Taking Care of your Forgotten Clients

Colour specialist and L’Oreal Ambassador Paris Artist, Jack Howard is passionate about creating gorgeous colour and believes there is a whole generation of clients the industry is forgetting about. 

“I don't like the word mature; but I don't like the word anti-ageing either. I mean, you can't anti-age! And I don't like the phrase ‘you look good for your age’ because we don't say that to people who are 20-25. But when we're looking at people in their 40s and 50s, there are changes in the body and hair,” he explains.

For women that's going through the menopause, or pre-menopause, there are many concerns thanks to hormonal changes; some people experience hair loss, some experience more grey hair coming through while for some, their hair texture can feel different. 

“I think as an industry we are missing an opportunity to embrace these clients,” Jack stresses. “We are all guilty of posting younger clients on our social pages, but generally, we have a varied age of people that come to see us, and I think we are all guilty of ignoring and forgetting our older clients. There’s an opportunity we can take to build relationships, offer services and products, and really make a difference to our bottom line.” 

Here are Jack’s tips for inspiring your older clients…

Consultation is key

Everybody should have a consultation; new clients to figure out what you're doing and their concerns, but also build in time to sit with older clients because they also have concerns. You wouldn't go to the dentist and expect them to do the same as last time. You'd expect them to check in with you. It's the same with us; we need to check in with the client and find out if they have any concerns and how we can address them.

Go up a level

When working with all over colour, make sure that you go a quarter to a half a shade lighter around the face, so it's really soft and has a more fresh, modern, quality. Balayage is great for this age group but make sure the hair isn't monochromatic. We know that we can create illusions with hair colour, so if somebody has got hair that's thinning, we want to make it appear thicker, which means if we over highlight it, it's going to look thinner because lighter hair looks thinner anyway. 

Scalp care

Educate your clients about keeping their scalp clean. Scalps can get ‘tight’, so we want to make sure that we've removed any build up and get the blood flow going. Always offer this age group a good scalp massage to get the circulation going and recommend products such as the Scalp Advanced range from L’Oreal Professionnel. 

Consider their lifestyle

Skin tone changes as we get older so we should always be looking at tonal changes in the hair too. Look at the eyes and the skin, make sure that everything's connecting nicely and be prepared for technique and tone updates over time. The clothes they wear will also influence the blonde or brunette that we choose. We must make sure their hair compliments their lifestyle as well as their skin tone. 

Never take them for granted 

It’s easy to take these clients for granted. We see our root tint and highlight clients as bread and butter, and we've not sat and spoken to that person about their hair in a long time. They say they want to be brighter, so we put brighter pieces in it, but not really thinking the process through. What we should be thinking is, OK, they want to be brighter, but they're already blonde. We need to add some depth to it, give it more contrast. We do this with our balayage and our foliage clients but somehow this age group gets forgotten. There’s a whole market of women of a certain age who are just being ignored.

Think about grey coverage

More women are embracing their natural greys, and we can be much cleverer with our grey coverage applications. There is no reason why we can't make it interesting and tailored for our client. Putting highlights all the way through isn't the answer, you can end up with clients that are unhappy and are waiting for some change. This is when we lose clients to someone who is listening to what they want.

Recommend the right products

There’s lots of products that are perfect for this age group - Metal Detox from L’Oreal Professionnel is a no-brainer; it's great for them to use at home and get rid of any mineral build up to make their colour ‘pop’. Recommend scalp cleanses, shampoos for irritated scalps; start with caring for their scalp and their hair will feel the benefits.