This Hair Salon’s New Service Will Make Introverts Very Happy
When you hit up the hair salon, there are three things you can usually count on: a magical scalp massage, an epic blowout and small talk. For some, the chit chat serves as a luxurious sort of therapy session, but for others, it’s a main deterrent from going in for that eight-week trim. If you identify more with the latter and you find yourself in the UK, you may want to book an appointment at this salon that’s now offering a “quiet chair” option.
At Bauhaus, a salon in Cardiff, South Wales, you can now book a “quiet chair” free of charge. By no means does this mean that chatting is strictly forbidden, but it does mean you won’t get to answer questions like, “What do you do?” or “What are your holiday plans?” Instead, you can treat your time in the chair as a relaxing pampered experience. Use that time to read a book or get scrolling on Instagram, or just zone out to the meditative sound of a blow dryer.
We chatted with Korina Stratton of SamHill Salon in San Francisco to get a stylist’s take on this new idea. She says she’s all for it but warns that for first-time clients, a consultation chat is necessary to make sure the stylist fully understands what you want. She tells us, “I am a fairly talkative gal in general so I don’t have a problem striking up a conversation with new clients or existing clients. Some stylists, on the other hand, do. Their skills may be brilliant but personalities difficult to interact with, which sometimes does actually influence their client retention. I’ve heard many times from clients that because their previous stylist wasn’t super friendly, they stopped going to them. They would say that the cut and color was good, but because of their dry or antisocial personalities, they didn’t feel comfortable returning to see them again. I think it just all depends on the client’s preference.”
Korina goes on to say, “Most of us [hair stylists] are great people-readers by now and can detect whether or not the client just wants to talk less and relax. We do appreciate that type of client and use it as a time to just really focus on the work!”
Would you book a quiet chair at your salon if you could? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
(Photo via Monica Schipper/Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty)