Client throwing red flags
Have you ever had a client where, within the first few minutes of the consultation, your gut was already telling you that no matter what you did… they were never going to like the result?
That’s where this story begins.
Before we even got into her hair goals, she spent most of the consultation talking about how difficult her life had been the last few years. Every time I tried to redirect the conversation back to her hair and expectations, it somehow circled back to her personal struggles. Part of me genuinely felt for her and thought maybe she just wanted to feel pampered and refreshed. But another part of me kept feeling like something was off.
I’m not saying I’m the best hairstylist out there, but I’m confident in my work. Clients find me through Instagram specifically for my color work, and I know my techniques and style well. Looking back, my biggest mistake was not insisting on inspiration photos before starting. Usually I’m very thorough during consultations — I talk through placement, expectations, maintenance, and overall goals — and I’ve successfully worked without photos before. But this experience reminded me why reference photos matter so much.
The finished result honestly turned out beautiful. I wish I had a photo to share because I truly stood behind the work. But she absolutely hated it. She became so upset and aggressive that I had to walk away to the back room because I knew I was too emotionally overwhelmed to continue the conversation professionally.
I calmly told her that for future appointments, she should always bring inspiration photos and that I probably wasn’t the right stylist for her moving forward.
My manager and salon owner ended up speaking with her for over 30 minutes while she continued insisting that I had “ruined” her hair. Thankfully, my coworkers were incredibly supportive and reassured me that the work itself was beautiful and that this likely had very little to do with the actual hair.
The whole situation took five hours and totaled around $600. Honestly, at the end of the day, I stopped caring whether she paid or not. I just hope she eventually gets compliments on her hair everywhere she goes and realizes the way she treated me wasn’t okay.
Looking back, the red flags were there from the start. Throughout the appointment, she kept telling inconsistent stories about not working for months, struggling financially, hating where she lived, homeschooling her child because private school was too expensive, etc. Then, while speaking to management, she suddenly mentioned she was supposedly going to be on a TV show the following week and needed her hair done for it.
This industry can be emotionally exhausting sometimes. I think this experience reminded me that not every unhappy client means you’re a bad stylist. Sometimes personalities don’t align, expectations aren’t realistic, or people are carrying things into your chair that have nothing to do with hair.
Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced a situation where their instincts were warning them from the very beginning.