c/cosmetologists

4

kevin_carr•5h ago

Just realized clip-ins beat tape-ins for my fine hair

I used tape-in extensions for 2 years. My stylist swore by them. But after my last removal I lost so much hair around my temples I almost cried. Switched to clip-ins from Sally Beauty 3 months ago. Cost me $80 instead of $400. My natural hair is growing back now. Anyone else have fine hair that just can't handle the adhesive?

14

the_jason•22h ago

My mentor told me to stop backcombing. She was dead wrong.

Been doing hair 8 years. My old mentor at the Paul Mitchell school in Phoenix said backcombing was lazy. Said I should only use texture spray for volume. Tried that on a bridal updo last month and the whole thing fell flat in 2 hours. Bride was pissed. Had to redo it with a teasing brush. Now I backcomb everything for updos and it stays solid. Any other stylists been told old school techniques are bad?

2

maxmurphy•1d ago

Shoutout to the stylist who called me out on my sectioning

Last week a client told me their previous stylist always said my partings were too thick for fine hair. I started doing thinner, more precise sections on my fine haired clients and the color payoff is way more even now. Anybody else get a critique that actually made them better at their job?

18

sarah198•1d ago

Overheard a stylist at the supply store say something that hit me hard

She was telling her coworker that she "stopped chasing trends 3 years ago and started making way more money" and honestly that made me rethink my whole approach. Has anyone else simplified their service menu and seen a real bump in regulars?

15

milar46•2d ago

Wasted $80 on a heat protectant spray that did nothing

I bought that expensive Thermal Shield spray from the beauty supply store thinking it would save my hair from my flat iron. After three uses my ends looked fried and a friend told me to just use a lower heat setting instead. Anyone else fall for a product that just made things worse?

32

riverhill•2d ago

PSA: Your shampoo pH matters way more than I thought

I was at a supplier expo in Denver last month and a chemist from a pro brand handed me a test strip. Turns out my go-to clarifying shampoo was a 9.5 on the pH scale, which is basically stripping the cuticle raw. She said ideal is around 4.5 to 5.5 for color treated hair. I checked three of my most used shampoos at home and two were way off. Anyone else ever test their shampoo pH or just me?

11

troy_wilson8•2d ago

PSA: Stop using hair chalk on wet hair unless you want a disaster

I had a client come in yesterday from Austin who tried to do a rainbow section with hair chalk at home, and she did it on soaking wet strands. It turned into this muddy gray mess that took me 45 minutes and a clarifying shampoo to fix. Has anyone else had to deal with this or found a way to salvage it without stripping the hair?

3

jenny580•2d ago

My curling iron melted a client's extension wefts today

The heat setting was on medium but the barrel still got hot enough to fuse synthetic wefts into a plastic mess. I had to trim out three entire sections and reweave them. Has anyone else had this problem with ceramic barrels and synthetic hair?

20

victor219•3d ago

Took me all afternoon to fix a bad bleach job I did on myself

I was trying to go from box dye brown to a pastel lavender at home two weeks ago. Thought I'd save time by skipping the test strand on my ends and just went for it. Ended up with this weird patchy orange mess that took three rounds of toner and a deep conditioning mask before my hair felt normal again. Whole thing took about 6 hours start to finish when I figured it should have been maybe 2. Has anyone else had a home bleach experiment go way sideways like that?

23

cameron_owens49•4d ago

Unpopular opinion: keratin treatments are way overhyped for most hair types

I kept hearing how keratin would save every frizzy head, so I finally tried it on a client last month. Turns out, the stats from a 2023 survey by Professional Beauty Association say 68% of clients with fine hair ended up with damage or breakage within 6 months. I found that number buried in a trade article about ingredient safety. Don't get me wrong, they work great for coarse, thick hair in my experience. But for the average person with medium density hair, I think we push these as a fix-all too much. Has anyone else seen more split ends or thinning after doing these treatments on clients?

14

hannaht29•4d ago

My bleach bowl cracked mid-foil and I had to improvise fast

Last Thursday I was doing a full highlight on a client and my ceramic mixing bowl just split right down the middle while I was stirring. Bleach went everywhere, got on my pants and the floor. I grabbed a disposable cup from my station drawer and mixed the rest of the batch in that, but it was super awkward holding it steady. Has anyone else had a bowl crack on them like that or am I just unlucky?

5

valsullivan•5d ago

Warning: My shampoo pump broke mid-service on Saturday

I was doing a color correction on a regular client around 2 PM. The pump on my gallon of professional shampoo just snapped off at the neck. I had to fish plastic shards out of the bowl and run to the supply closet for a backup bottle. Anyone else had a pump fail on them like that? What do you use for backups?

