Are Hairstylist’s Boundaries Leading To Poor Client Service?

Hello, my friend. Welcome back to The Modern Hair Stylist podcast. Today, we are going to be giving y'all some tough love and some good advice, and diving deep into boundaries, okay? Particularly your boundaries around policies, last-minute cancellations and no-shows, and how we approach those things.

And honestly, talking about the epidemic that we're experiencing right now when it comes to what these policies have created for us as an industry and how clients perceive us as an industry as well. And with me today, as per usual, is Jodie Brown. What's going on, Jodie? Hey, hey.

I'm so excited to dive into this 'cause there is a lot of conversation. There is a lot to discuss. Hell, yeah. There is tons to, uh, discuss, and if you are an avid listener of my podcast or if you're a student of mine, you know that I have been talking about policies and boundaries from the very beginning.

But even if you've heard me talk about this stuff before, I think it is massively important to listen to me right now and listen to this episode all the way through, because we're gonna be revisiting this concept in a much more modern and fresh way, and it's so important to focus on this stuff now more than ever. So, when I say that there's this epidemic that we're talking about, right? It's an epidemic of trust within us as an industry, and a huge part of the distrust that we're seeing from clients right now comes from us getting really strict with our policies in the past couple years. People on the TikTok comments and in just even reviews on salons' pages and Google My Businesses and things like that, the general sentiment is that we have just gotten way too strict and we aren't being super fair in matching the consumer where they're at, while simultaneously mitigating these issues, right?

And so, I'm really looking forward to attacking that, because if we don't do something about this soon enough, then our entire industry is going to be at risk. Because people right now are looking into DIY options, cheaper options, and f-... looking for the stylists who just don't even have policies in place at all, and who are going to allow clients to possibly disrespect their time, right? So, I think that it's really important that we revisit this conversation, and I'm looking forward to diving into it with you today.

By the end of this episode, what I'm gonna highly recommend that you do is reflect on some of the things that I share with you today and revisit your policies, revisit how you're approaching these types of things and the boundaries in your business, because I think it's very important and timely that we do so. But, Jodie, um, just to give a little bit of an intro for who you are with the podcast, just in case people don't know who you are, um, Jodie works with me and helps me out with my marketing. Um, she is a beauty professional herself, and, uh, the reason why she's here with us today is because I have terrible ADHD and she also has a really great finger on the pulse of what you guys want and need, and she's always in my Instagram comments seeing all the questions that you guys ask. And so, she's able to prompt me and make sure that I'm giving you a really beautiful tailored, personalized experience with the podcast.

Um, uh, so, sorry to completely take that from you, Jodie, if you wanna introduce yourself, but- That was fun. uh, you go ahead. I think that was perfect. You nailed it.

Sick. So, Jodie's fricking awesome and she'll be prompting me with questions and things like that today. So, Jodie, where do you think we should start off with this policies are boundaries effing up our lives conversation? Well, it's interesting, because a lot of the posts about, you know, and even just in general in the industry, clients are starting to weigh in now.

So, we're getting a lot of questions from stylists. We're getting a lot of the views of clients. And so, what we're gonna really discuss today is, what is that line between healthy boundaries and poor customer service, because, Hunter, as you always talk about, we are still in the client service business, and creating that experience is so, so important. On the flip side, as stylists, we don't wanna burn out and not be able to provide that service.

So, one of the most common questions, I think the best place to start is, when it comes to policies and boundaries, when is the time to be flexible and when is the time to really stick to your guns? And let's start specifically with cancellation policies. 'Kay, cool. I mean, I think there's a lot of different factors with this conversation that can be taken in consideration.

Um, the first one is, where are you at as a business owner and your performance as a business? How much can you risk losing, right? Because the more strict you are, the more you are putting your business at risk, right? And some of us, as far as our business performance goes, our growth, whatever it may be, aren't necessarily in a place in which we can take on much risk.

And so, if we are super strict and we are charging every single person with every single policy, every single small little mishap or mistake that our clients make, if our policy is super strenuous, if we're asking for large deposits, whatever it may be, you are setting up more barrier and you are setting up more chance of clients being upset with you and your business and not visiting your business any longer. And you may not be in a space in which you can afford that, right? You're thinking... You, uh, you could possibly be thinking a little bit too short term, right?

