A great hairdresser must have what Jesse Briggs calls a "good chair-side
manner." Briggs should know, since he's the owner of a chain of hair salons
that spans the globe.
Briggs is a hairdresser to the stars, styling hair for such celebrities
as Demi Moore, Elizabeth Taylor, Ivana Trump, Don Johnson, Bruce Willis and
Richard Simmons. When he talks about his humble beginnings, Briggs says he
can barely believe his success himself.
"I started hairdressing when I was 16," says Briggs, who works in Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida. "My wife was a hairdresser and I didn't know what I wanted to do,
so I thought I'd work with her. I was in love."
Now Briggs and his wife have salons in places like Paris and Milan. They
employ more than 900 hairdressers.
Despite his business success, Briggs still does hair every day. "I'm a
workaholic," he explains. "I book between $12,000 and $15,000 a week myself."
This is the kind of success sought by many hairdressers.
Debbie Boniface hopes to start her own salon in her hometown.
"My older sister was in this business when the stereotype was old ladies
going to the 'beauty parlor' for their weekly curl," she says. "Things have
changed a lot since then."
These days, customers expect top treatment. For Boniface, this includes
a wash, scalp massage, cut or perm, and style, along with advice on how to
keep the new look.
"It's really become a science," she says. "You have to know the basics
of dermatology sometimes, and use the right product."
Applying the wrong type of hair color or leaving a permanent in too long
can ruin not only a customer's hair, but the stylist's reputation as well.
Boniface says that as fast as word gets around that you're a good hairdresser,
word gets around twice as fast if you've ruined someone's look.
Briggs says his approach to hairstyling hasn't changed much since he started.
He says a good hairdresser has to have a combination of great people skills,
talent and presence.
"Some of the most creative hairdressers make the least money because they
have no rapport with people," he says. "I admit, I have a knack for it. I
don't have to work at it, it just happens."
Even with over 40 years of experience dealing with picky clients, Briggs
admits there are some people that just can't be satisfied. He tells of one
client who always complained he cut too much off her hair, even though he
only trimmed a quarter of an inch.
"The last time she came in, I went through the motions of cutting her hair,"
he says. "But I didn't actually cut anything off and she complained again.
If a client doesn't like something you do, it's usually not you. It's something
else that's going on in their life."
Briggs's philosophy is simple: the customer is always right. "Clients are
tough to work with if they're insecure about themselves," he says. "But if
someone's unhappy, I'll always either change it or give them their money back."
Briggs says hairdressers get into trouble with clients when their egos
get in the way. "People put a lot of pressure on hairdressers and most don't
know how to deal with it," he says.
Boniface agrees, saying that some people can never be satisfied. "There
are people you just won't satisfy, so you do the best you can."
One of the worst things a client can do, notes Boniface, is walk in and
tell the stylist to "do whatever they want." Inevitably, the customer won't
like the new look.
That's not the only way clients frustrate their stylists. "I really don't
like it when people walk in with a picture of Sharon Stone or something and
want to look like her or another celebrity," says Boniface. "Unless your hair
is exactly like hers, it just doesn't work."
Boniface says she enjoys taking time with each client to find out what
type of hair they have and what kind of look they want. She likes explaining
the process of coloring and perming to customers. Thanks to this communication,
the client has a better chance of going home satisfied. Plus, they're able
to maintain the style on their own.
"Hair is a very personal thing, and it takes a long time for mistakes to
grow out," says Boniface. "I like to get it right the first time."
In addition to handling difficult customers and creating great hairstyles,
Briggs says a good hairdresser has to have good organizational skills. "You
have to be coordinated to keep clients moving," he says. "You can't make people
wait."
With over 900 employees, many of whom he hired himself, Briggs says he
knows how to spot a world-class hairdresser. When prospective employees come
in, he makes a rather peculiar request -- he asks them to walk for him.
"A walk tells you a lot about a person's confidence and energy," Briggs
explains.
In addition to making sure they can "walk the walk," Briggs looks for the
right combination of confidence, skill and versatility in his prospective
employees. At $75 for a haircut, his salons cater to an elite clientele. That
means no curler-sets or wash-and-wear poodle perms. His employees have to
keep up with the hottest trends and the best products.
"It's a fast pace here," says Briggs. "We cater to a high-end group."
Briggs made a decision early in his career to view hairdressing as a career,
not just a job. He says he's always aimed for the high-profile clients.
"There are lots of people doing this as just a job in places where people
wear the same hairstyle all their lives," he says. "I wanted to do something
more exciting."
Briggs says it's his dedication to hairdressing as a profession that has
made him a success. As he points out, he has the same hairdressing license
as everyone else in the business. It's his determination to succeed that sets
him apart from the others.
"It's like a driver's license, getting a hairdresser's license," he says.
"You have to get it, but that doesn't mean you can drive a Ferrari. I had
to do it, Vidal Sassoon had to do it. It's what you do after you get the license
that makes all the difference."