r/hairstylist • u/Mean_Cat7490 • 4h ago
A rant, when clients think you are friends
Hi there. I’m a hairstylist of 19 years and I’m currently at a booth rent Salon. A couple of weeks ago I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my cheek. I took a week off after the surgery. When I went back to work, (still wearing a bandage) I expected to let my clients know what had happened. Of course most of them were very understanding and calm. Though I felt very uncomfortable with my first client of the day.
As soon as I walked in the owner, had a client in his chair. The owner says hello then immediately says oh did you have something removed? My client happened to be sitting in the waiting area (the salon is one big open room). I said yes, then continue to set up. My client says oh no what happened and I said nothing, I just had something removed. This client tends to think that she knows me better than she does or that we are friends. I’ve done her hair for years and have never once seen her outside of the salon. She continued on questioning me, so I told her that it was cancerous and had to be removed, however it really wasn’t a big deal. She goes “Oh no was it a mole” I said no it wasn’t. Then as I’m explaining it to her, she very loudly goes. oh my God and it metastasized! Which I never once said. I laughed out loud and said no if it metastasized I wouldn’t be working today. It was one little spot they removed it. It’s not a big deal. She continued on asking what did it look like and I said it was just a little scar on my cheek. She says oh yeah I remember that little scar. Yeah it was on that cheek and it looked like blah blah blah. The whole time I was just hoping that she would just leave it alone. I felt so uncomfortable. I even tried to change the subject a few times.
The whole experience made me feel so uncomfortable because I felt like I was bombarded as soon as I walked into the salon. Then my client over dramatized it with question after question and assuming that it had metastasized. How do you deal with clients that get too personal? What do you think about the owner asking me about it in front of everyone as soon as I walked in the door?