12

mark676•5d ago

My hot iron died mid-curl on a client yesterday

I was doing a blowout and my 1-inch iron just stopped heating halfway through section 3. Had to finish with a backup that didn't hold the curl as well. Anyone have a reliable brand that lasts more than a year?

0

briancampbell•6d ago

Finally fixed a balayage I botched on myself and it turned out decent

I've been doing hair for about 4 years now but I still struggle with my own color. I tried a balayage on myself last weekend and it came out way too brassy. I went back in yesterday with a toner and a darker root melt and honestly it looks like a salon job now. The trick was using a 6N with a little violet additive at the roots. Has anyone else had luck fixing their own mess ups at home?

25

elizabeth_king•8d ago

Called BS on that $60 keratin spray from Nordstrom

Took a gamble on it during a slow Tuesday at the salon, figured what the hell. Three weeks later and even my pickiest client asked what I was using on her fine hair.

10

brooke71•8d ago

Stumbled on a stat that 68% of clients want eco-friendly salon products but only 23% of us offer them (from a trade survey last month)

Found that nugget in the Journal of Cosmetology while waiting for a color to process, and it got me wondering how many of you have actually switched to greener brands or stuck with what works because clients don't ask?

16

caseys30•10d ago

Warning: I bleached my own hair at home for 5 years before a stylist told me I was overlapping on the same sections every time

A friend who's a pro showed me the sectioning lines in a mirror and I realized I had been creating hot spots with zero consistency, has anyone else had to unlearn a bad habit from years of doing your own hair?

17

shanel13•10d ago

Spent 3 hours fighting a perm that just wouldn't take

Last Wednesday I had a client come in with really thick, resistant hair. I've been doing perms for over 20 years, so I thought I had it handled. But after the first rod set and processing, the curls barely held. I had to redo the whole thing, switching to a stronger solution and leaving it on an extra 10 minutes. In total it took me about 3 hours when a normal perm takes me 45 minutes. Has anyone else run into hair that just refuses to perm no matter what you try?

12

skyler_anderson65•12d ago

Been doing lashes for 6 years and just now realized most of us overfill the glue wells

I was at a workshop in Phoenix last month and the instructor pointed out how I was using way more adhesive than needed. She showed me that a proper lash extension bond only needs a tiny dot about the size of a pinhead, not a full well. Ever since I cut back on volume, my retention actually got better and I'm wasting less glue. Anyone else find out they were overdoing it on adhesive for years?

20

taylor305•12d ago

Friend who paints houses said my toner application is too slow

She watched me do a root touch-up last week and said I'm wasting time being overly careful, but I've always thought precision mattered more. Has anyone else had their technique challenged by someone outside the industry and actually found they had a point?

8

jenny580•14d ago

I finally picked air-dry over blow-dry styling for my clients last month

I had to choose between offering a full blowout service or teaching my clients how to work with air-dry products because my appointment slots were getting crushed. I went with air-dry because it saves me 20 minutes per client and lets me book one more person per shift. Has anyone else swapped out a traditional service for something faster and seen their booking numbers jump?

4

margaretw41•15d ago

Spent 3 hours fixing a bad foil placement that should've taken 20 minutes

Honestly, I was trying a new balayage pattern and put my foils way too close together at the root. Took me forever to adjust them without messing up the saturation. Next time I'm mapping out the sections with clips first to save my sanity. Has anyone else had a technique backfire like that?

22

brooke71•15d ago

Had to rebook a client after my highlights turned orange last Tuesday

I used a 20 volume developer for a root touch up on level 4 hair but forgot she had box dye from two months ago and it pulled brassy in under 15 minutes, anyone else had a toner fail that bad from hidden box color?

12

beth_hart68•19d ago

Vent: Tried that new purple shampoo everyone's raving about and my highlights turned green

I used the Fanola No Yellow stuff on my blonde balayage after a friend swore by it, but after leaving it on for 5 minutes like the bottle says, my hair looked swampy. Anybody else have a toner or purple shampoo backfire on them like this?

20

ryan_nelson•22d ago

Had a perm go wrong last Tuesday and had to fix it mid-strand

I was doing a perms at my station in Dallas and the rod slipped right out halfway through wrapping, leaving a weird kink in the middle. Had to quickly unravel, re-wrap with a smaller rod, and saturate again to blend it in without the client noticing. Anyone else had a rod disaster they had to recover from mid-process?