10+ Signs That Can Help You Spot a Good Beauty Salon and Not Get Stuck With Amateurs

We all occasionally visit beauty salons to cut split ends, get a manicure, or trim our brows. They say beauty requires sacrifice but it shouldn’t be something that threatens our health and safety, which is why one should be very careful when choosing a salon and a stylist. And it’s not just about the cleanness of the salon and the professionalism of its employees.

Bright Side decided to tell you about red flags that imply you shouldn’t return to the salon in order to save your mood and your health.

1. The professional uses non-sterilized and/or non-disposable tools and consumables.

Sometimes you’ll arrive at a beauty salon and see a hairstylist approaching you with a comb sticking out of their pocket that has already been used on other clients. This is inappropriate for a decent salon to have since non-disposable tools should always be disinfected or sterilized before use.

Ideally, a specialist should open a craft package with disinfected tools right in front of you. The colorful indicators won’t let them cheat you.

2. The brow stylist doesn’t ask you to smile.

In order to find the right shape of brows for you, a good artist should take into account the individual specifics of your face. For that, they will try to have a conversation with you and make you smile. If during the conversation, your right brow lifts up, for instance, a professional won’t be lifting it during the procedure.

3. A hairdresser doesn’t massage your head while washing it.

Massaging the scalp while washing is a standard practice in many beauty salons. It stimulates blood circulation and promotes hair growth. It also provides gentle exfoliation so that dead skin cells don’t accumulate, leading to dandruff. If the hair stylist doesn’t massage your scalp, it’s a red flag indicating that the service in this salon is far from being upscale.

4. The brushes of the makeup artist are stored in glasses.

The brushes of a good artist are never stored on open surfaces, but rather, in special cases. Otherwise, they will collect dust. Each brush is only used to apply makeup to one client and is thoroughly disinfected before further use.

5. Cosmetic products and gel polishes don’t have the dates of when they were opened.

Each cosmetic product has its own expiration date after opening the package. On average, lipstick can be stored for 1 year; eyeshadows, from 3 to 6 months; and mascara, for 3 months. Gel nail polish also has its own set of standards. Some of them become unusable 1 year after opening the bottle.

It’s hard for beauty experts to remember when each product was opened, which is why stickers with the opening date will guarantee to a client that they were not made up with an expired product.

6. Clean towels are stored on open shelves.

Beauty salons that care about their reputation pay close attention to how their towels are stored. Only individually wrapped textiles can be kept on open shelves, otherwise, they will become dusty and their use will be unhygienic. Washed, worn-out towels should not be in a beauty salon of good quality.

7. The beauty professional gets distracted by their phone while on the job.

A professional who keeps getting distracted by their phone all the time can create a bad impression, especially if they talk about private topics or write a message with one hand, trying to style your hair or trim your brows with the other.

If a beautician decides to answer the phone during a procedure, it’s important that they wash their hands before they touch your face. And, of course, no one would appreciate sitting in a salon where the employees talk to each other, discussing their private life and their clients.

• I got into the chair of a hairdresser. Suddenly, their phone rings and she answers the phone, “Hi dear,” and starts gossiping. She put the cape on me with one hand and started to dye my hair. Later, when I came home, I saw a dye stain on my T-shirt. After that, I immediately start to look for new hairstylists if the one I’m seeing ever gets distracted by their phone.

8. A cosmetologist who has gone overboard with cosmetic procedures on themselves.

Experts say that an abundance of fillers on the face of a beautician should alert the client. Severely oversized lips, for example, may indicate that the master has a professional deformation, which means they may be biased towards the appearance of their clients and provide similar results on their faces.

9. A beauty professional with long nails

Long nails on a hairdresser, makeup artist, brow master, or nail technician can cause inconveniences to a client, potentially scratching them. If a hairdresser, for example, works without gloves, their nails can cling to hair, leaving you wishing to go to someone else.

10. A TV set that’s too loud

We go to beauty salons to relax, and loud music or TV sets with people shouting on the screen don’t contribute to this. That’s why if the salon that you visit always plays TV shows or news channels loudly, and if the staff ignores the clients’ requests to lower the volume, it’s high time you start looking for a different establishment.

11. The artist doesn’t ask you if you like what they’ve done.

After completing the procedure, the artist should always ask whether you’re satisfied with the result. It’s important for a professional to get feedback no matter if it’s good or bad. If you feel that they want to get rid of you right away and don’t care about your feelings, you’d better look for a more client-oriented salon.

What do you pay attention to when choosing a beauty salon or stylist? What signs will make you leave a salon right away and never return to it?