147: Your Guest Has Cancer

I vividly recall the day when I checked my schedule to see who was coming in. Like many stylists, I have my favorite guests and that day, I was thrilled to see one of them on my schedule.

As she sat in my chair, I noticed something was different and asked if she was okay. To my surprise, she burst into tears and held my hand, sharing that she had just been diagnosed with cancer. In that moment, my own eyes filled with tears and all I could do was embrace her.

At the time, I was still early in my career and had not been trained on how to safely care for a client with a compromised immune system. Looking back, I realize that I made mistakes and was not properly equipped to provide the care and support that she needed.

However, over the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of working with many women battling cancer and have learned a great deal about what to do and what not to do. In fact, performing makeovers for these women has become one of the most rewarding aspects of my career.

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Transcript

Unknown: 1:32

You know, I vividly recall the day when I checked my schedule to see who was coming in. Like many stylists, I had my favorite guests and that day I was thrilled to see one of them on my schedule. As she sat in my chair, I noticed something was different asked if she was okay. To my surprise, she burst into tears and held my hand sharing that she had just been diagnosed with cancer. In that moment, my own eyes filled with tears, and all I could do is embrace her. And see at the time, I was still early in my career, and had not been trained on how to safely care for a client with a compromised immune system. Looking back, I realized that I had made mistakes, and was not properly equipped to provide the care and support that she needed. However, over the past 30 years, I've had the privilege of working with many women battling cancer. And I've learned a great deal about what to do and what not to do. In fact, performing makeovers for these women has become one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. Today, we're going to talk about five mistakes when working with a salon client with cancer and how to correct them. Well, hey there. This is Danise. And this is the salon ownership Made Easy podcast for salon owners who are searching for simple solutions to their everyday challenges. I've owned several six and seven figure award winning salons in my 30 year career. With so many changes happening in our industry these days, it seems like salon owners need a shoulder a hug and a big dose of reality. Think about it. We didn't learn how to be successful salon owners and beauty school. So why don't you let me share what has worked and what hasn't worked for me over the years, you do have what it takes to be amazingly successful. So let's do this. I'm excited you're here. As hair stylists, this is kind of a difficult subject. Yeah, when your client has cancer, how do you treat them? What do you do? today? We're going to talk about that. So here are the five mistakes that I've made. And I've thought a lot about how to correct them. So mistake number one. When shaving her head, I had her look in the mirror. This is one of the biggest mistakes that I made. And common sense should have told me I should have done it differently. No one wants to watch large clumps of hair falling on the floor when they'd rather be keeping their hair, right. I mean, most people don't even like to get their hair cut and watch a half an inch fall on the floor. So what could I have done differently? First, turn her away from the mirror while you're shaving her head, and then work with your assistant or a partner so they could sweep up her hair as it falls to the floor. So she doesn't have to see all of it lying on the floor. And then when it's time to reveal, get her ready. So you can turn her to face the mirror after you've finished shaving her head and maybe celebrate it together. Number two, I treated her like every other salon guest that sat in my chair. Like I said before, I didn't know how to take care of a salon guest with a compromised immune system. I had no idea that there was a difference. I didn't even realize that there were special precautions that should have been taken. So what should I have done? I should have scheduled this guest during one of the slower times at the salon to risk the exposure to other salon guests. Meaning you know her immune system is compromised, you don't want her getting sick. If I was going to perform a pedicure, that we definitely use disposable liners in the foot bath and the manicure bowl. And during a facial use disposable wash cloth towels, pillowcases and sheep. Just use them once and throw them away. You protecting your guest. The third mistake I took for granted that hair loss was a side effect of all cancer treatments. It's not. I learned really quickly that hair loss isn't the side effect of all cancer treatments, different chemotherapy treatments, they treat different cancers. It truly depends on the type of cancer. Now that doesn't mean that the cancer treatment one affect the hair in some way. So what do you do? First of all, don't be afraid to ask questions about her cancer treatment. If she's going to lose her hair, she will know it and she will tell you the doctor has prepared her for that. Be prepared to guide her through the side effects on her hair. If it does stay. It may become brittle or very dry and it could even change colors and don't minimize the fact that she has cancer Even if she keeps her hair and doesn't look sick, she still heard the words you have cancer. And that could be an emotional roller coaster. The fourth mistake, not performing a patch test prior to applying color, I learned that cancer treatment can change things in the body, especially skin sensitivity, I can honestly say I was not always good at performing a patch test. But once I started working with women that had battled cancer, I was much more likely to take the time to do one. I remember this one time, we had a National Educator come into our salon to teach color. And the model that I chose, I chose her because she was going through cancer or she had just finished chemotherapy. And she really wanted to feel special. So I chose her to be my model. Well, lo and behold, her hair color just would not take we colored it like three or four times. And it just would not hold the color we actually had to I think she was like a level six, we actually had to bump it down to like a level three or four for the color pigment to even hold on to her hair. It's kind of strange, and I wasn't expecting that. But like I said, cancer changes things in the body, what can I say. So if your salon guest is going through cancer treatment, or has gone through cancer treatment, I would highly recommend me performing a patch test and sure that it's safe to proceed with color service. Her skin might be ultra sensitive or dry, and could really really stain or test her hair and see if it's going to take the color as expected. The fifth mistake is sharing your personal experiences with loved ones with cancer. If you're going to share stories of your loved ones battling cancer, please be sure that the outcome was positive. She's already scared and afraid of what to expect. She's hope not gloom and doom, do not share that your aunt had the same type of cancer and didn't make it that would be awful. So what do you do share positive, uplifting stories with her storage that encourage and when she comes into the salon, address her health and then move on. She may very well want to talk about something other than her cancer in its treatment. She hears enough about it on a daily basis. And I guarantee you, she thinks about it on a daily basis. I remember when my mom had cancer, her hair didn't completely fall out, but it sure to get thin and it did change. In fact, her hair grew, you know, she did have a wig, because she was afraid that she would lose it all. And she lost it then the lot. But when her hair did come back, it was completely different texture. And it was curly. And it was it was like didn't belong on her head. And I can tell you just also just with my mom having cancer. It's just the thing that you want to bring joy into their life, you want to give them hope you want to give them and provide them a safe space to be and that they can depend on you. As hair stylists. Our role is not limited to providing a great haircut or color. It's also about cultivating relationships and earning trust. Your client places a lot of trust in you, particularly with her beauty requirements, especially in difficult times. You should be ready to provide solutions and resources for any questions she may have. Even if you need to look them up yourself. You might not know all the answers. However, the most crucial aspect is to be there for her emotionally, offering a comforting hug a warm smile and assuring her that she can rely on you. I hope this helped. I hope this answered any questions. Maybe you might be going through this and needed some guidance. We are in the beauty industry. And this probably will affect you at least once in your career. And so I hope it has provided you guidance. Until next time, stay awesome. Hey there thanks so much for listening to the salon ownership Made Easy podcast today. Would you do us a favor? If you got value out of this week's episode? Will you share it with your friends. And while you're at it, go ahead and leave us a review. That way more business owners like yourself will find us and we can help them with the challenges they may be facing too. Thanks again. And we'll see you next week. Take care