Clients and burnout.
I’m a hairstylist and lately I feel like I’m hitting burnout from client complaints, even though I genuinely love what I do and love most of my clients.
I’m booked and busy, I have amazing long-term clients, and I care a LOT about my work. But recently it feels like the complaints have gotten more frequent and it’s starting to get in my head.
Weeks ago a client complained about a slight color stain around her hairline. Recently I also got hit with a Google review situation that really affected my confidence. Said she loved it, and I saw her go to another hairdresser in my area and leave a review mentioning she fixed a “bad bleach job”. None of these situations were major disasters, but when little things keep stacking up, it starts making me second guess myself constantly.
Today I had a client who is a full foil, purple shampoo and trim. I did the exact same thing to her as last time which she LOVED. This time while drying, I asked her if she liked it, she said yes. But I could tell she didn’t and she said it was too “yellow”. I offered a toner since she usually doesn’t get one, and she said “it’s just everything not yellow actually”. I was taken aback. I’ve been doing hair for 6 years. She didn’t want me to fix it, she had to leave. She still paid and tipped over 20%. It was weird
What’s hard is that for a long time I felt really secure behind the chair, and now I feel anxious after appointments wondering if someone is secretly unhappy even when they leave smiling.
I know client service is part of this industry and I always want to improve, but I’m wondering if anyone else has gone through phases like this? Is this just part of getting busier and working on more people, or is burnout making me take everything more personally? The thing is, I’m not having major issues, clients calling the salon comparing. It’s just little things here and there with newer clients like adding a few more highlights, adding a few more lowlights, making the money piece 1/4 inch more thick. Things like that. Tweaks. I’ve only noticed this the last year. And clients being super penny pinching.
Would honestly appreciate hearing from other stylists because I feel mentally exhausted lately. I want to quit.