Good Hair salon in Singapore

Picking a good hair salon in Singapore can be difficult.
There are a number of red flags to look out for that suggest you’re about to get your hair done at a bad salon.
Avoid those that offer heavy discounts on their services.
Meanwhile, if you don’t get a scalp massage during your shampoo, alarm bells should be ringing

Choosing a new good hair salon in Singapore can be tough.

After all, if you’re going to put your head in a stranger’s hands — and spend good money to do so — you don’t want to cry when you see the results.

Instead of going for the most Instagrammable place you can find, there are a number of specific things you should be looking out for before you make your booking, or even during your appointment.

You should look out for quality products with natural ingredients, and listen to recommendations.
“Alarm bells should ring” if your hairdresser doesn’t ask you any questions before starting your treatment.

When you’re living in a big city, it can be hard to make a decision about anything — where to eat, what gym to join, and even where to live.

Choosing a hair salon to commit to is no exception, especially when you know you’ll be forking over a decent amount of money.

When you’re picking a salon, the most important thing is recommendations.

If you know someone that’s been there or you get it recommended, that’s usually when it’s good.

You should also pay attention to the quality of the products the salon uses — the more natural the better.

For example, with colour we only use the most natural ingredients, ammonia-free, which keeps the quality of the hair better. A lot of people have bad experiences with colour, with the hair breaking from [it], so that’s one of the things we’ve been conscious about.

The look of hairdressers themselves can also be a good indicator. If they have great hair themselves, they must be great hairdressers, adding that their training level should also be up to date.

However, it can still be tough to know what someone’s skill level will be. The one red flag you should look out for is being matched with a hairdresser who doesn’t ask you any questions. If you get taken straight to the back wash without any consultation, some alarm bells should ring. While there are a number of things you should be asking or telling your hairdresser yourself and they also need to know about your routine and your hair before they can do the best for you.

There’s hardly any information on the website

One of the biggest windows into a business is its website. Quite often if you’re a new client phoning the salon, the first question my reception team will ask is: ‘Have you had a look at our website? If they say no, it will be good to advise them to go and look at the salon’s website first. From the website, they can look at the services we have on offer and pick out the stylist to match your budget and work with them.

Part of the hairdressing education offers that the professionals are told to consider the whole salon experience and the “window” to the salon plays a big part. It’s virtual as well as physical and the first thing to do is check out the virtual window and social media of stylists in the salon. Many client use this themselves a lot — social media has become their portfolio now … Check it out, look at where they’re going.

They discount their services

It is a red flag if a salon offers discounts on their services. They can’t discount their services and maintain consistency in the customer service experience because the salon give you because the team members that are delivering it are doing a job. They need to be rewarded for giving their expertise. In most respectable salons we charge accordingly to the service we are delivering, within reason.

They don’t respond to negative feedback

Google review or TripAdvisor is your worst enemy but also your best friend. You will gain so much business because of your responses to good or bad reviews … As a manager if we do something wrong or something in your experience doesn’t live up to expectation, we want to do everything in our power to change that … if it’s an action of our team member or something didn’t flow with an appointment, it’s something we can actively change.

Ultimately, if someone’s reading a review site, how the manager of a salon or the person answering those reviews responds is really key for me, that they know their stuff, they’re interested.

The receptionist doesn’t ask questions when you book

The reception team you book with should be asking all the right questions.

If you’re a new client going to a salon and you’re phoning up and they’re just booking you in with the first person they mention, that’s a massive red flag . What the client want to know is: Did you ask how they look after my hair? Did you ask how often they get my hair done? Did they ask if I want high maintenance or low maintenance? Did they ask if I want to whisper, scream, or shout my end results? They’re all clues telling me about the client.

You don’t feel welcome in the reception area

The reception area is another part of “Salon Emotion.” The reception holds the keys to the kingdom. You should feel welcome, they should be informative, the service menu [should be] available, [because] maybe there’s something else you’d like to add on to your service while you’re there. The reception should make you feel like you’re at home — it should be a place of relaxation.

Often reminds the staff that coming into a salon can be intimidating for a client, so they need to appreciate each one when they arrive.

Quite often with your regulars you don’t have to do the meet and greet, they don’t want that fuss, but certainly with new business what the salon need to do is to remind the staff that when client come into this environment how intimidating it can be.

Your stylist doesn’t give you a consultation

If you as a client go into a salon environment and you don’t sit down for a consultation to figure out what is going to be taking place, do not proceed to the shampoo area. How could somebody deliver a service if you haven’t talked about it first? If there is anything that is crucial as a client, be sure that that takes place.

Ideally the stylist need to be talking about the client’s hair before they start talking about the holiday and boyfriend.”

The consultation is one of the most important parts of your visit.

It’s in this time to create rapport and fully comprehend what the client wants. It is crucial to have a variety of experience extending different techniques adapt to each client differently.

Other good hair salon in Singapore are often trained in one way and thus everyone leaves with exactly the same haircut despite whatever you’ve explained you’ve wanted which is why we think so many people have had terrible experiences with hairdressers. We are stylists, it’s our passion and art, not just a job.

The shampoo area isn’t very clean

Look for an area where you can feel at peace and you can relax. Are the shampoo bowls clean? Are the products dusted? Always look for cleanliness. Are they cleaning out the hair shafts? Is there colour on the side of the bowl?”

It’s a bonus if you’re asked to smell the shampoo or products. If you think about it, you’re going to be smelling that all day long. The smell of things can either super positively effect experience or super negatively effect experience.

You don’t get a scalp massage

The alarm bells should start ringing if you don’t get a head massage during your shampooing. A scalp massage should be standard practise in those good hair salon in Singapore and those that don’t offer it is surprising, as it’s not just a ‘nice to have’ but also stimulates blood circulation to the hair and promotes healthy growth as well as helping with hair loss.

The team isn’t working together

The cool thing about a good hair salon in Singapore is it can be a family, [so] look for the way the team interacts, and look for awareness — are you sitting there with a coffee cup wandering around and nobody is stopping to help you? Have you been sitting on the front sofa for 10 minutes and nobody has checked up on you? What happens wrong is usually about communication amongst team members/lack of awareness among people that we’re servicing. Have that eye out for how this team is working together: Are they cohesive? Are they aware of what’s going on around them?

They don’t ask whether you’re happy with your results

A good salon in Singapore should be actively encouraging complaints in, for want of a better word. When you’re paying your bill the reception team to should be asking, ‘Was everything alright with your experience today? How could we have done anything better?”

Sometimes, clients complain about bangles when they were being shampooed, something that if the receptionist had asked if everything was okay, they would have said they didn’t like it. The checkout is one of the most important parts of the experience. You could have got the best haircut of your life but you’re still not going to come back if you’re rushed, [people are] rude, etc. We’re not actually in the beauty business, we’re in the relationship business.

You’re surprised with extra charges

When you come in for a consultation the technician should explain the costing, ‘This is going to cost you x, if we do a treatment it will cost you x,”. There should be no surprises at the desk, and if you head down to pay and say ‘no one said about x,’ I’m taking it off your bill. Ideally, price should all be agreed in the consultation.

Make sure that you understand at the end of the consultation exactly what the service is going to be and exactly what the price is going to be. Sometimes a conditioning treatment may be necessary, you may talk about it, [but] money may not come up. You want to make sure you address that at this stage so that at the end of the appointment you’re not shocked.

Meanwhile, while the staff should give you the chance to purchase the products that were used on your hair. It shouldn’t be a “hard sell.

What is needed is to give client well informed knowledgeable advice and so that they can make that decision.