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It’s the difference between good and great. Details matter.

Work smarter, not harder, and You are only as good as the tools you use. These are a few things my husband would say as he was trying to encourage me to level up my game. And not bad advice, I might add.

When you pay attention to the little things and details matter to you, it shows in the quality of work that you put out. People love when you care about the end result that walks out the door. It is the difference between a professional job and an amateur job.

Cross Check

When doing a haircut, Always Cross Check Every Part Of Your Work! Check it Horizontally AND Vertically. Take a step back and look at it from a distance. Look directly at it, then look at it through the mirror. Then pull it out with both hands to Feel for evenness. You will always find something that got missed or was crooked.

Do not worry about your speed, it will come with time. Focus on your accuracy and symmetry. Develop a step-by-step plan for your basic services, like the 5 STEPS TO THE BASIC HAIRCUT As you build muscle memory there is less effort in your motions and your brain goes on autopilot. You get faster without even trying.

The Artistic Side of Things

Having an artistic eye is something that can be learned, for real. This is part of the artistic aspect of your job. When you take a step back and look at your work or look at your work through the mirror, look at the profile view. It can stick up, it just can’t stick out. You may need some initial help with this one. A second set of eyes, preferably some experienced ones, to point things out. You are looking for unevenness, heavy pieces, and unblended choppiness. By taking a step back or looking through the mirror you see the whole picture at once. Kind of like extending your vision on the road when you drive faster.

More than the Hair on their Head

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Don’t forget the eyebrows, neckline, sideburns, and in and around the ears. Details matter here too. Remember that they are paying for your time and attention. Sometimes you don’t need to take off much at all to make a difference, especially with fine hair, this is called a dusting.

If you are skilled enough to be able to blow through a haircut in less than 10 minutes and you are charging a higher-end price (prices vary by region), clients will be offended and feel they have not gotten their money’s worth, even if your haircut is precision perfect. That is, unless you have specifically branded yourself for that skill.

For these details, I highly recommend a Wahl Micro Trimmer. After having tried several other brands, I find Wahl to be the best quality for commercial use. These tiny trimmers are strong enough to cut through coarse hair without stopping or pulling. Note: they do take a battery and have ZERO tolerance for hitting the floor. If you drop them, kiss them goodbye. They explode into about 6 pieces; tweezers, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put them back together again.

Conclusion

So just take a couple of minutes to go through the motions. Double-check your work, run the comb through their hair, look at it just a minute longer then ask them to feel it themselves. Ask them to see if anything feels uneven, off, or heavy. Ask them how the length feels, and if they want to see the back.

All of these are the details that most hairdressers are too busy to think of as they are trying to rotate people through their chairs as fast as they can. It makes a difference. Customers will see you as providing exceptional service and rave about you as being the best they have ever been to. Your reputation is everything.

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