows me to give the best possible price to my guests and never have to add extra costs at the end. I offer the most amazing looks of any services around town, and my clients are be on the cutting edge of fashion. Patrons can always expect a complete beauty consultation with every visit to ensure their complete satisfaction. Everyone receives a personalized beauty lesson to make sure he/she can sustain the great new look at home with very little effort. Any specialty beauty care services are priced during an in-salon consultation. The price is determined after I evaluate the beauty care services to decide what services are needed. Prices can vary from guest to guest, based on my years of experience and continuing education, especially when considering the hair length, density, thickness, and condition. However, I know that my prices are always fair. Any drastic changes to any service will require additional work outside the norm, and a consultation will help ensure the patrons are notified accordingly. I offer complimentary consultations for the best interests of both parties and for guests to ask questions if needed.  Please note that it is impossible for me to quote a price over the phone because I physically cannot see the hair over the phone.

When I was a little girl, my mom always used to buy me Barbie Dolls, so I could practice on their hair. Every year for Christmas I got a Barbie Doll. I was so happy to get them. I always practiced braiding, curling, twisting, and combing the hair out. The Barbie Dolls made my passion grow. I started to love doing hair.                               

My parents are very supportive. For dreams that I had, they always supported me and they tried to do anything they could to help me realize them. Every time I felt that doing hair was not for me, they reminded me of why I started and what a difference I can make. They always made me think positive.                                                 

One thing I enjoyed doing in my free time was going to a salon, watching customers getting their hair done, and seeing how their faces lighted up when it was done. Seeing how happy the customers were and feeling beautiful about themselves was empowering. Watching hairstylist, styling their guests hair gave me inspiration, and it taught me as well.                                                                       

What I took from the interview is that even though doing hair will be hard at times, I need to remember my love and passion for it. I want to do hair nor only for famous people, but for everyone. I would do the hair of a homeless person because I do not think I am better than anyone. The homeless deserve to have their hair done and feel beautiful as well.                                                                       

I would love for models to model any of my hair services in a hair show. I would think of something different that no one would ever think of. It would be stepping outside of the box, but also, not too crazy, so it would be acceptable at work or school.                                                         

I will never forget the day my hairdresser told me that I should be a hairdresser because I was sociable and talkative. My immediate response was “no way.” At that moment, washing hair, cutting hair, and putting hair in rollers were not what I wanted to do for a living. Doing that for the rest of my life was unthinkable.               

Little did I know the enrollment was the first step of a long and trying journey. I experienced all kinds of emotions along the way, from failure to triumph and from great sadness to great joy. I had to find my own path from the valley so to speak. I was without a compass or roadside assistance. The journey was based on trial and error. I was counting more on my lucky stars than the skill and knowledge I had learned from beauty school. Not until I learned hair design elements and hair diagram drawing, did I start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. From the day I graduated, I knew I would be on my own. I would be starting from the bottom and working my way up. It was hard to find a salon owner who was willing to teach me how to become a competent and professional hairdresser. It was time to start building my own clientele. I knew immediately that I had to develop my survival instinct in order to make it.

When I got out of beauty school, I looked for a salon that was promising, inspiring, and nurturing. First, I would be hired as an assistant and paid a reasonable salary to survive on. Second, it would offer some kind of training that would help me provide haircuts that the clients would like. Third, it would promise me a haircutting station after I had assisted for a reasonable period of time. That way I would not forget what I learned by the time I was put on the floor. Fourth, it would have good walk-in traffic and a good reputation that would draw people into the salon. That way I could start building my clientele and would not be sitting around. Fifth, it could show me a better future if I stayed loyal and improved. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to find such a salon where I lived at the time!                                                                          

While I was still in beauty school, I learned only the basic skills of cutting hair and the knowledge that would help me pass the state-board test to get my license. After I graduated, it was hard to find a salon that had the resources to train “beginner” hairdressers. Luckily, I found an American chain salon that had a great training instructor. The program and facility were designed to train all of the new hairdressers before the trainers put them on the floor to cut hair. I did not have to pay for the training. It lasted for a week, and it taught me one haircut at a time. After I learned about half a dozen haircuts, I was cutting hair like a robot and became an efficient and proficient haircutting machine.                                       

While I was in beauty school cutting hair, a lot of people told me I was very good at it. They made me feel like a superstar, until the day I found myself spending too much time on a haircut, always giving the same haircuts, or cutting the hair in the same way. I became a great “cookie-cutter” instead, and I was losing my cutting edge. It was then that I realized that I was not that good after all. Fortunately, I was about to begin some new important training.                                                                       

Advanced training academies usually teach students how to do their latest haircuts, but not how to design haircuts according to each individual’s needs and desires. I did learn some new haircutting concepts, approaches, tools, and techniques from them, but while some made sense, others did not. The problem was that I did not knew what to do with all the new haircuts I learned. Every client had different personal preferences and had different hair texture. Furthermore, I had little idea how to apply what I had learned together with what I already knows to give clients what they liked along with what I liked to do.         

