Its spring, the sun is out, the flowers are ‘a blooming’ and this is the season that some of us get that itch to head to the salon after years of ignoring them to get a little pampering and maybe do something different with our hair. This should be an easy decision, I mean who doesn’t like a great scalp massage and steam treatment in one of those giant magical contraptions?

Unfortunately going to a salon is not an easy decision  most of us suffer from what I like to call stylist anxiety, that moment when you sit in the chair of a new stylist and all the bad things that happened to you sitting in a similar chairs keeps replaying in your mind. We all have have had stylist horror story, I have had my hair chopped not trimmed, burned not straightened,  falling out instead of remaining in. The list of bad scenarios can go on and on so how do we  get back to that comfortable space in the stylist chair where we are focused on getting fabulous sans the wet armpits.

Here are a four tips you can use to help trust your stylist again:

Don’t Turn Down The Free Consultation

A consultation is the best opportunity to have the honest and candid conversation about what you expect from your stylist and what your needs are as it relates to your hair. Take some notes with you so that you do not forget anything and talk freely with him or her explaining what your expectations are. The dialogue between client and stylist is a great way to start building trust and understanding so that on the day when you arrive to get your hair done there should be no need for rushed communication and rash decisions.

It is important to hold the stylist accountable in your conversation, this means not being afraid to ask why and to get educated on how her recommendations would be beneficial to you. Lets face it, we don’t know everything and a great stylists are  trained professionals who want to help us achieve our goals. Ask whatever you need even if it seems silly to you make a point to take full advantage of that one and one time.

Reputation is Everything

If you hit the internet and try to find details about a salon and all you can find is the name and address then you might want to reconsider letting them do your hair. Lets face it, its 2013 and if your in the salon business without information about your services and your business online then you cannot expect your prospective clients to make an informed decision about walking through your door. Assuming the salon has a great online presence, look at reviews from other loyal and new clients to see how they felt about the salon, the services offered and the stylist you plan to use for your hair.

YouTube can be a great resource because many women are starting to keep video diaries of there experiences as well as other online review services out there. This is not the time to be shy, talk to clients who have had experience with the salon services and specifically the stylist that you plan to use. It is also important to find a client with similar needs as yours, for instance, what would be the point of asking a woman with short relaxed hair how she liked her stylist if your hair is waist length and natural? Additionally, it is important to poll old and new clients because sometimes old clients are so comfortable getting bad service due to loyalty they may give you a biased clouded opinion.

Write a Review After Your Service is Complete

This is an important step because your review could help someone else in the same shoes as you trying to decide if she should go get her hair done or just DIY as usual. Make sure your review is specific, informative and most of all honest. Don’t just say, ‘I hated it’ and leave it at that, say why your experience was bad and what expectations you had that were not met. Not only does this help a prospective client but it might help the stylist too.

Building trust is not always roses and daffodils  sometimes we need to hear something that we don’t want to hear to make things better and create a better experience. The stylist may reach out to you to rectify the situation or to clear up any misunderstandings that may have occurred. This may not work every time but at least your created the opportunity for growth by doing your part as the client.

Look at Your Stylists Hair

This is an oldie but goodie, and it doesn’t work all the time but it would help if your stylist took care of her own hair while trying to sell you on how great she would be at taking care of yours. We can all appreciate that stylists are busy people and sometimes their hair might have no bearing on their talent. But to be perfectly honest it would be a whole lot easier to sit in the salon chair of a woman who takes great care of her own hair than to sit in the chair of a person that looks like her hair was the driest part of the Sahara dessert.

Be careful not to be too judgmental though because sometimes a stylist may choose to do different things to her hair for experimentation purposes that we might not consider positive. For example the stylist might prefer to test out products and hair color on her own hair which could get a little scary for us especially if one week she has purple hair and the next week its blue. This however could attest to the creativity of the stylist and the fact that she is willing to test products out to make sure her clients only have the best options.

Now if your stylist is male you might have to rely on his clientele and what their hair looks like to get comfortable with sitting in his chair, unless he himself has a fabulous head of hair that gives you life every time you look at it.

Have you visited the salon lately, what do you do to get comfortable about seeing someone new?