Pro tip: lost a chunk of a client's hair mid-foil and had to think fast

This happened about 3 weeks ago at the salon I rent a chair at in Dayton. I was doing a full highlight on a regular, had foils in maybe 40 percent of her head, and when I pulled one foil to check it a whole section of hair came off with it, just mushy and gummy. Turned out a previous stylist had overlapped a lightener there and I put more on top without knowing. I stopped right there, pulled the rest of the foils, rinsed her out, and did a bond builder treatment plus a real honest talk with her about what I saw. She took it way better than I expected, we cut about 2 inches and went darker at the root to blend it, and she rebooked for 6 weeks out. Lesson for me is I now ask every new-to-me client about their color history before I mix anything. Has anyone else dealt with finding old damage right in the middle of a service?

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phoenix_moore419d ago

The part nobody talks about is how fast you have to decide whether to keep going or stop. In those first few seconds you don't know if it's one bad spot or her whole head, and the longer you stand there staring at it the more the client panics. I started keeping a spray bottle of water and a towel right at my station so if anything feels off I can wet it down and buy myself 30 seconds to check the rest before I say a word. Saved me twice this year already.

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