When I graduated from beauty school, I refused to work at any salon that would make me shampoo hair and fold towels all day long. Instead, I started my career working as a hairdresser at walk-in salons. These included a barbershop and unisex salon in a strip center. Those salons hired me as a hairdresser because their haircuts were very affordable to the general public. The salons were in great locations, and they could afford to let their hairdressers make mistakes while getting experience, building confidence and making a living.                                

When I started hairdressing as a registered cosmetologist in the state of Texas, I had a very definite vision of what I wanted from this exciting industry. I did not have a definite plan of how to attain it. I was a visionary, I could be a leader, but I had to learn gradually how to manage my plan. I had aspirations and ambitions, but my enthusiasm was clouded by my naiveté.           

I learned to remain positive, which can sometimes be difficult because resisting the impulse to get involved in the staffroom grapevine is not easy. Instead of complaining, I tried to look at negative situations another way. I made a point of saying positive things about people instead of joining in the gossip. I developed a reputation for kindness and genuine caring about the needs of others, customers, managers, co-workers, and suppliers alike.                 

After about three months, I prayed very hard for wisdom, strength, and direction to carry me on this challenging journey. The salon that I found was called Fantastic Sam’s in the Texas Medical Center. The salon did not ask me for clientele because Fantastic Sam’s had the clientele that was left behind from the hairdresser who had relocated. The company paid me a decent base salary that I could live on. I was so happy to have found my first real job that paid fairly, and it made me feel proud. That was the first break in my career! Unfortunately, the leadership, training and management that I was looking for were lacking, so it was just a matter of time before I had to find my way out and hit the road once again.                               

Since not many salon owners had the knowledge, time, patience, or passion to teach a “beginner” hairdresser, I had to search for any advanced training that I could afford. This included beauty shows, seminars, or classes held in salons or beauty schools. Nonetheless, even after years of seeing innumerable haircutting demonstrations, I never remembered much of what I had learned because there was too much information. This information was not organized and explained well, and came from too many different sources.                                    

It was only after I started my own practice that could I afford to attend hands-on training from the advanced training academies. The step-by step training not only helped improve my technical skills, but also helped me understand how to approach haircutting in a significant manner. I started to have control over my haircuts, and it was the first time I felt I knew what I was doing.   

I worked with all types of customers. I have worked in the urban and suburban area of Houston for many years as a cosmetologist. All of my guests have their own younique case, and they all need a loving, caring professional to give them a younique beauty experience.

Recently I had a guest who brought in pictures of what she was wanting. We had an amazing consultation that lasted for thirty minutes because we were discussing what the guest wanted and did not want. I was providing up-to-date information to a client based on her needs and included me asking her a few right questions and explaining certain details to them as well. I asked which solutions had been attempted in the past that worked and did not work. Then, I found out what steps toward a solution the client had in mind. It allowed me to make a diagnosis after I defined the problem with my guest. We were engaged in a pleasant conversation regarding her service, with me making recommendations based on the information she provided. It allowed me to summarize what the consultation was about. I made sure that the guest understood what she had learned from my recommendations. This helped both of us to build an agreement and commitment around corrective action. The consultations that my guest and I had will leave something of lasting value, enhancing my guest’s future ability to deal with immediate issues, and also help them to learn methods needed to cope with their future challenges. My guest was very satisfied and will recommend me to her friends and family members. I got enjoyment dealing with this guest and wish there were more like her.

I enjoy meeting my customers face-to-face and listening to them discuss the ideas they have in mind. What do they need done? What challenges do they have? I hope to convey to them this is a trustworthy company and I am an individual who has their best interests in mind at all times. I would tell them to look to establish a long-term guest relationship with whoever they give their business to. The client should make sure that the beauty consultant is responsive to their phone calls and emails. There is nothing more frustrating than working with a beauty consultant who cannot be contacted. I realize this and work hard to ensure that guests feel like my only customer. While I realize that this is a business agreement, I want to take stress and tension out of the equation and build a long-term, working relationship throughout the process.

Where would you put the importance of price and quality on a service or/and product?

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Are you looking for a beauty consultant with a certain amount of professional education, training, and experience?