spa secrets.(managing social aspects of salons)

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT Beauty communication has its own rules. Ease in Always sit down for a one-on-one with your stylist before scissors or wax emerge. "When you say, 'I'd like my hair at my collarbone,' get the stylist to repeat it back to you," says John Barrett of the John Barrett Salon in New York City. Be especially clear before a bikini wax. "Sometimes we say, 'Do you want all the hair off?' and they'll say, 'All the hair,'" Mitchell says. "Then we start to remove it, and they say, 'Whoa, I didn't mean all the hair.'" Look alive It's never rude to read during an appointment (as long as you keep your head up, says Garren), but put the tabloid down occasionally. "If a client's attentive to what's going on, the stylist is often more attentive, too," Lloyd says. An Allure editor, whose eyebrows were once mangled so badly she had to get bangs to hide them, now requests a hand mirror during brow-shapings. Know when to speak up If you get cold during a facial or massage, request an extra blanket. And always tell a masseur if the pressure isn't right. You can also ask him to skip your scalp. "I've left many a massage looking like I haven't washed my hair in months," says one editor. "And sometimes it takes a few shampoos to get all that oil out." and know when to zip it Articulating your vision is one thing; micromanaging is another. Controlling behavior only frustrates the very person you hope will treat you well. "Don't dictate, saying, 'I want this strand highlighted and that strand highlighted,'" says Frank Galasso, owner of Frank.Studio in Santa Monica. "To get really great service, you have to collaborate." As Johns says: "People who start that routine need therapy, not color." Don't work the phone Ask the receptionist about phone protocol before you violate it. At many spas, cell phones are banned entirely, and some stylists frown upon them as well. "It's difficult to do hair when someone's crouched over a phone," says Galasso, who simply walks away from gabbers, telling them, "'I'll get back to you when you're done.' With the phone on your ear, the hair sits differently, so the cut may be uneven." Beware soul-baring Unless you have a long and loyal relationship with your stylist, think before you treat his chair as a confessional. Not all stylists abide by the Hairocratic Oath -- the unofficial vow never to discuss clients -- as an Allure editor discovered after divulging to her cutter that she was reuniting with an ...