This woman? Intimidating? No way!
I was surprised to find out recently that one of my most faithful clients was intimidated by me!
This is one of the craziest ways I’ve learned a lesson in my profession so I got my client’s full permission to share it with you. Sharon has been trusting me with her hair color for over a decade. She is naturally VERY dark and Sharon loves to be very blonde. Because she is so dark, her blonding process is a delicate one and I treat her hair with kid gloves.
I’ve definitely spent a lot of time drilling her about her at-home hair care to make sure she avoids breakage. It would seem that this stern seriousness about the condition of her fragile locks has made me, well, “intimidating”. But I didn’t know this until Sharon found herself in a very odd hair color crisis.
Sharon is a school principal. In the spirit of fun, she challenged her student body to a fundraising project. If they reached the goal amount, she agreed to be “slimed”.
Guess what? They exceeded their goal and Sharon wore a slime-ready outfit of coveralls and old shoes to school for the big day of sliming. The students at every grade level took turns dumping bright green and red slime on Sharon all day long. She’s a great sport when it comes to her kids but she forgot one important thing: hair protection.
That pale head of hair was a sticky, rigid mess by the end of the day. But after a thorough shampoo, Sharon had a much bigger problem.
Unfortunately for Sharon, the kids used Jello for the pigment of the slime. And since Jello uses food coloring, it’s a direct staining agent. Sharon’s blonde locks soaked it right up and in spite of her desperate efforts with wacky home remedies like peanut butter and vodka (her daughter — another Root Salon client — tried to help), there was no ridding her hair of the staining.
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Do not underestimate the power of Jello colors!
Weeks later, when I saw Sharon’s name on my schedule, I realized it had been a while since I had seen her. Was she out of town? Nope, she was afraid of me finding out about her slime catastrophe! Turns out, her family, staff and friends were all waiting in fear of what I might say! There she sat in my chair confessing away like she was in church. The text messages kept coming to her phone asking how I was handling it.
The poor woman’s hair was in terrible condition.
Today, we are implementing a long-term strategy of trimming, deep conditioning and patiently waiting for the damage to grow out of Sharon’s hair. Sharon now knows that I could have helped right away with compassion as I professionally removed the stain from her hair.
I also learned that I may need to be a little softer in my approach with clients. And what she learned is that her Root Salon colorist is here for her no matter what. So if you should find yourself in a similar situation (hey, you never know!) please don’t hesitate to call us even if you feel silly or self-conscious.
Blog by Lauren Hart
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Sharon’s hair is on the mend. Thanks for sharing your slimy story Sharon!