what do you guys think about changing your own personal style to attract more clientele? i have a very simple long layered haircut, no crazy colors. im 23 and look very young. sometimes i wonder if i changed my look to a shoter more sophisticated style, i would get more respect as a stylist, and attract more people into my chair. any thoughts?

I change my look and appearance because I like to do that. I feel that how can I get my client to change their color, cut etc. if they see me the same as always. It's totally up to you, but if you look young that might be one thing, you can't change that and why would you want to? lol stay  young forever..lol

I'm 30 and my customers think I'm a yr or two out of high school which to me says that they dont' think I have enough experience when I have 13 yrs under my belt...

I think when a stylist's hair is too long, it looks like she doesn't do much to her own hair, so why should her clients?  You don't have to go crazy... but I think a stylists hair should always look like it is professionally done.  I know sometimes we neglect ourselves because of time constraints but we really should take the time to make ourselves look as good as our clients! 

Personally I think very long hair (that doesn't have a lot going on as far as color or cut) does not look good on a stylist- but that is my opinion.  I used to have a stylist that would sit in her chair and clip her split ends all day long when she wasn't busy- which was most of the time.  She had long boring hair and bangs.  Needless to say she never was able to build a clientele....

I beg to differ..... My hairs down the middle of my back with dorky "Farrah" waves....which really SUCK by the way.... and I don't have ANY problem bulding a clientelle. It has nothing to do with how your hair is cut, but more how YOU make it work. When it's straight  people want "easy" stick hair, when I scrunch it into my "80's Bon Jovi" hair, people want a perm that will "do this", and they want bangs but don't want to wear them. Like mine. What they neglect to want to comprehend is that my hair is WORK! I don't just walk in the bathrrom and snap my fingers, although you couldn't tell to look it me.  Most of the time I wear it up because it gets in my way. I'm very anal when it comes to my hair and have no problem telling someone that they aren't touching it, and why.

I agree with the clowns in school who thought that everyones hair should be short because "they" like it. That pissed me off to no end. I started with hip legnth virgin hair and left with bra strap legnth highlights, I thought people were going to cry when I cut it the first time,.... and learned that my hair doesn't like RED! of any sort.

hehe... I am not saying you can't build a clientele... On the contrary... A lot of clients aren't that concerned... But I tell you what.. I wore my hair up for the last 3 years.. because it was med length.. always was in the way and I had no time to fix it.  I cut it off, now I can wash it at night, iron it in the morning.  It looks great and I feel fresh again.  I feel like a stylist again.  It's like dressing nicely for work as opposed to dressing comfortably.  Your attitude changes, therefore you become a better stylist because of the way you feel.  (again that is my opinion I don't know if it works for everyone- but I sure know it works for me)

New clients are checking us out- big time.  Our regulars could care less if we came to work in sweats, our hair in a ponytail and no makeup.  But like RC says.. for every 5 clients you will only keep two.  Which means at all times, no matter how booked we are, we must continue to build...

I think it says something when you look like a stylist.  We should look like stylists!  When I go to hairshows I always look at people and think would I go to you?

Clients are thinking that..

think about what it is you look like when you hand out your card.  It sucks to say "here's my card, don't look at my hair I didn't fix it today"  Isn't that bad?

I want hair that I can wash at night... I have oily on the top and dry in the rest, so I have to do it in the morning. I'm back on my straight hair kick so I'm back in the bathroom for 45 minutes too. Pretty sad, it takes longer to dry than it does to straighten it.

LOL hot_locks. You mean that people actually "give" their card to potential clients when they "don't look so professional"? Hee Hee, I don't even want people to know what I do when I dress like that. LOL

my hair is 3/4 of the way down my back, Thanks to the last girl who cut it. Unbeknownst to me she took off about 5".....oh well, it looks good anyways. and I have long layers so I can play with it.

I have blond highlights and red lowlights with my natural 7 "ish" color. My hair is slightly curly, very fine and I have lots of it. I have bangs that I have to blow straight: thanks to 2 really fun cowlicks that turn into horns if left unattended. You should see it when I'm sweating....nothing works, I tried all of the anti-moisture products.

I usually just blow dry the sides, front and top and let the back dry on it's own. I'm time limited in the mornings and this works. I get a lot of compliments on my hair wherever I am. The colors are really pretty to have together.

I do look a lot different at the shop than I do on my days off. I feel that I can look quite haggard on my days off but I have so much to do that I don't really think of it unless I run into a client or someone who looks spectacular in full make-up. The hair is the crowning glory and as long as that looks good........I think I'm somewhat safe.

OMG
Your hair sounds just like mine.. 7 level with10 level blonde highlights, lowlites level 5 warm tone. Natural curly , fine but lots of it and longlayered. Bangs that are uncontrollable..cowlicks=2 one in the middle and one on the right side. any mositure in the air and they go "BOING!!!"

the use of any type of silicone products induce the "BOING"

The only thing that I have going for me is that with a quick blowdry, I can have straight hair or a water mister..curly.

Took me all these years to love my hair.

"A life. Like a camera, cannot produce clear results without focus"

very true, thnks guys!

I'll mail you some of mine.

I think you can buy cheap hair from Sallys.. lol

Karli, It may not be your looks that you think are holding you back somewhat. (I might get some crap for what follows: hope not- just being honest:) "Younger" (OMG!! I've turned into NANA!!)  people have different mannerisms and ways of speech that reveal their true age- maybe you'd like to watch people who are older than you who you admire and pick up some of their mannerisms and ways of speech. See how they interact with people and see if you can also train yourself to do like them? It's worth a shot.

When I was 21 I lacked so much self esteem- I had an awful time interacting with customers and clients. Dealing affectively and confidently with people is one of the things in life that is achieved by experience. And in order to get experience you need to get older......So I understand your plight.

It's hard- especially when you feel that you are not taken seriously because of something you can't help. But try to emulate who you feel is where you hope to be someday and just add little pieces of them to you. Don't try to completely override yourself, because you are still viable and important and the world needs you for who you really are. Just enhance yourself somewhat to give yourself better confidence and it all will fall into place.

wow! what an awesome comment! thanks so much!