The State of Black Salons... The search for Clientele:

A number of black-owned stylists across the East Coast and throughout the country have experienced a significant decrease in clientele.   

According to the Professional Consultants & Resources, the salon and hair care industry is a 75.38 billion dollar business.  This is an increase of 4.1% over the comp year. However, a piece of this billion dollar pie has been diminishing for African American salons.  This is attributed primarily to four factors which are;

·         the increase of Dominican salons.

·         the trend or choice to transition from chemicals to natural hair

·         the lack of respect of a black woman’s time and absence of customer service in majority of salons.

·         Failure to use and retail good hair products specifically designed for Black hair care.

·         The lack of incentives and redirection to retain and consistently make the hair experience a necessity instead of a choice or want.

Dominican salons evolved in record numbers during the early 1980’s primarily on the East Coast in places like New York (Wall Street Journal, May 2012).  African American women primarily visited them due to the fact that they had efficient processes that resulted in less time being spent in the salon..  Dominican salons use an  assembly line approach that moved the customer along rapidly.   The end result of this process was soft silky hair at often less expensive prices than traditional salons.   

Despite the prevalence of Dominican salons, there have been a number of complaints.  Specifically, African-American customers have complained of  hair loss due to  the excessive use of heat from the blow dryer during styling.  As a result, black hair would  break and snap as a result of these processes being applied to our hair.  Although the  Dominicans have taken some market share, they cannot be totally  blamed for the state of the traditional Black salon.

Transitioning from chemicals to natural hair has become a popular trend and considered a healthier alternative to chemicals for African-American women.  Moreover, natural hair requires less maintenance and is often a better alternative for someone who does not have a great deal of time to spend on hair.  Black hair stylists often fail to service customers with naturals because the hair can be difficult to detangle. However, there are great products such as the Diva By Cindy Leave-In  infused with B vitamins to help solve this problem. Stylists who eliminate natural hair services from their menu, claiming it's time-consuming can increase their clientele by using a detangler to minimize the time it takes to wash and style naturals.  Thereby, making the  experience much more comfortable for their clients. 

Black hair salons do not always give great customer service. . Unfortunately, customers often experience,

• long wait times, (sometimes up to 4 hours or longer to receive services),
• use of mobile devices while Hair is being styled,
• lack of attention to detail (for example cutting off too much of a person's hair or not giving them the right color)
• Failure to use and retail good hair products is another problem or common complaint of clients.

Despite these negatives, stylists can do a number of things to improve client satisfaction and increase the willingness of clients to return to salons. 

Just as you  don't leave the doctors office without a prescription, a stylist should not allow their clients to leave their chair without a prescribed or recommended plan of hair care follow-up after leaving  the salon. Failure to do so leaves clients with only a couple of  options;  to peruse the Internet for follow-up hair care products or to go to the neighborhood drugstore or beauty supply store and figure out what they need. Unfortunately, this does not produce  loyalty to their stylist.

                                                                                                                           

Failure to implement customer loyalty programs another reason why women are not visiting black hair care salons.  Salons can increase their clientele by offering the following: 1)customer loyalty card programs such as coupons 2) free retail products for spending a given amount at the salon, 3) birthday cards with coupons and  other well-thought-out loyalty programs, will help clients return to salons more often

The advent of Salon Suites have also taken away the salon experience. Gone are the days we would walk in a salon and have women sharing, bonding, and connecting in an open space. As a result, without the necessary foot traffic to some of the Suites, stylists sit and wait and wonder where and when the next clients are going to arrive. Without aggressive marketing and Salon incentives mentioned above, there will continue to be a decline in the numbers of clients for the stylist. Stylists will have no option but to work   part-time to supplement their income). 

We visit salons to be pampered, and the services must transcend the experience. Stylists must be willing to work with all hair types and textures in addition to chemically processed hair or Natural hair). African-American stylists must also be willing to perform these services in a timely manner. We all love to receive gifts and incentives.  Thus, incentives should be in place to maintain a flow of reciprocity between client and Beautician. Carefully thought out incentives go a long way to help retain our black clientele.   Salons and Stylist must examine their company's mission and overall vision, revamped practices to include the words timely, relaxing, tranquil environment to attract and maintain their clients. Implementation of a few well-thought-out ideas which involves putting our customers well being ahead of profits will increase our bottom line