As the owner of Lumos Nox Salon, Sam Villa Ambassador Twylla Jane knows first-hand the importance of cultivating a salon space that makes stylists feel valued as individuals. “Recognize that a salon is a brand, but so is every individual inside of it. Embrace the individuality of each of your stylists and focus on helping them grow,” said Jane, in a recent Instagram post. “Happy stylists, happy clients, happy salon, happy you. PERIOD.”
However, applying her message to your own salon is easier said than done. Thankfully, Jane has taken the time to share some incredible tips with The Tease that have helped her, as well as her staff, embrace individuality and support others in the industry. Below, find her top five tips and more!
Tip 1: Hire for Personality
“The team should help decide this, every new prospect should come in to shadow a few times with the team to make sure they fit into the vibe and overall culture of the salon. To make sure staff likes them and they like the staff…and in turn will be likable to salon guests.”
Tip 2: Focus on Services That Bring Joy
“Train staff to be well rounded in color, cut and styling, but encourage them to hone in on the services that bring them joy. Highlight those services on social outlets when they create content to share. Working models into schedules is a good way to help staff build their portfolios.”
Tip 3: Highlight Each Stylist’s Talent
“List each stylist’s talent and individual style in biographies and encourage them to build portfolios to showcase their work. When new clients need to be paired with a stylist, ask them a series of questions to ensure placing them with the right artist. Are they more particular about their color or cut? Do they always know what they want or prefer someone to make suggestions? What is their lifestyle and what are some of their interests? Matching up personalities is important for guest loyalty – there is so much that goes into the matchmaking process.”
Tip 4: Embrace a Relaxed Dress Code
“Embrace individuality outside of technical artistry by having a relatively lax dress/appearance code. The biggest rule is for stylists to look consistent at work while expressing their personality and personal style. Things like midriffs, torn clothes and body hair are of no concern to me if that’s part of a stylist’s overall look. We love having a wide range of personalities and images to help guests feel like they fit in no matter what they look like.”
Tip 5: Discover What Your Stylists Value
“Find out what is important to each stylist outside of work. Traveling… family… the gym… anime conventions?! Whatever it is, it is important that they always have the freedom and time to do those things. We don’t want our team to live to work, we want them to work so they can live a really great life outside of our four walls.”
While implementing these tips will certainly be helpful with building a salon environment in which your team feels supports and excited about the work that they do, it’s important to remember that sometimes people choose to move and how that is handled can speak volumes about a salon.
“We’ve had team members part ways for many different reasons,” Jane says. “Our hope is that some people will outgrow our company. I support team members growing and going off to start their own businesses. I would rather they left because they wanted to and felt prepared than because they felt trapped and had no other choice.”
In regards to how to handle team member departures with both guests and staffer, here are Jane’s tips:
For Guests: “Advise them on how to get a hold of their stylist who has left, in case they would like to follow them, and also communicate that the salon would be happy to match them with another stylist if they prefer to stay”
For Staff: “Let them know who is leaving and encourage them to say goodbye. If they have any questions, set aside time for a chat so they can better understand the circumstances.”
She added, “We always try to be as transparent and supportive as possible. I would rather have clients feel comfortable coming back to us in the future because we treated their stylist with respect and were open about their whereabouts, than have negative vibes floating around. We even have a “Where’s My Stylist Now” section on our website to see where team members have gone. There’s enough hair for everybody!”
For more of Twylla Jane’s helpful salon tips, be sure to follow @twyllajane on Instagram.
