2nd Step Consulting with your stylist

The Secrets of the “Cakebread Consultation”

After I have learned why the client has chosen me for their image needs, I begin my consultation by asking three questions. These questions guide the client as well as me, and the process helps the client understand what you, as a stylist, need to get started. My questions give me working information about the client in 3 key areas:

1. Past experiences
2. Limitations
3. Personality

For Stylists: This is how I navigate the client during the consultation:

I always ask the client to have a seat with me. I sit in front of the client at eye level. I tell the client that before we start the service I have three important questions that will give me the information I need for the cut.

1. What are your pass experiences?
2. What are you limitations today? (length, fears, etc.)
3. Choose three adjectives that best describe how you want to reflect your image?

The client will need help to keep focused on each question. Always start with the three questions and you will have most of the information you need to start the service. If you ask the personality question first, before the pass experiences question, the client could lead you down a road with red flags, and a 20 minute consultation could follow. If you still don't know why they are there, then ask another three questions...

1. Are you looking for a new image, makeover/transformation today?
2. Are you looking for style to be corrected or perfected?
3. Are you looking to just to maintain the previous style?

For Clients: Look at these questions and carefully consider your answers. Your image is very important to you… you wouldn't be spending the money for a salon cut if you didn't want to look the best yourself.


The three questions in detail:

(1) What are your past experiences? Frequent complaints include:

• A style that “looked like your mother’s haircut”
• A hair cut too short / color too blonde
• Bad haircut / color
• Over styled / too much product
• Couldn’t find someone to do a makeover

Past experiences help us as a stylist learn where to go, and where not to go, with individual clients. It’s the process of elimination. Is this cut/color to be fixed, transformed, or continued? This helps both parties to discover past fears, and uncover the best course for the future.

(2) What are your limitations? Some key questions to ask yourself:

• Am I growing it out or cutting it off?
• Changing or maintaining?
• What’s too short? (Always use your hands when describing length.)

Clear communication is vital. Body gestures with your hands help us know when a client is not fully communicating with words… one example is the client who asks for 4 inches off the ends, but who actually shows a 2-inch cut request with their hands.

(3) Choose three adjectives to describe the image you wish to reflect to yourself and to others? Key questions to ask yourself:

• Is this style primarily for my work, social life, or home/family life?
• If you know your own ‘hair agenda,’ then their stylist can help educate you for daily maintenance and give you the tools and products to master your style.

Why three adjectives?
• Three is the magic number… simple and sweet. If you focus on your three adjectives (like playful, sexy and confident), then you can work together with the stylist to find the ideal cut/color during each visit. Remember that everyone has his/her own idea of what adjectives like playful, sexy and confident should look like. I recommend working with the stylist to find pictures of people who represent these adjective concepts. It’s not about finding the model with your exact face shape or ideal look… it's about the moment that you find inspiration. If you find the perfect cut by chance look at what that person is reflecting about himself or herself in the photo. Do they look playful or sexy or both? Now think about what playful, sexy and confidant looked like in the 70's, 80's and in the 90's. Every 5 years fashion changes. It goes down the line from young to old. We are all different in personality, career, facial features, hair type and body type. Choose to show your true self… or be mysterious.