Because maybe you are in a space where it's like, "Well, if this person cancels on me, that makes a big difference in my income this week," and that's something that you can't afford in the short term. But what about the long-term, in the way that your business is growing and developing and building upon itself? You can't afford that much more than you can afford taking the L on one cancellation in your day, right? But if you've built up your business to a place where, you know, one cancellation in your day is not really going to mess you up too much, but you wanna mitigate those things from happening as much as possible, you can afford to, um......

be a little bit stricter and more rigid with the policies that you have and how you implement them and, and when you execute them, right? So, I think that that's one factor to consider is how, how mature are you or how well are you doing in your business development and performance and how much risk can you take on? And deciding how strict you are with your policies should be in alignment with that, and what your business can afford. Another factor, uh, with this, on the flip side, is just taking into consideration your reputation- Mm-hmm.

and your ethics and your morals, right? And so when, when we talk about, you know, being super strict with the cancellation policy or whatever it may be, another part of this conversation is, you know, how much leeway do we give people, right? And, and how much do we take into consideration, like, real-life circumstances? You know, we're reliant on real human beings with real lives and crazy shit happening out of nowhere, out of the blue possibly, for people.

Or last minute just little mistakes happening that will possibly prevent that person from being able to show up to the appointment with you, right? Mm-hmm. And I think when, when we talk about, like, being kind of consistent with our policies, um, a lot of the messaging has been like, "Well, if I have a policy but I don't implement it super consistently, then I'm not, I'm just not gonna have a policy at all or it's gonna be hard for me to implement it in the future." So we just say s- we either go, like, one direction or the other, I feel, a lot of the time, um, when we need to really meet somewhere in the middle.

So, we are either like, "Okay, we have to stay super consistent. We're gonna charge no matter what, and we're gonna charge every single person," or, "We just don't charge anything at all, or we don't even have a cancellation policy, or we let everything slide." I believe, like, a place where we meet in the middle is where we really want to stick, where we understand that humans are humans, people make mistakes, or people have real-life circumstances such as they have medical issues, they are sick, their children are sick, and they just last minute have to cancel. And that just is what it is.

And is it really worth you completely off the f- off the first time that this person does this with you, right, is it really worth you getting 50% of that person's service total and making a little bit of that money in the meantime when you are w- a- and then simultaneously risking that person now having a different view about you and your business? Therefore, losing that client, that person, when they have a negative experience, they are very likely statistically to share with a lot of their friends, family, and network about that negative experience, and you could even get a bad review online. And so, is the risk really worth it? Plus, you are a service provider, and you're probably in this industry because you love people and taking care of people, right?

And so we need to, you know, take a step back and remember that we're still human beings, that we still wanna make a good, positive impact on our communities. And I think offering a little bit of leeway here and there and giving people the chance and opportunity to be humans, make mistakes, especially if they're an ideal client or a normally respectful client, I think taking that into consideration is very important and helpful. So, like, remember who you are as a human being. And another conversation about this, I think, that is interesting to put into perspective for people and even to think about in the future as far as how you actually approach setting up your policies is, like, how would you feel Mm-hmm.

if you canceled on the client last minute, or if you were the client of another business, right? So, like, uh, I think when you're setting up your policies, I think it's like, well, if you canceled on this client last minute, would you be willing to give this person a 50% discount the next time that they come to see you, right? Like, or are you gonna pay them 50% of the service because they, because you canceled last minute, right? So, like, think about how it would affect you and, and what your perception would be, particularly if you are in a strenuous, unavoidable circumstance.

Right. Those are all such great points. I wanna discuss the nuance a little bit more in detail. Do you approach this differently with new clients versus existing clients?

Can you talk a little bit about w- when you would choose to implement your cancellation policy potentially? Um, my message with this hasn't really changed too much, um, over the years. But though, though one time especially with new clients, like the one time that I'm going to probably undoubtably charge the policy, or like the cancellation fee or whatever it may be, um, or keep the deposit, whatever, is if I am getting ghosted. And a lot of the time that's the case with newer clients, right?

Like, when we, when we experience new client last minute no-shows, cancellations, um, it's a lot of the time the ghosting is a part of that. And that's where I ... you're not showing me any respect as a human being- Right. so why should I care about giving you any leeway when you've- Right.

completely screwed me over? You have hopefully agreed to my policies upfront, right? That's what we should all be doing. There should be one way or another that somebody is at least agreeing to your policies once with a check mark, right?

But I would recommend d- doing even more than that to set that person up with the expectations of your policies and things like that. But why should I consider giving this person leeway when maybe I reach out to them and I say, "Hey, Susie, I'm just reaching out to you because we had an appointment scheduled at this time. I hope that you're doing okay. I'm just checking in and seeing if you're still coming," or whatever- Mm-hmm.

and then she completely ghosts you? Why should I care about , you know, if I should charge this person something or not when they're showing me complete disrespect? So if they completely ghost you, they're not responding to your inquiries,I would notify that person and I would say, "Hey Suzie, because of the, uh, unresponsiveness that I'm getting from this circumstance and I've tried to reach out and mitigate what or, you know, talk about what's going on, um, uh, uh, I've decided to go ahead and enforce my cancellation policy, which you have agreed to, um, and go ahead and charge your card on file 50% of the total, the, the total of the service." Um, and then I would follow through with that, and I have before as a hairstylist.

So, um, I think, you know, that's majoritively the circumstances that we'll deal with when it comes to new clients canceling on us last minute, is, like, the non-communication and that's when I would go ahead and implement it. But same for existing clients as well too. Like, if the existing client is just completely ghosting you, being disrespectful, I'd apply that same rule as well too. Right.

Okay. So, o- as the stylist then, so if we're, we're thinking, "Okay, we're not gonna be as reactive in terms of charging the cancellation policies and things like that," then how do we mitigate those last minute cancellations and no-shows? Like, how does a stylist protect their business in that circumstance? Yeah.

And, uh, you and I were talking a little bit before we got onto this episode, and you were saying, like, you know, this is a really real thing, right? Like, I'm, I'm norm- I'm giving, like, the unpopular opinion, right? Like, I'm giving the unpopular opinion a lot of the time where it's, like, we shouldn't be just charging everybody this willy-nilly, because everybody feels very disrespected, and it's a very emotionally charged circumstance whenever we are canceled on. Like, I have been there, I've done that.

I still am, b- I'm still there and I'm still doing that, right? Like, I am a hairdresser behind the chair just like you, so I get it. Like, when you are canceled on last minute, especially when, you know, that, that three hours was blocked off, that five hours was blocked off, even the hour where you could have been making money, it feels personal. It feels really hard and frustrating.

I totally get that. And so of course, we want to figure out how can we actually solve this problem? So I'm not saying just, like, don't charge and I'm not saying get over it, but I am saying we do have to accept that this is just a part of the industry and the business that we're in and that we're running. And two things can be true.

We can also put things into place, solutions into place that aren't going to be actually more harmful to our business, um, than do good for us, right? And so the solutions, there's plenty of solutions. I think the number one thing is just you can't expect anybody to respect you if you haven't told them what you expect as far as those respecting rules go, or expectations go, right? So, if you haven't set expectations, if you hadn't made them clear, then the person is not going to...

Ta- that person shouldn't be necessarily held to a completely high standard of always respecting those expectations, especially when this person is just a client. This person has a whole entire life. Their world does not revolve around you. They don't get that you are losing income.

They may not even understand that this is a disrespectful thing, right? And so, if you haven't made your policies upfront and clear, if they have not read them, signed them, and agreed to them, if they haven't been reminded of them- Right. recently. Because a lot of the time, we'll only have clients sign our policies when they first sign up for our business, and then we never talk about them ever again.

Um, uh, if we have not reminded them of them, if we have not even shown them to them at all, then we can't expect somebody to always respect them, right? So, making it so that they're in spaces where the person can see it, where they are reminded of it, where they're actually agreeing to it, I think is number one, first and foremost. That does not look like going on your Instagram story and telling your clients that, "When clients cancel on me, I'm losing this, y- x, y, and z. How would you feel if your boss told you that you wouldn't get some of your salary?"

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Your clients don't give a shit, number one. Number two, you are just creating negative connotation. You don't need to explain your side of the story to m- mitigate the situations.

Yes, it could mitigate the situation, but again, and this is another place where it's, like, yes, this is a solution. Yes, it may work. However, how much harm are you also doing when you are solving the problem in that way, right? So instead, we have people go through our digital form processes, right?

We could, even, if you really wanna go this extra mile, you could even have the policies physically on a sign in your fricking salon, whatever. For my students, in digital spaces, in the automatic onboarding flow for new clients, and in the way that we approach our client experience on a day-to-day basis, my students reduce their last minute cancellations and, and no-shows very drastically. And it's because they have those systems set up, it's reminded on a consistent basis, and they're setting those expectations up, and they are not talking about their policies at all, or quote-unquote educating their clients at all about why they have the policy in place. They're just saying, "We have the policy in place and..."

This brings me to the second solution. They're also asking for a little bit of skin in the game. So not only are they getting those signatures, um, and also n- agreeing to those terms fro- fro- the clients aren't just agreeing to the terms, but we may also want to ask for a credit card on file just to have a little bit of acknowledgment or more serious, tangible acknowledgment that there is a consequence to this behavior, right? And it's making it so this person is showing you that they are very serious and they're acknowledging that policy as well too.

So, when you get that k- that card on file, notice I didn't say it's so you can charge the fee. It's so you get a little bit of skin in the game, you get a little bit more commitment, and that is just going to naturally, inherently reduce the chance of the last minute and cancellation no-show happening, and make somebody pay attention to your policy a little bit more, rightUm, I could go on and on and on, but, about other solutions, but I think the next one that is just a really not talked about enough one is just creating a really badass client experience. Yeah. In a couple weeks from today when we're recording this, we're going to be releasing a really sick program, or event you could call it, May 5th through the 7th of 2025, uh, that's gonna be all about making a client experience that is absolutely next level.

