After watching a video of a girl demeaning the beauty industry saying “it must be nice to make $120,000 doing your hobby” I felt inclined to share a snippet of what this “hobby” entails. And for the record not everyone, including myself, makes $120,000 in this industry. Assumptions are so unflattering so let’s not assume. Instead, maybe direct that energy toward turning your “hobby” into something that generates income, then maybe you’ll have a better understanding.
*Please read the following with a compassionate heart and then show some appreciation, respect and love for your salon professional.
Many people visit a salon or barbershop for regular haircuts, hair color, other chemical treatments/processes, beard trims, waxing, facials, lash extensions, eyebrow Microblading, permanent makeup, and the list goes on.
Sadly, even though the industry has grown exponentially over the last few decades, those outside the realm of the industry, have little respect for the field, trivializing it as nothing more than a hobby.
The industry itself is massive, and while it doesn’t require a 4 year degree, the educational requirements go beyond the state mandated number of hours in school for licensing.
The continuing education, not only to maintain the licenses we earn to serve in this career field, but the amount of continuing education required to stay up to date or ahead of the ever changing trends, provide the best of the best products for salon visits as well as take home care, and CE to provide a safe and healthy environment for your visit and our work space, is a priority and an expense.
The $20,000 we drop on our license is only a small part of the overwhelming expense required to be a part of this industry.
There’s the struggle to build a clientele and then maintain that clientele. Most people don’t realize that we depend on their loyalty to create an income. Hopping from salon to salon doesn’t benefit each professional in the long term. Consistent, recurring appointments are what create an income for us. Without consistency our income is unreliable.
The cost to keep products in stock for the ever constant changes our clients make is a substantial expense. And while change should be considered job security, there again our costly education is what allows for those changes. Knowing the specific science behind what makes hair-hair, skin-skin, brows-brows, etc., is why clients can make so many changes. And the products we use are what we depend on to meet the needs of those ever changing trends.
Time in and out of the salon: We show up to the salon having already prepared mentally for what the day is “supposed” to be according to our book. And while most days go according the plan there are plenty that don’t. It takes a huge toll on the mental and physical part of our job. Don’t misunderstand, we are aware it comes with the territory, but it definitely reaffirms that our job is NOT a hobby.
Most days lunch breaks don’t exist. If we aren’t working, we aren’t making money. That 30 minutes to an hour we could take for lunch means the cost of a haircut, and/or a double booking. And even more so, clients who need an appointment, but there’s no option on the book that works except a spot where you could grab a bite, becomes an appointment so we don’t inconvenience our clients. We sacrifice for the clients sake more often than not. So if your salon professional’s belly is rumbling or they start looking a little extra tired, it’s probably because they need to eat but haven’t had a chance - or won’t get a chance - most likely because they booked you when they could be taking a break to eat.
After salon hours, we spend the rest of the day/evening replying to text messages, answering questions, consoling dissatisfied clients, rescheduling appointments, researching the best way to approach a color correction, ordering supplies, or trying to decide how to handle those who no-showed or last-minute-canceled their appointment - Do we stand our ground and demand respect, or let it pass so we can hopefully make money again? Some money is better than no money even if there’s a possibility they may no show again, and then we’ve lost a chance to book another client who was asking for an appointment but there was nothing available and had we known this person was going to again no-show or cancel last minute, we could have booked this other person - and the story goes on and on. It’s exhausting.
The physical demand on our bodies is more than anyone would expect it to be. There are a lot of physically demanding jobs and while this industry can appear glamorous and posh, our bodies take more than a beating from our neck to our toes.
The mental stress is just as demanding.
1. We take our jobs very seriously. Every single client is an advertisement for our individual businesses. We value the opportunity to develop trust with a client and spend hours thinking about the needs of the client and making a plan to meet those needs. We even lose sleep over our clients.
2. We share in our clients’ excitement about their engagement or wedding, we cry and sympathize with our clients during losses be it a death, their job, a friendship or divorce. We offer encouragement, words of affirmation and reassurance, we keep secrets and soak up as much as possible about what’s going on with every detail of their lives so we can, at their next appointment, which is usually 6 weeks away, show our incredibly sincere interest in their lives! All while having lives of our own.
3. We develop close friendships with most of our clients. So close we show up when the new baby is born or help search for a lost pet, or have lunch outside of the appointments, or help them hunt for a new job when they lose their previous job, or even help co-parent when our client is mentally exhausted because their child has pushed the limits.
4. Most professionals know the value of their services, But some of us still struggle to charge the prices that should be charged. We find ourselves sympathizing with our clientele who range from college students to senior citizens all living on a budget. So we dumb down our prices to be considerate and then suffer at the end of the month when we see what we’ve made and then subtract the expenses and what we’re left with. So pricing is a huge mental stress for some of us. A lot of thought and consideration goes into determine what price tag we attach to each service. It’s not a random number set to deplete the clients savings. It’s a necessary number that provide value to what the client is asking us to do.
We invest everything we have from education to mental health in our jobs. Our clients are our hope for doing a job we love and value, so suffice it to say this isn’t a hobby we can pick up and lay down on a whim.
Please don’t misunderstand this post as complaining about the hard undertaking it is to be in this industry; we all understood what we were getting into, but we all believe that while we are up to speed, the world around us is not. Especially when our career field is looked at and labeled as nothing more than a “hobby”.
Show some love to your salon professionals in this new year! If he/she decides to lay flat on their back on the hard, unswept floor while swiping your credit card after a 10-12 hour day, now you know why!