And a client experience that is next level is going to make it so a hair appointment doesn't just feel like a chore, but it feels like something that somebody is looking forward to, right? That's, that is the difference. A lot of the time, especially if these are just four-weekers in your chair, a lot of the time people are looking at your service as a chore. It's something that they have to do because they don't want their gray to be showing, right, or something like that.

They have to book the appointment. They have to drive to your, your situation. They have to block out their time. They have to figure out childcare.

They may have to take off work, especially if you have a schedule in which you don't have traditional hairstylist hours such as afternoons and weekends, right? And so if you're having somebody who is going through a lot of these hoops and inconveniences in their own personal life, right- Mm-hmm. to be able to show up to your service, to your appointment, it's going to feel like an inconvenient chore unless you make that experience so exciting and worth it, something that somebody is willing to sacrifice for, somebody that's, something that somebody is willing to make it so everything is pushed out of the way to be able to show up to that appointment. Right.

I've shared this experience before, um, 'cause it was, like, timely at the time that somebody asked me about this. I think it was you and I, Jody, on, like, your podcast, like- It was, yeah. I don't know, like two years ago or something like that. Yeah.

I was buying my first pair of skis ever and I was so excited about it. And I'm sure that you listening to this, my friend, you've had some sort of experience like this where there was something happening, you were picking up something, or you had an event or something like that that was, like, you were really looking forward to it and you wouldn't miss it for the world. These skis, the pickup time that I had for them were at a really shitty time in the middle of the week, in the middle of my day, right? And I moved everything for it.

I would not have missed that for the world. I had to sit in Philly freaking traffic on the Schuylkill to get there. And any Philly people, any PA people who know what I'm talking about, you know that I sacrificed a lot to make sure- ... that I was at that ski appointment on time because I was so fucking excited to pick up my skis and I wanted them as soon as possible.

That is the type of excitement that you want to create within your experience with your clients. And we can talk all about client experience and making it next level- Mm-hmm. but not here today. That's not the topic, but it is a solution.

And again, we're gonna have an event at the time of recording this in a couple weeks from now, May 4th through the 6th. Block it out on your calendar. We're gonna be talking about how to make a client experience that people don't want to cancel last minute on, um, or no show. As you were talking, I was thinking about my massage therapist.

I have rescheduled team meetings. I will do all things. I literally check my email every morning to see if she has had a cancellation because when I get an appointment with her it fin- it feels like winning the lottery. Right.

Like, and I feel like that is the type of experience that you were talking about creating where people are so excited that they don't want to cancel. They will go out of their way to show up for you. Right. And I also feel like in this episode, you've really illustrated in so many different ways the importance of departmentalizing your business because, you know, when there is that reactivity, like, what you're, you know, when you were talking about going to Instagram and trying to educate, quote-unquote, "your clients" on the impact cancellations have, like, you're showing up in your marketing channel talking operations, right?

100%. And so I think that's what's really, really important and why it's so powerful, like we talked about in the last episode, to be really clear on these departments so that you can make sure that you're not inadvertently hurting your business, right? Right. So I thought that was a really, really smart thing to kind of outline, and I'm really excited to dive into each of these departments over the next couple weeks.

Hell yeah. I think that's such a beautiful way to put it into perspective because it's so true. Like, there are certain numbers that you're trying to hit with each of the departments, right? And so, like, in operations and, like, what I have my students track, like, within their KPIs and their numbers is, like, how many cancellations did you have, like, within a week, within a month, within a year?

And we track a cancellation rate, right? And so we can talk about, like, what's gonna mitigate that and then, but we also wanna pay attention to the fact that we have a marketing department and the whole part of the marketing department is we have certain, uh, uh, places, resources, things that we use to increase the number of new client requests that we get, and we don't want to use those same places, that is, focusing on getting one number to then- Mm-hmm. fo- to then fix a problem or in- or increase or decrease a number in, let's say, the operations department, such as- Totally. cancellations.

So I love that you put that into perspective like that. That was really cool. I think that this has been such an amazing episode and we've really touched on all of the things that, you know, y- you've really put a finger on the pulse of what is going on in the conversations, both between hairstylists and clients, and I can't wait to dive into our next episode on client experience and sales. I think that is going to really put a bow on this conversation.

I completely agree and I'm so, I'm looking forward to that with you, my friend. Jody, thank you so much for today, and listener, thank you so much for tuning in today. I really appreciate it. I'll catch you on the next one.

Peace out, girl scout. Bye-bye.

End of transcript. © 2025 Hunter Donia LLC.